Writers' Workshop
From the Director
30th Annual Duke University Writers Workshop
September 28-October 2, 2009
Wildacres Retreat, Little Switzerland, NC
Dear Writer:
In a quiet, retreat atmosphere, the Duke approach to the writing workshop is unusual. Our program is not competitive. Rather, we invite writers at all levels – beginning, frustrated, and published -- to join us for four days of camaraderie and intensive learning.
In 2009, we are celebrating our 30th anniversary with a special video screening on the first night of "Good Ol' Girls"--a musical based on the fiction of Jill McCorkle and Lee Smith and the music of Nashville songwriters Matraca Berg and Marshall Chapman. Marshall Chapman will be on the mountain with us to perform on Wednesday night as part of the songwriting workshop called Solatido that meets at the same time as the Duke Workshop. All Duke Writers are admitted to the concert free.
The Duke Workshop requires that you select only one primary instructor for the week, but you will also have a chance to learn informally from other faculty members at mealtimes and more formally in daily afternoon and evening sessions with the whole group when each faculty member takes a turn reading and teaching from their own works. We'll also make some time for you to share your writing with the whole group. And yes, there is free time to rest, hike, journal, and generally renew your commitment to the craft of writing in an extraordinary setting. Meals are plentiful and the kitchen can accommodate special dietary needs within reason.
Note that some faculty members have offered to read up to 15 pages of your work in advance for critique. Please adhere to the deadline for mailing this work to your teacher in advance. Faculty members cannot read and comment on work outside the classroom that is not sent in advance by the specified deadline.
Please don't hesitate to e-mail me with any questions you may have about which instructor might be suitable for you.
Please consider joining us for this special celebration.
--Georgann Eubanks, director
geubanks@duke.edu
919-454-7429
Director of the Duke Writers' Workshop since 1989, Georgann Eubanks is the author of Literary Trails of the North Carolina Mountains: A Guidebook published by UNC Press in 2007. She is also a principal, with Donna Campbell, in Minnow Media, LLC, a full-service multimedia production company primarily involved in the creation of independent, public affairs documentaries for public television. Eubanks has published short stories, poems, reviews, and profiles in many magazines and journals including Oxford American, Bellingham Review, Southern Review, Duke Magazine, Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, and North American Review. She is a North Carolina Arts Council Literary Fellowship winner, recipient of a regional Emmy, and is past president of Arts North Carolina, the industry's statewide advocacy and service organization. See www.georganneubanks.net.
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