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Creative Writing at Carolina: Extracurriculars

The Creative Writing Program is more than just a list of requirements or a roster of faculty and graduates. It is in fact a community, a gathering of people who take serious pleasure in writing. The creative writers at Carolina enjoy one another's company in and out of the classroom; there are a number of extracurricular activities that give them a chance to be recognized for their achievements, work on literary publications, and interact with writers from beyond the campus. These include:

Prizes

Currently, there are five major literary prizes for juniors and seniors at Carolina: the Robert B. House Memorial Prize in Poetry; the Louis D. Rubin, Jr., Prize in Fiction; the Max Steele Award for Fiction; the George B. Wynne Award for Poetry; and the Doris Smith Williams Prize in Poetry, administered by the Academy of American Poets. Each comes with a cash award.

Publications

Students interested in first-hand experience with literary editing and publishing often work on the editorial staff of the Cellar Door (UNC's undergraduate literary magazine) or the Carolina Quarterly (a journal of national and international scope, published in the Department of English). Others more interested in journalistic experience sometimes work for The Daily Tar Heel, which has been the University's daily newspaper for over a century. There are many other on-campus publications looking for readers and writers, and Chapel Hill has always had a lively off-campus magazine scene, from Contempo in the 1930s to Lillabulero in the 1960s to the zines of the 90s.

Readings

The Morgan Family Writer-in-Residence Program. Established in 1993 by Allen and Musette Morgan, graduates of the University, this program brings noted writers to campus to visit courses, meet with students and faculty, and give public readings, lectures, or symposia. Distinguished guests fo far have included Shelby Foote, Annie Dillard, and Beth Henley.

The Second Sunday Reading Series. Organized and moderated by Doris Betts (and more recently moderated by Michael McFee), this series brings leading North Carolina writers to read in Wilson Library on the second Sunday of every month during the academic year. Among the dozens of readers to date are Clyde Edgerton, Lee Smith, Kaye Gibbons, Reynolds Price, and many of the Creative Writing faculty.

The Blanche Armfield Poetry Series. Endowed by Miss Armfield, a 1928 alumna of the University, this annual reading brings a prominent American poet to the English Department every spring for a reading. Recent readers have included Charles Wright and Kathryn Stripling Byer.

In addition, there are many other readings by visiting writers to the department, the University, and the Chapel Hill/Durham/Raleigh area. Czeslaw Milosz, Seamus Heaney, Maya Angelou, Eudora Welty, William Styron, and Joyce Carol Oates have all given public readings in the past few years. And there are regular student readings (the "Youth Angst Society") at the Bull's Head Bookshop on campus, as well as various open-mike opportunities in town.


Some writers know their calling from an early age; others are surprised by it later in life, for various reasons -- an inspiring teacher planting the literary seed; a well-written story or poem, which may lead to others; an unexpected publication, which may also lead to others; a lucky confluence of many factors, including ability, timing, and sheer determination and persistence.

That's how Creative Writing at Carolina has grown. Thanks to the rich literary tradition of Chapel Hill, which prepared the soil, and to the extraordinary caliber of faculty and students over the years, the program -- from modest beginnings -- has not merely gotten bigger. It has flourished, and produced a marvelous harvest of writers and writing. In the fall semester of 1995, for example, approximately 250 students were enrolled in fifteen classes; five of its alumni were named to the list of "Best American Writers under Forty Years Old" compiled by the prestigious British literary magazine Granata; its faculty won fellowships and chaired professorships, and gave readings and participated in conferences and festivals all over the country.

Such excellecne is hard-won but hard to sustain. Though the future of Creative Writing seems promising, we continue to rely on financial support from beyond the Department of English and UNC-Chapel Hill. We would like to establish an endowment to keep improving the program, to make possible (for example) student scholarships and internships, publication of prize-winning student work, new courses, visiting writers and speakers, and various special events.


Maintained by Daryl L. Houston