Workshop Descriptions & Instructors

Faith Adiele
Mary Allen
Kate Aspengren
Thomas Fox Averill
Nancy Barry
Timothy Bascom
Linda Bendorf
Venise Berry
Bruce Bond
Michael Dennis Browne
Susan Taylor Chehak
John Dalton
Thomas K. Dean
Amber Dermont
Kelly Dwyer
Hope Edelman
Josh Emmons
Katie Ford
Patricia Foster
Laura Fraser
Cecile Goding
Douglas Goetsch
Kevin González
John Griesemer
Sands Hall
Christine Hemp
Jim Heynen
Rick Hillis
Charles Holdefer
Richard Jackson
Cheryl Fusco Johnson
Wayne Johnson
Bret Anthony Johnston
Daniel Khalastchi
Zachary Lazar
Carolyn Lieberg
BK Loren
Fritz Mc Donald
James McKean
Gordon Mennenga
Katherine Min
Sharelle Byars Moranville
Michael Morse
Barbara Robinette Moss
Marc Nieson
Shannon Olson
Lon Otto
Juliet Patterson
Anjali Sachdeva
Sarah Saffian
Sam Samuels
Leslie Schwartz
Sandra Scofield
Mary Kay Shanley
Carol Spindel
Karen Subach
Mary Vermillion
Ashley Warlick
Jan Weissmiller
Bart Yates

Katherine Min

Tempests In Teapots: Advanced Short Story Workshop
One-Week Workshop
June 8–13

The Plot Thickens: How To Create & Sustain Compelling Fiction
Weekend Workshop
June 14–15

Biography

Tempests In Teapots: Advanced Short Story Workshop
One-Week Workshop
June 8–13

From Poe to Chekhov, Bowles to Munro, what makes a story memorable? Vivid characters, an arresting situation, fully dramatized scenes, and finely nuanced descriptions; all these, of course, within an economy of time, space, and language. In addition to workshopping your own stories, we will read and discuss a few master works with an eye to apprehending the astonishing depth and range the short story form has to offer. This is a workshop for serious writers who have worked at writing stories and would like to kick it up a notch to improve their command of the form. The tone of the workshop will be frank and constructive. Discussions of the master stories will focus on how the writer achieves his/her effects, spotlighting the techniques of some of the greatest short story practitioners. Participants should come away with practical and specific ideas for improving their stories and a greater appreciation of what distinguishes a competent story from an exceptional one. Expect to present a story (no more than 20 pages) in class.

The Plot Thickens: How To Create & Sustain Compelling Fiction
Weekend Workshop
June 14–15

The truth is that if you tell an engaging story, you can sneak in almost anything else—satire, philosophy, politics; the history of the Great Migration; pages on Russian land reform; and much more about whales than most biology textbooks. So how do you keep a reader enthralled by the specific characters and situations you create? In this workshop, we will discuss the elements of plot, action, story, and movement that are the bedrock of all compelling fiction, from Homer to Harry Potter. We will brainstorm plots in class, and use a variety of short exercises to highlight storytelling. Participants should come away with ideas for plotting fiction, or a better blueprint for their already plotted stories and novels. Expect to write and share in-class exercises. This course is open to all levels.

Biography
Anchor will publish Katherine Min’s novel, Secondhand World, in paperback, in February 2008. Her stories have appeared in numerous publications, including TriQuarterly, Ploughshares, The Threepenny Review, and Prairie Schooner, and have been widely anthologized, most recently in The Pushcart Book of Stories: The Best Short Stories from a Quarter-Century. Min received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and two fellowships from the New Hampshire Arts Council. She currently teaches at UNC-Asheville.

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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
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Last updated on January 29, 2008