The program will also be a shining connection for campus and the Asheville community, with an opportunity to write the next chapter in its storied history.
“For a very long time, Asheville has been a writer’s city. We’ve been a place where writers collaborate, compete, read each other’s works, provide critiques, and we are a place of education about writing, its meaning, its purpose, and the steadfast nature of the written word in our cultural life,” said UNC Asheville Chancellor Nancy J. Cable. “The writers-in-residence will hail from across the nation, and eventually perhaps even from around the globe. And it’s not just seasoned writers who will be our writers-in-residence, like our very own Wiley Cash [alumnus and writer-in-residence], who is one of the best-known Southern Appalachian writers in the world, but the program also will feature fellowships for emerging writers, and young writers not just on our campus but across this region. We’re most particularly excited about the opportunity to have camps and summer conferences that promote writing here.”
While the details are still being determined, writers might stay for an entire semester to teach courses at UNC Asheville and engage the community in master classes and readers, or may be invited for a writers’ conference or a short stay for a week or weekend. They could write fiction or non-fiction and draw inspiration from a variety of subjects.
“Very much in the spirit of Wilma Dykeman, the program will look to a broad range of disciplines and interests, honoring her life, work and activism, engaging the disciplines of economics, English, creative writing, environmental studies, climate, gender and women’s studies, biology, history, philosophy and likely more,” said UNC Asheville Provost Kai Campbell.
The program will be overseen by an advisory board, a collaboration between the University, Wilma Dykeman Legacy, RiverLink and community partners, with details about an application process or nomination and selection announced in the coming months.
“Wilma was interdisciplinary, just like UNCA and its students strive to be, and that’s our dream for the program based in her childhood home,” said Carr. “In a world that seems to grow more polarized and pigeonholed by the hour, we need thoughtful, creative, interdisciplinary response to problems that don’t fit neatly into a box. It’s no longer enough to write about climate change – we need writers who cross disciplines to make connections between the impact of climate change on impoverished communities in Western North Carolina.”
The easements will also sustain the property for the future, including scientific study and solutions.
“We see this property as a guiding light for growing a much-needed capacity at RiverLink and in our community and individuals to take actions to recognize the environment," said RiverLink Executive Director Garrett Artz.
“We hope there will be many writers who will be inspired to use the pen as the sword to carry forward some of her ideas.”