Methodist University Southern Writers Symposium

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The 23rd Southern Writers Symposium:
March 2, 2013

Spoken Word Poet Dasan Ahanu will lead a workshop.

Created in 1982, the Methodist University Southern Writers Symposium is designed to encourage scholarship on southern literature and culture, as well as to celebrate the writings of contemporary southern authors.

The next Symposium will be held on March 2, 2013. Guidelines for the Emerging Writers Contest and the Sandhills Young Writers Contest are posted below, and additional information will be posted as it becomes available.

For more information, contact Brenda Jernigan at (910) 630-7454 or

The 23rd Southern Writers Symposium Emerging Writers Contests

2013 Emerging Writers Contest Guidelines
2013 Sandhills Young Writers Contest Guidelines (Deadline extended to Feb. 7!)
Submit to the Southern Writers Symposium

2013 Southern Writers Symposium Emerging Writers Contest

Lucinda Blumenfeld, president of Lucinda Literary,a marketing and literary agency providing public relations and representation for authors, will speak on using online resources to promote your work and build an online presence.

To our finalists: thank you all for sharing your work with us. The judges felt that all your work was strong and award-worthy, so we are quite pleased to announce our winners:

Fiction Writers

First Place: "Walking Suzi" by Ellis Anderson
Second Place: "Someone To Calm Me" by Laura Steadham Smith
Third Place: "Libration" by Jenni Moody

Poetry Writers

First Place: "Woodshed" by Marty Silverthorne
Second Place: "Nightsweats" by Jen Karetnick
Third Place: "Of Barbecue and Blood" by Allyson Whipple

Howard Owen is the author of ten novels, including Oregon Hill. Owen, an award-winning writer, was born in Fayetteville, NC. He graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a journalism degree and earned a master's degree in English from Virginia Commonwealth University. He lives in Fredericksburg and is an editor for The Free-Lance Star. He published his first novel in 1992, and that original novel, Littlejohn, has been translated into three languages, received numerous awards, and was a Doubleday Book Club selection. In addition, the novel was released in both audio and large-print editions, and the movie rights were purchased. In 2002, he received the Theresa Pollack Award for Words. Owen writes every day, and he is busy writing his next novel, a sequel to Oregon Hill, to be published in July of 2013.