(UPDATED 5/ 24 / 12)
Belinda Anderson
Bio
While Belinda Anderson was making up a
story for her great nephew one day, stepping
off a train arrived a character so dramatic that the tale became an
award-winning middle-grade fantasy novel. Belinda Anderson has been a
state judge for the middle-grade level of the West Virginia Writers
contest. She also has been a state judge for several years for the
elementary-aged entries in the national Letters about Literature
contest, a competition that asks children to write about books that
have affected their lives. She was the featured speaker for The Young
Writers Day at the University of Charleston in 2007. Her three
collections of short stories, published by Mountain State Press, have
been used in classrooms at all grade levels. Her work has earned her a
place on the first Literary Map of West Virginia.
Workshop
One: Those Pesky Parents
Whether you call the genre middle grade or
juvenile, writing novels for 8- to 12-year-olds presents a unique
challenge: what to do about the pesky parents. Whatever choice you make
will create continuity challenges throughout your book. Sure, you can
simply eliminate them, but the young protagonist will still have to
somehow deal with authority figures. Leave them in, OK, but then how do
you give your protagonist the freedom to have adventure? Join us in
this workshop for tips on how to turn these parental obstacles into
plot advantages while avoiding the pitfalls of stereotypes. We’ll have
fun examining some of the sinister and humorous possibilities and
participants will have the opportunity to practice with their own
characters. The workshop is designed both for writers getting
started and authors looking to hone their approach.
Workshop Two: Writing the Middle-Grade Novel
The
middle-grade novel offers unique challenges – and pleasures – for the
writer. Workshop leader Belinda Anderson will share tips and offer an
extensive sampler of what’s being written today. She’ll also offer
participants a chance to play the game that provided the foundation for
her award-winning middle-grade novel -- an exclusive opportunity
she’s only shared so far with a kindergarten class. (“They went wild
over it,” she confides.) This workshop is designed both for those new
to the genre and those seeking to fan their creative embers.
Laura
Treacy Bentley
Bio
Laura Treacy Bentley is a poet, fiction
writer, teacher, and book editor for WV Living Magazine (“Conversations”).
She divides her time between Huntington, West Virginia, and Garrett
County Maryland. The past three years she served as writer in residence
for the Marshall University Writing Project. Laura’s work has appeared
in the United States and Ireland, and her first book of poetry, Lake Effect, was published in 2006.
She received a Fellowship Award for Literature from the West Virginia
Commission on the Arts, and her poetry has been featured on the
websites of A Prairie Home Companion and Poetry
Daily. In 2003 she read her poetry with Ray Bradbury in
Venice, California. One of her poems, “Keepsake,” was chosen by Maria
Shriver and the editors of O Magazine in 2011 to be
featured on Oprah’s website. Visit Laura’s website: http://www.lauratreacybentley.com.
Workshop
One: The Hocus-Pocus of Poetry Part I
In
this session we'll look at some magical/healing and cryptic/confusing
poems by some of my favorite and least favorite poets. We'll discuss
the arresting poetry of Laura Gilpin, Ted Kooser, Irene McKinney,
Stephen Dunn, Sylvia Plath, George Bilgere, Jan Harrington, Wendell
Berry, and Billy Collins, among others. I'll also read a few poems by
nameless poets that I do not like and tell you why. I hope to simplify,
demystify, and help you fall in love all over again with the power of
poetry. Ideas and tips to help craft and create new work will
be presented. We will shape a poem from a novel excerpt and draft
a new poem. The importance of the opening line and the use of
distance will be modeled. I believe like Ted Kooser that "Poetry
is communication. Poetry's purpose is to reach other people and to
touch their hearts."
Workshop
Two: The Hocus-Pocus of Poetry Part II
The
magic transformative powers of poets and poetry will continue to
be modeled and discussed. Three poems drawn at random that were created
and refined by participants in Part I will be workshopped. Everyone
will participate and benefit from informal and non-threatening
critiques. There will be time for questions and concerns in both
sessions.
Sarah Dooley
Bio
Sarah
Dooley grew up in Summersville, West Virginia, and now lives, writes,
and teaches in Huntington. She is the author of two middle grade
novels, Livvie Owen Lived Here and Body of Water, both published by
Feiwel and Friends/Macmillan. Sarah teaches a weekly creative
writing class for middle graders at Cabell County Public Library.
