By Phyllistine Poole “I will survive” are words I have never spoken or thought because I didn’t need to affirm this belief. My survival has always been a given. Survival is in my DNA, passed down to me through my mother, who grew up in a poor farm family of twelve children. One thing about being poor, you learn how to survive. Taking care of…
Category: Writing
Covid-19 and A Celebration of Life
By Linda Starkey Hot and humid. It’s typical weather down South in August when taking a breath makes one feel like one is drowning and any excess flesh manufactures rivers of sweat that pastes clothes securely to the body revealing unflattering rolls that might as well be naked. I reluctantly leavemy husband and fur-babies. Having been sequestered in…
Writing for Pleasure…and Maybe Even for Posterity
How many times have you said to yourself, “I ought to write down some of the things that have happened in my life”? Here is your nudge. Diana Calaway, retired teacher of composition and literature, and Naomi Foote, former newspaper writer, will lead a mini-workshop in memoir writing. The purpose will not be to teach…
2018 Anthology Award Recipients
2018 Anthology Award Recipients Memoir The Basement Stair Dance By Diana Chatham Callaway Poetry Dark Dance for Valentine’s By Janet Joyner Essay Good Dog By Martha Rowe Short Story THE RED BLUFF MADONNA By Janet Joyner Honorable Mention The World Has Become Too Complicated For Me By Helen Etters Thank A Veteran By Howard Pearre…
Kate Sprague Gledhill
We are pleased to announce that Kate Sprague Gledhill will be joining the Writers Panel. Kate Sprague GledhilI grew up on farms in central Illinois in the 1950s and 60’s. A tomboy by nature, she loved the rural life. First horses, then boys, took over her interests as she grew up and her family’s problems…
Susan Surman
Susan Surman will explain her writing process as one of the participants of the Writers Panel. Actress/author/playwright, Susan Surman(aka Susan Kramer/Gracie Luck) lived and worked in London and Sydney for 24 years. Her performing credits include London’s West End, Edinburgh, the Sydney Opera House, Ensemble Theatre, BBC radio, TV and film. Writing credits include: Sacha…
Janet Joyner
We are happy to announce that Janet Joyner will join the Writers Panel during the Second Spring Arts Festival. Joyner was a Professor of French Language and Literature at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts until her retirement in 1994, Joyner is the winner of the Poetry Society of South Carolina’s 2010…
Dr. Sam Newsome
Dr. Sam Newsome is one of five authors to participate in the Writer’s Panel moderated by Nancy Hall at this years festival. ABOUT Dr. Newsome was raised in King, North Carolina on a farm that has been in his family for generations. He attended King School and graduated from South Stokes High School in…
Memoir or personal essay?
Making distinctions can be vexing in creative nonfiction. [Stealth memoir: subject reveals self.] When I first started teaching essay writing I was a reflexive splitter or at least a classifier. In practice this means one who strains to distinguish between a personal essay and a memoir essay. Of course, the memoir is a personal essay. But for…