Monday, February 11, 2013

The 2013 Advance

Dear Young Writer,

The Twenty: A Kentucky Young Writers Advance is a small but diverse group of young writers between the ages of 19–22, who exhibit great seriousness and jubilant promise in their writing. These young writers, chosen to participate in a week-long summer intensive, hail from both rural
and urban Kentucky enclaves. Good writing the world over asks the reader not to retreat but to lean forward. Helping launch the work of young writers means defining this difference aloud. We
live in a vibrant and changing world. There is no time for retreat. Instead, The Twenty will step forward with their imagined characters, their creative worlds, their passions close at hand.

The summer intensive week will offer much to The Twenty:
• A meeting of other writing minds: writing workshops, lectures and a young writers community;
• Time to write and the expectation that young writers will write;
• Access to published poets and writers;
• The rare and significant opportunity to see what their ideas and words become.

The 2013 advance will take place at the historic Hindman School in Hindman, Kentucky the week of June 2-7 2013. We cordially invite you to submit a manuscript by Monday, March 11, 2012 following the below guidelines:

• A cover letter of intent stating why you would benefit from an experience such as the one The Twenty offers. Please include your full name, a current phone number, permanent mailing address, and stable email address in your cover letter.
• 8-10 pages of your most exemplary writing. This may mean 10 poems, a short story, an excerpt from a longer work of prose or script, or some combination of these elements.
• Hard copies may be mailed to the following address: The Twenty: A Kentucky Young Writers Advance c/o Nikky Finney, University of Kentucky, Patterson Office Tower 1215, Lexington, KY 40506. Electronic copies may be submitted on The Twenty website at the following URL: http://www.uky.edu/youngwriters/.

Letters of acceptance will be sent to applicants in the Spring of 2013. To learn more about The
Twenty, feel free to “Like” us on Facebook, or you can log on to our website: http:// www.uky.edu/youngwriters/.

Please forward this announcement to anyone you think might be interested, and send any inquiries about the application process to: 20youngwriters@gmail.com.

Sincerely,
The Twenty Organizing Committee

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Welcome, Class of 2012!


The Twenty Selection Committee for 2012 is happy to announce this year's class who will be joining us at the Hindman Settlement School June 24-29, 2012! Congratulations to these young writers:

Austin Marksbury
Chungyen Chang
Jeremy Clark
Elizabeth Kilycone
Jaria Gordon
Greg Smith
Abi Grise
Kate Hadfield
Jay Collier
Liza Lamb
Corey Kirby
Ayna Lorenzo
Clay Shields
Joy Priest
Deri Pryor
Adina Ramsey
Jordyn Rhorer
Rebecca Sheehan
Travis Stidham
Chaney Williams

Monday, March 5, 2012

Greg's White Poem by Greg Smith (Class of 2011)

About a month ago I read this piece during the open mic section of The Kentucky Great Writers Series, at the Carnegie Center. They were featuring Nikky Finney, Bobbie Ann Mason, and Ed McClanahan. It was the first time I had read in front of 200 strangers. Then it became the first time people I don't know approach me to say how much they liked it. The reception for it was way more than I could have expected. I mean these people came to see Big Deal Writers. But the kicker was when before Ed McClanahan started his reading, he talks about my piece. Taking time out of his reading to mention a specific line from mine, he calls me a little bastard for stealing his dance moves. So here it is:

####

Greg’s White Poem
12.11.10

Man, let me tell you a secret
come close, real close, like
you can feel the moisture of
my breath on your ear close.
You ready?

I’m white, really really white.
Not rebel flag wearing,
my great-great-grandpapay fought
for the south white;
(although he probably did.)
not white, red, orange, yellow, black, mulatto, that white;
I’m whiter than that even,
the believes he’s post-racial white,
deep seeded whiteness,
like wonder bread is my cousin white.

Pacific Northwest raised,
can’t-burn-in-the-sun white.
Spend four days in Florida and not change shades white;
so white, my friends tell me how white I am.
That zero-ethnicity, blank slate American white;
the you-can-trace-my-family-to-1600s-Pennsylvania white.

So white I get embarrassed at Victor Wooten concerts
when other whites yell “slap that bass” or “preach it Victor”;
so white all I see of my mixed cousin is our blood.
The I don’t understand racism white;
Yes We Can, Barack Obama voting white.

The watches foreign films in theaters alone white,
spends weekends hiking white.
The kind of white that thinks we’re all born equal,
regardless that we’re not, in a land of opportunity;
you can grow to be anything hopeless optimism white.

Jack Kerouac, Henry Rollins, Hermann Hesse reading white.
The I’ve kissed black girls, held their single-parent-infants
like it was my own white.
Unabashed nothing’s gonna change my world white.
watches ducks at the ferry on hot summer evenings white.

So white my iPod shuffles from Philip Glass to
Miles Davis to Katy Perry to Foo Fighters to
Bill Withers to Deftones to Stanley Clarke to
Mahavishnu Orchestra to Radiohead.

I can camouflage in snow naked white.
can’t stop laughing at the Chapelle’s Show white.
Can’t eat enough yams, coleslaw, Chicken Lo Mein, Pepper Karahi,
Falafel & Hummus white.

Has a poster of Che Guevara on my ceiling white.
Wears Chuck Taylor’s until they fall off my feet,
shops at Goodwill white.

