UNCA’s Great Smokies Writing Program Introduces Workshops & "Writers at Home" Reading Series 

UNC Asheville’s Creative Writing Program is pleased to announce the start of the Great Smokies Writing Program, a consortium of Western North Carolina writers and UNCA. The program will offer a range of classes for the serious writer beginning in March, along with Writers at Home, a monthly series of free public readings by some of the area’s best writers beginning in February.

"Our community is blessed with gifted writers and serious readers," said poet Rick Chess, UNCA literature professor and Creative Writing Program director. "The Great Smokies Writers Program is intended to draw together the talent, energy and ideas in both the campus and the community to create a program that will serve us all."

Writers Dale Neal and A. Van Jordan will open the Writers at Home series at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 27, in UNCA’s Laurel Forum, Karpen Hall. The series will continue with Mendy Knott and Mary Larkin, 3 p.m. Sunday, March 26; Valerie Leff and Scott Lattimore, 3 p.m. Sunday, April 30; Stephen Kirback and Peter Turchi, 3 p.m. Sunday, May 21; and Abigail DeWitt and Tommy Hays, 3 p.m. Sunday, June 25. All readings are will be held in UNCA’s Laurel Forum, Karpen Hall.

Neal’s short fiction has appeared in the Carolina Quarterly, the Marlboro Review, the Crescent Review and many other literary magazines. A veteran newspaperman, he reviews books and covers religion for the Asheville Citizen-Times, where his work has won numerous awards. Neal holds a master’s of fine arts in creative writing from Warren Wilson College. He has been awarded fellowships at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and was recently featured on UNC-TV’s "North Carolina Bookwatch" as a promising new writer.

A. Van Jordan currently teaches at Warren Wilson College, where he serves as the 1999-2000 Joan Beebe Fellow in Creative Writing. His work has appeared in The Seneca Review, Brilliant Corners, River Oak Review, Icarus, Warpland, and Spirit & Flame: An Anthology of African America Poets, and will be included in the forthcoming anthologies, Beyond the Frontier and The Ghazal Anthology. He has taught at Prince George’s (Md.) Community College and served two years with the AmeriCorp’s WritersCorps, where he taught community based creative writing workshops in Washington, D.C. In 1995, he was awarded a D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities Literary Fellowship.

For more information about the Writers at Home series, call Dr. Richard Chess, UNCA Department of Literature and Language, at 828/251-6576.

The evening workshop series will open March 1 with Making a Mess: Prose Workshop taught by Tommy Hays, author of the novels "In the Family Way" and "Sam’s Crossing." The course is designed for those who have been contemplating a writing project but haven’t yet begun or who have stalled out in the writing process. The class will offer structured criticism, close reading of participant’s work and the goal of completing the project. Hays, who lives in Asheville, is on UNCA’s creative writing faculty. Making a Mess will meet from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesdays through May 16.

A. Van Jordan (see above for bio) will teach The Outsiders: Advanced Creative Writing Workshop beginning Thursday, March 2. This 10-week course use the themes of living as outsiders to explore advanced writing techniques in poetry and prose. Participants will use craft-based exercises to create a short story and 10 poems. The Outsiders will meet from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Thursdays through May 3.

Both workshops will be held at The Studio: Theater and Art Space on Lyman Avenue in Asheville. Tuition and fees for each workshop are $59, plus a $20 visiting student application fee. Each workshop provides two hours of academic credit. To register for the workshops, call 828/251-6558 or e-mail: lpreston@unca.edu for an application. For more information about the workshops, call UNCA’s department of literature and language at 828/251-6411.

Media Contacts:

• Dr. Rick Chess, UNCA Creative Writing Program director, 828/251-6576
• Merianne Epstein, UNCA Public Information director, 828/251-6526