RADFORD –Registration is open for the Highland Summer Conference at Radford University. Now in its 31st year, the creative writing class is June 2 - 13 and features Appalachian authors Darnell Arnoult and Frank X Walker. Joining Arnoult and Walker for evening readings will be RU professor Rick Van Noy and Georgia author Dana Wildsmith. Enrollment is limited to 20 and early registration is encouraged.

The longest-known credit-based creative writing workshop in the southeast, the HSC celebrates and polishes the creative and expository writing skills of people of all ages and careers, focusing primarily on the culture of the Appalachian region. Registration is open to students and the general public.  Students can earn three hours of graduate or undergraduate credit in English 490/590. Public readings by all the authors are held each Tuesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m.

Arnoult, a Virginia native now residing in Tennessee, will teach the first week. She is author of Sufficient Grace and What Travels With Us: Poems. The founding editor of Pluck! The Journal of Affrilachian Arts and Culture, Walker leads the second week of studies. He is author of Affrilachia: Poems, Black Box, Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York and When Winter Come: The Ascension of York. Walker resides in Walker resides in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is founder of Affrilachian Poets, an organization promoting literary works Kentucky and is founder of Affrilachian Poets, an organization promoting literary works of African-American writers in the Appalachian region.

Van Noy, author of Surveying the Interior and the forthcoming A Natural Sense of Wonder, has been a member of RU’s English faculty for 10 years. He teaches courses in American and environmental literature, creative nonfiction and professional writing. Wildsmith’s works include One Cool Hand, Our Bodies Remember, Annie and Choices. She serves as an English literary instructor for adult non-native English speakers at Lanier Technical College.

For registration information, specific locations and the public reading schedule, e-mail conference coordinators Dana Stoker Cochran at dochran7@radford.edu or Grace Toney Edwards at gedwards@radford.edu. More information is also available by calling RU’s Appalachian Regional Studies Center at (540) 831-5366.