Writers will share helpful tips at workshop

From character creation to effective editing, writers of all levels can learn more about their craft at this year's Writers' Workshop at Isothermal Community College.

The 15-year-old event will be held on Saturday, April 13, from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Business Sciences Building.

The workshop's featured writers are Valerie Nieman and Kevin Rippin. The topics will include "Creating Complex Characters," "The Plural I Is Your Friend," and "Writers Editing Writers."

Registration will cost $25 and will include snacks, coffee and tea. A full lunch is not provided, but participants may bring their own. The deadline to register is Monday, April 8.

Valerie Nieman's latest poetry collection, Leopard Lady: A Life in Verse, is set in a mid-century carnival and features work that has appeared in The Missouri Review, Chautauqua, and other journals. Her fourth novel, To the Bones, a genre-bending satire of the coal industry and its effects on Appalachia, is a spring 2019 title from WVU Press. Her writing has appeared in numerous anthologies, including Eyes Glowing at the Edge of the Woods and Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology. She has held state and NEA creative writing fellowships. Visit her at www.valnieman.com

Kevin Rippin earned an MA in writing from the University of Pittsburgh. He currently teaches writing and literature as a full-time lecturer at NC A&T University, in Greensboro, NC. Amber Drive, a full-length poetry collection, was published by Main Street Rag Press earlier this year. Rippin previously published a chapbook (One Shuddering Tremolo) as well as articles, reviews and poetry in magazines and literary journals, including Southern Poetry Review, Prime Number, Poetry East and Pittsburgh Quarterly.

For more information or to register, contact Dr. Kathy Ackerman, Isothermal's dean of Arts and Sciences, at kackerman@isothermal.edu or call 828-395-1301.