Writers Conference of Northern Appalachia (WCONA)

We are so excited that you have decided to attend our FREE
2020 Virtual Writers Conference of Northern Appalachia
made possible by the generosity of our presenters.
To reserve your seat, please fill out the information below.

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Friday, September 11, 2020

8:00 PM-9:00 PM EST: WCONA LIVE! Reading Series presents writers from the inaugural issue of the Northern Appalachia Review. *

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Saturday, September 12, 2020

10:00-10:50 AM EST: WRITERS CRAFT (Choose ONE.) * 🛈

Sharon Flake--Sharon G. Flake first exploded onto the literary scene with her internationally acclaimed novel, The Skin I’m In. Since then, she has become a bestselling author and multiple Coretta Scott King Honor Award winner, as well as an NAACP Image Award nominee. Ms. Flake’s many novels include Pinned, Money Hungry, Unstoppable Octobia May, Bang!, Who Am I Without Him?, and You Don’t Even Know Me. Her books have received multiple ALA Notable and Best Books for Young Adults citations from the American Library Association and have been hailed among the “100 Books Every Teenage Girl Should Read.” She lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Kathleen Shoop--Bestselling author Kathleen Shoop holds a PhD in reading education and has more than 20 years of experience in the classroom. Her third novel, Love and Other Subjects, earned a Silver medal in the Independent Publisher Book Awards and received an Honorable Mention from the San Francisco Book Festival. Her second novel, After the Fog (Silver IPPY), was a category finalist in the 2013 Eric Hoffer Book Awards. Her debut novel, The Last Letter, is a multiple award-winner, including a Gold Medal in the Independent Publisher Book Awards.

Patricia Jabbeh Wesley--Dr. Patricia Jabbeh Wesley is a Liberian civil war survivor who immigrated to the United States with her family in 1991. She is the author of five books of poetry: When the Wanderers Come Home, (University of Nebraska Press, 2016), Where the Road Turns (Autumn House Press, 2010), The River is Rising (Autumn House Press, 2007), Becoming Ebony, (Southern Illinois University Press, 2003) and Before the Palm Could Bloom: Poems of Africa (New Issues Press, 1998). Her newest book of poems, “Praise Song for My Children: New and Selected Poems” is forthcoming from Autumn House Press in Feb. 2020.

I cannot attend the Writers Craft session.

11:00-11:50 PM EST: EDITORS PANEL featuring Shelia-na-Gig, The Fourth River, Belt Magazine, The Watershed Journal *

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NOON-12:50 PM EST: LIVE Music with Susan Powers. Sue Powers grew up outside of Pittsburgh in a family with deep roots in the musical landscape of Western Pennsylvania. Powers is a founding member of the group Devilish Merry, where she pioneered the use of the five-string banjo in Celtic music. The group has released three recordings featuring her playing, singing and song writing. She will play live for us during the lunch hour. *

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1:00-1:50 PM EST: WRITERS WORKSHOP (Choose ONE.) * 🛈

Jacob Strautman--Jacob Strautman was the managing director of Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, the home of the MFA in Playwriting at Boston’s University, for nearly 20 years. He worked with new and established playwrights in the classroom and the professional stage at all levels of play development. He is a also the recipient of the Massachusetts Poetry Fellowship from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. His poems have appeared in the Boston Globe, Agni Magazine, Salamander Magazine, Southern Humanities Review, Blackbird, and others. His short plays have appeared at the Boston Theater Marathon and the Bridge Theatre. He is the Department Manager of Economics at Boston University, where he continues to teach undergraduate playwriting. His debut book of poems The Land of the Dead Is Open for Business was released this past spring from Four Way Books. He lives in Belmont, MA with his partner Valerie Duff and their two children.

Marc Harshman--Marc Harshman’s collection of poems, WOMAN IN RED ANORAK, won the 2017 Blue Lynx Prize and was published by Lynx House/University of Washington Press. His fourteenth children’s book, FALLINGWATER, co-written with Anna Smucker, was published by Roaring Brook/Macmillan in 2017. His poetry collection, BELIEVE WHAT YOU CAN, was published in 2016 by West Virginia University Press and won the Weatherford Award from the Appalachian Studies Association. Periodical publications include The Chariton Review, Salamander, Gargoyle, Shenandoah, and Poetry Salzburg Review. Poems have been anthologized by Kent State University, the University of Iowa, University of Georgia, and the University of Arizona. He has just been named co-winner of the 2019 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award and been chosen as an Honorable Mention for the Robinson Jeffers Tor House Poetry Prize by Brenda Hillman. Appointed in 2012, he is the seventh poet laureate of West Virginia.

Gerry LaFemina--Gerry LaFemina is a poet, fiction writer, and essayist; his latest books are the poetry collection The Story of Ash (Anhinga, 2018) and a new volume of prose poems, Baby Steps for Doomsday Prepping (Madville, 2020). His critical and creative essays have appeared in numerous journals and magazines. A noted literary arts activist who has served on the Board of Directors of the AWP and edited numerous literary journals and anthologies, LaFemina is the former director of the Center for Literary Arts at Frostburg State University, where he is a Professor of English, serves as a Poetry Mentor in the MFA Program at Carlow University and is a current Fulbright Specialist in Writing, Literature, and American Culture.

Bonnie Proudfoot--Bonnie Proudfoot moved to Athens, OH, from Fairmont, WV. She has Creative Writing MA from Hollins and one from WVU. She received a Fellowship for the Arts from the West Virginia Department of Culture and History, and has published poetry and fiction in many journals, including the Gettysburg Review, Kestrel, Quarter After Eight, the Lyric, and Sheila-Na-Gig. Her first novel, Goshen Road, was published by Swallow Press in January of 2020.

I cannot attend the Writers Workshop session.

2:00 -2:50 PM EST: PLATFORM BUILDING with the White Whale, The Tiny Bookstore, WCONA LIVE!, and Amy Jo Burns. *

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3:00-4:00 PM: OPEN MIC. Open to all registered conference attendees, we will end this year's conference by sharing our work with each other and the world. If you select this option, you will be sent a link to a sign-up sheet about a week before the conference date. **Please note that this event will be live streamed over Facebook and YouTube to anyone who decides to watch, so be prepared to read your best work.** *

I want to sign-up to read at Open Mic.

No thank you, but I plan to tune in.

I cannot attend Open Mic.

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