From the classical characters of Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone With the Wind” to the suspicious specters found in John Berendt’s “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” the state of Georgia has a history of producing compelling writing.
First held in 2009 as a way to encourage and inspire writers across Georgia, the Red Clay Writers Conference featured speeches from authors, editors, publishers, agents and marketing specialists who lend their knowledge to assist attendees in honing their craft. On Saturday, Nov. 10, on the Kennesaw campus, attendees came to participate in the day-long literary events that focused on the art and craft of writing.
Before becoming the executive director of the Georgia Writers Association, KSU Professor of English Jenny Sadre-Orafai was an invited author at the conference and a GWA board member. She said that getting authors to the conference takes a lot of coordinating.
“There is a lot of planning — choosing authors to invite, catering, scheduling workshops, designing the conference program and arranging for a bookseller to be on hand to sell authors’ books,” Sadre-Orafai said. “The event wouldn’t be possible without help from our amazing board of directors.”
The Red Clay Writers Conference holds eight workshops that include genres such as young adult, fiction, creative nonfiction, journalism, poetry, children’s books and screenwriting. Attendees also have the chance to win subscriptions to 17 different literary journals.
“The conference is important because writing is such a solitary act and it’s always magical when writers get together to talk about their work,” Sadre-Orafai said. “The conference is also significant because it gives writers with various experience tools that help them grow in their craft.”
The conference had many guest authors including Janisse Ray, Georgia native and author of “The Seed Underground,” who was the keynote speaker. Other authors invited to the conference included Man Martin, Angela DeCaires, Max Blau, KaToya Fleming, McCall Hoyle, A.Z. Yeamen, K.B. Kincer, Vickie McEntire, Megan Sexton and Karen Head.
According to its website, the GWA is a “nonprofit that is dedicated to encouraging and promoting writers throughout Georgia.” The association offers monthly workshops for writers to hear and learn from published writers. Although the GWA only hosts two annual events, the Georgia Author of the Year Awards and the Red Clay Writers Conference, there are plenty of smaller workshops for writers to attend.
“We host nine monthly workshops every year for writers and in various genres,” Sadre-Orafai said. “We are thrilled to have the following authors and poets joining us in 2019 — Kerry Neville, Sandra Meek, Robert Pfeiffer, Caroline Cox, Christina Lee and Christina Olson. We also host the Georgia Author of Year Awards every June.”
Sadre-Orafai went on to say that students, staff and faculty should consider joining the GWA to learn more about writing.
“The organization is constantly evolving and looking to offer writers new resources and workshops, with the possibility of offering online writing workshops in the future,” Sadre-Orafai said.
More information about the GWA can be found at www.georgiawriters.org. Sadre-Orafai’s work can be found on her website, www.jennysadre-orafai.com.
