Thursday–Sunday
June 23–26
Queens University of Charlotte
1900 Selwyn Ave.
Charlotte, NC 28207
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OVERVIEW / VENUE / REGISTRATION / FEES & DEADLINES /
SCHEDULE / COURSE DESCRIPTIONS / FACULTY /
Workshops in Poetry, Fiction, and Creative Nonfiction
Overview
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The 2016 Squire Summer Writing Residency (SR16) offers intensive workshops with accomplished instructors, group events such as readings and discussions, a chance to share your work with other dedicated writers, and a unique opportunity to bond with writers from across the state and beyond.
SR16 will begin Thursday afternoon, June 23, with registration and check-in at this year’s venue, Queens University of Charlotte. After dinner on your own and an opening program that evening, workshop sessions in the genre of your choice—Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, or Poetry—will begin Friday morning and continue until mid-day Sunday, June 26.
Those 15 hours of workshop time will create a community on common ground, a safe place to refine and polish your work, and maybe the opportunity and inspiration to try something new. Morning and afternoon breaks between workshop sessions give writers a leisurely writing period.
The seven group meals will be followed by panel discussions, readings by instructors and residents, and other special programs, allowing participants rare insight into the craft and business of writing.
Support for this residency is provided by the NC Arts Council, the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina, and the family of Chick and Elizabeth Daniels Squire.
Venue
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This year the Squire Summer Writing Residency will take place on the campus of Queens University of Charlotte, in the Queen City’s historic Myers Park neighborhood.
Room rates are included in your registration fees if you select either the Shared Room or Single Room options. All SR16 registrants who stay on-campus will be in dorm-style rooms with shared bathrooms in Belk Residence Hall.
For those who wish to participate but not spend their nights on-campus, nearby hotels are plentiful, and can be found through the Charlotte Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Registration
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We recommend that you register early, particularly if you want to stay on-campus. Workshops are small, and they fill fast. Only 42 registrants are accepted for the Squire Summer Writing Residency.
A $300 deposit is required with registration; the balance is due Wednesday, June 8. (Or you're welcome to pay the entire fee at once; we won't mind.)
You may register online here, by phone at 336-293-8844 or 919-308-3228 (between 11:00 am and 1:00 pm, M-F), or by mail to the address below:
NCWN
ATTN: SR16 Registration
P.O. Box 21591
Winston-Salem, NC 27120
Your workshop manuscript must be sent the same day as your registration and deposit (please see Course Descriptions for manuscript requirements). Your registration cannot be processed until we receive and review your workshop manuscript.
Commuters
Registrants who wish to commute daily from home or a hotel may register at the commuter rate of $400 (for NCWN members) or $550 (for nonmembers). This rate includes all group meals from Friday breakfast to Sunday breakfast, attendance at the workshop sessions of your choice, and all evening programs and readings.
"Tag Alongs"
If a registrant has a friend or family member who would like to spend the weekend in Charlotte, but not participate in a workshop, that person can register at the “Tag Along” rate of $150. This rate includes all group meals, readings, and other programs, but not workshops. Those registering at the “Tag Along” rate must accompany a NCWN member who is registered at the single-room rate.
Fees & Deadlines
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All SR16 registrations must be received and paid in full by 5:00 p.m., Wednesday, June 8.
Requests for refunds must be made in writing, and must be received by 5:00 p.m., Wednesday, June 8, in order to be refunded up to 50 percent of the total registration fee. No refunds will be given for no-shows or requests made after June 8.
Fees: 2016 Squire Summer Writing Residency
- $400 – NCWN Member Rate, commuter
- $550 – NCWN Member Rate, shared room
- $650 – NCWN Member Rate, single room
- $550 – Nonmember Rate, commuter*
- $650 – Nonmember Rate, shared room*
- $150 – Tag Along Rate (meals only)#
* Nonmembers may join for $75 (adult) / $55 (student or senior) and be eligible for the member rate.
# Those registering at the “Tag Along” rate must accompany a NCWN member who is registered at the single-room rate.
A $300 deposit is required with registration, with balance due June 8.
Scholarships
A limited amount of scholarship aid will be available for deserving writers. To apply for a scholarship, please send your current CV and a brief “statement of writing intent,” describing your habits and goals as a writer, to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. no later than May 27.
