Hellbent Hope: Generative writing workshops
Nickole Brown. File photo
Helene tore through many people’s lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Some lost homes, as well as the very soil on which their homes were built. Even for those whose homes were spared, the effect of being near such devastation reverberates.
Writer and teacher Nickole Brown is set to lead a series of writing workshops aimed at helping people process the hurricane’s traumatic impact.
During these generative gatherings, writers will strive together to find ways past this debilitating hurdle. How might writing allow people to move through the trauma wrought by these storms and fires and floods? How might people bear witness to the devastation of communities, much less depict the suffering of non-human beings? How might one avoid the pitfalls of producing work that is flat-lined with facts, or worse, rendered incapable of communicating from grief and rage?
In these workshops, writers will study poems that have their own solutions to these challenges and will try their hands at writing through this darkness with awareness, control and even hope.
Brown received her MFA from Vermont College, studied literature at Oxford University and was the editorial assistant for the late Hunter S. Thompson. Her second book, “Fanny Says,” released in 2015, won the Weatherford Award for Appalachian Poetry. Brown is part of the MFA faculty at the Suwanee School of Letters program and President of the Hellbender Gathering of Poets.
All workshops are free and open to the public. No writing experience necessary; all are welcome.
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• 1-3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23, at The Wild Violet, 14 North Main St., in Mars Hill.
• 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 4, at Malaprop’s Bookstore, 55 Haywood St., in Asheville. Seating is limited; be sure to sign up in advance at tinyurl.com/mryj9cms. Co-led with writer and psychotherapist CB Wilson.
• 6-8:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 12, at City Lights Bookstore in the Appalachian Regional Room, located at 3 East Jackson St. in Sylva.
• 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14, at the Watauga County Public Library in the Community Room, located at 140 Queen St. in Boone.
• 5-7:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 16, at Bagatelle Books, 428-C Haywood Road in West Asheville. Co-led with poet and founder of EcoHopeful, Liza Wolff-Francis.
• Brown will lead a workshop in January, date to be determined, at Plott Hound Books, 102 West Main St. in Burnsville.
Should you be in an area affected by the hurricane and want the Hellbender Gathering to host a free generative writing workshop in a public space near you, feel free to reach out to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
