We look forward to seeing you on June 4 – 6, 2025.
&
Laurina Lyle,
Conference Director for Clarksville Arts and Heritage Council
A little bit of history about our story. Clarksville, Tennessee, was a pivotal center of the Southern Renaissance of the 1920s and ’30s. Writers of the era living in Clarksville included Robert Penn Warren, Evelyn Scott, Caroline Gordon and Allen Tate. Additional writers, including Thomas Mabry, Cleanth Brooks, Ford Madox Ford, Donald Davidson, Katherine Ann Porter, Robert Lowell, Andrew Lytle, Malcolm Cowley, Frances and Brainard Cheney and others gathered to write and discuss their work at “Benfolly,” Tate and Gordon’s home overlooking the banks of the Cumberland River. Their Clarksville home became a Mecca for writers of the Southern Renaissance, and from that site poured literature which enriched the American scene. In that great tradition, we offer you the Nineteenth Annual Clarksville Writers Conference.
Our founder, Patricia Winn
is the author of Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss (2019) and Graceland, at Last: Notes on Hope and Heartache From the American South (2021), and The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year, (2023), which won the 2024 Southern Book Prize. Her next book, Leaf, Cloud, Crow: A Weekly Backyard Journal (October 2024), is a companion to The Comfort of Crows that offers 52 writing prompts and plentiful advice for studying the natural world. Renkl is contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, where her essays appear each Monday. A graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Carolina, she lives in Nashville.
fine artist and illustrator of Margaret’ books will join her for a question and answer session.
Are you in search of an all-day creative writing experience with top-notch instructors? We have three workshops to choose from this year that will surely fulfill your pre-conference expectations.
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Space is limited to 12 participants per workshop
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Cost: $50, catered lunch included
Join author Andrew Buckley for “The Writer’s Odyssey” — a day-long workshop designed to enhance, upgrade, and supercharge your wordsmith skills. This comprehensive experience covers everything from creative warm-ups and character creation techniques to interactive group writing sessions, plot development, dialogue writing, and peer review & feedback. Throughout the day, you’ll dive deep into character development, dialogue, and plot structure. By the end of this immersive workshop, you’ll leave with improved skills, clear writing goals, and be thoroughly (and happily) exhausted. This workshop is perfect for both new and experienced writers seeking to elevate their craft.
There are plenty of resources available for the budding and experienced writer. Learn about these available seeds for your word gardens.
Author Shana Thornton will guide participants through a sensory writing exercise, during which writers can choose to create based on their experiences with not only sight and sound, but also with touch, taste, and fragrance. Shana will explore the concept of drafting manuscripts and offer help for getting through writer’s block and other drafting issues.
Culinary instructor and writer Anna Gall will teach participants how to write a poem from a recipe or article using the block-out technique as well as writing an ekphrastic poem from a choice of art presented. This workshop will provide a hands-on lesson on how to get the most flavor from lemons and herbs for delicious, moist tea bread. Come join the creative fun.
Each participant will leave with lemon-herb tea bread including a copy of the recipe, your own block-out and ekphrastic poems, submission resources, tools for drafting, and a copy of Shana’s writing prompt book, The Nudge Writing Prompts.
Renowned illustrator and 2025 Patricia Winn honoree, Billy Renkl is collaborating with printmaker and book artist, Cynthia Marsh to offer a hands-on collage and bookmaking workshop – The Collecting Journal. We will begin by identifying the unique purpose of your journal. What do you collect: ephemera, garden specimens, family memorabilia? Or perhaps you want to document a special day or an outstanding vacation.
As a group we will review the journal structure that will serve as a container for your collection. Collaging techniques will be demonstrated; the remainder of the morning will be spend using these techniques to create a personalized cover for your book. Following a short lunch break, you will construct the inside pages of the journal and attach them to the collaged covers. At this point you can place your collections within the book pages and present your completed Collection Journal to the group.
LIST OF WHAT TO BRING:
Scissors and/or X-acto knife with a cover (cover required)
A variety of brushes (medium quality, and best if new)
Plastic or bone folder
Emory boards
Collage material specific to the tone of your collection:
i.e. maps, wallpaper, old book pages, etc
Newsprint to use as a gluing surface
Some of your collection to place in your book
We’ve all heard the conventional advice to “write what you know.” But Bruff discovered, in the research and writing of her debut novel, that not knowing can be the secret sauce that drives discovery and description.
