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	Hope Edelman Creative Creative Nonfiction: Experiments in Form Weekend Workshop July 18–19 Advanced Memoir: In the Muddle of the Middle One-Week Workshop July 19–24 Biography Creative Creative Nonfiction: Experiments in Form Weekend Workshop July 18–19 Anyone call tell a story straight through from A to Z. It’s often more interesting for readers, however—and more fun for writers—when it’s told from Z to A. Or when it reads like a series of puzzle pieces, or an instruction manual, or a list. This class is for nonfiction writers of all levels who want to stretch their creativity and have fun with prose. Short writing exercises on Saturday will encourage students to think about structure and content in entirely new ways. We’ll also look at writings by published authors to explore methods of structural subversion and discuss the effects they have on us as readers. Saturday evening will offer time for writing a more developed piece to be shared in class on Sunday. Some class time will be devoted to a discussion of markets for these types of essays, but most of our time will be spent writing and reading our own work. Advanced Memoir: In the Muddle of the Middle One-Week Workshop July 19–24 Writing is quite possibly the most solitary, most introspective, and most self-doubting profession that exists. There comes a point in every memoirist’s experience when he or she looks at the stack of pages produced in isolation and thinks, “Huh? Will anyone really want to read this?” Hopefully, yes, provided you present your story as thoughtful, entertaining, and urgent. This advanced memoir class is for authors who are at least a few chapters into a book and need writerly support and an injection of confidence to keep the pages coming. Participants will submit up to twenty pages of prose in advance of the workshop, to be carefully and respectfully critiqued during our week. As we discuss each student’s submission, and hear about the larger story he or she wants to tell, we’ll learn what questions to ask ourselves as writers and discuss what makes a memoir “work.” In addition, half-hour lectures Monday through Friday will introduce you to fundamental components of memoir such as universality, persona, and character arcs as they apply to each day’s submissions. By the end of the week, you should have a solid blueprint for what to keep in your memoir, what to change, and how to proceed. Biography Hope Edelman (M.A.W., The University of Iowa) is the author of four nonfiction books, including the bestsellers Motherless Daughters and Motherless Mothers. Her articles and essays have appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, Child, Self, Parade, and Real Simple and in anthologies such as The Bitch in the House, Toddler, and Behind the Bedroom Door. Her new memoir, The Possibility of Everything, will be published by Ballantine this fall. This is her tenth summer teaching with the Festival.

	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 10, 2009