Public Memory May Be a Moving Target, but that Can Be Good for Our Writing

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Written by: Administrator

Category: Network News

Published: 02 January 2022

CULOWHEE—Any writer who finds themselves writing about the past quickly discovers that memory, especially public memory, is not singular or stable—far from it. Instead, the history we remember as a community—what we remember, how we frame it, what we forget—is informal and diverse, even ever-changing. But it does define us.

Our concern as writers then is recognizing the public spaces that define our memories, and therefore our identities, when we commit these histories to the page.

On Wednesday, January 12, 2022, at 7:00 pm EST, Dr. Travis A. Rountree—an assistant professor of English at Western Carolina University—will lead the online class "Writing through Memory: Exploring Places and Spaces of Public Memory" (Nonfiction).

Registration is closed.

In this course, we’ll discuss definitions of public memory and how we engage with memory spaces and places daily. Specifically, we’ll talk about how we remember, map, and write through public physical places and online spaces. Working our way through these spaces and places, we’ll learn how much of an impact they and the memories that they carry impact us every day.

The cost for the class is $35 for NCWN members, $45 for non-members. Space is limited.

Dr. Travis A. Rountree is an assistant professor in the English Department at Western Carolina University. He earned his Ph.D from the University of Louisville, his MA in English from Appalachian State University with a certificate in Appalachian Studies, and his BA in English from James Madison University with a minor in American Studies. He is from Richmond, Virginia, but lived in Boone for nine years. He enjoys running, weight lifting, and gardening. He is an avid fan of old time, bluegrass, and country music and lives in Sylva with his two cats.

"The Network offered online classes long before the COVID-19 pandemic, and we'll continue to do so moving forward," said NCWN communications director Charles Fiore. "While nothing can replace the energy of an in-person event, online classes can still be inspirational. More importantly, they offer a way to connect with writers across the state and beyond while staying safe."

The online class "Writing through Memory: Exploring Places and Spaces of Public Memory" (Nonfiction) is available to anyone with an internet connection, or who even owns just a telephone. Instructions for accessing the online class on Wednesday, January 12, will be sent to registrants no less than 24 hours prior to the start of class. The class will be archived and made available to registrants for repeated viewings.

The nonprofit North Carolina Writers’ Network is the state’s oldest and largest literary arts services organization devoted to writers at all stages of development. For additional information, visit www.ncwriters.org.

 

Jacinda Townsend to Judge Jacobs/Jones African-American Literary Prize

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Written by: Administrator

Category: Network News

Published: 24 December 2021

WINSTON-SALEM—The Jacobs/Jones African-American Literary Prize, which honors the best in short prose by African-American writers in North Carolina, is now closed for submissions.

The contest, sponsored by NCWN and administered by the Creative Writing Program at UNC-Chapel Hill, is open to any African-American writer whose primary residence is in North Carolina. Entries may be fiction or creative nonfiction, but must not have been published before (including on any website, blog, or social media), and must be no more than 3,000 words.

The deadline is January 2, 2022. The winner will receive $1,000 and possible publication of their winning entry in The Carolina Quarterly.

The final judge of the 2022 Jacobs/Jones contest will be Jacinda Townsend.

Jacinda Townsend is the author of Saint Monkey (Norton, 2014), which is set in 1950s Eastern Kentucky and won the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize and the James Fenimore Cooper Prize for historical fiction. Saint Monkey was also the 2015 Honor Book of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. Her second novel, Mother Country, will be published by Graywolf Press in fall of 2022. Townsend teaches in the Zell Creative Writing program at the University of Michigan.

The Jacobs/Jones African-American Literary Prize honors the nineteenth-century writers Harriet Jacobs and Thomas H. Jones. Jacobs was born in 1813 near Edenton, escaping to Philadelphia in 1842, after hiding for seven years in a crawl space above her grandmother’s ceiling. She published her autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, under a pseudonym in 1861. Jacobs died in 1897 and was inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 1997.

Jones was born into slavery near Wilmington in 1806. Able to purchase the freedom of his wife and all but one of his children, he followed them north in 1849 by stowing away on a brig to New York. In the northeast and in Canada, he spoke as a preacher and abolitionist, writing his memoir, The Experience of Thomas Jones, in 1854, as a way to raise funds to buy his eldest child’s freedom.

This Jacobs/Jones African-American Literary Prize was initiated by Cedric Brown, a Winston-Salem native and graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

“The literary award was borne out of my frustration with being unable to readily find much fiction or creative nonfiction that conveys the rich and varied existence of Black North Carolinians,” Brown said. “I wanted to incentivize the development of written works while also encouraging Black writers to capture our lives through storytelling.”

The winner of the 2021 Jacobs/Jones African-American Literary Prize was Isaac Hughes Green of Durham, for his short story, "Fifteens."

The full competition guidelines are listed below and can be found at www.ncwriters.org.

 

JACOBS/JONES AFRICAN-AMERICAN LITERARY PRIZE

Postmark Deadline: January 2 (annual)
Submissions Accepted: November 1 – January 2

The Jacobs/Jones African-American Literary Prize honors Harriet Jacobs and Thomas Jones, two pioneering African-American writers from North Carolina, and seeks to convey the rich and varied existence of Black North Carolinians. The contest is administered by the Creative Writing Program at UNC-Chapel Hill. The winner receives $1,000 and possible publication of the winning entry in The Carolina Quarterly.

Eligibility and Guidelines

• The competition is open to any African-American writer whose primary residence is in North Carolina.
• Entries may be fiction or creative nonfiction, but must be unpublished, no more than 3,000 words, and concerned with the lives and experiences of North Carolina African-Americans. Entries may be excerpts from longer works, but must be self-contained. Entries will be judged on literary merit.
• An entry fee must accompany each submission: $10 for NCWN members, $20 for nonmembers. You may submit multiple entries, but the correct fee must accompany each one.
• You may pay the members’ entry fee if you join the NCWN when you submit.
• Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please notify us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.
• If submitting by mail, submit two copies of an unpublished manuscript, not to exceed 3,000 words, on single-sided pages, double-spaced, in black 12-point Times New Roman font, with 1-inch margins.
• The author’s name should not appear on the manuscript. Instead, include a separate cover sheet with name, address, phone number, e-mail address, word count, and manuscript title.
• To submit by USPS:

Jacobs/Jones African-American Literary Prize
UNC Creative Writing Program
Attn: Anita Braxton
Greenlaw Hall, CB#3520
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3520

• To submit online, go to https://ncwriters.submittable.com/submit. Submittable will collect your entry fee via credit card ($10 NCWN members / $20 nonmembers). (If submitting online, do not include a cover sheet with your document; Submittable will collect and record your name and contact information.)
• Entries will not be returned.
• The winner will be announced in February.

For questions, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The non-profit North Carolina Writers’ Network is the state’s oldest and largest literary arts services organization devoted to all writers at all stages of development. For additional information, visit www.ncwriters.org.