As newspapers and news sites increasingly turn to community submissions for content, the onus is on organizations to provide their own journalism, often turning to writers like you to take care of it for them. Here’s how to get your article published and noticed, along with some common pitfalls to avoid.
Why is it that we read some novels and might enjoy them, but a few weeks later can’t even recall the main character’s name while others like F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Daisy Buchanan, L.M. Montgomery’s Anne Shirley or Louise Penny’s Armand Gamache feel as real and memorable as our next-door neighbor—perhaps more so?
In this interactive workshop, we’ll explore the fictional characters that live on for us, and what makes them walk off the page. Participants will learn activities, tips and methods they might choose to use for creating more complex and believable characters. Also, looking at examples from classic and contemporary literature, we’ll learn together about specifics that acclaimed authors employ for continuing that journey we’re all on, taking our own characters from serviceable to unforgettable. Workshop participants will leave with handouts, fresh ideas and loads of encouragement
Readers familiar with dramatic monologues often associate persona with theater or poetry, but nonfiction authors also use masks to recreate narratives. We will consider how authors across genres present different faces of their subjects to shape authentic angles. We will also practice invoking and drafting real-life personae
“One person’s giggle is another person’s groan” – A literary agent shared this insight with me nearly two decades ago when I submitted my first novel (a work of satirical fiction). Although he loved the book, he confessed his apprehension about representing humor. This interactive presentation explores humor in its various forms, addresses the boundaries of political correctness, provides guidance on fearlessly writing humor, and emphasizes the importance of laughter in our daily lives.
Each of us has a story to tell, but Colonel Mauldin’s delves deeper as he reveals the soul of a soldier who struggled to make sense of his experiences during the Vietnam War. In this presentation, he will outline his writing process from beginning to end as he shares how to tell challenging and often untold stories that must be shared in order to honor the memories of fellow soldiers and leave a legacy for loved ones.
This workshop will focus on the myths and clichés perpetrated by television and movies regarding the FBI. Writers will learn how to avoid the common pitfalls of writing FBI characters. The discussion will give writers a peak into the daily life of an FBI agent focusing on the FBI undercover program, the role of the FBI plays in terrorism and human trafficking investigations, and the FBI’s approach to chasing serial killers.
Getting published is more competitive than ever, whether you’re trying to get an agent, waiting to sign that first deal, self-publishing, or a mix. Your website is your landing page for anyone who wants to know more about you, whether it’s an agent who is checking out your submission, or a reader wondering if you have more books. The options for marketing yourself as an author are limitless and can feel overwhelming, so let’s at least take the guesswork out of your website! Get some ideas on creating a website that will work with where you are now and grow with you as your career changes. Leave with a game plan to get started!
Writers will learn how to vet a literary agent and a publishing company while also exploring the format for a standard query letter and synopsis for submission purposes. This is an interactive powerpoint presentation.
Every writer must have a toolbox filled with methods to develop their ideas into completed stories or books. As a writer, it is important to have a set of tools at your disposal that can help you develop your ideas into polished and finished works. These tools not only aid in the writing process but also help in finding inspiration and staying motivated.
In this plenary session, our panelists will discuss some of these essential tools. By sharing their expertise, they aim to guide aspiring writers towards becoming successful published authors.
The world is full of self-help solutions to aid all manner of afflictions, except when it comes to being a writer. We all suffer the same problems: we question our career choices, invite procrastination, and are often crushed with paralyzing self-doubt. This 12-step self-help guide is designed to help writers get out of their own way, and empowers attendees to do what they do best—create!
Law enforcement personnel are an integral part of crime fiction. Their roles range from those enforcing the law at street level up to the upper echelons of command. This discussion will include: The psychological toll of being a law enforcement officer, how to write realistic law enforcement characters and crime scenes, writing about firearms, understanding jurisdiction, writing realistic fight scenes and turning your real-life experiences into fiction. It will also delve into the importance of research.
