You Are Invited…

Each summer since 1997, the Meredith College Departments of English and Community Outreach have sponsored a writing workshop for women who are writing, who want to write, and who want to try writing. The workshop offers instruction, critique of manuscripts, and—not the least of its advantages—new friends who share a common interest. Dozens of women have benefited from these workshops and from other writer events sponsored by Meredith during the academic year.

Join us this summer, June 26-30, for the tenth annual writing workshop, Focusing on Form. During this one-week workshop, outstanding instructors will guide you in the form of your choice: poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, young adult fiction, or using journals as a source for poetry, essays, and fiction. This year we will also include a special session on submitting work for publication.

Poetry with Betty Adcock

Participants will work with images, sound, texture, line, and form, using in-class exercises, discussion, and master poet examples to explore the elements of poetry. They will devote energy to re-seeing and reshaping early drafts. The workshop is open to all comers, but those who wish to do so have the option of submitting up to three poems with their application to acquaint the instructor with their previous work.

Betty Adcock has published five books of poems with LSU Press, most recently Intervale: New and Selected Poems. Writer in Residence at Meredith College, she has also taught at Duke and Lenoir-Rhyne. She is on the faculty for the Warren Wilson MFA program for writers. Her awards include the Pushcart Prize, the Roanoke-Chowan Award, the Zoe Kincaid Brockman Award, the North Carolina Award for Literature, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She was co-winner (with Carolyn Kizer) of the Poets’ Prize for 2003.

Fiction with Sally Buckner

In this course, designed for writers already working on fiction and those who are just exploring fiction writing, we will explore character development, story structure, setting, and voice. Workshops will center on reading and responding to participants’ works in progress, evaluating strengths, and working to diminish flaws, all in a supportive environment. Participants may submit with their registration up to 15 pages of manuscript (story or novel) to acquaint the instructor with their previous work. If you would like the instructor’s critique of your work before the workshop begins, please include your email address or send along a stamped, self-addressed envelope for your manuscript’s return.

Sally Buckner, now Professor Emerita of Peace College, has published fiction and poetry in a number of journals and anthologies. Author of a poetry collection, Strawberry Harvest, she has also edited two successful anthologies, Our Words, Our Ways: Reading and Writing in North Carolina, and Word and Witness: 100 Years of North Carolina Poetry. She has conducted numerous writing workshops. Her fiction has appeared in Crucible, Voices from Home, and Out of Line. Awards include the Ragan-Rubin Award and the R. Hunt Parker Award for contributions to North Carolina Literature.

Young Adult Fiction with Louise Hawes

Writing for adolescents is one of the fastest growing fields in publishing today. It demands concision, honesty, and the ability to get to the heart of a story. During these sessions, writers will learn how to stay open to the unique voices of their characters and how to reach beyond theme and "message" to tell a story that resonates. We’ll share exercises designed to loosen language and build emotional bridges between ourselves and our characters. We’ll apply a set of objective standards to critique our own and each other's work in a safe, supportive community. Finally, because one of the goals of this week is to start you on your way to a submittable manuscript, we'll also talk a bit about the realities of the market. Mostly, though, we'll write, write, write. Bring five opening pages of a novel, short story, or novel-in-poems to the first workshop. Leader: Louise Hawes

Louise Hawes is the author of sixteen novels, including The Vanishing Point ( Houghton Mifflin), a Book Sense and Bank Street College Pick and NY Public Library Best Read for the Teenage. Louise is a founding faculty member of the Vermont College MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults Program. She has served as Writer in Residence at the University of New Mexico and John Gresham Visiting Writer at the University of Mississippi. She has taught locally at UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Charlotte, Duke, and Meredith. Her short fiction has been included in the YA anthologies, The Reader Writes the Story, Canadian and World Fiction (Prentice Hall); Love and Sex, Ten Stories of Truth (Simon and Schuster); and Such a Pretty Face (Abrams). Anteaters Don’t Dream, a collection of short fiction for adult readers is forthcoming from the University Press of Mississippi in 2007. The Cinderella Files, Tales Your Mother Never Told You (Houghton Mifflin) is a YA collection forthcoming in 2008. For more information about Louise’s books or to read some of her lectures on writing, go to www.louisehawes.com

Nonfiction with Zelda Lockhart

This workshop is designed to help women use the very life that seems to hinder and prevent their writing (career, kids, school, family) as the fuel and source of personal essays. Techniques on going from the work-a-day mind to the profound creative writing mind in 0-60 seconds will help make tangible the goal of writing whole essays, or even a book-length autobiography or memoir. Though the long-awaited writing sabbatical may be in your future, the life you currently live is the material for those essays. Why not write them while you are swimming in it? The goal by the end of the week is for each participant to write the first draft of a short personal essay, and to have laughed as well as commiserated with her new writing peers. Information will also be given on how to get that essay published.

Zelda Lockhart, a graduate of Norfolk State University and Old Dominion University, is author of Fifth Born, published by Atria Books/Simon & Schuster in August, 2002. The novel was a Barnes & Noble Discovery selection and recently won a finalist award for debut fiction from the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Foundation. Lockhart is also the author of The Evolution, a serial novella, currently appearing in the archives of USAToday.com’s Open Book series. Lockhart has just finished a second novel, Cold Running Creek, which sold to Simon & Schuster for publication in August 2005. Her other works of fiction, poetry, and essays have been anthologized and appear in journals and magazine with national distributions. She currently resides in Hillsborough, North Carolina, with her two children.

Journal as Source with Lou Rosser and Bonnie Stone

Seeing Anew: Make the leap from recording the facts of daily life to teasing out the creative possibilities of experience. After examining the varieties and intents of journals, participants will experiment with finding the story, poem, essay, or memoir within their journal entries and create new ones with daily writer prompts.

Lou Rosser uses her journal as a source for writing poetry and short fiction. A graduate of UNC-G with a graduate degree from NCSU, she has taught at Broughton High School, NCSU, and now teaches at Meredith. She has been writer/editor for School Library Journal and has studied fiction writing with Angela Davis Gardner.

Bonnie Stone turns to journals for recording travels, dreams, and ideas for short stories and essays. A retired community college English teacher and dean, with her M.A. from Duke, she teaches for ENCORE at NCSU and leads book discussions for Glenaire Retirement Community. Her essays, short stories, and book reviews have appeared in The News & Observer, The Urban Hiker, and various literary journals.

Ashley Hogan, workshop coordinator, has been writing poetry and fiction since grade school. She is a graduate of Appalachian State University and received an M.A. from North Carolina State University, where she studied fiction writing with Lee Smith, Angela Davis Gardner, and John Kessel. Ashley has taught creative writing, composition, and American literature at Appalachian State University and NCSU and currently teaches at Meredith College. Her fiction and essays have appeared in Cold Mountain Review, Brightleaf, and at ImperfectParent.com. She lives in Raleigh with her husband and two young sons.

The workshop costs $275 for the week, with a $50 deposit required to hold your spot upon registration. The workshop fee includes a light breakfast and full lunch each day.

To register online (the easiest way to register if you wish to pay with a credit card), visit www.meredith.edu/professional/registration.htm and follow the link to online registration. Fill out the form, using the following codes to indicate the session you wish to register for:

Poetry: 0859L
Fiction: 0859B
Nonfiction: 0859K
Young Adult Fiction: 0859N
Journals as Source: 0859I

To receive a Focusing on Form registration brochure by mail, email Ashley Hogan at hogana@meredith.edu with your name and address.

Brochures will be mailed at the beginning of May.

For all other inquiries, suggestions, or concerns, email Ashley Hogan: hogana@meredith.edu