On Saturday, March 24, students, alumni, faculty and members of the community gathered in Benson University Center for a spectacular celebration of the art of writing. The event was the first ever Words Awake!, a conference dedicated entirely to writers and the written word.
While numerous novelists, journalists, screenwriters, poets and even hip-hop artists came to Wake Forest to join in on the celebration and tell their stories, they all had one aspect in common: each writer invited back to the conference to speak was once a student at Wake Forest.
?It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have a group of such accomplished writers together in the same place who have the common thread of graduating from Wake Forest,? senior Hannah Kay Hunt said of the event.
The event kicked off on March 23 in the Porter B. Byrum Welcome Center with a documentary show by alum Tom Hayes (?79) on his father, Harold Hayes (?48), an influential editor of Esquire?magazine and another Wake Forest alumni.
Afterward, Provost Ed Wilson (?43) gave a speech on the history of writers from the university.
Earlier in the day, the writers visited 10 different schools in the Winston-Salem community to hold workshops, give readings and immerse local students in the world of writing as a career.
But the real conference didn?t start until March 24. Benson University Center was filled by 8:30 a.m. with people of all ages who were interested in writing and reading.
Alumni gathered in groups to talk and reminisce about days spent at Wake, curious students walked around, waiting for the panels to begin and young children accompanied their parents to hear a favorite author speak. The panels, which were given in groups of four throughout the day, ranged in topic from ?Writing for Children/the Young Adult Mind? and ?Writing Screenplay? to ?Writing Washington News? and ?Writing Sports.?
The panels focused on letting the writers explain their journey to and the experience of writing in the field that they were currently employed, and then the panel was opened up to questions from the audience. Interspersed between the panels were readings of new novels, poetry or other works given by published authors.
The largest issue addressed was, inevitably, the future of writing, especially in journalism, and if newspapers and magazines will be able to survive the ?digital age.? Some writers, such as Shane Harris (?98), were adamant that print and journalism as a whole was alive and well, and that the written word remained important. ?I have great hope for the written word,? Harris said. ?I don?t think print is dying, at all.?
Yet other panelists, such as Linda Brinson (?69), saw the future of print and journalism not in newspapers or even websites, but in iPad apps for quick news and magazines sent directly to the inbox of a subscriber.
Helen Anders (?74), who is currently a freelance humor columnist, said that an aspiring writer should ?Find a niche, something you are good at.? She predicted that journalism would soon become a specialists? game.
Another topic of debate, which especially came up in creative writing panels, was the issue of self-publishing, a subject which plagues writers of all ages, aspiring or not. Self-publication for many authors seems to be more of a viable choice in today?s world. Trice Hickman (MALS ?98), for example, made a career for herself through self-publishing and now has a contract with a major book publisher.
On the other hand, though, many authors insisted that the greatest help a writer could have was an editor who truly believed in them and could help their craft immensely.
Saturday concluded with a banquet, given in honor of the inductees to the brand new Writers Hall of Fame, which included Hayes, Wilson, Bynum Shaw, Maya Angelou and 11 others. The Hall of Fame is now on display outside of the writing center in Z. Smith Reynolds library.
The event ended on March 25 with a small meet-and-greet for writers and students; the students were given a chance to interact with and ask advice from the attending writers.
When asked what piece of advice a writer could give to a student looking to make a career of writing, each responded with something different.
?The best training for a job in journalism is to saddle up next to someone who will mentor you,? Harris said. ?If you find that person, they will teach you what you need to know.?
Jane Bianchi (?05), the current editor of Daily Health News, was adamant in her advice. ?Internships really matter more than anything.? She went on to say that the job experience and the networking opportunities given by an internship, even unpaid, could lead to a job further down the line which could define one?s career.
Some authors, though, were persistent that a dream and hard work could turn an aspiring author into a published one.
?Whether you want to be an author, a journalist or whatever, have a plan,? Trice Hickman said. ?Even if the plan doesn?t pan out, you?ll know where you want to go and different ways to get there.?
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