NCWN

Friday-Sunday
November 18-20
DoubleTree Hotel Asheville-Biltmore
115 Hendersonville Road
Asheville, NC 28803
828-274-1800

The Network has also reserved a block of less-expensive rooms for the Fall Conference at the adjacent Sleep Inn, 828-277-1800.
When booking at either hotel, use “North Carolina Writers’ Network” for special conference rates.

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FEES AND DEADLINES | COMPLETE SCHEDULE-AT-A-GLANCE | CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS | WORKSHOP SCHEDULE AND COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

SESSION I | SESSION II | SESSION III | SESSION IV | SESSION V | MASTER CLASSES | MANUSCRIPT MART | CRITIQUE SERVICE | MARKETING MART | FACULTY BIOGRAPHIES

Fees & Deadlines

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Refunds and Cancellations

Cancellations must be made in writing and arrive at the Network by 5:00 pm on November 11, 2011, for you to receive a refund of the registration fee, less 25%. No-shows or cancellations after November 11 are nonrefundable.

Manuscript Mart, Critique Service, Marketing Mart, and Master Class fees are not refundable if you cancel. However, if we are not able to find a place for you in the Manuscript Mart, Critique Service, or Marketing Mart, we will return your check(s) for related extra charge(s).

Master Class application fees are nonrefundable, as they are administrative charges.

Send all refund requests to:

NC Writers' Network Refund
PO Box 21591
Winston-Salem, NC 27120

Deadlines

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Complete Schedule-At-A-Glance

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Friday, November 18

5:00 – 9:00 pm...........Registration, Exhibitor, and Book Sales tables open
7:00 – 8:00 pm...........Welcome Reception
8:00 – 9:00 pm...........Keynote Address by Silas House
9:00 – 10:00 pm.........Book Signing and Reception

Saturday, November 19

7:30 – 9:00 am...........Continental Breakfast available
8:00 am – 7:30 pm......Registration, Exhibitor, and Book Sales tables open
8:00 – 9:00 am...........Brilliant at Breakfast Panel Discussion: "Authors in Appalachia" with Stephen Kirk, moderator. Panelists: Rob Neufeld, Laura Hope-Gill, Rosemary Royston
9:00 am – 5:00 pm......Manuscript Mart, Critique Service, and Marketing Mart sessions*
9:00 – 10:30 am.........Session I Workshop Classes
10:30 – 11:00 am........Break
11:00 am – 12:30 pm..Session II Workshop Classes and Master Classes*
12:30 – 1:30 pm.........Luncheon featuring "What's Next? Ideological and Economic Realities and Opportunities" with Karen Wells, Executive Director of ARTS North Carolina
1:30 – 2:30 pm...........Network Town Hall Meeting
2:30 – 3:00 pm...........Break
3:00 – 4:30 pm...........Session III Workshop Classes and Master Classes*
4:30 – 5:00 pm...........Break
5:00 – 6:00 pm...........Faculty Readings
6:00 – 7:00 pm...........Happy Hour
7:00 – 9:00 pm...........Network Banquet with performance by Keith Flynn and the Holy Men
9:00 – 10:00 pm.........Open Mike Readings

Sunday, November 20

7:30 – 9:00 am...........Continental Breakfast available
8:00 am – 1:00 pm......Registration, Exhibitor, and Book Sales tables open
8:00 – 9:00 am...........Brilliant at Breakfast Panel Discussion: "Agents and Editors" with Ed Southern, moderator. Panelists: Michelle Brower, Stephen Kirk , Robin Miura , Kathy Pories, and Brooks Sherman
9:00 am– 12:30 pm.....Manuscript Mart, Critique Service, and Marketing Mart sessions*
9:00 – 10:30 am.........Session IV Workshop Classes
10:30 – 11:00 am........Break
11:00 am – 12:30 pm...Session V Workshop Classes
12:30 – 1:00 pm.........Closing Conversation

*by prior registration only

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Conference Highlights

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Not that the conference has any "low-lights," but here you go....

Friday, November 18

5:00 pm through Sunday—Exhibitor Tables open
This is your chance to chat with publishers, literary journals, support organizations, and other friends of writers.

7:00 pm—Welcome Reception
You probably joined the Network in order to network; here’s where you get started.

8:00 – 9:00 pm—Keynote Address by Silas House
Novelist, journalist, playwright, and teacher Silas House has won awards for his writing and for his activism.  Come hear what he has to say about how we, as writers, can make a difference in our communities.

Saturday, November 19

8:00 – 9:00 am—Brilliant at Breakfast Panel Discussion: “Authors in Appalachia"
Our panel of experts will talk about how a chain of rugged mountains became such fertile ground for writers.

12:30 – 1:30 pm—Luncheon featuring "What's Next? Ideological and Economic Realities and Opportunities"
It’s our state, too, you know.

1:30 – 2:30 pm—Fourth Annual Network Town Hall Meeting
If you have questions about the Network, executive director Ed Southern has your answers.  Or, he’ll make up something that sounds good.

7:00 – 9:00 pm—Network Banquet with performance by Keith Flynn and the Holy Men
Keith Flynn & the Holy Men set poetry to music. Just don’t expect any mellow mood music to help you unwind; expect to be stimulated and inspired.

9:00 – 10:00 pm—Open Mike Readings
C'mon, all the cool kids are doing it...

Sunday, November 20

8:00 – 9:00 am—Brilliant at Breakfast Panel Discussion: “Agents and Editors”
Need we say more?

12:30 – 1:00 pm—Closing Conversation
You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.

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Workshop Schedule and Course Descriptions

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Saturday, November 19

9:00 – 10:30 am: Session I Workshop Classes

Pitch Your Book with Linda Rohrbough
It’s a completely different set of skills to effectively talk about a book, than to write one. And it doesn’t take long for writers to figure out they need to be able to talk about their book to people they don’t know in a succinct and compelling way. First, it’s to editors and agents, but after publication it’s to book store managers, reader groups, and even the media. “Pitch Your Book” provides all the tools, including a simple three-step plug and play formula for pitching any book, along with the encouragement and fear-management techniques authors need to develop this all-important skill. Packed with examples, this interactive workshop gives writers everything they need to implement the important career-long skill of pitching their books.

Mystery 101: Get a Clue with Vicki Lane
After a brief look at the fundamentals common to various types of mystery, Vicki will share the writing tips that she and her students have found most useful. Plotting, characterization, dialogue, building tension, settings, scenes, self-editing, show vs. tell – we’ll hit the high points and leave time for questions, too.

