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?
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"...and an exasperated whale proposing to spring clean over the craft as in the enormous act of impaling himself upon the three mastheads."
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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.
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by Wilma Dykeman
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Zora Neale Hurston - Part One
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Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison called Zora Neale Hurston "One of the greatest writers of our time," yet she died in a Florida welfare home.
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Alice in Wonderland - Chapter Three
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Now on the bank, Alice receives a history lesson from a mouse. Alice's story of her Dinah cat causes all the other animals to run away.