Great Smokies Writing Program

The Great Smokies Writing Program is a joint effort between the UNCA departments of Literature and Language, Creative Writing and Distance Education. The program offers opportunities for writers of all levels to join a supportive learning community in which their skills and talents can be explored, practiced, and forged under the careful eye of professional writers.

The program is committed to providing the community with affordable university-level classes led by published writers and experienced teachers. Each course carries academic credit awarded through UNC Asheville.

The Writers at Home reading series during the fall and spring semesters gives local and regional writers the opportunity to read from their own works to interested participants. The series is free and open to the public and meets on the third Sunday of the month during fall and spring semesters. Monthly readings are held at 3pm at Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe, 55 Haywood Street, Asheville. NC.

For more information contact:
Tommy Hays, Executive Director, hays@main.nc.us
Nancy Williams, Administrator, nwilliam@unca.edu, 828.250.2353

Spring 2012 Course Descriptions & Schedule (click to download the PDF brochure)

New addition to the Spring 2012 schedule!  The following class will be offered Spring 2012, though it does not appear in the brochure:

Up Our Game: The Wild and Technical Aspects of Making Poems
(Lang 372, 2 credit hours)
Laura Hope-Gill

Looking at the technical aspects of great poems always inspires me to “up my game” in my own writing. There are millions of pathways to the better poem. And, as we all know, there’s always a new way to look at a favorite poem. In each class we will look at a different technical aspect of writing poetry: sonics, imagery, syntax, line-break, stanza, tone, persona, form, etc., while also exploring how these support the poet’s engagement with imagination and expression. We will look at poems from across cultures, traditions and centuries and try to absorb what makes poems strong. Whether you are beginning to write poems or have published four or five books of poetry, this class can work for you. Poets just beginning will learn tools that help move poems more deftly. Poets with more experience will benefit from the challenges set forth by contemporaries and predecessors. Let’s expand our technical awareness of poetry and Up Our Game.

Laura Hope-Gill is the first poet laureate of the Blue Ridge Parkway and director of Asheville Wordfest. An NC Arts Fellow in creative nonfiction, she has written one book of architectural history, Look Up Asheville, and is working on the second volume. Her first book, The Soul Tree: Poems and Photographs of the Southern Appalachians, a collaboration with photographer John Fletcher, Jr.,was a finalist for the SIBA book award. She holds an MFA from the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers and is the Marketing Director at Grateful Steps Publishing House and Bookshop.

10-week class—Starts February 14, Tuesday evenings, 6:00-8:30pm at Grateful Steps, Inc, 159 S. Lexington Avenue, Asheville.

Application Instructions:

If you are new, or if you were not enrolled during the Fall 2011 session (in the Great Smokies Writing program), please use this application and registration form.
If this is your first class in the program, you will need to include the one-time $20 application fee.

If you are continuing to take classes with the Great Smokies Writing Program  (enrolled Fall 2011), you will need to fill out this current student registration form. (PDF 48KB)

Please mail your applications with tuition payment to:

Great Smokies Writing Program
Asheville Graduate Center, UNC Asheville
1 University Heights, CPO 2140
Asheville, NC 28804

Spring 2012 Tuition Rates:

2-credit course (10 weeks): In-state tuition (must have lived in NC full time for the last 12 months or more): $235.84; Out-of-state tuition: $1156.92.

3-credit course (15 weeks): In-state tuition (must have lived in NC full time for the last 12 months or more): $353.76; Out-of-state tuition: $1735.38

Instructions for Checking Grades

To check your grades for Great Smokies classes, you must have an active OnePort account.  If you have activated your UNC Asheville email account, then your OnePort account has also been activated.  If you have any questions on this, please call our office: 828.251.6099.

Otherwise, please follow these instructions to check your grades at the end of the term: Grade Access.