Poetry, Archetypal Imagery, and You with Katherine Soniat
What is an archetype? How might it relate to who you are in this grand universe? In this workshop, you will find that indeed there are certain images that are almost old as the Earth itself, and that your life is also encased in those archetypes. AND that we also create new personal archetypes to guide us into the future.

If you decide to join us: Please bring a photo of people in a situation that you are familiar with. Bring a second picture (not necessarily a photograph) of people you do not know in a situation/circumstance that you do not fully understand. You are simple drawn to this picture for some unknown reason. This second image can come from a magazine, the newspaper, whatever. We will enter through the gateway of these two images into the world of archetypes then see if those images speak to each other, if they inform one another in a fresh and vivid manner. You leave this workshop with a poem to remind you of the time we spent considering archetypal imagery.

Writing Momentously: Self-Sustaining Writing Prompts with Scott Owens
Anyone can start writing. Everyone has an idea or two worth writing about. The trick is to keep writing. And to do that you have to keep coming up with things to write about. In this workshop, poet, editor, columnist, and creative writing instructor, Scott Owens, will guide participants through a perpetual writing prompt designed to get you writing now and keep you writing for years to come. Appropriate for writers in all genres.

10:30 – 11:00 am                    Break

11:00 am – 12:30 pm: Session II Workshop Classes

Master Class in Creative Nonfiction: “Deep Revision” with Sebastian Matthews
In this workshop, we will read and discuss new works in terms of voice, tone and style. The idea here is that serious revision begins with pinpointing the narrator's stance and observing the ways in which he or she chooses to tell the story. Similarly, the style in which the writer has chosen, sentence by sentence, affords us entrance into the work's larger concerns--narrative momentum, subject matter, etc. Can style dictate content? Our goal is to offer the writer a round of “strategies for revision” on his or her arduous journey of deep revision.

Master Class in Fiction: “If You’re Afraid to Write About It, You Probably Should Write About It”with Tommy Hays
Often a writer’s breakthrough comes when he finally faces up to material he’s been avoiding. Maybe it’s too personal or too painful or maybe he assumes it just wouldn’t interest anyone else. Whatever the reason, we writers often overlook our own obvious strengths, dismissing the very things that are central to us. Consequently, we write around the edges of our lives or our characters’ lives, so that our stories are pale imitations of what they could be. They may be well-written, they may even be entertaining, but they lack heart. As a writing teacher, I spend a good bit of time helping students recognize and appreciate their own writerly landscapes. When a writer makes the shift to writing about a world he knows, embodied with places and characters that matter to him, the writing almost always comes alive.

In this workshop, we’ll take a hard look at our self-limiting assumptions about what we tell ourselves we shouldn’t write about. Through discussion and in-class writing, we’ll try to identify at least one or two new possibilities in our own work that, for one not- very-good reason or another, we haven’t taken advantage of.

Master Class in Poetry: “Memorization, Recitation, and the Art of Poetry” with Anthony Abbott
This Master Class will focus on the memorization and recitation of poetry, both the poet’s own poems and those of other poets. We cannot fully understand a poem by simply “studying” it academically, nor can we bring own poems to completion without reciting them aloud to ourselves and others. So we will explore the process of oral recital and memorization and the movement from memorization to public performance, and look at what we learn about the poem itself from that process. During the morning session we will look at examples from poets such as Mary Oliver, Marie Howe, Galway Kinnell, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and W. S. Merwin. In the afternoon session, each member of the class will recite one of his or her poems. In preparation for the class, each member should memorize a poem in advance, ideally one of the poems submitted for admission to the class.

All the World’s a Stage: Stage Presence and Vocal Poise for Writers with Faun Finley and Anne Fitten Glenn
If you need or want to develop that difficult-to-define but “you know it when you see it” skill known as stage presence, this workshop is for you. Just about everything about a pitch or a public presentation is different from writing. The body language: writers sit, presenters stand. Eye contact: writers make it with a computer screen; presenters make it with people. Then there’s the speaking part. Writers do it through their fingers; presenters speak with their tongues--out loud. Please join us for 90 minutes of fast and fun exercises, tips and techniques, how-to’s, what-not-to’s, and lively interactivity.

Poetry Writing Here and Now with Nancy Simpson
Poets of today have many choices and much freedom, but it is a misconception to think that as practicing poets we can write with a total abandon of rules. Yes, Free Verse breaks with traditional forms and rhyme is shunned. This workshop will cover and promote a list of specific guidelines that – although not rules – can greatly advance your poetry and make it more publishable. Where to break the line, and how to make your poems sing with sound, will be discussed. We will also talk about how to connect with the reader on a sensory level, on an emotional level, and on an intellectual level. We’ll consider specific free verse forms, especially the lyric poem, and we’ll write one in this workshop.

Children’s Stories in Many Cultures with Irania Macias Patterson
One of the big debates at the moment relates to authenticity in writing multicultural books for children. Stories about foreign places risk two extremes: either they can overwhelm the reader with reverential details of idiom, background, and custom; or they can homogenize the culture and turn all the characters into the same. To prevent this unbalanced dynamic, Irania Macias Patterson will share her experience as a multicultural writer on how to stay accurate to a particular culture, how to honor the many views and values of children raised by new immigrants in the US, and how to develop intercultural partnerships to publish a multicultural book.

3:00 – 4:30 pm: Session III Workshop Classes

Master Class in Creative Nonfiction: “Deep Revision” with Sebastian Matthews
See above for course description.

Master Class in Fiction: “If You’re Afraid to Write About It, You Probably Should Write About It” with Tommy Hays
See above for course description.

Master Class in Poetry: “Memorization, Recitation, and the Art of Poetry” with Anthony Abbott
See above for course description.

Panel Discussion: “Brave New Media” with Anne Fitten Glenn, Henry Hutton, Rob Neufeld, and Jason Sandford
Learn more about new media and new technologies, and the opportunities they present for writers, from writers who have taken advantage of a variety of non-traditional platforms.

Getting Unstuck with Ellyn Bache
All writers get stuck. A plot hits a dead end. A character’s voice sounds wrong. The story seems dull, or bogged down in background. What to do – other than wait frantically, miserably, endlessly, for inspiration? “Getting Unstuck” is a workshop of strategies and writing exercises to help get the work moving forward. Many writers do some version of these, mentally, whenever they feel stopped or blocked. Organizing them into short, practical drills that can be done on paper makes them more accessible and effective. These are not simply busywork. They address specific problems. The object of the workshop is to provide some practical ideas that can be used over and over again for “getting unstuck.”

