Wildacres

I am very pleased to announce that I’ve been awarded the Katherine Osborne Scholarship to attend the Wildacres Writers Workshop in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.

Wildacres offers 7-day workshops in poetry, short story, novel, nonfiction, script writing, and contemporary commercial fiction. Their two poetry workshops for 2009 will be taught by Dr. Janice Moore Fuller, Writer-in-Residence and Professor of English at Catawba College, and John Lane, who teaches creative writing and environmental literature at Wofford College in Spartenburg, South Carolina. As a scholarship recipient, I’ll be assigned to one of these excellent workshops.

From Betty Austin-Ware’s article about Wildacres in Ideal Living:

Up a long and winding road, past Little Switzerland and through the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, aspiring writers from around the world make their annual pilgrimage to Wildacres Retreat, seeking tranquility and inspiration. Some are making the trip for the first time, but for most, the week-long retreat and workshops are something they look forward to every year�almost like summer camp for adults.

. . .

Faculty for 2009 has been chosen from some of the best writers and writing teachers in the area, most of whom are returning. This year�s faculty again includes author Ron Rash, whose novel Serena has been picked up by a major motion picture studio. The word in Hollywood is that major actresses are vying for the female lead. Ron will teach a workshop on novel writing. Also teaching novel writing is Luke Whisnant, a brilliant teacher and prolific publisher, editor of Wildacres Writers� Workshops newsletter �The Tunnel� and a host of WriteNow.TV�by writers, for writers and designed by a Wildacres Writers Workshop team.

Janice Fuller, also a host of WriteNow.TV, and John Lane, author of Kudzu Telegraph, will teach poetry writing. Ann Hood, whose latest collection is An Ornithologist�s Guide to Life, and Tim Poland, whose latest collection is Escapee, will teach the art of the short story. Nancy Bartholomew will teach contemporary commercial fiction, and Jon Tuttle will teach play and script writing. Lee Zacharias, a successful novel and short story writer, will teach creative nonfiction.

According to Austin-Ware, Wildacres was established in 1926 by Thomas Dixon with royalties from the infamous Birth of a Nation. The film was based on Dixon’s novel The Clansman. Dixon lost his money and his dream of an artists’ retreat in 1929, and in 1936 Wildacres was sold to I. D. Blumenthal for $3,600.

. . .ten years later, he dedicated Wildacres �to the betterment of human relations.� In the years since, this beautiful property has touched the lives of many singers, storytellers, potters, painters, and writers�not to mention the countless nonprofit workers, leaders and visionaries who have come together at Wildacres to contemplate making the world a better place.

I was invited to try Wildacres by two very dear friends who find it everything promised by its publicity. I’m honored by the scholarship and eager to experience the workshop. It’s unknown territory for me with, except for Ron Rash whose work I admire, unknown leaders, so I’ll have a chance to get to know a group of southeastern writers outside my normal circles.

I’ll let you know how it goes. But I’m going to tell you. The views alone should inspire. These are the mountains southern immigrants crossed to get to Kentucky, and I am writing a Kentucky cycle after all.