So white I attended a George Clinton & the P-Funk Allstars concert
and danced like a white person, you know the dance,
the two step, bob head, flail arms, arbitrary knee bending white dance.

Just trying to get through the day and not offend anyone white.
So white I can’t even count how many cultures I’m stealing from today.
Went through a Pink Floyd and The Beatles phase white.

I’m a self loathing white
who can’t stop getting whiter.
White White White White White White White

By definition,
I am white
By definition,
I am the absence of color.
By definition,
I am a reflection of all colors.

(photo by Zannah Reed)

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

The Twenty: 2012 Application Open!

Dear Young Writer,

The Twenty: A Kentucky Young Writers Advance is a small but diverse group of young writers between the ages of 19–22, who exhibit great seriousness and jubilant promise in their writing. These young writers, chosen to participate in a week-long summer intensive, hail from both rural and urban Kentucky enclaves. Good writing the world over asks the reader not to retreat but to lean forward. Helping launch the work of young writers means defining this difference aloud. We live in a vibrant and changing world. There is no time for retreat. Instead, The Twenty will step forward with their imagined characters, their creative worlds, their passions close at hand.

The summer intensive week will offer much to The Twenty:
* A meeting of other writing minds: writing workshops, lectures and a young writers community;
* Time to write and the expectation that young writers will
write;
* Access to published poets and writers;
* The rare and significant opportunity to see what their
ideas and words become.

The 2012 advance will take place at the historic Hindman School in Hindman, Kentucky, the week of June 24-29, 2012. We cordially invite you to submit a manuscript by Monday, March 5, 2012 following the below guidelines:

* A cover letter of intent stating why you would benefit from an experience such as the one The Twenty offers. Please include your full name, a current phone number, permanent mailing address, and stable email address in your cover letter.
* 8-10 pages of your most exemplary writing. This may mean 10 poems, a short story, an excerpt from a longer work of prose or script, or some combination of these elements.
* Hard copies may be mailed to the following address: The Twenty: A Kentucky Young Writers Advance c/o Nikky Finney, University of Kentucky, Patterson Office Tower 1215, Lexington, KY 40506. Electronic copies may be submitted on The Twenty website at the following URL: http://www.uky.edu/youngwriters/.

Letters of acceptance will be sent to applicants in the Spring of 2012. To learn more about The Twenty, feel free to “Like” us on Facebook, or you can log on to our website: http://www.uky.edu/youngwriters/.

Please forward this announcement to anyone you think might be interested, and send any inquiries about the application process to: 20youngwriters@gmail.com.

Sincerely,

The Twenty Organizing Committee

Monday, February 6, 2012

Slideshow from 2011's Advance

The Twenty featured in pluck! Issue 7

The Twenty class of 2011 is showcased in pluck! The Affrilachian Journal of Arts and Culture Issue 7. Featuring essays by Nikky Finney, Chaney Williams, and poems by, Greg Smith, Stephen Rodriguez, Deri Pryor, Sosha Pinson, Chungyen Chang, Holly Mitchell, and a photo essay by Hendrick Floyd!

To get a copy of pluck!, you can order an issue by sending a check for $15 to:

pluck!
c/o Frank X Walker
1215 Patterson Office Tower
University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY 40506

Please indicate which issue you'd like and a permanent mailing address so we can ship you a copy. Individual subscriptions are $30 (two issues a year) and institutional subscriptions are $100.


EXCERPT from the essay "Being One With These Hills" by Chaney Williams

There is a line in James Still’s poem “Heritage” that says, “Being one with these hills I cannot go away,” and after attending The Twenty: Young Writer’s Advance at the Hindman Settlement School in Hindman, KY, I can say that “I will not leave these hills.” The Hindman has permeated my skin and soul. The solitude of the mountains have left their coal tattoo. It has soothed the longing I had for the stillness that comes when you are sitting on a back porch, journal and pen in hand watching the sun disappear behind the mountains to meet the twilight sky. Hindman was the perfect place to cultivate my once thirsty soul for creative writing that had been battered by my first two years of academic essays and research papers.

I was able to find foot once again in these hills surrounded by a nurturing staff of teachers whose own passion for the spoken and written and word can be seen in every breath of their being. All of the staff humbly answered our relentless questions and set the tone of the advance with an atmosphere that was welcoming. They pushed us young writers to soak up the solitude of Hindman and encouraged us to dedicate time pursuing our craft. Every one of our teachers from Crystal Wilkinson to Jan Isenhour, with their down-to-earth personalities and their awe inspiring work made the advance that much more unique. I was introduced to topics that hadn’t been covered in previous writing programs from independent publishing to the technical and grammatical side of writing. Nikky Finney mothered us with fierce encouragement and comforting words telling us that whether we wanted writing to be our career or not that we all had a unique voice that Kentucky needs to hear. These words alone are ones I clutch to in a day and age where the arts are not valued. These are words that I have consoled me when I am surrounded by textbooks and flashcards telling me that I should find time for my craft because I want my voice to be shared. I am incredibly thankful for this opportunity especially in a world where there are few retreats or conferences for young writers particularly of this awkward college age.

Before this program in Kentucky it seems that once you have graduated high school there is a lack of resources of growth experiences for young writers and The Twenty filled this gap beautifully. My time here I lapped up whether I was roaming the tranquil grounds with the sun beaming down on my face or enjoying the comforting caress of a rocking chair while sitting on the front porch of the Maystone Building writing and talking with my fellow Twenty-ers.