The North Carolina Writers’ Network 2015 Fall Conference runs November 20-22 in Asheville. Registration is open.
One of the highlights of the weekend is our exhibit hall packed with vendors representing literary organizations from around North Carolina and beyond. We’ll be introducing all the exhibitors in a three-part series of blog posts.
In alphabetical order….
Asheville Poetry Review is an annual literary journal that publishes 180–220 pages of poems, interviews, translations, essays, historical perspectives, and book reviews. Since its inception, Asheville Poetry Review has published over 600 new and established writers from 14 different countries. Founder and Managing Editor Keith Flynn will lead a poetry workshop at Fall Conference, “The Art of Editing Poetry.” He’ll also be joined by his band, The Holy Men, to play the Annual Banquet on Saturday night. APR Senior Editor Luke Hankins will serve as a Poetry Critiquer for the Critique Service, a chance for registrants to schedule a one-on-one, thirty-minute review session that provides writers with in-depth literary critique of fiction, nonfiction, or poetry, by a seasoned writer or editor.
Babington.Co is a communication, design, illustration, and writing company that caters to all of a writer’s design needs. Services include graphic design and production, digital marketing management, hand and digital illustrations and art, written content creation and editing, and book design and illustration specialty.
Durham-based Backbone Press is a small press with a big vision. It’s a venue for ethnic poets, including African-American writers, which has a deep interest in poetry by Latino/a, Asian, and other Ethnicities. The press is also a seeker of poetry that is political, evocative, social, gritty, and also personal and poignant. Their writers include Tara Betts and Tyree Daye.
Hosted in April each year, the Blue Ridge Bookfest offers small group workshops where writers gain knowledge and resources to complement their craft, their efforts towards publication, and book sales. Panel discussions with authors in thematically connected genres and topics offer readers in-depth and behind the scenes participation in the world of books. Workshops, presentations, and the exhibit hall are free to the public. The Eighth Annual Blue Ridge Bookfest happens April 22 & 23, 2016, at Blue Ridge Community College in Flat Rock.
Bull City Press publishes a small quarterly magazine, Inch; poetry chapbooks through the Frost Place Chapbook Fellowship; and the Bull City Poetry Prize series. Established in Durham in 2006, their authors include Ellen C. Bush, Michael McFee, and Anna Ross. The Frost Place Chapbook Competition is open until January 5, 2016. The winner’s chapbook will be published by Bull City Press, and the winner will receive 10 complimentary copies (from a print run of 300), and a $250.00 stipend. The winner will also receive a full fellowship to attend the five-and-a-half-day Poetry Seminar at The Frost Place in August 2016, including room and board (a cash value of approximately $1,500.00), and will give a featured reading from the chapbook at the Seminar.
Carolina Wren Press is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to publish quality writing, especially by writers historically neglected by mainstream publishing, and to develop diverse and vital audiences through publishing, outreach, and educational programs. This Durham-based publisher hosts the annual Lee Smith Novel Prize. This contest is now open; the deadline is November 30. The winner of the Lee Smith Novel Prize wins $1,000 and publication. CWP authors include Chantel Acevedo, Moira Crone, and North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame inductee Jaki Shelton Green.
The Great Smokies Writing Program at the University of North Carolina at Asheville is a joint effort between the UNC-Asheville departments of Literature and Language, Creative Writing and the Asheville Graduate Center. The program offers opportunities for writers of all levels to join a supportive learning community in which their skills and talents can be explored, practiced, and forged under the careful eye of professional writers. Great Smokies Writing Program classes are offered three times a year – fall, spring, and summer – at various locations in the Asheville area. Each course carries academic credit awarded through UNC-Asheville. The GSWP facilitates the annual Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize.
Pre-registration for the North Carolina Writers’ Network 2015 Fall Conference closes Friday, November 13. Register now!