MFA Residency Public Lecture and Reading Schedule for Saturday, July 6th

All lectures will be in Canon Lounge, Gladfelter or Upper Fellowship Hall, as noted below, on the WWC campus. For more information, call the MFA Office at Warren Wilson College: (828) 771-3715. The schedule is subject to change. Please check www.friendsofwriters.org for updates.

Saturday, July 6th  

9:30 AM Canon Lounge

NINA McCONIGLEY ~  The Sound of Silence: Writing Silences

           We are all storytellers. We tell stories every day on social media and email and in our writing – in our poems and stories. But sometimes the story is in what is unsaid. In silence, in the absence of sound, in white space and with what is unspoken, there is meaning.  

            Silent treatment, a moment of silence, a vow of silence:  silence comes in many forms. Is to be silent to fail or neglect to communicate? As writers, there are so many silences we experience. There are so many ways in which silences occur. Audre Lorde famously said, “Your silence will not protect you.” And conversely, Susan Sontag said, “Silence represents everything that could be said.”  So which is it? – a presence or absence?

            As writers, we have many questions that pair with silence: what will happen if I am not silent? If I write this? What are the voices we employ? What is left unsaid by characters? We will look at breaking our own silences. And the silences that happen unintentionally – from silencing of a person based on race or gender to not writing certain things. 

8:15 PM Canon Lounge

FACULTY READINGS by 

Robert Boswell

Christopher Castellani

T. Geronimo Johnson

Rodney Jones

Christine Kitano

The public is welcome to attend the morning lectures and evening readings in fiction and poetry offered during the Master of Fine Arts Program summer residency.  Events last approximately one hour. Admission is free. The schedule is subject to change. 

For more information, call the MFA Office: (828) 771-371