|
More than 250 writers, editors, and publishing agents will gather November 14 – 16 for the annual North Carolina Writers’ Network Fall Conference, one of the country’s largest conferences dedicated to the art and business of writing.
Registration for this year’s conference, to be held at the Hilton Raleigh-Durham Airport in Research Triangle Park, is now open at the Network’s website, www.ncwriters.org. This year’s conference will feature a keynote address by North Carolina novelist and poet Ron Rash, author of the new novel Serena, as well as the award-winning One Foot in Eden and The World Made Straight. The yet-to-be-named Piedmont Laureate, a new position for the Triangle area, will read at the Saturday luncheon. More than 25 writers will lead workshops, master classes, and panel discussions in topics ranging from understanding how writers can use the Internet to understanding publishing contracts; from writing poems with presence to turning family stories into drama for the stage. The conference will also again offer the popular Manuscript Mart, Critiquing Service, and Speed Pitching sessions, in which registrants can discuss their unpublished works with book professionals. The conference faculty includes authors Paul Cuadros, Marjorie Hudson, Randall Kenan, Zelda Lockhart, and Travis Mulhauser; playwright Gary Carden; poets Stuart Dischell, John Amen, and Alex Grant; speculative fiction writer and N.C. State professor John Kessel; memoirist Melissa Delbridge; and mystery author Vicki Lane. Agents and editors at the conference will include Emmanuelle Alspaugh of Judith Ehrlich Literary Management, Rita Rosencranz of Rita Rosencranz Literary Agency, Kathie Bennett of Magic Time Literary Agents, Stephen Kirk of John F. Blair, Publisher, Amy Rogers of Novello Festival Press, and Kevin Watson of Press53. The annual banquet on Saturday night will precede the first Network Town Hall Meeting, a chance for members to share their thoughts on the direction and activities of the N.C. Writers’ Network. “The Fall Conference represents the single most important mission of the North Carolina Writers’ Network: bringing our state’s many writers together to improve their craft, share their ideas, and join in the literary community,” executive director Ed Southern said. Registration for the Fall Conference is not limited to members of the Network, or even to writers from North Carolina. Anyone with an interest in writing can sign up online, or by calling the Network at (704) 246-6314 or (919) 251-9140.
|
