GREENSBORO, N.C. — August 26, 2025 — When one of the state’s oldest writing organizations took the stage at the O. Henry Hotel in Greensboro to honor Clyde Edgerton, three Barton College English professors played key roles in the event held July 18-19.
Edgerton, known for his New York Times Notable Books, including the novels Walking Across Egypt and Raney, is a member of the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame. He recently retired from the creative writing program at UNC-Wilmington and won a 2025 O. Henry Prize for his short story “Hearing Aids.”
The North Carolina Writers Conference, which dates to 1950, is a group of published writers that meets annually to honor a writer and discuss the triumphs and challenges of being an author. The chairman for the organization in 2025 was Barton College Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing Michael K. Brantley. Brantley is also the Elizabeth H. Jordan Chair of Southern Literature at the school.
Barton Professor Emerita Dr. Rebecca Godwin served as vice-chairman and led a panel called “Writing Teaches,” to discuss the role and methods of writing instructors. Her former colleague, Professor Emeritas Dr. Jim Clark, led a discussion titled “Compositions: North Carolina Writer Musicians.” Additional panels featured sessions on genre-jumping and humor writing.
In addition, the group recognized the work of the North Carolina Literary Review, published at East Carolina University for over 30 years. The journal is regarded as one of the nation’s best, founded by retired ECU creative writing professor Alex Albright and helmed for over 25 years by ECU English professor Dr. Margaret Bauer.
“It was an honor to be a part of the leadership group of this organization for the last five years and to put the spotlight on Clyde Edgerton and NCLR,” said Brantley. “The O. Henry is the perfect place for a literary event, and it was a huge blessing to have two Barton legends in Dr. Godwin and Dr. Clark to help make it happen.”
Next year’s conference will be chaired by Dr. Godwin and honor Jaki Shelton Green, the current North Carolina Poet Laureate, who spoke at Barton in 2023 as part of the Joyce T. Boone Southern Author Series.
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