2008 Woodie Awards
Festival workshops explore craft of writing
By Joseph Roman Flis
Issue date: 3/20/08 Section: Culture
The biennial Chattanooga Festival of Writers will be held March 28-29, and all UTC students will have an opportunity to attend the Saturday workshops for free with pre-registration with the English department.
Chattanooga's Arts & Education Council organizes the event, of which UTC is a major sponsor. The March 29 workshops will be held in the UC.
Verbie Prevost, head of the English department, is a member of the planning committee for the festival.
"One of the reasons I wanted to have it on campus was to allow students the opportunity to attend," Prevost said. "I am grateful to the chancellor's office for providing the support to make UTC a sponsor."
According to Prevost, for UTC students to be able to attend the Saturday portion of the festival at UTC for free, they must pre-register with her in the English office by March 24.
The guest writers speaking at the Festival include novelist Allen Wier, playwright Katori Hall, fiction author Randall Kenan, memoirist John Sedgwick, fiction and essay writer Lolly Winston, screenwriter William Akers and freelance journalists Sean Price, Nancy H. Wurst and Nancy Hatch Woodward.
"We are trying to cover the whole range as much as possible," Prevost said. "The sessions will be jam-packed with information and opportunities to learn about writing in the different areas."
Patrick Noland, a Memphis freshman, said he is impressed by the wide variety of writing styles.
"I think it's great you don't have a set schedule," Noland said. "I like how you are able to choose workshops that cater to your preference in writing."
The normal cost of registration is $125 for the workshops on Saturday without the free UTC pre-registration. Friday's keynote dinner at the Read House is $65, and the keynote speaker at the dinner will be award-winning short story writer Ben Fountain. Arts & Education Council members receive a discount on their registration fees as well.
According to Laurel Eldridge, Arts & Education Council program director, the registration limit is 300. She said since the previous festival in 2006 reached its capacity of 300, it was moved to the larger venue at UTC. She said the festival is held in the off-years of the Conference on Southern Literature, which is a much larger event.
Chattanooga's Arts & Education Council organizes the event, of which UTC is a major sponsor. The March 29 workshops will be held in the UC.
Verbie Prevost, head of the English department, is a member of the planning committee for the festival.
"One of the reasons I wanted to have it on campus was to allow students the opportunity to attend," Prevost said. "I am grateful to the chancellor's office for providing the support to make UTC a sponsor."
According to Prevost, for UTC students to be able to attend the Saturday portion of the festival at UTC for free, they must pre-register with her in the English office by March 24.
The guest writers speaking at the Festival include novelist Allen Wier, playwright Katori Hall, fiction author Randall Kenan, memoirist John Sedgwick, fiction and essay writer Lolly Winston, screenwriter William Akers and freelance journalists Sean Price, Nancy H. Wurst and Nancy Hatch Woodward.
"We are trying to cover the whole range as much as possible," Prevost said. "The sessions will be jam-packed with information and opportunities to learn about writing in the different areas."
Patrick Noland, a Memphis freshman, said he is impressed by the wide variety of writing styles.
"I think it's great you don't have a set schedule," Noland said. "I like how you are able to choose workshops that cater to your preference in writing."
The normal cost of registration is $125 for the workshops on Saturday without the free UTC pre-registration. Friday's keynote dinner at the Read House is $65, and the keynote speaker at the dinner will be award-winning short story writer Ben Fountain. Arts & Education Council members receive a discount on their registration fees as well.
According to Laurel Eldridge, Arts & Education Council program director, the registration limit is 300. She said since the previous festival in 2006 reached its capacity of 300, it was moved to the larger venue at UTC. She said the festival is held in the off-years of the Conference on Southern Literature, which is a much larger event.
