The Power of the Written and Spoken Word
Wilma Dykeman's great effectiveness as a communicator grew from her skills with both the written and spoken word. She became an excellent writer in multiple genres: memoir, histories, journalism, novels, essays. She was also a world-class public speaker. Her training as an actress enabled a strong stage presence, while her passionate and articulate delivery followed naturally from her own creative messages.
Important aspects of the Written and Spoken Word:
- What is your life story?
- What stories do we need to hear?
- What makes a good novel, and does it matter?
- How can we truly understand the past?
- Where is the poetry in our lives?
- Is investigative reporting a dying art?
- How do we grow compelling public speakers?
- How can the pen best serve social and environmental justice?
Related Articles
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Written & Spoken Word
Applications for 2024-25 UNCA Wilma Dykeman Writer-in-Residence Now Open
Utilities, property maintenance and Wi-Fi are all provided by UNC Asheville, as well as a stipend of $4,000.
This residency offers the recipient 2 consecutive months between Aug. 1 and Nov. 15, 2024, or between Jan. 15 and April 30, 2025.
Written & Spoken Word
John F Kennedy - Remarks at Amherst College honoring Robert Frost
Wealth Inequality and the Value of the Artist
"I see little of more importance to the future of our country and our civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist."
Written & Spoken Word
Wilma Dykeman's Letters from Northwestern - October 27, 1938
October 27, 1938
"Saturday is the big Homecoming Celebration for the football team, and we play Minnesota, which will probably be the toughest game of the year..."
Written & Spoken Word
Wilma Dykeman's Letters from Northwestern - Introduction
Introduction
"I know that you're being taken good care of now, and if you will enjoy yourself, and not worry about filthy lucre, everything will be hunky dorey."
Written & Spoken Word
Changing the World One Poem at a Time!
How can we promote social justice through poetry?
Aeryalle Coward - Pamlico County High School - Bayboro NC
Written & Spoken Word
Moby Dick - Chapter Three
As read by Rick Kisner
"...and an exasperated whale proposing to spring clean over the craft as in the enormous act of impaling himself upon the three mastheads."
Written & Spoken Word
Nella Larsen
An Introduction by Sharon Lynette Jones
"Larsen's works are read, discussed, and written about by scholars nationally and globally, and are taught in colleges and universities."
Written & Spoken Word
Jim Stokely on Wilma Dykeman's life and career - Part Two
As told by son Jim Stokely to Henry McCarthy on WEHC 90.7FM-WISE 90.5FM "The Voice of Southwest Virginia"
On July 24, 2019, at Wilma Dykeman's childhood home just north of Asheville, North Carolina, her son Jim Stokely discussed Wilma's life and career.
Written & Spoken Word
Jim Stokely on Wilma Dykeman's life and career - Part One
As told by son Jim Stokely to Henry McCarthy on WEHC 90.7FM-WISE 90.5FM "The Voice of Southwest Virginia"
On July 24, 2019, at Wilma Dykeman's childhood home just north of Asheville, North Carolina, her son Jim Stokely discussed Wilma's life and career.
Written & Spoken Word
Stephen Crane's "Men in the Storm"
Stephen Crane's short story "The Men in the Storm"
"In this half-darkness, the men began to come from their shelter places and mass in front of the doors of charity. They were of all types..."
Written & Spoken Word
With Fire and Sword: The Battle of Kings Mountain, 1780
by Wilma Dykeman
There, on an early October afternoon 5 years after the beginning of the Revolution, [occurred] a confrontation that marked a turning point in the war.
Written & Spoken Word
Moby Dick - Chapter Two
Chapter Two as read by Rick Kisner
"Moving on, I at last came to a dim sort of light not far from the docks, and heard a forlorn creaking in the air..."