Sally Buckner Emerging Writers' Fellowship Now Open for Fiction Writers
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CARY—The North Carolina Writers’ Network will award a second Sally Buckner Emerging Writers' Fellowship, this year to a writer of fiction.
Created in memory of the late Sally Buckner, one of North Carolina’s most beloved poets, editors, and educators, the Buckner Fellowship supports an emerging North Carolina writer, between the ages 21-35, whose work shows promise of excellence and of commitment to a literary career.
The deadline is June 30.
NCWN members submit here. Non-members, submit here.
Applicants must be in the early stages of their careers and will not yet have achieved major recognition for their work. No specific academic background is required or preferred, but students enrolled in degree-granting programs are not eligible to apply.
The final judges are Michele T. Berger, Chris Tonelli, and former NC Poet Laureate Joseph Bathanti.
Fellowship recipients will use the $500 award to allay the costs associated with the business of writing: paper, printing, writing supplies, submission fees, research expenses, travel, conference registration fees, etc. In addition to the cash award, recipients will receive a complimentary one-year membership in the NCWN, as well as scholarship aid to attend the Network’s annual Fall Conference.
The fellowship winner will be announced and introduced at the Network’s Fall Conference, held this year in Asheville, November 8-10.
To honor and carry on the lifelong generosity displayed by its namesake, the Buckner Fellowship will invite each recipient, during their award year, to help at least one other writer—by mentoring a less-experienced writer, by critiquing another’s work, by writing references or editing applications, or in whatever other way the recipient sees fit.
Applications will be accepted through Submittable.com from May 1 to June 30. Application is free for current NCWN members; for nonmembers, the application fee is $10. A committee appointed by NCWN will review all applications, and invite finalists for interviews with committee members.
Poet Zachary Lunn of Hoke County won the inaugural Buckner Fellowship. Lunn, originally from Las Vegas, served two tours in Iraq as a medic with the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. After the Army, he graduated from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke and then earned his MFA in Creative Writing at North Carolina State University, where he was awarded an Academy of American Poets Prize. His writing appears or is forthcoming in Oxford American, Carve, CONSEQUENCE, Pedestal Magazine, and other literary journals.
For more information about the Sally Buckner Emerging Writers’ Fellowship and NCWN, visit www.ncwriters.org, or contact Charles Fiore, NCWN Communications Director, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Through Your Writing, Explore the Wilds of Your Own Backyard
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KNOXVILLE, TN—While it can be thrilling to read about a writer's mad adventure on the Neuse River, or brave 100-mph winds on Mt. Mitchell with intrepid writer-climbers, most of us experience nature very close to home and usually without a heightened sense of danger.
For us as writers, then, the nature we encounter every day is ripe for exploration. It can inspire us precisely because it's so local and so personal. If we look closely enough, the familiar elements can reveal greater truths about the universe and ourselves.
On Thursday, June 20, at 7:00 pm, author and editor Kelly Smith Trimble will lead the online class "Nature Writing in Your Own Backyard."
Registration is open.
This course is capped at forty (40) registrants, first-come, first-served. There is a $30 fee to register.
Expanding our concept of “nature” or “environment” also expands opportunities for nature writing. By embracing our backyard gardens, our ingredients for dinner, and even our pets as elements of the natural world, we open up new avenues for writing about nature and our daily experience of it. And just as writing about wild nature urges reflection on larger questions, ascribing meaning to everyday nature can help us consider meaning in our everyday experiences.
In this class, we’ll explore:
- How we define and can redefine nature
- Traditional examples and themes of nature writing
- New examples and themes of nature writing
- A natural scientist's approach to understanding the world
- Opportunities for writing about the kind of nature we experience daily
Kelly Smith Trimble is an editor, writer, and gardener living in Knoxville, Tennessee. Her book Vegetable Gardening Wisdom, a collection of seasonal advice and inspiration for edible gardeners, was released in April, 2019. Kelly is currently the digital editorial director for HGTV and Travel Channel, and she has also been a writer and editor for Southern Living, the National Park Foundation, and other lifestyle media. She earned a B.A. in English with Concentration in Environmental Studies from Sewanee: The University of the South, and an M.S. in Environmental Studies with an emphasis in Writing and Communications from Green Mountain College. Her poetry has been published in the online journal Wordpeace.
A master gardener, she grows vegetables, herbs, and flowers in her suburban backyard and loves cooking and preserving.
"Nature Writing in Your Own Backyard" is part of the newly expanded series of online classes offered by the North Carolina Writers' Network.
"This program is a great way for writers from all over North Carolina to connect without having the hassle of driving somewhere and finding parking," said NCWN communications director Charles Fiore. "Online classes offer top-shelf instruction for a fraction of the cost, and the software itself is very intuitive and easy to use."
Register here.
The online class "Nature Writing in Your Own Backyard" is available to anyone with an internet connection, or who even owns just a telephone. Instructions for accessing the online class on Thursday, June 20, will be sent to registrants no less than twenty-four hours prior to the start of class.
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.