The Power of Poetry: Honoring The Condensary with Keith Flynn
Condensation is the final frontier for a poet. Learning what to take away is as important as what you leave. “All art,” said Picasso, “is the elimination of the unnecessary.” Through live editing sessions and exposure to many of our finest pruners, including Lorine Niedecker, Shirley Horn, Ezra Pound, Ernest Hemingway, Frank O’Hara, Wallace Stevens, Dylan Thomas, Li Po, William Carlos Williams, Stephane Mallarme, and others, this workshop will focus on losing the dross and creating poems that are more muscular and radioactive, viewing words as atoms under the tremendous pressure of a discriminating eye. If you always wondered why less is more, this class will show you why. Each participant should bring two poems for analysis and at least twenty copies of each poem. Any work deemed exemplary will be considered for publication in The Asheville Poetry Review. This class will benefit both the beginner and the sophisticated craftsman.

Sunday, November 20

9:00 – 10:30 am: Session IV Workshop Classes

Such A Character with Heather Newton
This workshop for beginning or experienced writers will focus on developing believable and compelling fictional characters through effective use of point-of-view, voice, motive, description, dialog, gesture, and the avoidance of stereotype and cliche. We'll use a combination of writing exercises and discussion, so come prepared to write!

Commercial Fiction & the Rule of Three with Randy Russell
This workshop will take you step-by-step in designing your novel for the commercial marketplace. You already know how to write. By using a simple Rule of Three, you will learn how to construct a novel that will be an “easy sell” from tagline to query to final chapter. The author’s guidelines for writing and pitching a successful novel for today’s competitive marketplace are designed to get you an agent quickly and to make a sell to a commercial publisher without pre-contract revisions. Randy’s Rule of Three was featured earlier this year on Writers Digest editor Chuck Sambuchino’s website “Guide to Literary Agents.” The Rule of Three provides a structure and focus for commercially successful book-length fiction in any genre. Be prepared to describe your work-in-progress during this dynamic course and to participate in the detailed discussion of making your work perfect for the marketplace. It’s easier than you think.

Prose Poetry, Point of View and Personal Archives with Holly Iglesias
A prose poem asserts the value of the mundane—of objects and people and language itself under pressure. That uncanny, boxy shape invites compression and difficulty and mayhem because it is a tight container and because it defies the reader’s expectations of what a poem is. In this workshop, we will peruse some of archival materials as an exercise in immersion and in perspective. For example, we’ll consider how a poem based on an old photograph could be written from several points of view: that of the subject of the photo, that of the photographer, that of the recipient of the photo, or that of an outside observer. Each person can expect to create and share at least one poem written during the workshop and leave with ideas on how to apply such prompts in the future. If you want to see what kind of poetry might be mined from a 1957 issue of Popular Mechanics or a 7th grade U.S. Geography textbook from 1915, I hope you’ll register for this workshop.

Finding your Community with Danny Bernstein
Who is your ideal reader? And how do you find, join, and market your book to the appropriate community or interest group? Whether you're writing about cooking, the environment, a Revolutionary War battle, or dealing with your mother's dementia, there's a natural group of readers interested in the topic. We'll talk about finding and creating an online community and meeting real live people who are involved in our topic. We'll share ideas of what works, what doesn't work and what may work but isn't worth our time. My goal is have us leave the workshop with several new ways to identify and find our community that we can use on Monday morning.

11:00 am – 12:30 pm: Session V Workshop Classes

Writing With Animal Speak with MariJo Moore
We have many stories and dances referring to the importance of animal speak and celebration of their existence. We know that animals are a part of creation as much as we are. Animals are teachers. Indigenous healers have long known that observing sick animals can lead them to medicinal plants. This is the language of Spirit. We all have spirit animals who can help us learn more about ourselves; help us in our creative ventures. They can offer us teachings that are evidence of the spiritual interconnectedness of all things, a connection that removes us from the world of logic and connects us to our inner nature. Animals have unique abilities that we humans have to develop through creative thinking and listening. MariJo Moore will contact each participant beforehand and determine which animal spirit he/she will work with. This is a highly experiential workshop and will help participants deepen writing skills.

Listening to Your Characters with Abigail DeWitt
Fiction writers often speak of the moment when their characters “take over” as the moment when a story comes to life. A character behaves in a way the author didn't intend, or reveals a past that comes as a complete surprise to the author. As startling as those moments can be, they're also the sign that we're doing our best work--the less predictable our writing is to us, the less predictable it will be to our readers. So how can we engineer those moments? How can we create living, breathing characters who want to take over their own stories?

The trick is to learn to listen to the characters we've invented. Whether they’re barely formed--we might just have a name in mind, or a single physical attribute--or based on people we know, there are exercises we can do to help them “speak” to us. We'll do a couple of these exercises, and I'll give you a list of ones you can do at home. Bring plenty of paper, as well as an idea of a character you want to develop, and plan to have fun as we explore our characters' free will.

Nature Writing: What to Leave In & What to Leave Out with George Ellison
“It is, I find, in zoology as it is in botany: all nature is so full, that that district produces the greatest variety which is the most examined.” – Gilbert White (1789)
A survey of the traditions of nature writing from Gilbert White’s Natural History & Antiquities of Selborn (1789) and William Bartram’s Travels (1791) to the present (with emphasis on North Carolina writers) will be followed by a nuts-and-bolts interactive consideration of how to “capture” the natural world in prose. Where am I? Why does memory retain certain images and discard others? Do you keep a nature journal? Slowing down and taking “a closer look.” Am I interested in describing the “real” world or the world inside my skull? How to begin and how to end? What to leave in and what to leave out? Participants should bring samples of their “nature writing.”

Writing the Longer Narrative Poem with Joseph Bathanti
This class will focus on writing longer poems that tell stories through utilizing classic conventions of fiction such as dialogue, plot, conflict, characterization, setting/place, etc., but still rely heavily on key elements of poetry such as compressed, often impressionistic language; rhythm; stylized line and stanza breaks; and attention to sound. We’ll attempt to balance the image-charged voltage of poetry with traditionally discursive narrative strategies of fiction and creative nonfiction, focusing on the occasion of the poem, and the dramatic situation that inspired it. We’ll also look at poems that exemplify narrative poetry–-and we’ll shoot for at least one writing exercise.

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Master Classes
The Deadline for Master Class Registration has passed. General Registration is open through November 13.

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Master Classes offer intermediate and advanced writers a chance to delve more deeply into a particular genre. The Master Classes will take place during Sessions II and III and will be limited to fifteen registrants in each class.

