The Transylvania County Library Foundation and Brevard College are once again serving as co-hosts and sponsors of the Looking Glass Rock Writers' Conference, May 16-19. The conference features nationally renowned writers who give public readings of their work and lead workshops in fiction, nonfiction and poetry with a select number of participants. Conference attendees were competitively selected based on work submitted last fall, and some participants will be traveling from as far as California to attend the workshops.

Exploring the theme "A Sense of Place," the small group of conference participants will work under the guidance of notable writers Pam Houston, Dorianne Laux and Jason Mott. In addition, conference faculty will give public readings of their work on Friday, May 17 and Saturday, May 18. These events are free to attend and open to the community.

Friday’s event begins at 7:30 pm at the Porter Center on the Brevard College campus, and authors Pam Houston and Dorianne Laux will read from their work.

Pam Houston, who will be leading the nonfiction writing workshop, is the author of short stories, novels and essays, including “Cowboys Are My Weakness,” which was the winner of the 1993 Western States Book Award and has been translated into nine languages, and “Waltzing the Cat,” which won the Willa Award for Contemporary Fiction.

Her stories have also been selected for The O. Henry Awards and The Pushcart Prize. She is the winner of the Western States Book Award, the WILLA Award for contemporary fiction, and The Evil Companions Literary Award. She is a regular contributor to O, the Oprah Magazine, The New York Times, and many other periodicals. She divides her time between UC Davis and southwestern Colorado at 9,000 feet above sea level near the headwaters of the Rio Grande.

Dorianne Laux, who will be leading the poetry workshop, is the author of several collections of poetry, including “What We Carry,” a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; “Facts about the Moon,” chosen by the poet Ai as winner of the Oregon Book Award and also a finalist for the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize; “The Book of Men,” which was awarded the Paterson Prize; and “Only As the Day is Long: New and Selected Poems,” Laux’s sixth collection, which was named a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. She has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts and has been a Pushcart Prize winner. Her latest collection is “Life On Earth” which was released in January of this year.

Laux has taught creative writing at the University of Oregon, Pacific University, and North Carolina State University; she has also led summer workshops at Esalen in Big Sur. She lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Author Jason Mott will give his public reading and presentation on Saturday, May 18 at 7:30 pm in the Library’s Rogow Room. The event is free and open to the public. Mott is a bestselling author, National Book Award Winner, and Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction Winner. His poetry and fiction have appeared in various literary journals, and he is the author of four novels: “The Returned,” “The Wonder of All Things,” “The Crossing,” and “Hell of a Book.” “Hell of a Book,” was a Jenna Bush Hager “Read With Jenna” Book Club pick, Carnegie Medals For Excellence in Fiction Longlist selection, a 2022 Aspen Words Literary Prize Longlist selection, a 2022 Chatauqua Prize Finalist, a Joyce Carol Oates Prize Longlist selection, the 2022 Housatonic Book Award Winner, the 2021 Sir Walter Raleigh Prize for Fiction winner, and the winner of the 2021 National Book Award for Fiction. Mott will lead the conference fiction writing workshop. He lives in Bolton, North Carolina.

Highland Books will be on-site with books for sale at both events, and the authors will be available to sign copies of their work after their presentations.

Founded in 2016, the Looking Glass Rock Writers’ Conference offers Transylvania County residents the opportunity to interact with renowned authors, engage in meaningful conversation about writing and place, and strengthen ties across generations by reaching out to the diverse Transylvania County population. Applications to participate in the May 2025 conference will be accepted beginning in September. For additional information about the Conference, visit https://www.lgrwc.org/ or contact the Transylvania County Library at (828) 884-3151.

The Transylvania County Library Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that builds and maintains endowment funds to support library services now — and in the future. Targeted areas of support include the J.R. McDowell Speaker series, the Looking Glass Rock Writers' Conference, the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room collections, special events for children, and new technologies in library services. The Library Foundation is funded by donations, bequests, and gifts in memory or honor of someone.

Brevard College is consistently recognized as one of the best liberal arts colleges. The College’s focus on experiential learning, small class sizes, and location in the mountains of Western North Carolina near Asheville makes Brevard a top choice college for students around the world.