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	Sands Hall Showing and Telling: The Effective Use of Detail Weekend Workshop June 20–21 Tools of the Writer’s Craft One-Week Workshop June 21–26 Biography Showing and Telling: The Effective Use of Detail Weekend Workshop June 20–21 As writers we are told: “Show, don’t tell!” What does this injunction mean? How do we put it into practice? This workshop covers various aspects of detail, that vital element of effective writing. We’ll use published examples to focus on what and how a writer chooses to show, as well as when and why a writer might decide to tell. With the help of short assignments, we’ll explore the use of active verbs, sensory perceptions, the importance of sense of place, action and gesture, and we’ll discuss helpful hints on dialogue and point of view. Whether you are working on poems, a play, essays, memoir, or fiction, you’ll come to understand how the choice and the portrayal of detail can give your writing specificity and vigor. Tools of the Writer’s Craft One-Week Workshop June 21–26 While some aspects of the writing life are ones over which we have little dominion—luck, timing, even talent—what we can control is our craft, which is the focus of this workshop. With the aid of handouts and daily assignments, we’ll focus on tools and techniques that make writing effective, including a thorough understanding of point of view and its relation to sense of place, the differences between and respective uses of showing and telling, the importance of crafting scenes, as well as some dialogue pitfalls and helpful hints. You will write daily, with the writing critiqued in a workshop forum. Come prepared to work hard; you will leave with new confidence in your writer’s craft. Biography Sands Hall is a graduate of The University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop and holds a second M.F.A. in Theatre Arts. Her experience as director, actor, and playwright gives her a unique perspective on the writing process. Currently Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at Franklin & Marshall College, she is the author of a book of writing essays and exercises, Tools of the Writer’s Craft; of the novel Catching Heaven, a Random House Reader’s Circle selection; as well as fiction and nonfiction in The Iowa Review, the Green Mountain Review, and Tahoe Quarterly. Her produced plays include an adaptation of Alcott’s Little Women and the comic/drama Fair Use. This is the nineteenth year Sands has taught for 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