Master Class in Creative Nonfiction: “Deep Revision” with Sebastian Matthews
In this workshop, we will read and discuss new works in terms of voice, tone and style. The idea here is that serious revision begins with pinpointing the narrator's stance and observing the ways in which he or she chooses to tell the story.  Similarly, the style in which the writer has chosen, sentence by sentence, affords us entrance into the work's larger concerns--narrative momentum, subject matter, etc. Can style dictate content?  Our goal is to offer the writer a round of “strategies for revision” on his or her arduous journey of deep revision.

Master Class in Fiction: “If You’re Afraid to Write About It, You Probably Should Write About It” with Tommy Hays
Often a writer’s breakthrough comes when he finally faces up to material he’s been avoiding.  Maybe it’s too personal or too painful or maybe he assumes it just wouldn’t interest anyone else.  Whatever the reason, we writers often overlook our own obvious strengths, dismissing the very things that are central to us.  Consequently, we write around the edges of our lives or our characters’ lives, so that our stories are pale imitations of what they could be.  They may be well-written, they may even be entertaining, but they lack heart.  As a writing teacher, I spend a good bit of time helping students recognize and appreciate their own writerly landscapes.  When a writer makes the shift to writing about a world he knows, embodied with places and characters that matter to him, the writing almost always comes alive.

Master Class in Poetry: “Memorization, Recitation, and the Art of Poetry” with Anthony Abbott
This Master Class will focus on the memorization and recitation of poetry, both the poet’s own poems and those of other poets.  We cannot fully understand a poem by simply “studying” it academically, nor can we bring our own poems to completion without reciting them aloud to ourselves and others.  So we will explore the process of oral recital and memorization and the movement from memorization to public  performance, and look at what we learn about the poem itself from that process.  During the morning session we will look at examples from poets such as Mary Oliver, Marie Howe, Galway Kinnell, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and W. S. Merwin.  In the afternoon session, each member of the class will recite one of his or her poems.  In preparation for the class, each member should memorize a poem in advance, ideally one of the poems submitted for admission to the class.

Admissions

Participants are admitted on the strength of a writing sample submitted in advance of the conference. While publication credits are not required, you should submit a brief cover letter summarizing your writing background and highlighting publication credits if applicable.

Print and fill out the Master Class Cover Sheet. Include a payment of $30 (nonrefundable processing fee).

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: October 31, 2011 (POSTMARK DEADLINE).

When you register for a Master Class, please choose another class as a back-up in case you are not admitted to the Master Class.

Submission Guidelines for Each Genre

• Fiction. Submit a cover letter and no more than ten double-spaced pages of fiction, twelve-point type (short story or novel excerpt). Mail two hard copies to:

North Carolina Writers’ Network
NCWN Fiction Master Class
PO Box 21591
Winston-Salem, NC 27120

• Nonfiction. Submit a cover letter and no more than ten double-spaced pages of nonfiction, twelve-point type (essay or excerpt). Mail two hard copies to:

North Carolina Writers’ Network
NCWN Nonfiction Master Class
PO Box 21591
Winston-Salem, NC 27120

• Poetry. Submit a cover letter and no more than five single-spaced pages of poetry, twelve-point type. Mail two hard copies to:

North Carolina Writers’ Network
NCWN Poetry Master Class
PO Box 21591
Winston-Salem, NC 27120

Two weeks before the conference, you will be notified about your enrollment status.

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Manuscript Mart
The Deadline for Manuscript Mart Registration has passed. General Registration is open through November 13.

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Manuscript Mart provides writers with the opportunity to pitch their manuscripts and get feedback from an editor or agent with a leading publisher or literary agency. A one-on-one, thirty-minute pitch and Q&A session will be scheduled for you, to take place on Saturday, November 19, sometime between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm, or on Sunday, November 20, between 9:00 am and 12:30 pm.

Manuscript Mart sessions are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. You must register for Manuscript Mart by mail, with manuscript and payment enclosed, by a postmark deadline of October 31, 2011.

Guidelines

• Submit a one-page query letter and twenty double-spaced pages of your fiction or nonfiction manuscript (for book-length projects, you must include a one-page synopsis of the work as a whole). You may include a book proposal as part of your twenty pages. Make sure your name is on each page of your submission. NUMBER YOUR PAGES.
• All submissions must be double-spaced with twelve-point font on 8 1/2 x 11-inch paper with one-inch margins.
• You must be registered for the conference for your Manuscript Mart session to be scheduled.
• Download and print the Manuscript Mart cover sheet, which you may also download from the online Registration Form at www.ncwriters.org. Mail it with two hard copies of your submission to:

North Carolina Writers’ Network
Fall Conference Manuscript Mart
PO Box 21591
Winston-Salem, NC 27120

• Checklist: two copies of manuscript; registration form; check to cover Manuscript Mart ($150) (and a separate check to cover all other conference fees if you are registering for the conference through the mail).

NOTE: If Manuscript Mart fills, your check will be returned to you.

Manuscript Mart Reviewers

From the names below, select your first, second, and third choice on your registration form. We will try to accommodate your first choice; if we cannot, we will select an appropriate editor or agent for you. You will be notified two weeks before the conference as to your assigned editor or agent, and the time and location of your session.

Michelle Brower, Folio Literary Management (fiction, nonfiction)**Full**

Stephen Kirk, John F. Blair, Publisher (regional nonfiction, fiction)

Robin Miura, Press 53 (literary fiction, narrative nonfiction)

Kathy Pories, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill (literary fiction, narrative nonfiction)**Full**

Brooks Sherman, FinePrint Literary Management (fiction, nonfiction)

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Critique Service
The Deadline for Critique Service Registration has passed. General Registration is open through November 13.

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The Critique Service provides writers with in-depth literary critique of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and screenplays from a seasoned writer. A one-on-one, thirty-minute review session will be scheduled for you, to take place on Saturday, November 19, sometime between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm, or on Sunday, November 20, between 9:00 am and 12:30 pm.

Manuscript Critiques are scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis. You must register for a critique by mail, with manuscript and payment enclosed, by the postmark deadline of October 31, 2011.

Guidelines

• Submit twenty double-spaced pages of your fiction, nonfiction, or screenplay manuscript (for book-length projects, you must include a one-page synopsis of the work as a whole), or ten pages of poetry. Make sure your name is on each page of your submission. NUMBER YOUR PAGES.
• All prose submissions must be double-spaced with twelve-point font on 8 1/2 x 11-inch paper with one-inch margins; poetry submissions should include no more than one poem per page.
• Download and print the Critique Service cover sheet, which you may also download from the online Registration Form at www.ncwriters.org. Mail it with two hard copies of your submission to:

North Carolina Writers’ Network
Fall Conference Critique Service
PO Box 21591
Winston-Salem, NC 27120

• Checklist: two copies of manuscript; registration form; check to cover Critique Service ($150) (and a separate check to cover all other conference fees if you are registering for the conference through the mail).

