Moravian is hosting its free, 10th annual “Write to Explore” Writers’ Conference on March 21-23, with activities focusing on different ways of thinking about stories and story sharing. Headliner Dr. Javier Ávila, English professor at Northampton Community College, will perform his one-man show The Trouble With My Name on March 23 and lead a discussion earlier in the day.
Events occurring on Thursday and Friday of the conference will be held on the Main St. campus in PPHAC and events on Saturday will be held on South campus.
All events are free, but registration is required. Registration for events can be completed at this link.
The first event of the conference will be held on Thursday from 2:00-3:30 p.m., titled “The Lebenslauf Craft Talk and Write-a-Thon.” Dr. Craig Atwood, professor of Moravian theology at Moravian, will introduce the Moravian Lebenslauf tradition, which will be followed by an opportunity for independent writing. Light refreshments will be provided.
At 3:30, the Conference bookstore will open in PPHAC room 103. The bookstore will sell conference merchandise and the works of conference speakers, presenters, and directors.
At 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, the Writing at Moravian Gala will be held in the PPHAC Atrium. This gala is co-sponsored with Writing at Moravian and will celebrate the achievements of Moravian student writers.
Friday begins with a Storyteller’s Panel in PPHAC room 102 at 9:30 a.m. This panel will feature faculty from multiple professions discussing the role of storytelling and will be moderated by Kate Brandes, professor and conference co-director.
At 11:00 a.m., there will be a Student Journalist Panel featuring reporters from The Comenian as well as a guest from The Morning Call. The panel will be moderated by professor and advisor to The Comenian, Mark Harris.
Co-director and English professor Liz Gray is hosting a Journaling Techniques Workshop in PPHAC 117 at 2:00 p.m. to spark ideas for students traveling on upcoming Elevate trips.
An Open Mic for Conference participants will be hosted at 3:30 p.m. in PPHAC, room 113, to share original works written during or outside of the conference. The conference intern, Liz Kameen, will be moderating the event. At the same time, the conference bookshop will open.
At 5:00 p.m., the Shining Light Craft Talk will be held in PPHAC 102, led by conference founder and retired professor of English Joyce Hinnefeld, which will focus on the power of writing.
Lastly, on Friday at 6:30 p.m., the No River Twice Group Performance will be held in PPHAC room 102. The No River Twice group will perform an improv poetry reading where a poetry reading will be co-created and never read twice. There will be a Q&A to follow the reading.
To kick off Saturday’s events, there will be a complimentary coffee bar in the Foy Hall lobby at 9:30 a.m.
At 11:00 a.m., a Story Sharing Workshop will be held in the HILL room 310. The workshop will be led by Kate Brandes and participants will practice developing shared stories using NPR’s Story Corps app.
A Craft Talk/Workshop will be held at 2:00 p.m. on building community through story, in the HILL 310. At 3:30 p.m., Dr. Javier Ávila will lead a Craft Talk on “Page Poetry” vs. “Performance Poetr” in the Foy Auditorium.
To conclude the conference, there will be a cocktail hour at 5:00 p.m. followed by Ávila’s performance of The Trouble With My Name at 6:30 p.m.
“We rebranded this year as the Moravian ‘Write to Explore’ conference because we really believe that writing can be a way to connect with others through different types of storytelling,” said Gray. “We’re not even focused exclusively on writing this year! I’m so pleased with the breadth and depth of our line-up this year– can you tell?”
“This year is the first year we aren’t doing something niche,” said Kameen. “The themes often barred people from attending in the past. This is the first time that we are truly advertising the conference to all people. There is something for everyone because there are so many different themes. The general theme is to write to explore, storytelling, and how language is used in all different ways. I am very excited that it is going to be more accessible to those that don’t identify as writers.”
