Writers Series Starts Again April 8 at CHS

Tim Thornton

We're gearing the Writers Series up again beginning in April and the first topic is a zinger: writing your own (or somebody close's) obituary. It's a topic that's been in the news and water-cooler conversation of late, since the local daily ran a full page obit recently (at $9,0000).
 

Journalist Tim Thornton will kick off the Roanoke Regional Writers Conference’s monthly Writers Series Tuesday, April 8, 6:30-7:30 p.m. at Community High School in downtown Roanoke with a discussion of writing obituaries.

The class is free and open to writers in the Roanoke and New River Valleys. A hat will be passed to cover the teacher’s expenses.

The perfect obit, whether written for a family member, a friend or yourself has become something of an art form that combines facts, entertainment and recognition of a life. Thornton, who has taught this class in the past, will use a number of examples in his presentation.

Thornton is a writer, journalist, and teacher with experience at mainstream and alternative newspapers and magazines, on public radio and online. He has won national awards for column writing and environmental reporting, the Phillip D. Reed Memorial Award for Outstanding Writing on the Southern Environment, the Virginia Press Association’s D. Lathan Mims Award for “editorial leadership and service to the community,” a score of state press association awards, and a small stack of ribbons for his dulcimer playing.

He teaches English composition and Appalachian literature at Virginia Western Community College and edits a monthly magazine covering the Roanoke and New River Valleys.