The University of Virginia’s College at Wise Lecture Committee and Pro-Art are sponsoring a workshop and lecture this month by Wendy Welch, author of the popular “The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap.”

Welch will conduct a writer’s workshop on Tuesday, Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. in the Gladeville Room of Cantrell Hall. The workshop is co-sponsored by the lecture committee and Pro-Art.

In the workshop, Welch will help people who have an idea of what they’d like to write about get started on their fiction or memoir project. She will focus on motivation, logistical planning, getting the bare bones into a first draft, breaking down barriers to success, and the mechanics and mindset needed to finish 80,000 or so words. There will be no public critiquing, but students will be encouraged to find and work with writing partners after the workshop.

In the lecture, set for Jan. 30 at 1 p.m. in the Chapel of All Faiths, Welch will talk about her book’s path to publication, and discuss the importance of independent bookstores in today’s economy.

Welch and her husband, Jack, run Tales of the Lonesome Pine Used Book and Café in the town of Big Stone Gap. She has a Ph.D in ethnography. Published in October 2012 by St. Martin’s Press, “Little Bookstore” has been featured in Redbook, Country Woman, People, Huffington Post, Washington Post, The LA Times, and on NPR’s Weekend Edition, among other places.