Schedule
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Thursday, June 23
3:00 – 6:00 pm..........Registration and Check-In (dinner on your own)
7:00 – 8:00 pm..........Opening Program: "Here's to the Writingest State"
8:00 – 9:00 pm.........."The Wall Poems of Charlotte"
Friday, June 24
8:00 – 9:00 am......... Breakfast
9:00 – 10:30 am.........Workshop Session I
Poetry with Morri Creech
Fiction with Sarah Creech
Creative Nonfiction with Cynthia Lewis
10:30 – 11:00 am..........Break
11:00 am – 12:30 pm..........Workshop Session II
12:30 – 1:30 pm..........Lunch
12:30 – 1:30 pm..........Open Mic Training (optional)
1:30 – 2:00 pm..........Faculty Reading by Morri Creech
2:00 – 3:30 pm..........Workshop Session III
3:30 – 4:00 pm..........Break
4:00 – 5:30 pm..........Workshop Session IV
5:30 – 6:30 pm..........Free Time
6:30 – 7:30 pm..........Dinner
7:30 – 8:00 pm..........Faculty Reading by Sarah Creech
8:00–9:00 pm..........Open Mic Night, Part I
Sign up for the Open Mic readings at the registration table, first come, first served.
Saturday, June 25
8:00 – 9:00 am..........Breakfast
9:00 – 10:30 am..........Workshop Session V
10:30 – 11:00 am..........Break
11:00 am – 12:30 pm..........Workshop Session VI
12:30 – 1:30 pm..........Lunch
1:00 – 2:00 pm..........Writing time or Open Mic Training (optional)
2:00 – 3:30 pm..........Workshop Session VII
3:30 – 4:00 pm..........Break
4:00 – 5:30 pm..........Workshop Session VIII
5:30 – 6:30 pm..........Free Time
6:30 – 7:30 pm..........Dinner
7:30 – 8:00 pm..........Faculty Reading by Cynthia Lewis
8:00 – 9:00 pm..........Open Mic Night, Part II
Sign up for the Open Mic readings at the registration table, first come, first served.
Sunday, June 26
8:00 – 9:00 am..........Breakfast
9:00 – 10:30 am..........Workshop Session IX
10:30 – 11:15 am..........Break (and packing)
11:00 am – 12:45 pm..........Workshop Session X
12:45 – 1:00 pm..........Closing Conversation
Course Descriptions
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Poetry with Morri Creech
Rather than proving to be a constraint, form, for many poets, helps to generate content, provide a sense of discovery, and liberate the poetic imagination. In this workshop, we will be analyzing poets who compose in a variety of forms, reading published formal poets, and writing original poems using formal techniques--as well as workshopping poems by students in the class. We will focus primarily on blank verse, sonnets, villanelles, and triolets. We will workshop at least one of your submitted poems in class, in addition to generating new material.
Please submit three poems, along with your current CV in a separate attachment, when you register for the Residency, and no later than June 8. Poems should be saved in a single MS Word document, using single-spaced, 12-point, Times New Roman font, and sent as an attachment to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Your name and the title of each poem should appear on the submission. The sample you submit will be the work discussed in class, and accepted registrants will be asked to circulate their drafts to others in the class prior to the conference.
Each registrant should be ready to handle the intensive instruction and atmosphere of the Residency.
Fiction with Sarah Creech
In this fiction workshop we will begin with the advice given by Elena Ferrante's protagonist in the brilliant “Neapolitan Novels.” The protagonist, who is also named Elena, tells the reader that great writing has three key components: sincerity, naturalness, and mystery.
We will let this advice guide our discussions as we focus on the most important techniques of fiction (character, conflict, yearning, setting, structure, and language). We will read aloud from professional short stories, and we will write together and share creative exercises that highlight the techniques of fiction we’ve discussed during workshop. We will also workshop short fiction submissions.
Please submit up to 1,500 words from a single work, along with your current CV in a separate attachment, when you register for the Residency, and no later than June 8. Submissions should be saved in a single MS Word document, using double-spaced, 12-point, Times New Roman font, with numbered pages, and sent as an attachment to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The title and your name should appear on the submission. The sample you submit will be the work discussed in class, and accepted registrants will be asked to circulate their drafts to others in the class prior to the conference.
Each registrant should be ready to handle the intensive instruction and atmosphere of the Residency.
Creative Nonfiction with Cynthia Lewis
This workshop will focus on a variety of narrative forms and approaches for use in creative nonfiction. What are the challenges of a sustained narrative and how can they be met? What are some of the ways in which briefer stories—anecdotes or summaries—can enliven and give immediacy to nonfiction? What considerations attend the construction of plot? As a starting point and a bit of common ground, I’m going to ask everyone in the workshop to do some minimal reading from Keep It Real, by Lee Gutkind and others.
Please submit up to 1,500 words from a single work, along with your current CV in a separate attachment, when you register for the Residency, and no later than June 8. Submissions should be saved in a single MS Word document, using double-spaced, 12-point, Times New Roman font, with numbered pages, and sent as an attachment to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The title and your name should appear on the submission. The sample you submit will be the work discussed in class, and accepted registrants will be asked to circulate their drafts to others in the class prior to the conference.
Each registrant should be ready to handle the intensive instruction and atmosphere of the Residency.
Faculty
Register Online | Download Registration Form**Registration is Now Closed**
Support for this residency is provided by the NC Arts Council, the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina, and the family of Chick and Elizabeth Daniels Squire.
