After the first wave in the 1970’s which coincided with the Black Power and Black Arts Movements, Afrofuturism has experienced a second wave in the 21st century with the advent of new literature, hip hop music, television, comics, and film. The pinnacle of this second wave of Afrofuturism has been the meteoric rise of the 2018 … Read more
Can Othello be a woman? Can Ophelia be a man? Why not? Deep shifts in thinking about sex, gender identity and expression, and sexuality have occurred since the turn of the millennium, and correspondingly in casting, directing, and acting decisions in Shakespearean performance. Both major and regional productions reflect shifts in how gender changes are … Read more
Since even before America became an independent country, novelists have used their storytelling skills to help us understand our system of governance and our relationships with one another—sometimes with humor, sometimes with irony. Political novels have advocated causes or ideas, have recorded successes and issued warnings. They have revealed our flaws and trumpeted our strengths. … Read more
More than just knowing you could have said it better, reading like a writer means understanding what the writer meant to do in a given passage. There are specific choices writers make in character, scene, and plot. This workshop is for avid readers who want to adopt a fresh approach, book club members looking for … Read more
This presentation focuses on Oral History and its value to a community. Dr. Williams will share stories from two projects which he directed: the Appalachian Oral History Project and the Great Smoky Mountains Project. In the late 1970s Dr. Williams was one of the campus directors for an oral history project which covered four states … Read more
Learning to re-vise or “see again” is the most important skill in creative writing. This workshop addresses the challenges of revision from the shortest flash fiction to a complete novel. This session provides basic principles of revision and practical tools for approaching the work. Attendees will learn how to evaluate their pacing, language, and characters … Read more
This storytelling workshop presents the vocabulary for writers crafting short stories and novels. Who is the story about? What do they want? In exploration of genre expectations, seven basic plots, and the expected paths characters will follow, this workshop helps novice (and experience) writers name the structural elements of stories. The scaffolding of craft is … Read more
Immigration has been a controversial topic for many years, some would say forever, here and abroad. Having studied the Greek immigrants in his own family for his memoir, Because Memory Isn’t Eternal, and having talked to readers about their families, Deno Trakas will share his fascination with and understanding of the triumphs and travails of immigration … Read more
Having studied at USC with Matthew Bruccoli, the preeminent F. Scott Fitzgerald scholar in the world, Deno Trakas began his teaching career by designing a course on Fitzgerald, which became the most popular class he taught at Wofford. He was ever amazed by how the novel resonated with young adults a hundred years after its … Read more
The key scenes in the novel that launched Hemingway’s career take place in Pamplona, Spain, which is world famous for the running of the bulls every morning of the week-long Fiesta of San Fermin. As a devoted fan who had taught The Sun Also Rises for twenty years, Deno Trakas went to Pamplona to run with the … Read more
The writer Lisa Cron has said that stories are more important to human evolution than the opposable thumb–the thumb helps us to hang on; stories tell us what to hang on to. Deno Trakas will read selections from several compelling contemporary stories and discuss the essential element of conflict and its importance for readers and … Read more
Novelist Sterling Watson calls my book “a taut page-turner about love and death on the dark side of international education” featuring a “forbidden affair of an American professor and his sultry Iranian student, the Hitchcockian suspense of men and women on the run for their lives in the world’s most dangerous places, and a cast … Read more
In this program, Dr. Tolson discusses the diverse children’s literature that should be included in every library, classroom, and home. She explains the movement of diversity in the field of publishing children’s literature and the authors and illustrators that have made a powerful change.
This presentation begins with late 19th century Negro children’s literature to the evolution of the present-day Black children’s literature and features a colorful Power Point.
