WVW eNEWS - October 23, 2006

Morgantown Writers Sponsor Narrative & Autobiographical Fiction Workshops Featuring Ed Davis and Keith Maillard - October 28, November 4

The Morgantown Writers Group is sponsoring a series of Saturday morning workshops in the next two weeks. Featured are visiting Novelist Keith Maillard (Vancouver, B.C.), back home for WV Book Festival, Oct. 20-22, and fiction/poetry writer Ed Davis (Ohio), who has led workshops at the WVW State Writers conference. A critique of manuscripts is an option.

The upcoming Morgantown Writers workshops are:
* Saturday, Oct. 28 - Keith Maillard will explore Writing Narrative Fiction
* Saturday, November 4 -- Ed Davis will focus on Autobiographical Fiction.
Both workshops will be at the Morgantown Public Library, Spruce Street, downtown. Start time is 9:30 a.m. for registration.Each workshop is from 9:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m., followed by a dutch treat lunch with each writer.

To register contact Patricia.Patteson@mail.wvu.edu or George.Lies@mail.wvu.edu A nominal $5 donation will cover workshop materials. There is the option of submitting a manuscript for each workshop. Submission of a manuscript is not a requirement for attending the workshops.

Manuscript Details: Submit 10-12 pages (double-spaced). Critique cost is $10.00. Ed Davis will read, review, and talk to writer after his Nov. 4 workshop. Kieth Maillard invites writers who attend his Oct. 27 workshop to submit 10-12 pages for use as “examples” in his workshop and he will comment separately on each work. To submit, send a Word file as an email attachment, write to George.Lies@mail.wvu.edu

Submit by midnight Tuesday, October 24 for Maillard, and by Sunday, October 29 for Davis.. Bring with you or mail fee payment to Morgantown Writers Group, 219 Kingwood St., Morgantown, WV 26501.

October 28 - Writing Narrative Fiction and Novels
KEITH MAILLARD -- Born and raised in Wheeling, WV he moved to Canada in 1970 and lives in Vancouver where he teaches creative writing at University of British Columbia. He's written 9 novels and an award winning book of poetry. Gloria, a novel which took him 8 years to write, was published in 2000. = His published novels include Two Strand River (1976), Alex Driving South (1980), The Knife in My Hands (1981), Cutting Through (1983), Motet (1989), and Light in the Company of Women (1993). He has written feature film screenplays: an adaptation of the novel Two Strand River and Tiffany; both in development for production. He has taught creative writing for short and long fiction, screen writing, and radio drama and features. His special area of interest is the developing literary genre of magic realism.

November 4 - Autobiographical Fiction & Advanced Dialogue
ED DAVIS -- A native West Virginian, he has taught writing, literature and humanities courses at Sinclair Community College since 1978. He founded Sinclair's literary magazine, Flights. As assistant director of the Antioch Writers' Workshop, he conducted poetry and fiction workshops and has judged writing contests including the WVW, Inc. 2006 competition. His fiction appears in many literary magazines. Davis's novel I Was So Much Older Then was published in 2001by Disc-Us Books. His latest novel is The Measure of Everything, released in 2005 by Plain View Press, set in fictional Shawnee Springs, Ohio. He has published 4 poetry chapbooks since the mid-eighties: Appalachian Day (Samisdat Press, 1984), Haskell (Seven Buffaloes, 1987) and Whispering Leaves (Great Elm, 1989) and Healing Arts (Pudding House, 2005).

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Life Writing/Memoir Classes
By Geoff Fuller Start Oct. 26
In Charleston, West Virginia

Geoff Fuller's class on Life Writing/Memoir starts Thursday, October 26, 6:30-9:00) and runs for four consecutive Thursdays (October 26 and November 2, 9, 16). This will be the first time he's taught Life Writing in the Charleston area, but people have been requesting this topic for several months now. If the class is anywhere near as well attended as
the classes last spring and last winter, it will sell out fast, so get your reservations in immediately.

In the class you will learn everything you need to know to get your life story down on paper for yourself and your family. You will learn techniques for...
* getting started,
* finding sources for your material,
* choosing what to write about and what to leave out,
* organizing your material,
* maintaining your momentum, and
* polishing your material.

We will have writing prompts and opportunities for feedback from the class and myself. As always with my classes, I start with a list of topics and planned activities, but the final direction of the course depends on everyone who is there: what you want and what you need to know. So once again, sign up NOW for the Life Writing/Memoir class. There are only so many slots, and the class will fill up quickly.

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