NOTE: If Critique Service fills, your check will be returned to you.

Critiquers

From the names below, select your first, second, and third choice. We will try to accommodate your first choice; if we cannot, we will select an appropriate critiquer for you. You will be notified two weeks before the conference as to your assigned critiquer, and the time and location of your session.

Ellyn Bache (fiction, nonfiction, children’s) **Full**

Laine Cunningham (fiction, nonfiction)

Jan Parker (fiction, narrative nonfiction)

Rosemary Royston (fiction, nonfiction, poetry)

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Marketing Mart
The Deadline for Marketing Mart Registration has passed. General Registration is open through November 13.

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Marketing Mart provides writers with an opportunity to create or refine an effective plan to pitch, promote, and sell their current, upcoming, or proposed books. The Network will schedule you a one-on-one, thirty-minute session with a publishing or bookselling professional, to take place sometime between 9:00 am and 4:30 pm on Saturday, November 19, or between 9:00 am and 12:30 pm on Sunday, November 20.

Marketing Mart sessions will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

You must register for Marketing Mart by mail, with $150 payment and submission (see below) enclosed, by the postmark deadline of Monday, October 31. If Marketing Mart is full, your payment and submission will be returned to you.

Guidelines

• Registrants must submit the following:
  • A one-page synopsis of their book or manuscript
  • A one-page bio or CV of themselves
  • The first three pages of their book or manuscript
  • A check or money order, made payable to NC Writers’ Network, for $150
• All submissions must be double-spaced, in 12-point font, on single-sided, 8.5 x 11 sheets, with one-inch margins (so the marketers have room for notes)
• Indicate your first, second, and third choices for your one-on-one session:
  • Laine Cunningham
  • Laura Hope-Gill
  • Stacy Hope Jones
  • Nicki Leone
• You must register for the Fall Conference to have a Marketing Mart session scheduled
• Download and print the Marketing Mart cover sheet, also available at www.ncwriters.org, and mail the completed form with two copies of your submission to:

  North Carolina Writers’ Network
  FC11 Marketing Mart
  P.O. Box 21591
  Winston-Salem, NC 27120

Questions should be addressed to Ed Southern at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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Faculty Biographies