In her autobiography, One Writer’s Beginnings, Eudora Welty states, “Writers and travelers are mesmerized alike by knowing of their destinations.” She argues that like travelers, writers are preoccupied with discovering sequence in experience, of stumbling upon cause and effect in the happenings of a writer’s own life as well as in the lives of others. Connections slowly emerge. “Like distant … Read more
This class is divided between lecture/discussion and writing exercises, and it is designed to help writers shape family stories into fictional or nonfictional narratives. We will discuss the best ways to identify “family legends” that make the richest material for written stories, novels, and essays. By reading excerpts from the work of published authors, we’ll examine several … Read more
In her autobiographical essay, “A Sketch From the Past,” memoirist and fiction writer Virginia Woolf explains that narrative is encoded in objects, particularly every day objects and places from our childhood. She maintains that these “moments” often go unrecognized, and that it is our job as writers to identify and consciously shape these experiences into stories. This … Read more
In this workshop we will discuss ways that writers use natural landscapes to form characters, to create rhythm and structure, and to communicate themes in their writing. You don’t need to be an expert in the natural sciences to enjoy and benefit from this workshop. We will practice writing exercises designed to help you hone … Read more
This is a Christmas season comedy based on Ebenezer Scrooge from the Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol. The stage performance features Donald Sweeper acting the part of Scrooge as if he is speaking in the Gullah Language.
(K-12 OR Adults)In this delicious workshop, poet and educator Kimberly Simms will lead attendees in writing their own “recipe” style poems. Attendees will also discuss several sample poems to help them explore ideas about food and life. The workshop includes a structured poetic form and a craft lesson so that writers of any level can … Read more
(K-12 OR Adults)In this workshop, poet and educator Kimberly Simms will lead attendees in writing monologue style poems in the voice of a favorite literary character or historical figure. This workshop works particularly well when exploring a pre-chosen work of fiction or historical figure as part of a larger celebration, conference, or unit. The workshop … Read more
(Adults)After a disaster, communities find comfort in poems that speak to their sense of loss. Whether dealing with personal grief or processing a disaster, individuals can be overwhelmed with emotions. Yet a special type of healing comes from reading and hearing words that echo your own complex feelings. In this reading and discussion, poet Kimberly … Read more
Enjoy the fascinating back story of the Winnie the Pooh books and how they came to be written. How a Canadian army officer found a baby bear in his home town of Winnipeg (hence the name Winnie), took him to London as his army unit’s mascot, donated him to the London Zoo where a young visitor named … Read more
Before walking out as SC Wildlife‘s managing editor to freelance, Tom made a road trip with photographer Robert Clark in search of a story. They found it and “Tenant Homes, Testament To Hard Times,” landed them a book contract. That book led to four others. Their initial 100-mile journey in time would lead to more than … Read more
In 1999, Warbranch Press published The Little Chairs, a story based on real life experience in Kate’s family. Kate’s father, a WWII veteran, was chronically depressed and would retreat to a dark corner when he didn’t feel like participating in family activities. The book shows in vivid colors and narrative how Kate’s mother eventually got her … Read more
Kate has written four picture books about our state’s history: Palmetto – Symbol of Courage, about the famous Revolutionary War battle that inspired the color and symbols on our beautiful state flag; Francis Marion and the Legend of the Swamp Fox, the story of South Carolina’s most famous Revolutionary War hero; Almost Invisible – Black Patriots of the … Read more
Jane Austen is all about numbers: how much per year is someone worth; how many suitors does a woman have; how many possible heirs might someone produce? These questions are not just for her female characters, as who you choose to marry in early 19th century England (as most places in most times) will affect the … Read more
The expression “The Bard” does Shakespeare and playgoers a huge disservice. The guy with the ruff and the beard is “too highbrow,” “out of touch,” and “stuffy.” Sometimes, however, Shakespeare is raunchy, extraordinarily violent, and witty, as reflected in numerous phrases and concepts in our language. This session will explore some of the lesser produced … Read more
Many of our contemporary notions of Heaven, Hell, and Eden come not just from the Bible, but from John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Milton did not contradict anything in Genesis, but built from centuries of interpretation and synthesis to create the most powerful images in English literature. He is also not, contrary to popular opinion, misogynistic or … Read more
The 1920s and 30s were the highlight decades of the British “cozy”: the relatively bloodless type of murder mystery that one can read curled by up by the fireplace with a strong cup of tea. This talk will trace the development of the genre of British detective fiction from its antecedents such as Wilke Collins … Read more
