The Writers' Workshop is offering new writing classes for the winter season. They are for any level writer, and meet at Saturdays at Providence Presbyterian Church in Charlotte. Registration is in advance only, by mail or at the website (www.twwoa. org). The cost is $75 for nonmembers and $70 for members. Financial aid in exchange for volunteering is available. For more information, contact writersw @gmail.com, or call (828) 254-8111.

March 3: Writing and Producing the Screenplay, with Nathan Ross Freeman

March 31: How to Self-Publish, Market and Promote Your Book, with Peggy DeKay.

April 21: From Inspiration to Publication: Poetry and the Writing Process, with Scott Owens.

Poetry Reading

The North Carolina Poetry Society reading series at McIntyre's Fine Books, at Fearrington Village (halfway between Pittsboro and Chapel Hill on U.S. 15-501 South), continues Sunday, Feb. 26, at 2 p.m.

Featured poets include Florence Nash, Sally Logan and Jo Barbara Taylor.

Florence Nash was born and raised in Tarboro and attended UNC and Duke, and during her 20 years on the West Coast, San Jose State.

She has published poetry in two collections, "Crossing Water" and "Fish Music," and in periodicals and anthologies. A member of the Black Socks Poets, she is a past winner of the Blumenthal Writers & Readers award and in 2001 was an invited Emerging Poet at Vanderbilt's Millennial Gathering of Writers of the New South.

For 16 years, she was a writer/editor for Duke Medical Center, and since 2000 has directed Duke's OLLI poetry workshop.

Jo Barbara Taylor lives in Raleigh. Her poems have appeared several anthologies.

She serves as chair of the Brockman-Campbell book award for the North Carolina Poetry Society. Her chapbook "One Or Two Feathers" was released in fall 2010 by Plan B Press of Alexandria, Va.; "Jake and Jill, The Story of a Marriage," released last summer by Ridgeline Press; and last fall's "Cameo Roles" from Big Table Publishing in Newton, Mass.

Sally Logan is the author of the chapbook "Garden Lessons." Her first chapbook, "Vigils for the Dead," was published by Longleaf Press. Her poetry has appeared in many journals, including Tar River Poetry, Southern Poetry Review, Crucible, Asheville Poetry Review, Pembroke Magazine, and Solo Cafe.

A three-time winner of Crucible's Literary Contest, she was featured as Poet of the Week in February 2006 on the North Carolina Arts Council website. She was selected for the 1999 North Carolina Writers' Network Blumenthal Writers and Readers Series and served as 2010 chair of the North Carolina Writers Conference.

Logan lived in Whispering Pines for 30 years before moving to Chapel Hill in 2001.

Colby Award

Norwich University officials announced that Michael "Zak" Franzak is the 2012 William E. Colby Award winner for his book "A Nightmare's Prayer" (Threshold Editions, 2010), the first Afghanistan memoir ever to be published by a Marine Harrier pilot.

Franzak is a recently retired lieutenant colonel who served as an AV-8B Marine Corps Harrier pilot in Afghanistan. He lives in Raleigh, with his wife, son and daughter. Franzak received the Distinguished Flying Cross for actions in Afghanistan.

Named for the late Ambassador and former CIA Director William E. Colby, the Colby Award recognizes a first work of fiction or nonfiction that has made a significant contribution to the public's understanding of intelligence operations, military history or international affairs.

"Michael Franzak's 'A Nightmare's Prayer' was chosen for the Colby Award because it is the most compelling and vivid book yet written about aerial warfare in Afghanistan," said author W.E.B. Griffin, a member of the Colby selection committee. "The author's superbly written account of how a Marine airman answered the call to duty would make the late Bill Colby proud of the high quality of the recognition given annually in his name."

A $5,000 author honorarium is provided through a grant from Chicago-based Tawani Foundation. The award and honorarium will be presented at Norwich University by Carlo D'Este during the 2012 Colby Military Writers' Symposium at the Meet the Authors Dinner on April 12.

Contests

The Writers' Workshop, of Asheville, is sponsoring contests. Any writer may enter, regardless of residence or experience. For more information, visit www.twwoa.org.