News & Events Archive

VWC 2011 Annual Meeting
The Virginia Writers Club is pleased to announce that our 2011 Annual Meeting will be held Saturday, November 5 at the Commonwealth Room in Richmond Virginia, from 10:30 am - 3:00 pm. Details below.

Schedule

9:30 Volunteers & Members selling books arrive.

10:30 - 11:45 Meet & Greet - Sign In, Raffle Ticket Sales, Member Book Sales, Cash Bar

11:45 - 1:00 Business Lunch with Cash Bar - Welcome & Opening Remarks Invocation & Luncheon Contest & Membership Awards Elections & Other Business

1:00 - 2:00 Speaker - Joanna Catherine Scott

2:00 - 2:15 Raffle Drawings-winners announced

2:15 - 3:00 Guest Speaker Book Signing & Member Book Sales

Guest Speaker
Joanne Catherine Scott is the author of the novels Child of the South; The Road from Chapel Hill; Cassandra, Lost; The Lucky Gourd Shop; and Charlie, the nonfiction Indochina's Refugees: Oral Histories from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam; and the prizewinning poetry collections Breakfast at the Shangri-la, Fainting at the Uffizi, and Night Huntress. A Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow, Scott is a graduate of Adelaide and Duke Universities and lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Luncheon
Our meeting luncheon includes a garden salad, biscuits, tea, coffee, water, and a finishing scoop of the Commonwealth Club's signature rum raisin ice cream.

Entree choices include:

Chicken Cordon Bleu - Country Ham, Swiss Cheese, Vegetable Medley, Parmesan Cream
Grilled Hanger Steak - Blistered Cherry Tomatoes and Arugula Orzo, Caramelized Onions, Charred Corn Relish, Shaved Parmesan
(Vegetarian) Wild Mushroom Raviolis - Asparagus, Spinach, Blistered Tomatoes, Light Parmesan Cream

Registration forms and directions to the Commonwealth Room can be found here. The registration deadline is October 25!

VWC at Fall for the Book 2011
Dianne Hennessy King has secured a spot for a panel of VWC authors at Fall For The Book - Northern Virginia's oldest and largest weeklong celebration of literature and the arts. The panel comprised of Sofia Starnes, Clifford Garstang, Jack Trammel and Austin Camacho will read from their works at George Mason University Wednesday, September 21.

Prior to Dianne's involvement, Sarah Collins Honenberger was by-name invited to participate as a panelist in a Youth/Young Adult session on opening day September 18 in Arlington.

For more information on these and other Fall For The Book events, check out the website at: http://fallforthebook.org.

Pleae note!
Because of the inclement weather ahead, all Fall for the Book events (including the VWC panel) scheduled for the Sandy Spring Bank Tent throughout the balance of the festival have now been moved to Dewberry Hall North, inside the Johnson Center. Fall for the Book's information booth, however, will continue to be staffed at the Sandy Spring Bank Tent, and representatives there will provide visitors with directions and updates on any further changes.

August Symposium a success
The Virginia Writers Club’s writer’s symposium last weekend on Piedmont Virginia Community College was a spectacular success, according to everyone who attended. The Dickinson Fine and Performing Arts Center was a perfect setting to put authors in the proper mindset. Sessions from the likes of John Gilstrap, Brad Parks and Sarah Collins Honenberger received rave reviews. While presentations on how to improve your craft were popular, the panel on marketing was also lively and well attended.

Some attendees said the chance to network while enjoying lunch together was also a highpoint of the event. But of course nothing topped the inspiring, informative and downright funny keynote address delivered by the master of suspense, Jeffrey Deaver. His presentation brought the crowd to its feet - to march to his table and get signed copies of his newest novel.

Attendees seemed to agree that it was a day of valuable input from excellent speakers, and that they were already looking forward to a similar event next year.

Old Bridge Observer interviews President Forte
Local newspaper The Old Bridge Observer interviewed VWC President June Forte about VWC members and the future of the club. More... [pdf 962k]

VWC Board of Governors Meeting & Afternoon Program for Members & Guests

Saturday, May 7, 2011 at the Richmond Public Library, Richmond, VA
101 East Franklin St. | Richmond, VA 23219

10:30 AM - 1:00 PM Business Meeting & Working Lunch

1:30 - 3:00 PM Afternoon Program (Open to the Public):
Big Reveal of the "Members Only" Portal to the VWC Website
Matt Iden, VWC Webmaster

Eerie Digest interviews VWC members

The online magazine Eerie Digest recently interviewed three VWC members: Diane Scott Lewis, John Gilstrap, and Jim Gaines.

Diane Scott Lewis talks about her most recent novel The False Light and writing historical fiction.

Eerie Digest asks John Gilstrap about his life as a writer.

Former VWC president Jim Gaines talks about his writing, poetry, and a part of France that inspired a short story.

Spring Shorts Contest

The Virginia Writers Club has announced the inception of a new contest: the Spring Shorts contest. Please read the guidelines listed on our Contests page for more information. Please note: Only members of the statewide Virginia Writers Club who have paid their membership dues for 2011 may enter the contest.

Entries will be accepted from January 2 through March 30, 2011.

