The North Carolina Writers’ Network’s Annual Spring Conference

The North Carolina Writers’ Network’s annual Spring Conference will bring its workshops, readings, and writerly camaraderie back to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro this year, but very little will look the same.

The 2013 Spring Conference—scheduled for Saturday, April 13—will move into a new home in UNCG’s Moore Humanities and Research Administration (MHRA) Building. Located at the corner of Spring Garden and Forest Streets, the MHRA Building offers easier access to those coming from off-campus.

In addition, UNCG’s Creative Writing Program—a co-sponsor of the Spring Conference—will provide free parking for registrants in the adjacent Oakland Avenue Parking Deck.

The NCWN Spring Conference draws writers, at all levels of skill and experience, from all across North Carolina and beyond for a full day of workshops in fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and the business side of writing. Attendees will be treated to faculty readings and can share their own work at the open-mic reading. They also can sign up for “Lunch with an Author,” their chance to engage in informal conversation with accomplished writers.

Conference-goers this year will need to pre-register for “Lunch with an Author,” as there will be no on-site registration available for this conference offering. Food will be provided, so that participants can spend less time waiting in line, and more time talking with the author of their choice. (Spaces in “Lunch with an Author” are limited, and are first-come, first-served.)

Courses include two all-day, two-session workshops: “Animating Fiction” with Lee Zacharias, and Judy Goldman’s creative nonfiction workshop, “Writing Personal Essays and Memoir.” One-session course offerings will be led by Quinn Dalton and John McNally (fiction), Scott Huler and Cynthia Nearman (creative nonfiction), and John Rybicki and Caroyln Beard Whitlow (poetry). Scott Nicholson will teach a class on digital self-publishing, while Terry L. Kennedy and Ross White will lead a workshop for “Authors as Entrepreneurs.”

In the afternoon, a Publishers Panel including Stephen Kirk of John F. Blair, Publisher, Robin Miura of Carolina Wren Press, and Kevin Morgan Watson of Press 53 will answer questions about what they look for in a manuscript and the evolving realities of 21st Century publishing. After looking ahead to the future of books, Andrew Saulters of Greensboro’s Unicorn Press will close the day with a look back, leading a hands-on demonstration of traditional bookbinding, so that conference registrants can turn their well-crafted words into well-crafted objects.

Registration is available online at www.ncwriters.org or by calling 336-293-8844.

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.

About Allen Mendenhall

Allen Mendenhall is publisher and editor-in-chief of Southern Literary Review. Visit his website at AllenMendenhall.com.

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