At the heart of the conference are small, intimate workshops designed for talented
writers looking to take their craft to the next level. Our workshop faculty includes
some of the best in the industry.
Each workshop is capped at 12-13 participants. You will meet with the same group every
day of the conference, fostering strong relationships and gaining deeper insights
into each other’s work.
For July 9-13, 2025, workshop sessions will consist of five morning meetings held
over five days.
Workshop Schedule:
Day 1 – 11AM-1PM (2 hours)
Day 2 – 10AM-1PM (3 hours)
Day 3 - 10AM-1PM (3 hours)
Day 4 - 10AM-1PM (3 hours)
Day 5 - 10AM-1PM (3 hours)
Of course, workshop participants also have access to all afternoon and evening programming.
This includes all lectures, readings and panels with our guests and faculty.
2025 Workshops
Matthew Klam - Moving Past Doubt - A Workshop for Creative Writers (fiction/nonfiction):
“What would you write if you weren’t afraid?”―Mary Karr, The Art of the Memoir
The right workshop will help you start, and persevere, and reignite the spark when
you’ve lost your way. As a writer, I’msometimes afraid, but I try to work my way through or around those fears.A good workshop is affirming and stimulating, and we all need affirmation and compassion
to help us do the work and shed our fears (Mary Karr also said,“One can’t mount a stripper pole wearing a metal diving suit”).For five days we’ll gather together to write and read and discuss essays, chapters
of memoirs, long and short fiction, and whatever else inspires us. We’ll explore writing
that is confessional, disruptive, funny, intimate, and intense. We’ll spend the rest
of our time carefully reading and examining your writing in a helpful, constructive
manner. Your creative side demands time and energy to develop a story, and that creative
part is somewhat mysterious and powerful, and in our discussions we’ll debunk some
of the mystery, as we engage the part that creates, that fills the page with words,
that doesn't look back or edit or second guess.
Frederic Tuten - The Short Story: I love fiction of all kinds. I have no belief in the hierarchy of fiction. For me,
there is only good or poor writing, interesting or uninteresting work. Every writer
has, because they want to be writers, a genuine spark. The point is how to bring that
spark into a flame I will read and edit your work carefully and as constructively
as possible and try to bring to fruition the intent of your writing. I expect you
to treat your fellow-writers’ work with the same consideration. Of course, I know
that we will have lively, passionate and helpful discussions and that we will all
come out the better writers for it. So much for procedure, the rest is the unknown,
mysterious chemistry of the workshop. In particular, our workshop will concentrate
on short stories—flash or long exposure. I shall be sending you a reading list of
a variety of stories, some of which we shall consider in class. But the focus is,
finally, and always your work.
Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi - Confronting taboo (novels): Confronting taboo is a fundamental aspect of powerful storytelling and an invitation
to write our bravest, most honest work; but doing so requires us to engage those parts
of ourselves and our characters that make us uneasy, restless, and fearful. In this
week long craft workshop, you will be guided through readings, exercises, and small
group discussions designed to help you navigate the discomfort that taboo elicits
when you are sitting before the page. The goal of the seminar is to expand the limits
of your thinking and your craft and to develop the courage to ask: Who am I? And,
What do I truly want to say? PDFs of readings will be provided in advance.
Matthew Klam - Moving Past Doubt - A Workshop for Creative Writers (fiction/nonfiction): Doris Lessing said, “Whatever you're meant to do, do it now. The conditions are always
impossible.”
The right workshop will help you start, and persevere, and reignite the spark when
you’ve lost your way. A good workshop is affirming and stimulating. For five days
we’ll gather together to write and read and discuss essays, chapters of memoirs, long
and short fiction, and whatever else inspires us. We’ll explore writing that is confessional,
disruptive, funny, intimate, and intense. We’ll spend the rest of our time carefully
reading and examining your writing in a helpful, constructive manner. Your creative
side demands time and energy to develop a story, and that creative part is somewhat
mysterious and powerful, and in our discussions we’ll debunk some of the mystery,
as we engage the part that creates, that fills the page with words, that doesn't look
back or edit or second guess.
Chloé Cooper Jones - Memoir: TBA
Billy Collins - Poetry: Our gathering will be focused largely on the poems you bring to the table for discussion.
I have found that a truly fine poem is apt to leave us speechless, so to encourage
lively discussion, it’s best to bring in poems that you find problematic, unsatisfying,
and, maybe for those reasons and others, unfinished. Poems, of course, may be approached
from many angles. One angle I am fond of involves dusting off the ancient distinction
between form and content so that we see content as the poem’s interest in the world (i.e. its subject) and form as the poem’s interest in itself. In most successful poems, a happy balance exists
between the two; in most unsatisfying poems, one (usually content) is grossly favored
over the other. My overall hope is that you will discover in our meetings ways to
make your poems more interesting and have a good time while you’re at it.