Virginia Festival of the Book, March 16-20

The Virginia Festival of the Book is taking place in and around Charlottesville, VA from March 16-20. Take the opportunity to to meet and listen to some of today's great writers, including several from the VWC.

Of special note is the event "Writing Beyond the Anthology: The Blue Ridge Anthology 2011" held Wednesday, March 16 at 6:00 p.m. Members of the Blue Ridge chapter will be reading from discussing this year's anthology.

Learn more about the Festival at http://www.vabook.org/index.html.

VWC Board of Governors Meeting

Saturday, February 5 | 10:00am - 2:30pm

This event is open to the public.

Location
University of Mary Washington, 137 Combs Hall, Fredericksburg, VA

Agenda

9:30 - 10:00 AM Coffee

10:00 AM Board of Governors Meeting

12:00 Noon Boxed Lunch (registration & payment required in advance, cost $10 by Jan 21). Details below.

1:00 PM Program - "Writing the Young Adult Novel"
Speaker: Steve Watkins, author of DOWN SAND MOUNTAIN

Lunch Reservation
Deadline - JANUARY 21

Box lunches available at $10.00 each: chicken, turkey, ham, beef, or veggie, including drink and dessert. Order by email from Jim Gaines (jimgaines3@earthlink.net) by Jan. 21. Remit check to

17 North Pointe Dr.
Frederickburg VA 22405

or pay at the meeting.

Speaker - Steve Watkins

Steve Watkins is the author of DOWN SAND MOUNTAIN (read more about the novel here), a young adult novel published in October 2008 by Candlewick Press, and winner of the Golden Kite Award for Fiction from the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Another young adult novel, WHAT COMES AFTER, will be published in hardback and audio by Candlewick in April of this year, along with audio and paperback editions of DOWN SAND MOUNTAIN. A third YA novel, JUVIE, is forthcoming from Candlewick in spring 2013.

Steve Watkins is also author of a short story collection, MY CHAOS THEORY (2006, Southern Methodist University Press), which was a finalist for the Paterson Fiction Prize, and an Honorable Mention for the Library of Virginia Fiction Award. He also wrote the award-winning non-fiction book THE BLACK O: RACISM AND REDEMPTION IN AN AMERICAN CORPORATE EMPIRE, published in 1997 by the University of Georgia Press, which tells the story of the largest employment discrimination class action lawsuit in U.S. history. His fiction, poetry, and non-fiction articles have appeared in numerous publications, including The Nation, Poets & Writers, Mississippi Review, 100 Percent Pure Florida Fiction, North American Review, and The Pushcart Prize Anthology.

A graduate of Florida State University, he teaches journalism, creative writing, and Vietnam War literature at the University of Mary Washington. He also teaches Ashtanga yoga, and works as an investigator and advocate for abused and neglected children through the child advocacy organization CASA. He lives in Fredericksburg, Virginia with his wife Janet, is the father of four daughters-Maggie, Eva, Claire, and Lili--and serves as co-director with Janet of the religious education program at the Fredericksburg Unitarian Universalist Church.

2011 Golden Nib contest

The 2011 Golden Nib writing contest is officially open. Accepted categories are fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, with cash prizes for first, second, and third place finishers. The statewide deadline is September 3, but please check your local chapter for their deadline and rules. Download rules here [pdf file | 126k] and good luck!

2010 Annual Meeting

The 2010 Annual Meeting of the Virginia Writers Club was a resounding success. Over 70 members, guests, and speakers attended the event, held at the historic Mount Vernon Inn in Alexandria, VA November 13, 2010. The keynote speaker was New York Times bestelling author, John Gilstrap.

The Golden Nib

The Golden Nib is the Virginia Writers Club annual writing competition in three categories: fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Winners must be a member in good-standing of a VWC chapter as well as a member of the state organization. Each chapter submits one representative in each category to the state finals, where first, second, and third place winners are announced at the annual meeting (usually held in November).

Winning entries are published electronically in our Golden Nib Anthology, listed below (please note all anthologies are .pdf files and require a .pdf reader, such as Adobe Acrobat). Rules for the 2011 Golden Nib contest can be downloaded here [pdf file | 126k].

Golden Nib Anthology 2010 [pdf file | 178k] (winners below)

Golden Nib Anthology 2009 [pdf file | 160k]

Golden Nib Anthology 2008 [pdf file | 165k]

Winners of the 2010 Golden Nib were:

Nonfiction

1st place ($100) "The Game"
Elizabeth Morelli, Richmond, VA

2nd place ($50) "Way Off Broadway"
Donna Knox, Roanoke, VA

3rd place ($25) "Rescue Dog"
Linda Morefield, Alexandria, VA

Fiction

1st place ($100) "Promises to Keep"
Frank Milligan, Williamsburg, VA

2nd place ($50) "Musing (With Lemons)"
Becky Mushko, Penhook, VA

3rd place ($25) "Used To Be Famous"
Jody Hobbs Hesler, Charlottesville, VA

Poetry

1st place ($100) "Late Garden Days"
Judith Grissmer

2nd place ($50) "Fred, Your Guardian Angel, For Billy In Afghanistan"
Mary Duley Guy, Lancaster, VA

3rd place ($25) "Troublesome Creek '93"
Melanie Lynn Moro-Huber, Vinton, VA