Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute

Laurette LePrevost Writers Symposium

Laurette LePrevost Writers Symposium

Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute annually hosts the Laurette LePrevost Writers Symposium. Each academic year, the community is invited to read a common novel or work of nonfiction along with students enrolled in English, humanities, and social science classes. This common reading experience climaxes with multiple personal appearances by the writer of this work on both campuses. For over thirty years, this event has provided a valuable learning experience for students along with a unique opportunity to meet a published author.

The Writers Symposium is a significant event for Caldwell County because it provides the citizens of Caldwell, Watauga, and surrounding counties the opportunity to hear writers discuss their own writing process relative to their published works, as well as to hear literary scholars discuss the significance of those works. Each symposium draws a core group of readers from the area and involves people who would not otherwise participate in such a cultural event.

Support for the Laurette LePrevost Writers Symposium is provided by the Foundation of Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute.

For more information on CCC&TI’s Laurette LePrevost Writers Symposium, call Katie Hoover at 828.726.2327, or email kehoover@cccti.edu.

2022-2023 Laurette LePrevost Writers Symposium

The Writers Symposium committee is pleased to announce our 34th annual Laurette LePrevost Writers Symposium, this year featuring award winning author, Ron Rash: “Mountains and Memory: A Reading by Ron Rash”.

We are fortunate to have Rash returning to our campus after well-received visits in 2006 and 2010. He has been busy writing since his last visit to CCC&TI, and will discuss writing in and about the North Carolina Mountains.

Drawing inspiration from life in the Appalachian Mountains, both in the past and present, Rash has authored multiple prizewinning and bestselling novels including Serena, Above the Waterfall, The Cove, One Foot in Eden, Saints at the River, and The World Made Straight. He has won numerous awards and has twice been a PEN/Faulkner finalist. His short story collection, Burning Bright, won the 2010 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. He has received the O. Henry Prize twice and is a professor of Appalachian Cultural Studies at Western Carolina University. The Savannah Morning News has written that in “every Rash book, the reader is treated to countless moments of stunning illumination on the human condition.” More information is available at the author’s website: https://www.ronrashwriter.com/

Rash will speak on Thursday, March 30, at 7:00 pm in room 200 of the J.E. Broyhill Civic Center.

Our LRC will be providing a libguide soon. We will also be offering book clubs on Rash’s novels, and presentations on the topic of the North Carolina Mountains. More information will be forthcoming.

Thank you for your continued interest in and support of the Laurette LePrevost Writers Symposium!

Schedule of Events

Thursday, March 30 at 7:00 p.m.

Ron Rash will be speaking.
J.E. Broyhill Civic Center - Room 200

Writer Ron Rash

Photo by Mindy Friddle

All events are free and open to the public.

Author List by Date

1988 - 1989
Maya Angelou

1989-1990
Wilma Dykeman
Jim Wayne Miller

1990-1991
Clyde Edgerton
Doris Betts

1991-1992
Ernest Gaines
Nikki Giovanni


1992-1993
Michael McFee
Robert Morgan

1993-1994
Gurney Norman
Ray Hicks

1994-1995
Alan Shapiro
Maureen Ryan Griffin

1995-1996
Fred Chappell
Jeff Daniel Marion


1996-1997
Donald Secreast
Kaye Gibbons

1997-1998
Bob Inman
Denise Giardina

1998-1999
Margaret Maron
Sharyn McCrumb

1999-2000
Billie Letts


2000-2001
Octavia Butler
Mary Doria Russell

2001-2002
Judith Ortiz Cofer

2002-2003
Donald Davis
Tony Peacock

2003-2004
Mark Mathabane


2004-2005
Billie Letts

2005-2006
Ron Rash

2006-2007
Timothy B. Tyson

2007-2008
Sharyn McCrumb
Dori Sanders


2008-2009
Clyde Edgerton

2009-2010
Ron Rash

2010-2011
Cathy Smith Bowers
Kathryn Stripling Byer

2011-2012
Silas House


2012-2013
Wiley Cash

2013-2014
Denise Kiernan

2014-2015
Jay Erskine Leutze

2015-2016
Conor Grennan


2016-2017
Susan Gregg Gilmore

2017-2018
Wiley Cash

2018-2019
Doc Hendley

2019-2020
Gene Nichol


2020-2021
William Sturkey

2022-2023
Ron Rash

 
 

 
 


Contacts