Back to Blog

You’re Invited: Reception for Lee Smith Novel Prize

Lee Smith
Lee Smith

Carolina Wren Press hosts the annual Lee Smith Novel Prize honoring New York Times bestselling author and North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame inductee Lee Smith. The inaugural winner is Mulberry by Paulette Boudreaux, and CWP will host a reception to celebrate:

Friday, October 23, 7:00 pm
The John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute, Smith Warehouse, Bays 4 and 5
114 S. Buchanon Blvd.
Durham, NC 27703

The evening will feature remarks by Lee Smith, Paulette Boudreaux, Jill McCorkle, David Payne, NC Literary Hall of Fame inductees Jaki Shelton Green and Allan Gurganus, and others. The public—that means you!—is invited, but space is limited.

Tickets can be purchased at https://squareup.com/market/carolina-wren-press. All proceeds benefit Carolina Wren Press, a 501(c)(3) organization.

The submission period for the next Lee Smith Novel Prize is now open. The award will be presented to a novel by an author from, living in, or writing about the American South—authors need only meet one of these qualifications, not all three. CWP hopes to find and promote novelists from the South and their novels and, in the process, to explore and expand the definition of Southern literature. The winner receives $1,000 and publication by Carolina Wren Press. The deadline is November 30.

Lee Smith, of course, will give the Keynote Address at the North Carolina Writers’ Network 2015 Fall Conference on Friday, November 20. She’ll also lead a workshop, “Believe It or Not! Fact or Fiction?”

Having just finished my first nonfiction book, I’d like to open up a freewheeling discussion on the hazards and benefits of both genres…and offer a few hard-earned pointers on how to make the page come alive in either form.

Registration for the NCWN 2015 Fall Conference is now open.