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	Anthony S. Abbott is the author of two novels and six books of poetry, including the Pulitzer-nominated The Girl in the Yellow Raincoat. His awards include the Novello Literary Award for Leaving Maggie Hope (2003), and the Oscar Arnold Young Award for The Man Who (2005). A native of San Francisco, Abbott was educated at the Fay School in Southborough, Massachusetts, and Kent School in Kent, Connecticut. He received his A.B. from Princeton University, and his AM and Ph.D from Harvard University. He is the Charles A. Dana Professor Emeritus of English at Davidson College in Davidson, where he lives with his wife Susan.
	Ellyn Bache is the award-winning author of eight novels and a short story collection that received the Willa Cather Fiction Prize. Her early novel Safe Passage was made into a feature film starring Susan Sarandon, and her 2011 novel The Art of Saying Goodbye was chosen as a summer Okra Pick by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance. Ellyn began her career as a freelance journalist, and later, in addition to writing, edited books by several North Carolina authors. She also founded and judged the Carolina Novel Award competition, which re-sold two of its winning titles to large New York houses. Currently, she is the fiction editor for the literary magazine Emrys Journal. After twenty years in Wilmington, Ellyn moved to Greenville, SC, three years ago.
	Joseph Bathanti is the author of six books of poetry: Communion Partners, Anson County, The Feast of All Saints, This Metal (nominated for the National Book Award), Land of Amnesia, and Restoring Sacred Art (winner of the 2010 Roanoke Chowan Prize). His novel, East Liberty, won the 2001 Carolina Novel Award. His latest novel, Coventry, won the 2006 Novello Literary Award. His book of stories, The High Heart, won the 2006 Spokane Prize. He is the recipient of Literature Fellowships from the North Carolina Arts Council in 1994 (poetry) and 2009 (fiction); the Samuel Talmadge Ragan Award, presented annually for outstanding contributions to the Fine Arts of North Carolina over an extended period; the Linda Flowers Prize; the Sherwood Anderson Award, the Barbara Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Prize; the 2011 Donald Murray Prize; and others. He is Professor of Creative Writing at Appalachian State University in Boone.
	Danielle "Danny" Bernstein is a hiker, hike leader, and outdoor writer. Her two guidebooks Hiking the Carolina Mountains (2007) and Hiking North Carolina's Blue Ridge Heritage (2009) were published by Milestone Press. She writes for regional magazines including Mountain Xpress and Smoky Mountain Living and blogs about the outdoors at www.hikertohiker.com.
	Michelle Brower began her career in publishing in 2004 while studying for her Master’s degree in English Literature at New York University, and has been hooked ever since. During that time, she assisted the agents Wendy Sherman and Joelle Delbourgo, and found herself in love with the process of discovering new writers and helping existing writers further their careers. After graduating, she became an agent with Wendy Sherman Associates, and there began representing books in many different areas of fiction and non-fiction. In 2009, she joined Folio Literary Management, where she is looking for literary fiction, thrillers, high-quality commercial fiction that transcends genre, and narrative non-fiction. She enjoys digging into a manuscript and working with authors to make their project as saleable as it can be, and her list includes the authors S.G. Browne, Julia Wertz, Todd Ritter, and Michele Young-Stone among many others.
	Laine Cunningham has been a publishing consultant for the last eighteen years. She guides authors of book-length fiction and nonfiction through the entire publishing process from creation to contract. In addition to ghostwriting, rewriting, and editing services, she provides in-depth assistance with query letters and book proposals. Her opinion has been sought by CNN, Canada’s BNN, Media Bistro, and other international media on issues ranging from The Oprah Effect to the end of the Harry Potter series and Sarah Palin’s ghostwriter. She has conducted writing and marketing seminars at The Writer’s Workshop in Asheville, NC; The Loft, the nation’s largest independent literary center; the National Writers Union; and other regional and national organizations.
	Abigail DeWitt is the author of two novels, Lili (W.W.Norton) and Dogs (Lorimer Press), as well as short stories which have been published in several literary journals, including The Carolina Quarterly, Salamander and The Journal. The recipient of a Michener Fellowship and a Tyrone Guthrie Residency Fellowship, as well as grants from the North Carolina Arts Council and the Asheville Arts Alliance, DeWitt received her BA from Harvard University and her MFA from the Iowa Writers Workshop. She has taught creative writing at Harvard Summer School, The Duke Writers Workshop, Lenoir-Rhyne University, Appalachian State University and UNC-Asheville. Currently, she leads private workshops and works one-on-one with students around the country. She lives with her husband and daughter in western North Carolina.
	George Ellison has since 1973 lived near Bryson City. He wrote the biographical introductions for reissues of two Southern Appalachian classics: Horace Kephart’s Our Southern Highlanders and James Mooney’s History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees. He was a consultant for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park segment of Ken Burns’ PBS documentary National Parks: America’s Best Idea, and is presently co-authoring a biography of Kephart, the outdoor writer who was one of the founders of the park. Ellison writes columns for the Asheville Citizen-Times, Chinquapin: The Newsletter of the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society, and Smoky Mountain News. Collections of his nature writing are Mountain Passages (History Press, 2005) and A Blue Ridge Nature Journal (History Press, 2006), a large-format volume that includes 30 essays on the geologic origins, natural areas, flora, and fauna of the southern mountains. Each year, Ellison conducts natural history workshops on wildflower, fern, and bird identification for the NC Arboretum, the University of Tennessee’s “Smoky Mountain Field School,” Highlands Biological Station, and other facilities.
	Faun Finley is a blogger, feature writer, scriptwriter, speechwriter and copywriter. Her first published article was made “required reading” for college music classes in California. Her editorial, “A New Year for Peace?” was re-printed internationally. She’s won two national awards for her online work: one for the The Pet Shop blog and the other for "Bargain Sense," an online video show she created, co-wrote, and co-hosted. But that's not all. Faun has a twenty-year background in live performance and ten years of teaching experience. She opened the first belly dance studio in Greensboro and taught master classes at UNCG, Guilford College, and A&T University. She was the 2010 recipient of Yes Weekly’s “Best Belly Dancing” award. Faun also emcees live shows at major events along with local TV and radio personalities. She loves dogs, dance and music more than chocolate. She’ll brighten if you ask her about travel. Go ahead. Try.
	Keith Flynn (www.keithflynn.net) is the author of five books, including four collections of poetry: The Talking Drum (1991), The Book of Monsters (1994), The Lost Sea (2000), and The Golden Ratio (Iris Press, 2007), and a collection of essays, entitled The Rhythm Method, Razzmatazz and Memory: How To Make Your Poetry Swing (Writer's Digest Books, 2007). From 1986-1998, he was lyricist and lead singer for the nationally acclaimed rock band, The Crystal Zoo. He is currently touring with a supporting combo, The Holy Men, whose live album was released in Spring 2011. His award-winning poetry and essays have appeared in many journals and anthologies around the world, and Flynn has been awarded the Sandburg Prize for poetry, the ASCAP Emerging Songwriter Prize, the Paumanok Poetry Award and was twice named the Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet for NC. Flynn is founder and managing editor of The Asheville Poetry Review. For more information, please visit: www.ashevillereview.com.
	Anne Fitten Glenn(aka Brewgasm) writes a biweekly “Brews News” column and a weekly humorous parenting column for Mountain Xpress, Asheville’s alternative newsweekly. She also writes and photographs arts and entertainment, business, health, and general news for a variety of media outlets. She’s a frequent contributor to www.CraftBeer.com, The Asheville Citizen-Times, and WNC Magazine. She’s won a North Carolina Press Association award for articles on unique small businesses and a NC Business Writer of the Year award. Glenn regularly speaks and presents at colleges, conferences, and events to audiences as large as 400 people (Beer Bloggers Conference 2010 and 2011, Type-A-Parent Conference, Social Media School, Southeastern SEO Conference, Warren Wilson College, and UNC Asheville). She’s a former communications and journalism professor and teacher. Glenn lives with two kids, her Dorkie Poo mutt and two marmalade cats in Beer City, USA (better known to some folks as Asheville).