WORKSHOP ONE: What to Expect When You’re
Expecting (A Novel)
Too
often, authors hesitate to pursue traditional publication because of a
fear of the unknown. Is it really possible to find an agent? Will an
editor demand changes the author doesn't want to make? In this
workshop, author Sarah Dooley will use examples from her own novels to
illustrate the stages of the publication process. Participants will
come away with an idea of what to expect at each stage, from writing a
query letter through planning a book launch party.
WORKSHOP TWO: On the spot: Writing Circle for Kids
and Teens
Writing groups are a great way to meet other
writers as you strengthen your own work. In the first half of this
session, you will be asked to respond to one of several writing
prompts. In the last half of the workshop, you will have a chance to
share and receive comments on your work, and to respond to the writing
of your peers.
Jeanette Eberhardy
Bio
Jeanette
Luise Eberhardy is a writer, artist, and educator. Her love for food,
art, nature, and reinventing the writing self shows in her publications
for Brevity magazine. Jeanette teaches writing at
Massachusetts College of Art & Design and she is working on a book
titled Creating Meaningful Work: What People Do and How It
Impacts the World. Her art focuses on creating artists books
using all sorts of materials found in nature. Jeanette earned an MFA in
Creative Nonfiction at Goucher College. She can be reached at www.wivinc.com
Workshop One: Creative
NonFiction: Fieldnotes to Freewrites in Nature Writing
Our
strongest, deepest experiences with nature cannot be paraphrased and
that is why we need the personal essay. As nature writers, we begin
with fleeting impressions captured in fieldnotes — notes that might
reflect a gentle walk in the forest or our experience confronting a
fierce storm.
In
this workshop we will begin by learning how to make our own field
notebooks. We'll document our adventures and begin the work of fine
tuning our impressions in freewrites. Your curiosity for the world
around us is all you need for this workshop.
Workshop Two: The Personal Essay: What Fills Us — Food
& Spiritual Writing
Join
us for an opportunity to explore your passion for food and spiritual
writing — two popular forms of the personal essay. Bring your
love for both and we'll supply all the writing exercises you need to
get started.
This
workshop will include an opportunity to learn how to make a hard bound
folder to carry your writing work with you. No experience required
(except for your remembrances of a favorite meal).
Workshop
Three: From Notebooks to Chapbooks:
Bookmaking Skills Reviewed
In
the relaxed and leisurely feeling of Sunday morning, let's review your
bookmaking skills. Join us if you want to practice the skills you
learned in making field notebooks or hard bound folders. Join us if you
are new to book making skills (and couldn't attend the earlier sessions
at our conference). Come and have a bit of fun learning how to make one
of the most important tools for the writer: a notebook for your
informal notes, or for your final work.
Suehyla
El-Attar
Bio
Suehyla
El-Attar is an actor/writer based in Atlanta, Georgia. She's worked
with many theatre companies across the Atlanta area in both capacities,
including but not limited to: The Alliance Theatre Company, Theatre du
Reve, and Working Title Playwrights. She's an artistic associate with
Synchronicity Theatre and is currently working on a commission for
Horizon Theatre, via a grant from the MAP fund. Her secret passion is
providing scripts for teens to perform and to see; she'd like to be the
John Hughes of High school Theatre...simply because she believes we
should get them young. She's accomplished this with her two scripts,
FISHBOWL and DESPERADOES. Her acting career is attempting a spread from
the stage to the screen, at the moment. More information provided at www.suehyla.com.
Workshop One
The Celeste Miller Method
In 2005, Suehyla met and collaborated with Celeste Miller, a
storyteller/dancer, on the Women+War project, produced by Synchronicity
Theatre. Celeste imbued the experience by sharing her method which
aided the artists to take true stories of women in war, and -give- them
to the audience. In this workshop, Suehyla will share this same method.
Come prepared to move and be honest.
Workshop Two
Critical Response Method.
In this workshop, Suehyla shares what she feels is an essential step in
the development process of a playwright and a theatre workshopping a
brand new script. Or, even, a method that can be shared with artists
who are supporting each other as creations are being made. Bring a
short play of your own, and come prepared to discuss it in a proactive
way.
