The 2025 Story Catcher Festival: Day One

The English Department at WCU is hosting a major event in April affiliated with the English Program, the Graduate Program in Creative Writing, and presented by their primary sponsor, the Mari Sandoz Society.

• 9 to 11 a.m. Taylor Hall Studio Theater (in the Welcome Center)
Craft Workshop with Candace Nadon – From Inspira on to Story
Inspiration can come from many sources. You might overhear a snippet of conversation, see the sun hit the trees just right, feel a sensation when returning to a place you know well, learn a family story or discover an object or artifact and think that would make a great story.

How do you take a great idea and transform it into a great story? In this workshop, we’ll explore strategies for shaping story from inspiration. The workshop will include guided instruction and time for writing, discussion, and sharing. Participants are encouraged to bring laptops or journals and one or more ideas they’d like to develop into a work of fiction.

• 11:30 to 12:30
LUNCH: Western English and GPCW Event

• 1 to 2 p.m. Taylor Hall Studio Theater
Craft Workshop with Byron Aspaas – The Memory Map: Unearth the Mantle of Story
Writing is a tool for deep reflection inside poetry, creative nonfiction, fiction, as well as any other type of art that exists. Like art, writing can chip away the surface area to create dfferent effigies through texture on the page.

As we explore the memoryscape upon story, we will remove the di erent layers of silt to expose the di erent types of aggregate the minds hold—and to remove each lining of sediment to reveal a di erent bedding and unearth the mantle that begins.

• 2:15 to :3:45 p.m. Taylor Hall Studio Theater
Craft Workshop with CMarie Fuhrman – The Power of Articles: How A, An, and The Can Shape Our Perceptions
In this engaging session, we will wander into the fascinating world of articles and their multifaceted roles, particularly in the realm of poetry. Over the course of the class, we will unravel how these seemingly innocuous linguistic elements can wield profound influence, revealing notions of ownership, privilege, complication, and more.

• 4:00 to 5:00 P.M.
Wordhorde Workshop

• 7 to 9 p.m. Evening Reading: Quigley/Kincaid Concert Hall
Candace Nadon, Byron Aspaas and CMarie Fuhrman
(Book Signing Following the Readings)