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Guest Blog Post by Lora Zill:
WRITERS CONFERENCE OF NORTHERN APPALACHIA to be held
on September 6th – 9th,
2019
The inaugural Writers’ Conference of Northern Appalachia (WCoNA)
will be held in Wheeling, West Virginia on September 7th and 8th,
2019. www.writersconferenceofnorthernappalachia.com
The Northern Appalachia comprises parts of eastern Ohio, northern
West Virginia, southern New York, and Pennsylvania. Its landscapes of hardwood
forests, hills, valleys, fields, rivers, and creeks are rich in culture and
folk traditions. It also has a rich history arising from the Native Americans through
the Revolutionary War to our country’s founding, continuing to its place in a
major Civil War battle, to farming and the steel, coal and timber
industries. 
Pennsylvania,
the state where I grew up and live now, encompasses the greatest portion of
this rich area, with its celebrated 86,000 miles of rivers, streams, and creeks
(second only to Alaska), and almost 17 million acres of forests that still give
credence to its name: Penn’s Woods. Penn’s
Woods has spawned a rich culture of artisans and craftspeople, who honor
the rich blue collar mentality of the region.
My
own grandfather represented this heritage. Merle Greene was an inventor,
artisan, and musician. He designed and built a windmill in his backyard and
repaired clocks and guitars. He also played guitar and taught me to play
Appalachian folk tunes, hymns, and country western music. We often enjoyed
“pickin’ and grinnin’” sessions in his living room only to be interrupted by
the loud cuckoo clock that I was allowed to wind.
He would take me camping and
fishing in the state parks in and around God’s Country, a local nickname for
northcentral Pennsylvania, most notably Potter County. I am a nature lover, writer,
glass artist, and musician. I’d like to think I got that from him honestly!
There
has been a resurgence of the arts and crafts in Northern Appalachia but its stories
and literary culture seem to be largely underrepresented and underappreciated,
especially in the traditional literary world.
The Writers’ Conference
of Northern Appalachia (WCoNA) hopes to address this need. Its goal is to
promote and celebrate writing—novels, poetry, history, drama, memoir, and
more-- that represents northern Appalachia.
WCoNA’s goal is “to bring writers, researchers, and literary scholars together to
recognize this distinct literature and establish a canon of writers and writing
of northern Appalachia.” Hopefully the conference will inspire and train
writers who love the northern Appalachians and its unique blend of ethnicities,
histories, and cultures, and provide opportunities for networking and
collaboration for all enthusiasts.
and look for us on Facebook. Registration is now open and the deadline is fast approaching for our writing contest with cash prizes. We hope to see you in Wheeling, West Virginia, September 7th and 8th.
LORA ZILL lives and works in northwestern
Pennsylvania. She teaches at Gannon University and in Allegheny College’s arts
programs for gifted public school students. She is a teaching artist with the
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and speaks at writers’, educators’, and arts
conferences. Lora is also a musician and stained glass artist, winning a
commission for her glass work. Her nonfiction and poetry have been published
widely. She edits and publishes the Christian poetry journal, Time Of Singing. Check out her website www.thebluecollarartist.com and the website for her poetry journal www.timeofsinging.com.
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