Christina
Freeburn
Bio
Christina
Freeburn's newest series, New Beginnings, features
a skip-tracing business that specializes in relocating abused and
stalked women. This inspirational romantic suspense series is published
by Desert Breeze Publishing, a traditional e-book and print publisher. Lost Then Found and Led Astray, books
one and two in the series, are currently available and the third, Safe and Sound, is scheduled for release in November 2012
with two more to follow. Christina (under C.A. Freeburn) has also
revamped and is independently publishing the Working Shadow Inc
Series starring PI Callous Demar who opened up a detective agency in
Limbo after his murder. She served as a legal specialist in J.A.G.
of the US Army and has also worked as a paralegal,
a librarian and a church secretary. Christina has been a
judge for the Edgar award for the Best Novel category and the ACFW
Carol Awards, and previously chaired MWA:Reads, the youth literacy
committee of MWA. She has had three mystery novels published
and her first novel, Parental Source, was a 2003 Library of
Virginia Literary Award nominee.
Workshop One (with Pam
Hanson) Another Road to Publishing -- Going Indie taking the ebook route
It used to be if you wanted to write a book
and have it to go out to a national, or even global, audience, you had
to work with a major publisher. But today, with online “long-tail”
publishing technology, anyone can distribute his or her work to a vast
audience independently.
First an overview of alternative publishing
options, including electronic publishers, traditional publishers
offering electronic books, and going indie, whether for Kindle via
Amazon, Nook via BN, iBookstore, or a combination of ebooks and paper
via Amazon’s CreateSpace and other outlets.
The key to successful indie publishing is
knowing that operating independently doesn't mean the author does
everything entirely on their own. If you're going to work on
distributing your work electronically, the following need to be
considered:
- Finding
the best editor for you (and it's not you)
- Cover
art (books are judged by their covers)
- Formatting
(One book, four different ways)
- Marketing Plan (Tweeting and Facebooking 'Buy My
Book' is not a plan)
Workshop Two (with Pam
Hanson) Time Management Tips for Writers
One of the biggest obstacles for writers is
how to manage time. This is especially true for writers who decide to
seek alternative publishing routes, especially those going ‘indie.’
When you do everything yourself, how do you find the time to get it all
done? This workshop will offer tips for
all writers from indie to academic.
Workshop Three - The
Morning after Wrap-Up
All weekend you've heard so much great info
on a variety of topics pertaining to writing in all genres to
publishing in many different venues. This is your chance to ask the
questions of workshop presenters on time management and publishing
anything you want and the chance to solidify the goals you've been
forming. Let us help you return home and write!
Geoff Fuller
BIO
When Geoff Fuller won first
place in the crime fiction category in 2012, the same contest in which
his wife, Karin, won the romance category, it was the first time that a
married couple both won in the same year. He has read his work on the
radio and in a variety of settings around the state; given over 25
workshops on a variety of writing topics; and taught classes on the
novel, sudden fiction, and memoir in the Charleston area since 2005. He
is also the only person to win prestigious WV Arts and Humanities
literary fellowships in all three prose categories: fiction,
nonfiction, and memoir.
Currently,
he works as a writer-editor for a variety of private clients, small
publishers, and university presses. Fuller lives with his wife, Karin,
and his stepdaughter, Celeste. (Oh, and three dogs, two cats, and a
couple of rabbits, and something no one wants to talk about.)
Karin Fuller
BIO
Karin Fuller won first place in
the romance category of Writers Digest’s genre short story competition
in 2008 and 2011, and she has twice made the top ten in Glamour
magazine's annual “Story of My Life" essay contest. Some of her
publishing credits include Family Circle, Woman’s World, Appalachian
Heritage, Atlanta Parent, and Cup of Comfort for Dog Lovers, among
others.
She
has also been a lifestyle columnist for The Sunday-Gazette Mail since
1997. In June of 2003, her columns were awarded first place in the
United States (general interest category) by the National Society of
Newspaper Columnists, and in 2008, she was awarded an arts fellowship
for memoir by the West Virginia Division of Culture & History. She
lives in South Charleston with her husband, Geoff, her 14-year-old
daughter Celeste, three dogs, two cats, two rabbits, and that other
thing.
