Hello!
Welcome to the inaugural SPARK Writing Festival. This event is an initiative by the UAB English Department to foster community and create a fun learning environment for writers of all experience levels. You’ll get professional and personalized feedback on your writing in an encouraging atmosphere. Now is the chance to unleash your inner writer.
Let’s SPARK something new together!
When: August 5th-9th, 2019
Where: UAB’s Hill Student Center
Cost: $250 (includes 10 hours of intensive workshop time with a published writer in your chosen genre, t-shirt, parking pass, swag bag, 5 lectures/ Q&A with industry professionals, community building and networking with local writers, and personal feedback post-conference on select work you developed in your writing workshops).
The goal of SPARK is to help guide you in your writing and give you a lasting framework of support connected with other area writers. This year we are offering workshops in the following areas:
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- Fiction
- Memoir/Essay
- Poetry
You’ll select and enroll in one of these workshops where you will study with your leader and up to 14 other participants every day for five days. Each day starts with coffee, a light breakfast, and time to mill about with participants before your
workshops start at 9am. Workshops run for 2 hours. At 11am we will dismiss for a 2 hour lunch-break. While lunch is not provided, we hope participants use this time to explore downtown Birmingham and all the wonderful sights and culinary delights our area has to offer (hopefully with your new-found writing friends) or maybe you’d like to sit in a nearby coffee shop and work on new material. We will provide a list of must-see and must-try places. After lunch, we will reconvening for readings delivered by our workshop leaders (1-2pm) who will also host a writing exercise for all attendees so you’ll get to experience a taste of writing in other genres (2-3pm). We will conclude our day with a lecture from various industry professions who will share a bit about their experience and journey in writing, editing, publishing, and more with time for Q&A (3-4pm).
Refund policy: Full refunds available until July 5th. 50% refund available until July 22nd. After July 22nd no refunds however registration can be transferred for free to another name if the registrant is unable to attend. Please contact hmcotton@uab.edu for more information.
Parking: Parking passes will be provided in lot 5A adjacent to the Hill Student Center.
Accessibility: UAB and the SPARK Writing Festival are dedicated to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for all. The parking lot adjacent to the Hill Student Center contains several accessible spaces. The building itself has automatic doors, easily maneuverable walkways, and spacious elevators. Gendered, family, and all-gender restrooms are available as well as vending machines, water bottle fill stations, ATM, and a lactation room for breastfeeding mothers. If you have need of transcription or Sign Language services we can provide that as well. If you have any questions or require accommodations please contact Halley Cotton at hmcotton@uab.edu.
Let’s SPARK something new together!