	Tommy Hays' latest novel, The Pleasure Was Mine, has been chosen for numerous community reads, including the One City One Book in Greensboro and the Amazing Read in Greenville, SC. The novel was read on NPR’s “Radio Reader” and was a finalist for the SIBA Fiction Award. Hays has written two other novels: Sam’s Crossing and In the Family Way, a selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club and winner of the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award. He is Executive Director of the Great Smokies Writing Program and is a Lecturer in the Master of Liberal Arts Program at UNC Asheville. He also teaches in the MFA Creative Writing Program at Murray State University. A member of the National Book Critics Circle, he received his BA in English from Furman University and graduated from the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.
	NC Arts Fellow and Warren Wilson MFA graduate Laura Hope-Gill is Creative Marketing Director at Grateful Steps Publishing House and Bookshop, the founding director of Asheville Wordfest Multicultural Poetry Festival, the first Poet Laureate of the Blue Ridge Parkway, and founder of The Healing Seed Center for Geopoetics. In her mind, all of this fits together seamlessly. Her two books are The Soul Tree: Poems and Photographs of the Southern Appalachians and Look Up Asheville: An Architectural Journey. A second Look Up Asheville collection is due out in November 2011. She lives in Asheville with her daughter and their dogs.
	Silas House is the author of four novels: Clay’s Quilt (2001), A Parchment of Leaves (2003), The Coal Tattoo (2004), Eli the Good (2009); two plays, The Hurting Part (2005) and Long Time Travelling (2009); and Something’s Rising (2009), a creative nonfiction book about social protest co-authored with Jason Howard. His young adult novel, Same Sun Here, co-written with Neela Vaswani, will be published by Candlewick Books in early 2012. House serves as the NEH Chair in Appalachian Studies at Berea College and on the fiction faculty at Spalding University’s MFA in Creative Writing program, and is the creator of the Mountain Heritage Literary Festival. He is a two-time finalist for the Southern Book Critics Circle Prize, a two-time winner of the Kentucky Novel of the Year, the Appalachian Writer of the Year, the Lee Smith Award, the Appalachian Book of the Year, the Chaffin Prize for Literature, the Award for Special Achievement from the Fellowship of Southern Writers, and many other honors. For his environmental activism House received the Helen Lewis Community Service Award in 2008 from the Appalachian Studies Association. In 2010 he was awarded the Intellectual Freedom Award from the Kentucky Council of English Teachers. House is the father of two daughters. He divides his time between London and Berea, Kentucky.
	Henry Hutton is an experienced professional in the field of online collaboration and publishing, and possesses first-hand knowledge in exploring, developing and optimizing new market strategies and technologies in the increasingly competitive online space. As founder of nowRECORDING.com in 2001, Mr. Hutton created on online environment for musicians all over the world to create and record music together. After nowRECORDING was acquired byLulu.com in 2003, Mr. Hutton served Lulu in several capacities including Online Community Director, Director of Operations, and Director of Business Intelligence. He also served as Product Manager for Lulu Studio™ -Lulu's latest interactive publishing technology. Mr. Hutton has recently started a new venture, Publish and Sell Enterprises, which provides a low cost, full-service solution for authors to successfully publish, market and sell their books. You can find out more by visiting his website at www.PublishandSell.com.
	Holly Iglesias is the author of two poetry collections—Angles of Approach (White Pine, 2010) and Souvenirs of a Shrunken World (Kore Press, 2008)—as well as a work of literary criticism, Boxing Inside the Box: Women’s Prose Poetry (Quale Press, 2004). In 2011, she was awarded a fellowship in poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts. She has also received grant support from the North Carolina Arts Council, the Edward Albee Foundation, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Holly earned a Ph.D in Interdisciplinary Humanities from Florida State University and has translated the work of award-winning Cuban poet Caridad Atencio. She teaches in the Master of Liberal Arts Program at UNC Asheville.
	Stacy Hope Jones is Director of the Press 53 Center for Creative Writing in Winston-Salem and Owner/Principal of Mudfoot Marketing & Creative, a digital marketing consulting firm. A native of North Carolina and graduate of UNC Chapel Hill, Stacy worked in Los Angeles and Chicago in marketing for educational and trade publishing, creating books, digital marketing components and other products for Encyclopedia Britannica and clients including Simon & Schuster Children’s Books and Harper Collins Children’s. Her digital marketing services are profiled in the book, Return on Engagement, for which she also worked with its author to market the book and speaking engagements. Stacy provided consulting to and studied with StoryStudio Chicago to hone her short fiction and novel writing, and continues to write and teach at the Press 53 Center for Creative Writing. She is currently writing short fiction about southern heritage and a young adult fantasy novel set in a magical realm in the British Isles on the precipice of WWII. Her marketing company is named for its main character, Mudfoot--which is a nod to “Tarheel” and her roots in NC.
	Stephen Kirk has been the editor at John F. Blair, Publisher, for more than twenty years. He is the author of Scribblers: Stalking the Authors of Appalachia and First in Flight: The Wright Brothers in North Carolina and has contributed to other books including Travel North Carolina and Sports in the Carolinas. His short fiction has been reprinted in the Best American Short Stories series.
	Vicki Lane is the author of The Day of Small Things and the Elizabeth Goodweather Full Circle Farm Mysteries, which include Signs in the Blood, Art's Blood, Old Wounds, Anthony-nominated In A Dark Season, and Under the Skin. Vicki draws her inspiration from the rural western NC county where she and her family have lived on a mountainside farm since 1975. Since 2007, she has led writing classes in UNC Asheville’s Great Smokies Writing Program. Visit Vicki at her daily blog or her website: www.vickilanemysteries.com.
	Nicki Leone showed her proclivities early when as a young child she asked her parents if she could exchange the jewelry a well-meaning relative had given her for Christmas for a dictionary instead. She supported her college career with a part-time job in a bookstore, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that her college career and attending scholarships and financial aid loans supported her predilection for working as a bookseller. She has been in the book business for more than twenty years. Currently she works for the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, developing marketing and outreach programs for independent bookstores. Nicki has been a book reviewer for several magazines, her local public radio station and local television stations, and currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the North Carolina Writers Network, and as Managing Editor of BiblioBuffet.
	Sebastian Matthews is the author of the memoir In My Father’s Footsteps and co-editor, with Stanley Plumly, of Search Party: Collected Poems of William Matthews. He has published a book of poems, We Generous, and has a second collection forthcoming. Matthews lives with his wife and son in Asheville, where he teaches at Warren Wilson College and the Great Smokies Writing Program. He also serves on the faculty of the Low-Residency Program of Queens University of Charlotte.
	Robin Miura has worked in publishing for eleven years, first as a production editor for Oxford University Press, and for the past eight years as an independent editor, proofreader, publishing consultant, writing coach, and literary agent for publishing companies and individual authors. She has worked with many different types of books--from academic and educational to self-help--but her passion is literary fiction and nonfiction. Currently she edits her own list of literary fiction and memoir for Press 53. Robin is a North Carolina native who enjoys living outside of Raleigh with her husband and two children.
	MariJo Moore, of Cherokee, Irish and Dutch ancestry, is an author/artist/ poet/essayist/lecturer/editor/anthologist/publisher/workshop presenter/ psychic/medium. The recipient of numerous literary and business awards, she is the author of eighteen books including The Diamond Doorknob and When the Dead Dream, Confessions of a Madwoman, The Boy With a Tree Growing From His Ear and Other Stories, and her newest, A Book of Spiritual Wisdom- for all days. She is also editor of various anthologies including Genocide of the Mind: New Native Writing, and Birthed from Scorched Hearts: Women Respond to War. She resides in the mountains of western North Carolina. Her website is www.marijomoore.com.