Workshops
Short Takes
Karin and Geoff Fuller will show how you can use
material from your own lives to produce short nonfiction for yourself
or for the market. Together they will present principles and writing
prompts that can be used to spin personal stories into narrative gold.
Although writing prompts will not be the focus of the class, Karin and
Geoff will be handing out and discussing a few that you can take away
to use later.
“It Lives!”
Geoff Fuller will explore various techniques for
writing nonfiction that will leap off the page and grab the reader from
the first words. Whether you are writing brief nonfiction or a
book-length exploration of an idea or historical period, you will want
to know how to give your monster the electricity it needs to thrive.
Tools and prompts that you can use later are included. (Geoff would be
pleased to work over the weekend one-on-one with anyone who wants to
craft a short nonfiction piece--free one-on-one collaboration!)
Pam Andrews Hanson
Bio
Pam Andrews Hanson along with her writing
partner/mother (Barbara Andrews) is the author of more than 30 novels,
including women’s inspirational fiction for Guideposts Publishing and
romances for Harlequin. Several more titles will be released by
Guideposts this year. In addition, she and her partner released two
indie inspirational romances for Kindle on Amazon and Nook on Barnes
& Noble.
A former reporter, Pam previously taught
beat reporting and was the director of advising for the School of
Journalism at West Virginia University. She is a past recipient of the
JUG Award. Pam now resides with her family in Nebraska, where she
writes fulltime.
Marc Harshman
Bio
Marc
Harshman’s eleven children’s books include THE STORM, a Smithsonian
Notable Book. New titles are forthcoming from Eerdmans and
Macmillan. His third chapbook of poems, LOCAL JOURNEYS, was published
by Finishing Line. Periodical publication of poems in the U.S. and
abroad includes The Georgia Review, Appalachian Heritage, Atlanta
Review, Shenandoah, 5 AM, and The Progressive. His
poems have been anthologized in publications by Kent State University,
the University of Iowa, University of Georgia, and the University of
Arizona. His prose poems and flash fiction have recently won
awards from the Newport Review and Literal Latté and
been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
Workshop
One: Children's Book Publishing – Remembering the Child Within And…
In
this workshop, Mr. Harshman will survey his own experiences in the area
of children’s book publishing and how it has changed over the past 25
years. He will discuss professional organizations, agents and editors,
critique groups, library, bookstore and online resources, as well as
practical advice concerning manuscript preparation, audience,
character, narrative tension, and picture book visualization. He will
also briefly examine the influence of both children and storytelling
upon his own writing. There will be ample time given over for questions
from the attendees. Beginner to Intermediate Level.
Workshop
Two: Writing Workshop – From Blood to Revision
The
workshop begins with a discussion that addresses the practical need for
detail in the creation of convincing writing. In this activity I
will use personal examples, diagrams, and participant responses to
illustrate the movement from generality to detail.
The
centerpiece of the workshop will be a written exploration of a
particular metaphor that will allow participants to utilize not only
their previous discussion of detail and free writing, but also to draw
upon their memories and senses in the creation of a short story or
reminiscence. Before the conclusion of the workshop, I will also
illustrate how the revision process can be brought to bear upon the
subsequent shaping of rough drafts.
Beginner
to Intermediate Level.
Joy Held
Bio
JB
George (Joy E. Held) acquires all genres for Secret Cravings Publishing
and edits everything but Regency. She is an author and educator. You
can read her monthly blogs about editing, submissions, queries and more
at Words from the Editor and Inspiration for Writers, Inc.
SCP is actively seeking submissions in all genres including non-fiction
and fiction. Ms. George is particularly interested in romantic fiction
set in any time period for the new SCP series "Love On A Plane." Secret
Cravings Publishing is an independent publisher offering royalties and
publishes both digital and paperback versions of all contracted works.
Pitch information coming soon.
HEATHER ISAACS
Bio
Heather Isaacs graduated from
Marshall University with a Regents Bachelor of Arts degree. Her
concentrations were in Criminal Justice, Journalism, English and
Communications. After graduating she went to work for her hometown
community newspaper the Coal Valley News selling advertising.
Heather
now works full time from her home in Southern West Virginia where she
promotes books. She is also a blogger, freelance writer and book
reviewer.
