Sweet Briar College to host inaugural writing conference

SWEET BRIAR — Sweet Briar College’s inaugural undergraduate Creative Writing Conference will be held Thursday through Sunday, March 5 through 8 at the Florence Elston Inn & Conference Center.

In addition to 20 creative writing majors and minors from the host school, a total of 60 students from 10 Virginia colleges and universities will attend. The students were nominated by the creative writing faculty at their schools.

The students — from SBC, Virginia Tech, Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Virginia, Virginia Union, Virginia State, Hampden-Sydney, Washington and Lee, Randolph College, Lynchburg College and Hollins University — will participate in four days of discussions, workshops, readings and social events.

The idea originated last April, while John Casteen and Dave Griffith — both members of Sweet Briar’s creative writing faculty — were sitting in Casteen’s backyard in Earlysville, watching their kids play in the sprinkler.

As they sat beneath a shade tree, talking and drinking pink lemonade, the two teachers were struck with an idea: What if they invited talented undergraduate writers from all over Virginia to a writing conference at Sweet Briar?

“(We were) talking … about how we could diversify the educational experience for students here and how we could offer creative writing students in general sort of a broader experience than they get at their home institutions,” Casteen said.

“… Also, (there is) this sort of archipelago effect, where you had this group of writers here and another fifty miles away (with) the two never being in communication with each other.”

Casteen, a poet and non-fiction writer who previously taught at the University of Virginia, said he knew there were students at Sweet Briar, U.Va. and other Virginia colleges who could benefit from each other’s experiences and opinions.

“It seemed to us, if we could gather … the most talented students from colleges in this general area that we’d have the potential to give all of them the experience that they wouldn’t get otherwise without going to a (Master of Fine Arts) program,” he said.

Back on campus, Casteen and Griffith shared their idea. “(Creative writing faculty) John and Carrie Brown thought it had potential and [Dean] Jonathan Green got behind it immediately,” Casteen said. “From conception to a firm commitment took about two weeks.

“That’s part of what people from other schools find so extraordinary about the event. It’s innovative, for one thing, but the agility of the department and the College is what made it happen. There was never a procedural or bureaucratic impediment to implementing a good idea.”

Prior to the conference, registrants will elect to focus on poetry, fiction or non-fiction, and each will submit a sample of their work for those in their groups to read. During afternoon sessions, students will “workshop” each other’s stories or poems, talking about what works and doesn’t work and offering suggestions.

In between morning discussions led by faculty from various Virginia schools, the workshops and evening readings and socials, students will have time to write or reflect, providing what Casteen called a “feedback loop of stimulation and production.”

Much of the cost the conference is subsidized by the Sweet Briar Dean’s Office and the Jessie Ball duPont Fund. Non-SBC students pay $100 for the four-day conference, which includes lodging at the Elston Inn, meals at the dining hall and conference fees. The program is free for Sweet Briar students.

For more information, including faculty bios and a complete schedule of events, visit the conference Web site.