INFORMATION FOR
Francine Prose, the bestselling and award-winning author and former president of the PEN American Center, will appear as special guest at William Paterson University’s annual Spring Writer’s Conference on Saturday, April 9. The event will be held from 9:15 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. in the Atrium Auditorium on campus. The event is sponsored by the University’s English Department.
Exploring the theme “Life and Death,” the conference will feature morning and afternoon workshops. The sessions will be led by William Paterson faculty members and distinguished writers and editors of verse and prose. Concurrent panels will address topics such as writing from life, getting your work in print, screenwriting, grant writing, poetry, playwriting, mood and character in fiction, and creative non-fiction. The conference fee is $55; $44 for William Paterson University alumni; $33 for registered William Paterson graduate students; and $22 for registered William Paterson University undergraduate students. The fee includes a light breakfast and full buffet lunch. Late registration fee is $66 (after April 7).
A creative writing contest is offered this year with a $300 prize awarded to the best manuscript received by March 7. Poetry, fiction or creative non-fiction submissions are all eligible. The entry fee for the contest is included in the conference registration fee. The contest will be judged by William Paterson English department faculty members.
Prose, currently a visiting professor of literature at Bard College, has taught at Harvard, Sarah Lawrence, the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, the University of Arizona, The University of Utah, Bread Loaf and Sewanee Writers Conferences. She is a former president of the PEN American Center, an organization dedicated to the opposition of censorship and the defense of writers. Prose is the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Fulbright Fellowship to the former Yugoslavia, two National Endowment for the Arts grants, a PEN translation prize and the first Dayton Literary Peace Prize in fiction. Her novels include A Changed Man, Household Saints, The Glorious Ones, Blue Angel, The Lives of the Muses: Nine Women and the Artists They Inspired, Reading Like a Writer, and her most recent work, Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife.
The conference offers professional development hours for New Jersey educators. John Parras, William Paterson professor of English, is the coordinator of the conference. For additional information, contact Parras at 973-720-3067 or check the conference website at http://euphrates.wpunj.edu/writersconference.
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