Her
blog Always An Open Book can be found here
http://alwaysanopenbook.blogspot.com/ on blogger and is about anything
and everything books. She has had book reviews published in Around the
Panhandle magazine as well as the Coal Valley News.
Heather
is a member of West Virginia Writer’s. She had the privilege of
teaching workshops at the group’s annual conference held at Cedar Lakes
in Ripley, WV. Her workshops were on freelance writing and book
reviewing.
Heather is currently working on her first book.
Michael Knost
Bio
Michael Knost is a Bram Stoker
Award-winning author, editor, and columnist of science fiction,
fantasy, horror, and supernatural thrillers. He has written many books
in various genres, helmed anthologies such as the Legends of the
Mountain State series. His Writers Workshop of Horror won the Black
Quill and Bram Stoker Awards for superior achievement in nonfiction. He
has also served as ghostwriter for several projects, including
associations with the Discovery Channel and Lionsgate Media. He writes
a monthly column for Fangoria Magazine and is currently writing a
Mothman novel. To find out more, visit www.MichaelKnost.com.
Workshop One:
"The Invisible Writer"
Techniques
to keep the reader in the story at all times,
never being pulled out of the story due to writer intrusion.
Workshop Two: "The Visible Writer"
Techniques
to ensure the success of the writer.
This is where visibility counts, and how to maximize it.
Jolie Lewis
Bio
Jolie Lewis is a writer and teacher, and vice
president of the Board of Directors at the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace in
Hillsboro, WV. She was raised in nearby Ohio, but came to West Virginia in 2000 by way of
Alaska, where she worked for
several years as a news reporter. Her fiction has appeared in Tin
House, Shenandoah and The Hopkins Review. She holds
an MFA in creative writing from The Ohio State University, where she
also served as an instructor, and she is a past recipient of a Rona
Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award for emerging women writers. When not
writing, she teaches adult education, raises her two young children,
and tirelessly promotes Pearl Buck’s legacy as an author and humanist.
Workshop One: Pearl Buck’s Classic Short
Story, “The Old Demon”: Ten Lessons for Short Story Writers
Considered by many to be Pearl Buck’s
greatest short story, “The Old Demon” has much to say to today’s
writers of short fiction. This workshop
session describes ten effective strategies for character development,
narrative, and plot used by Buck in writing this powerful story about a
superstitious old woman who uses the river to defeat the enemies of her
village.
Workshop 2: Food-Writing: A
Feast for the Senses
Only a few beans did Wang
Lung hide in his own hand and these he put into his own mouth and he
chewed them into a soft pulp and then putting his lips to the lips of
his daughter he pushed into her mouth the food, and watching her small
lips move, he felt himself fed.
Whether we realize it or not, food is often
close to the heart of our identity. What we eat, when we eat, where we
eat, how we eat, whether we’re trying to eat less: Each of these things
give away something about us. And how we prepare food and share it—that
speaks volumes about how we relate to others. These same details are
just as revealing when used in writing, whether prose or poems.
Pearl S. Buck knew enough about the power
of food—or, sometimes, the power of hunger—that almost any page you
turn to in The Good Earth has some kind of mention of
food or eating (if not literal, then metaphorical). This session will
draw on examples from her work and others’ to explore the power food
can have on the page, and present exercises to help you write about
food, well, deliciously. We might even sample some sweets made from
recipes in Pearl’s own cookbook … and use them as prompts for writing
exercises!
Marie Manilla
Bio
Pushcart-Prize
nominee Marie Manilla is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her
short stories have appeared in The Chicago Tribune as a Nelson
Algren finalist; Prairie Schooner, where she received the
Lawrence Foundation Award for best story; Mississippi Review; Calyx
Journal; The Portland Review; The Long Story; Kestrel;
GSU Review; Yemassee Review, Echo Ink
Review, and other journals. Her collection of stories, Still
Life with Plums (West Virginia University Press, 2010), was
nominated for the Weatherford Award and ForeWord Reviews Book of the
Year in the short story category. Author Daniel Wallace selected her
novel, Shrapnel, as winner of the Fred Bonnie Award for best
first novel. Manilla lives in her hometown of Huntington, West
Virginia, where she regularly teaches writing and American Literature
at Marshall University. Her website is www.mariemanilla.com.