For visual artists, one of the best ways to unleash your creativity is to color outside the lines. What does that look like in writing? In this session, we’ll explore the benefits of surrealism in your writing, including some exercises to help you explore that direction, or at least to get your garden growing again.
In this interactive session, Brendalyn Carpenter Player draws from personal experience to explore how partnering with a writing coach can transform your writing journey from overwhelming to achievable. Participants will discover the critical ways a coach can guide their writing process, from maintaining momentum and receiving constructive feedback to navigating crucial publishing decisions. Whether you’re starting your first book or stuck in the middle of your manuscript, you’ll leave understanding how coaching can provide both the technical expertise and emotional support needed to turn your writing dreams into reality.
Action sequences always look amazing in the imagination, but many writers struggle with conveying those scenes effectively on the page. Whether your characters are making love or war, the general techniques are similar, whether you want the action to be clear as a bell or leave a little to the imagination.
Rather than the harsh environment of the Alps that incited a heroic vision of mankind for seventeenth-century Romantic poets, the Appalachian Mountains offer a counter illustration softened by the scope of geologic time. These worn ranges changed the scale for contemporary writers like Annie Dillard, Crystal Wilkinson, and Barbara Kingsolver whose works tender a more inclusive and broadly human relationship to awe.
Writers will focus on “fleshing out” characters in this step-by-step approach to character development. This fun, interactive workshop will feature a writing activity for the students.
Curate your writing practice and level up with the prompts, platforms, resources, and routines that work for you. We’ll explore prompts (they’re everywhere), journaling (maybe it’s not for everyone), writing through grief and trauma (or not), participating in writing groups or partnerships (not for the faint of heart), and other ways (so many!) to foster a rhythm of writing that works for you.
As newspapers and news sites increasingly turn to community submissions for content, the onus is on organizations to provide their own journalism, often turning to writers like you to take care of it for them. Here’s how to get your article published and noticed, along with some common pitfalls to avoid.
or contact
Laurina Lyle,
[email protected] | 931.206.0317
SHORT STORY SUBMISSION RULES INSTRUCTIONS:
> Submissions will be accepted from October 15, 2024, through March 15, 2025.
Presented by
Clarksville Arts and Heritage Development Council
Ellen Kanervo,
Executive Director
Laurina Isabella Lyle,
Conference Chair
Patricia Winn,
Conference Creator
Sharon Barnes,
Conference Committee Member
Jacqueline Crouch,
Conference Committee Member
Pam Gray,
Conference Committee Member
Kathy Houston,
Conference Committee Member
Colin Isotti,
Conference Committee Member
Cindy Marsh,
Conference Committee Member
Shana Thornton,
Conference Committee Member
Katie Kennedy,
Registrar
Mike Fink,
Graphic Design
Sponsored by
Clarksville Arts & Heritage Development Council
Austin Peay State University
Tennessee Arts Commission
City of Clarksville
Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts at APSU
Beachhaven Winery
Hudubam Booktraders
F & M Bank, Clarksville
Additional funding support provided by
Dee Boaz
Jacqueline Crouch
Kris and Charlie Foust
Joan R. Harris
Jan Hodgson
Laurina Isabella Lyle and Family
Lawson Mabry and Family
Dottie and Jim Mann
Nick Nicholson
Carmen Reagan
Sherri and Jeff Robinson
Additional funding support provided by
Dee Boaz
Jacqueline Crouch
Kris and Charlie Foust
Joan R. Harris
Jan Hodgson
Laurina Isabella Lyle and Family
Lawson Mabry and Family
Dottie and Jim Mann
Nick Nicholson
Carmen Reagan
Sherri and Jeff Robinson
Music provided by
Colin Isotti, APSU – Adjunct Professor,
Musician, and Guitarist
Thomas Mabry Creative Writing Contest Committee Members:
Sharon Barnes
Jacqueline Crouch
LaCresha Kolba
Shana Thornton
Paula Paxton
Sponsor Writing prize-winners baskets:
The Thomas Mabry Family
Red Clay Potter
The Clarksville Connection
Sharon’s Writing Corner
Nancy’s Quilting
DB Originals
Anonymous Sponsors
A special thank you to all the judges and head Judge, Bren McClain