	For twenty years, Rob Neufeld has written about the literature and local history of Western North Carolina for the Asheville Citizen-Times. He has also led acclaimed region-wide reading programs—for seven years as the director of Together We Read; and now as the director of Mountain Lit. Rob has published two books of local history, and edited The Making of a Writer: The Journals of Gail Godwin, Vols. 1 and 2. His creative views of Asheville have included audio walking tours for the Preservation Society and Urban Trail, and entertainments for the Thomas Wolfe Memorial and the Biltmore Estate. He produces the website and social network, “The Read on WNC,” the largest website for regional books and heritage. His interviews for his column, “Visiting Our Past,” has put him touch with many Western North Carolinians. He and his wife, Bev Robertson, have raised a family in Asheville, where they’ve lived since before the renaissance. Rob received degrees from Swarthmore College and Columbia University.
	Heather Newton's debut novel Under the Mercy Trees (HarperCollins 2011) was selected as a spring 2011 "Okra Pick" by the Southern Independent Bookstore Alliance and chosen by the Women's National Book Association as a Great Group Reads selection. Her short fiction has appeared in Crucible, Encore Magazine, Wellspring and elsewhere. She is an attorney and mediator in Asheville: www.heathernewton.net.
	Recipient of awards from the Academy of American Poets and the Pushcart Prize Anthology, Scott Owens is the author of eight collections of poetry and more than 900 published poems in journals including Georgia Review, North American Review, Chattahoochee Review, Southern Poetry Review, and Poetry East among others. He is the founder of Poetry Hickory, editor of Wild Goose Poetry Review and 234, and vice president of the Poetry Council of NC. He teaches at Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory.
	Artist and author Jan B. Parker lives and works in Fuquay-Varina. Her fiction appears as First Place Novella in the 2009 Press 53 Open Awards Anthology, A Rash Award Short Story Finalist in the 2011 Broad River Review, and in journals including Main Street Rag, MoonShine Review, LitSnack, and Grey Sparrow Journal. Her flash fiction is forthcoming in Main Street Rag's 2011 Anthology, The Best of Cellar 101. Jan is an active member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network and hosts a popular monthly open mike night in her hometown. Please visit her on the web at www.writerjanbparker.com.
	Irania Macias Patterson is the Artistic Director and Co-founder of Criss Cross Mangosauce (www.ccmangosauce.com), which produces music and artistic programs for all children. Her bilingual children’s picture book Chipi Chipis, Small Shells of the Sea (Chipi Chipi Caracolitos del Mar) was an International Reading Association Children’s Choice Award for 2006. She is also the author of Wings and Dreams: The Legend of Angel Falls (Novello Festival Press, 2010), as well as several books for librarians across the US. For the past fifteen years she has worked as a multicultural children’s specialist and consultant in the area of literature and the performing arts. She lives in Charlotte.
	Kathy Pories is a Senior Editor at Algonquin Books. She acquires literary fiction and narrative nonfiction; was for many years the Series Editor of New Stories from the South; and has been the editor for the last three Bellwether Prize winners. Authors she has worked with include: Michael Parker, Robert Olmstead, Lauren Grodstein, Stacey D'Erasmo, Hillary Jordan, Heidi Durrow, Daniel Wallace, Deborah Kogan, Bill Roorbach, and others. She received her Ph.D in English Literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
	Linda Rohrbough has been writing since 1989, and has more than 5,000 articles and seven books to her credit, along with national awards for fiction and nonfiction. She’s been called a nationally recognized consultant on marketing a manuscript. New York Times #1 bestselling author Debbie Macomber said about Linda’s new novel: “This is fast-paced, thrilling, edge-of-the-seat reading. The Prophetess One: At Risk had me flipping the pages and holding my breath.” An iPhone app of her popular “Pitch Your Book” workshop is available in the Apple iTunes store. Visit her website: www.LindaRohrbough.com.
	Rosemary Royston's chapbook Splitting the Soil will be published in late 2011/early 2012 by Redneck Press. She holds an MFA in Writing from Spalding University and is a lecturer at Young Harris College. Rosemary’s poetry has been published in journals such as The Comstock Review, Main Street Rag, and Alehouse. Her essays on writing poetry are included in Women and Poetry: Tips on Writing, Teaching and Publishing by Successful Women Poets (McFarland). She was the recipient of the 2010 Literal Latte Food Verse Award. She currently serves as the Program Coordinator for the North Carolina Writers Network-West. www.theluxuryoftrees.wordpress.com.
	Randy Russell is the Edgar-nominated author of five published novels for adults, two books of short stories about ghosts (Ghost Dogs of the South and Ghost Cats of the South), and two volumes of Southern Appalachia folklore. Earlier this year, Randy saw the publication of his sixth novel, Dead Rules (HarperTeen), which received a starred Kirkus review, was a Junior Literary Guild high-interest selection, and will be published by Quercus Books UK and by Aufbau Books in Germany. He lives in Asheville.
	Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer who grew up in Asheville. A graduate of UNC Chapel Hill, where he earned his degree in journalism, Sandford went on to work at newspapers in Elizabethtown and Elizabeth City, as well as Florence, SC, before returning to Asheville in 1993 to report for the Asheville Citizen-Times. He left in 1998 to cover the military in Europe for European Stars & Stripes. He returned to the Citizen-Times in 2000, where he served in several editing positions. He left again in 2008 to work for Asheville's alternative weekly newspaper, Mountain Xpress, before once again landing at the Citizen-Times in 2010 as a reporter and columnist. Along the way, Sandford created a blog called Ashvegas, a site devoted to all things Asheville. The website's been voted best local blog for three years running by readers of Xpress.
	Brooks Sherman is on the lookout for adult fiction that runs the gamut from contemporary (with an eye toward multicultural or satirical) to speculative (particularly urban/contemporary fantasy, horror/dark fantasy, and slipstream). He also has a weakness for historical fiction and a burgeoning interest in crime fiction. On the children’s side, he is looking to build a list of boy-focused Middle Grade novels (all subgenres, but particularly fantasy adventure and contemporary), and is open to YA fiction of all types except paranormal romance. Brooks is specifically seeking projects that balance strong voice with gripping plot lines; he particularly enjoys flawed (but sympathetic) protagonists and stories that organically blur the lines between genres. Stories that make him laugh earn extra points. Recent favorites include Whiteman by Tony D’Souza, The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, the Monstrumologist series by Rick Yancey, The Thieves of Manhattan by Adam Langer, and Horns by Joe Hill.
	Nancy Simpson is the author of three poetry collections: Across Water, Night Student, and most recently, Living Above the Frost Line: New and Selected Poems, published in 2010 by Carolina Wren Press. She is also the editor of the recently published anthology Echoes Across the Blue Ridge. Her poems have appeared in the Georgia Review, Prairie Schooner, and other literary magazines, as well as in several anthologies. She holds an MFA from Warren Wilson College and is a recipient of an NC Arts Council fellowship. She is one of the co-founders of North Carolina Writers’ Network – West, the Network chapter for writers in the westernmost counties of the state. She lives in Hayesville.
	Katherine Soniat's fifth collection of poems, The Swing Girl, is forthcoming from LSU Press and a sixth collection, A Raft, A Boat, A Bridge, will be published by Dream Horse Press in fall, 2012. She is the recipient of two Virginia Commission for the Arts Grants, a William Faulkner Award, a Jane Kenyon Award, Anne Stanford Award, and Fellowships to Yaddo, The MacDowell Colony, and to the Bread Loaf Writers Conference. Her work has been published in such journals as Poetry, Crazyhorse, Gettysburg Review, Antioch Review, Kenyon Review, The Nation, New Republic, Georgia Review, and The Southern Review. Originally from New Orleans, she now lives on a beautiful ravine with one frequently-noted bear (The Kenilworth Bear) in Asheville, and teaches in the Great Smokies Writers’ Program at UNC Asheville.
	Karen Wells is ARTS North Carolina’s Executive Director and Registered Lobbyist. She previously served as Performing Arts Director for the North Carolina Arts Council and for eleven years as executive director of the Arts Council of Wilson. Karen has an MFA in Theatre and a BA in Education, and has worked extensively in academic, community, and professional theatre before landing in arts administration and advocacy. Karen was born and raised in rural Mississippi and is committed to the practice of the arts as a transformative power in economy, education, and civic life.

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