Workshop One: The Heart of the Short Story, Part One
We
all experience light-bulb moments when we understand some truth about
the world or the people we bump into as we navigate through it.
Sometimes these truths are earth-shattering; sometimes they are quiet.
Light-bulb moments are at the heart of the short story, and in this
hands-on workshop participants will consider their own light-bulb
moments and then explore how they can craft a short story that will
best dramatize that truth.
Workshop Two: The Heart of the Short Story, Part Two
These
days, everyone is a writer. Everyone. In addition to dramatizing
light-bulb moments, it is imperative that your short story has a
richness and depth that will distinguish it from the hundreds of others
that editors see every month. In this hands-on workshop, participants
will explore techniques that add layers and texture to short stories
that will not only make them sparkle and shine, but will help them rise
to the top of the slush pile.
Kipyn
Martin (music Saturday night)
Bio
Soulful:
this is how a listener perceives a performance by Kipyn Martin. Often
compared to Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez, songwriter Kipyn Martin sings
from the core. She was a semi-finalist in the 2007 NewSong Academy
Songwriting Competition, and a finalist in the 2009 Shenandoah Valley
Acoustic Roots Songwriting Competition. Kipyn has shared stages with
award-winning independent artists such as Chuck E. Costa, Trina Hamlin,
Beaucoup Blue, and Pops Walker. Kipyn is a versatile performer, mostly
operating within the blues and folk genres. Listeners can expect no
frills. Just soul.
Lee
Maynard
Bio
Lee Maynard was born and raised in the
hardscrabble ridges and hard-packed mountains of West Virginia, an
upbringing that darkens and shapes much of his writing. He has received
the National Endowment for the Arts Literary Fellowship. As a
journalist, Maynard was an assignment writer for Reader's Digest for
more than two decades. His journalism and non-fiction work has appeared
more than 100 times in publications as diverse as The Saturday Review,
Rider Magazine, Washington Post, Country America, Dual Sport News and
Christian Science Monitor. Maynard’s short fiction has appeared in such
publications such as Columbia Review of Literature, Appalachian
Heritage and the literary magazine, Kestrel. His prose has been held in
comparison to Hemingway, Twain, Harris, Faulkner and Salinger.
Specializing in the novel, Maynard has taught at many national and
regional workshops, including the Appalachian Writers Workshop,
Southwest Writers Workshop, and West Virginia Writers Conference. He
has served as Writing Master at Allegheny Echoes. His latest novel, The
Scummers, the final novel in the trilogy that includes the oft banned
Crum and Screaming with the Cannibals, will be published in April by
Vandalia Press. He once rode a motorcycle from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to
the Arctic Circle. He lives near Santa Fe. Lee is
our keynote speaker this year. Keynote: Standing in the Center of
the Room -- Taking the Risk of Writing
Workshop: Fragments -- the bits and
pieces of storytelling
In the workshop we'll tackle -- voice, sense of place, imagery,
and rewriting.
Jim Moore and Phyllis
Wilson Moore
Bio
Jim and Phyllis Wilson Moore recently completed a
twenty-five year research project identifying the literature of West
Virginia and related sites. For the project, Jim served as graphic
artist, poster maker, power point program creator, and
photographer. Phyllis’s role included reading the literature and
writing about it for websites and journals. She is an essayist, a
poet, and the author of the text for the first official literary map of
West Virginia. Her author interviews, author survey information, and
personal research serve as the nucleus of the map’s content. In
2011 the couple donated their extensive West Virginia literary
materials to the Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center at
Fairmont State University, Fairmont, WV.
Workshop
The
Coming-of-Age Fiction of Selected Multicultural Authors of West Virginia
What do Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Homer H. Hickam, Jr., Christopher
Janus, Chuck Kinder, John Knowles, Keith Maillard, Lee Maynard, Jayne
Anne Phillips, June Langford Berkley, and Meredith Sue Willis have in
common? Find out in this session dedicated to West
Virginia's wild and wonderful coming-of-age literature.
