SIERRA VISTA — If you haven’t signed up to attend this year’s Cochise Community Creative Writing Celebration, Jennifer Lee Carrell has a bit of advice.
“Don’t be afraid to come. Whether you’re dreaming of writing the next Great American Novel, or if what you’d really like to do is make a story of your grandmother’s letters or your own letters for your children, storytelling is for everybody,” she says. “Everyone should give it a try.”
Carrell is the keynote speaker of this year’s Creative Writing Celebration, which will mark its 15th year on April 5 and 6 at two locations in Sierra Vista. The annual celebration brings published writers in different genres to present hands-on workshops to aspiring writers from the community. It also offers a writing contest for participants, with cash prizes.
Carrell, an author based in Tucson, has worked in journalism, published novels and even directed Shakespeare plays. Her keynote speech and fiction workshop emphasizes world-building as part of the storytelling process.
“People have different ways of immersing themselves in their stories, but for me, I have to build a world because I can’t make a story happen or character come alive without a contextual world to set them in. I can never figure out what they’ll do or say next unless I know where or when they are,” she said. “I think a lot of literary fiction does a superb job of teaching character and scene setting, but has downplayed the skills of storytelling and plotting. If I can do anything as a teacher, it’s help students learn the craft of plotting and not be afraid to use it.”
Carrell said writing conferences and workshops like the Creative Writing Celebration are important because it creates a community for writers, who tend to work more in isolation than other types of artists, such as musicians and actors.
“You need a community that you can spark from, people who are engaged in the same art form you are,” she said. “That’s the joy of a writer’s conference or book festival or a writer’s group. I think it’s hugely important for the writers themselves, and, more generally, the world is always better for communities of artists; they spark off each other and make things — they make beauty.”
Speakers and Presenters
Keynote speaker and fiction presenter: Jennifer Lee Carrell is the best-selling author of literary thrillers, history, and historical fiction whose subjects span the gamut from smallpox to Shakespeare. Her thriller Interred with Their Bones has been translated into 25 languages. Born in Washington, D.C., she grew up in Tucson, where she lives with her husband, son, two dogs and three cats. She is currently at work on a historical novel about the painter Jan Van Eyck.
Poetry presenter: Charles Alexander is founder and director of Chax Press in Tucson, where he has lived since 1984. His books include Hopeful Buildings (Chax, 1990), Arc of Light / Dark Matte (Segue, 1992), Near or Ran- dom Acts (Singing Horse, 2004), Certain Slants (Junction, 2007), and Pushing Water (Cuneiform, 2011). He is recipient of the distinguished Arizona Arts Award and is a former director of Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Black Mesa Press, and the Tucson Poetry Festival.
Playwriting presenter: Jim Fitzmorris, a playwright, critic, dramaturg, and editor, specializes in writing about daily life in the city he calls home, New Orleans. Jim, theatre critic and an editor-at- large for Nola Defender, is the winner of four Big Easy Awards for Best Original Production, two-time finalist for The Heideman Award, and finalist for The Osborn Playwriting Award. He holds a Ph.D. in Theatre History and Criticism from The University of Washington’s School of Drama.
Nonfiction presenter: Margaret Regan, a prizewinning journalist in Tucson, is the author of The Death of Josseline: Immigration Stories from the Arizona Borderlands (Beacon Press, 2010). Named a Southwest Book of the Year 2010 and a Common Read for the Unitarian Universalist Church, the book has been featured on C-Span’s Book TV, NPR’s Talk of the Nation and many other radio outlets. Margaret is the longtime arts editor and art critic for the Tucson Weekly.
If you go…
What: 15th annual Creative Writing Celebration
When: April 5-6
Where:
April 5 — 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Ethel Berger Center in Sierra Vista
April 6 — 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Cochise College Sierra Vista Campus
Registration:
$40 for the two-day event
$25 for students and senior citizens
$25 for one-day registration
Register in advance or at the event. For more information, call 417-4112 or 515-5490, email creativewriting@cochise.edu or visit www.cochise.edu/cwc.