Iowa Summer Writing Festival


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Workshop Descriptions & Instructors Marilyn Abildskov Mary Allen Kate Aspengren Thomas Fox Averill Nancy K.Barry Timothy Bascom Kyle Beachy Karen Bender Linda Bendorf Maudy Benz Venise Berry Bruce Bond David Bouchier Michael Dennis Browne Maggie Conroy Mary Cross Thomas K. Dean Amber Dermont Janet Desaulniers Kelly Dwyer Hope Edelman Josh Emmons Jill Esbaum Sarah Fay Hugh Ferrer Katie Ford Geoffrey Forsyth Cecile Goding Douglas Goetsch Sands Hall Christine Hemp Jim Heynen Rick Hillis Charles Holdefer Richard Jackson Rebecca Johns Cheryl Fusco Johnson Wayne Johnson Daniel Khalastchi Carolyn Lieberg BK Loren Peter Markus Fritz Mc Donald James McKean Gordon Mennenga Sharelle Byars Moranville Michael Morse Barbara Robinette Moss Marc Nieson Shannon Olson Diana Ossana Lon Otto Juliet Patterson Kiki Petrosino Mark Jude Poirier Leslie Carol Roberts Anjali Sachdeva Sarah Saffian Sam Samuels Sandra Scofield Mary Kay Shanley Robert Anthony Siegel Carol Spindel Karen Subach Mary Vermillion Kris Vervaecke Ashley Warlick Michelle Wildgen Bart Yates	Mary Cross The Lyric Essay One-Week Workshop July 12–17 For the Love of Animals: Imprints in Poetry and Prose Weekend Workshop July 18–19 Biography The Lyric Essay One-Week Workshop July 12–17 “Given its genre mingling, the lyric essay often accretes by fragments, taking shape mosaically––its import visible only when one stands back and sees it whole.”—Editors, Seneca Review The lyric essay has been defined by its similarity to poetry, in its attention to the musicality of language, associative leaps, intuitive connections, and compression. Many writers have referred to the lyric essay as a mosaic, montage, or collage. It’s a genre-bending form, straddling and blurring literary boundaries. For example, Brenda Miller says, “the lyric essay has a tendency toward fragmentation that invites the reader into those gaps, that emphasizes what is unknown rather than the already articulated known. By infusing prose with tools normally relegated to the poetic sensibility, the lyric essayist creates anew, each time, a form that is interactive, alive, full of new spaces in which meaning can germinate.” In this class, we will pay allegiance to intuition as the driving force behind the writings you make. Our days will be filled with engaging hands-on writing prompts, reading discussions, and supportive conversations about your work in progress. Readings will come from Lia Purpura, Lawrence Sutrin, Brenda Miller, and others. This course is intended for writers of all levels who want to investigate an inventive form of creative nonfiction. For the Love of Animals: Imprints in Poetry and Prose Weekend Workshop July 18–19 “Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”—Anatole France This course is for writers of all levels who would like to explore writing about animal as character, either as a narrator in a story or poem or as a designated subject in a personal essay. Through in-class generative writing exercises and discussions of readings from contemporary adult literature focusing on animals, participants will have opportunities to experiment and create material of their own. In our passionate study, we’ll ask questions, some of which might start here: How does one’s identification and curiosity about animals inform a text? How does one negotiate an anthropomorphic urge? What are the issues surrounding sentimentality and animals on the page? What kinds of constraints are apparent (or not) in animal characterizations? In order to explore these questions and others, we’ll do fieldwork observing animals in our midst, view art work, and make pieces from these experiences (some of which will be shared in class). Our feedback will include conversations about your generative material in a way that honors your imprint. Biography Mary Cross (M.F.A., The University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop) is the author of a collection of poems, Rooms, Which Were People (Ohio State University Press). Her poems, short stories and essays have appeared in numerous publications, including The American Poetry Review, Hotel Amerika, Other Voices, Ploughshares, The Sun, Crazyhorse, and the featherproof mini-book series. Her poetry and prose has also been aired on Chicago Public Radio. She teaches in the M.F.A. Writing Program at The School of the Art Institute and Northwestern University School of Continuing Studies.

	Site Map \| Welcome \| Workshops by Session Date \| Workshops by Instructor Workshops by Genre \| Registration & Housing Information \| Registration Form Sponsored by the Division of Continuing Education Iowa Summer Writing Festival C215 Seashore Hall The University of Iowa Iowa City, IA 52242 Phone 319-335-4160 FAX 319-335-4743 iswfestival@uiowa.edu Last updated on February 2, 2009