DR. EDWINA PENDARVIS
BIO
A
professor emeritus at Marshall University, Edwina lives in
Huntington. Her poems, essays, and stories appear in anthologies,
such as Wild Sweet Notes, and in periodicals, such as Appalachian
Heritage, Appalachian Journal, Hawaii Review, and Indiana Review. She
has authored and co-authored articles, chapters, and books on
education, including Out of Our Minds: Anti-Intellectualism and
Talent development in US Schools (Teachers College Press). Her
publications include two books of poetry. Her second poetry
collection, Like the Mountains of China, reflects a visit to that
country. Her Raft Tide and Railroad is the story of one family’s
history in eastern Kentucky. Her most recent nonfiction books, a
series of young-adult biographies, were published in dual language
editions by the Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press. She is
book review editor for Now & Then: The Appalachian Magazine.
Edwina was heard reading from her work on Episode
39 of the WV Writers Podcast and interviewed Jaimy Gordon in Episode
61.
Workshop One: Pearl Buck’s Classic Short
Story, “The Old Demon”: Ten Lessons for Short Story Writers
Considered by many to be Pearl Buck’s
greatest short story, “The Old Demon” has much to say to today’s
writers of short fiction. This workshop
session describes ten effective strategies for character development,
narrative, and plot used by Buck in writing this powerful story about a
superstitious old woman who uses the river to defeat the enemies of her
village.
Workshop 2: Food-Writing: A
Feast for the Senses
Only a few beans did Wang
Lung hide in his own hand and these he put into his own mouth and he
chewed them into a soft pulp and then putting his lips to the lips of
his daughter he pushed into her mouth the food, and watching her small
lips move, he felt himself fed.
Whether we realize it or not, food is often
close to the heart of our identity. What we eat, when we eat, where we
eat, how we eat, whether we’re trying to eat less: Each of these things
give away something about us. And how we prepare food and share it—that
speaks volumes about how we relate to others. These same details are
just as revealing when used in writing, whether prose or poems.
Pearl S. Buck knew enough about the power
of food—or, sometimes, the power of hunger—that almost any page you
turn to in The Good Earth has some kind of mention of
food or eating (if not literal, then metaphorical). This session will
draw on examples from her work and others’ to explore the power food
can have on the page, and present exercises to help you write about
food, well, deliciously. We might even sample some sweets made from
recipes in Pearl’s own cookbook … and use them as prompts for writing
exercises!
Jay Tabor
Bio
Jay Tabor lives in Martinsburg, in the
Eastern Panhandle where he writes despite unfortunate interruptions
such as work and household tasks. He writes a weekly column covering
local auto racing at several tracks in his area for the daily,
Martinsburg Journal. He has been published in B2B Outlook, BOXoffice
and Main Artery magazines, is a multiple award winner with West
Virginia Writers Inc. and has Additional Dialogue credits on the movie,
Gypsy Vampire, produced and directed by Conrad Brooks, protégé of the
legendary Hollywood auteur, Edward D. Wood Jr. maker of the historic Plan 9 From Outer Space. He is well
looked after by his wife, Pat and his three Pugs and a little Boston
Terrier.
Workshop: Stop The Presses! Press
releases are the fastest, easiest way to advertise your events or works
and often lead to even greater coverage. Learn to write successful
press releases that work and the follow up to make it happen. A great
course for those running writers workshops and other writing events,
self publishing authors and anyone who wants to get the word out, no
matter your organization.
Pops Walker
Bio
Pops Walker retired from the US Army in
2003 and entered into to his second career as a performing
singer/songwriter. On the day of his
retirement, he packed his guitars into his car and drove to
Charlestown, WV, where he was the opening act for the Mountain Stage
New Song Festival.
He performed twice
that weekend and served as a judge for the songwriting contest.
One day he was a soldier, the next, a performer. Since then, he’s
enjoyed a reputation as one of the most passionate solo performers in
his field, playing at festivals, acoustic listening rooms, theatres,
and his favorite venues, house concerts. Listening to any of his
seven CDs is a treat, but watching him perform live is an adventure
you’ll never forget. Pops is again in the middle of a
transition. He’s now a writer. His first book, Messages Without
Melodies,
Volume I opened the eyes and hearts of all who read it. Volume
II, recently completed, is now available online, via popswalker.com.
Now working on his first novel, the transition is almost
complete. But Pops tells us that as long as his fingers and voice
are in working order, you can expect him to keep playing his guitar
like nobody’s business, and cranking out those original tunes folks
have come to know and love.
