In this generative, one-day intensive, we’ll move step by step through building the draft of a short essay—from idea generation through early drafting, with prompts along the way to help with structure, image, point of view, theme, and form.

Celebrate the opening reception of the J. Todd Bailey Thomas Wolfe Collection with UNC Asheville! The J. Todd Bailey Thomas Wolfe Collection contains over 662 monographs and five linear feet of manuscript and related ephemera materials.

Margaret Renkl is the author of “Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss” (2019) and “Graceland, at Last: Notes on Hope and Heartache From the American South” (2021) and “The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year” (2023), which won the 2024 Southern Book Prize.