Great Smokies Writing Program

06/05/2026

Thank you to Elizabeth Lutyens, longtime Editor-in-Chief of The Great Smokies Review, who retired from the role in May. Elizabeth has tirelessly served as a mentor and champion to writers in the classroom and through her editorship of The Review since its establishment in 2009. We're grateful for her dedication and service!

The Great Smokies Review is undergoing a metamorphosis from biannual publication to a year-round Substack, under the editorship of Emma Ensley and a team of Associate Editors. The Review will accept submissions from GSWP writers year-round, as well as from the public each January and July. Our hope is that opening the journal to submissions beyond the GSWP community will increase its range and readership.

We hope you'll come with us on this exciting journey by subscribing (for free!) to the Substack. We can't wait to read your work! https://greatsmokiesreview.substack.com/about

05/29/2026

Instructor spotlights continue with Whitney Waters!

A few coveted seats remain in Whitney's 5-week summer class "Poetic Kinesis: Movement and Energy in Poetry." Participants will explore how to use syntax, structure, tension, associative leaps, and more to build and sustain momentum throughout a poem. You'll also get to write and receive feedback on your poems!

Listen to Whitney read her exquisitely aching poem "Letter to the Daughter I Don't Have [Celestial]" in the Cincinnati Review. https://www.cincinnatireview.com/micros/letter-to-the-daughter-i-dont-have-celestial/

Class meets in-person in Asheville, Wednesday evenings beginning June 3. Register at https://go.unca.edu/greatsmokies/classes/

Assistant Editor Blessing Christopher: The past, present, and future coalesce in today's micro, resulting in a prose poem that makes tangible a quiet but

05/26/2026

Our earliest summer classes start NEXT WEEK! 📆Are you registered? 👀 https://go.unca.edu/greatsmokies/

05/22/2026

Instructor spotlights continue with Jennie Malboeuf! 💫

Jennie will be teaching the 3-session non-credit workshop " 'Into That World Inverted:' Confessionalism in the Work of Bishop, Plath, and Clifton." Participants will examine the work of these master Confessional poets, analyzing how their poems employ and resist Confessional techniques. How do they challenge understandings of revelation and intimacy, and what can we learn from and borrow for our own poems?

Meets Monday evenings on Zoom, beginning 6/8. Learn more and register at https://go.unca.edu/greatsmokies/classes/

05/11/2026

Join us July 25 for a special Keynote Lecture featuring GSWP Founders Tommy Hays- Author and Richard Chess! Tommy and Rick will discuss their new works and the writers' life. Tickets are available on our website, including options to purchase a copy of Tommy's and/or Rick's newest books.

05/08/2026

Instructor spotlights continue with Halle Hill! 💫

Halle will be teaching "The Work of Attention: An Embodied Short Fiction Workshop." Over 5 sessions participants will examine craft elements of place, dream logic, family of origin influence, voice, and revision, drawing from fiction masters like Carson McCullers, Edward P. Jones, Jean Toomer, and Gayl Jones.

Meets Thursday evenings on Zoom, beginning 6/4. Learn more and register at https://go.unca.edu/greatsmokies/classes/

Award-winning author Halle Hill discusses her short story collection, Good Women.Each month, New York Times best-selling author Wiley Cash handpicks contempo...

05/07/2026

What better way to kick off our summer instructor spotlights? 💫 Grey Wolfe LaJoie will be teaching "Visual Storytelling: Text + Image," covering all kinds of narrative forms including collage, graphic novel, and photo sequences.

Selections from Grey's debut collection, Little Ones (Hub City Press, 2024), have been awarded the Pushcart Prize and the O. Henry Prize, selected by Lauren Groff. Their work has also appeared in The Threepenny Review, Shenandoah, Copper Nickel, swamp pink (fka Crazyhorse), and the Bellevue Literary Review.

Grey's 5-week class meets online via Zoom, Friday evenings starting 6/5. Learn more and register at https://go.unca.edu/greatsmokies/classes/

Staff pick from Vern for LITTLE ONES by Grey Wolfe Lajoie

"This story collection will launch you into its worlds within a glimpse of the page. I love Grey Wolfe LaJoie’s attention to detail, inclusion of creative and unique art, and beautiful & eerie storytelling. Their stories are rooted in Appalachian whimsy!"

Get your copy on our shelves or at https://buff.ly/FrZCDHp

04/21/2026

Get ready for GSWP Game Night this Thursday, April 23, 6pm-8pm at the gorgeous Battery Park Book Exchange & Champagne Bar! Featuring a stacks scavenger hunt and caption contest hosted by Jacqui Castle of LitLocal Books. Bring a friend or two and meet some new ones! RSVP: https://forms.gle/xKYjzgqkEkWxEgh26

04/17/2026

We've got two great events next week:
📖Mon 4/20, 6pm: Writers at Home featuring Alice Martin at Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe. Alice will read from her debut novel WESTWARD WOMEN, described by Joyce Carol Oates as "an audacious first novel to set beside Margaret Atwood" (!!) Free to attend, RSVP: https://malaprops.com/event/2026-04-20/writers-at-home

🏆Thurs 4/23, 6-8pm: Literary Game Night hosted by Jacqui Castle at Battery Park Book Exchange & Champagne Bar. Bring a friend and your competitive spirit and play some bookish-themed games with us! Free to attend, RSVP: https://forms.gle/cgJCYbWPFpGeBKkC7