Iowa Summer Writing Festival


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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	Michael Morse Apprenticeship And Inspiration—(20th Century) Foxes In The Hen House One-Week Workshop July 6–11 Literary Hybrids—Flash Fiction, Prose Poems, Lyric Essays One-Week Workshop July 13–18 Metaphor & Figuration In Poetry: From Image To Idea Weekend Workshop July 19–20 Biography Apprenticeship And Inspiration—(20th Century) Foxes In The Hen House One-Week Workshop July 6–11 In an essay from “The Sacred Wood,” T.S. Eliot notes that a sure test of skill is the way in which a poet “borrows”: Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different. This generative workshop will model the works of others as springboards to freshly conceived poems. We’ll closely read poems by 5 fantastic 20th century poets—T.S. Eliot, Wallace Stevens, Elizabeth Bishop, Sylvia Plath, and Etheridge Knight—and, as in the days of guilds and apprenticeship under accomplished artisans, we’ll note what’s of merit in each poet’s work, roll up our sleeves, and try to emulate those masterworks while generating work that’s singularly our own. Elements considered will include structure, music, pacing, syntax, imagery, figuration, and subject matter. An ideal welcome for beginners and writers in other genres who want to dip a toe into the waters of poetry, this course also caters to seasoned poets looking to break down what’s at the heart of terrific poems and bring that knowledge into their own work. Participants are encouraged to bring 2 poems with them: a model poem by a poet of their choice and a poem in progress “off of” the model poem. Literary Hybrids—Flash Fiction, Prose Poems, Lyric Essays One-Week Workshop July 13–18 Imaginative writing often bucks against the conventionally strict boundaries of genres. This generative workshop will play with such forms, exploring how cross-pollinations between different genres can generate fresh work. What can short stories gain from close attention to the line, the building block of poems? How can the rhythms of prose, under the firm grip of poetic compression, emerge as jeweled prose poems? How might fragmentation and metaphor enhance an essay or a section of memoir? When Frost reminds us that the primary way to get to a reader’s heart and mind is through the ear, he’s helping us reconsider what paths allow effective—not easy —access to our work. Similarly, we will reconsider the templates of hard and fast categorizations—we’ll encourage each other to work within and outside of conventions. Participants should bring a short story, poem, or short essay with them and prepare to tinker under the hood—we’ll adopt and mix qualities from across the spectrum of genres and leave class with a fulfilling make-over (as well as some new works in progress). Metaphor & Figuration In Poetry: From Image To Idea Weekend Workshop July 19–20 In concert with music and the line, imagery and figuration are essential components in lyric poetry; sensory experience (feeling) and subsequent associations (thinking) are close cousins who ultimately bring emotion to bear in poems. What does it mean, in a poem, to think and feel via the image and the metaphorical? Our workshop will explore this question through poems that we read and write together, and we’ll come to appreciate how the working mind naturally (and evocatively) navigates perception, thought, and utterance as it blossoms image into metaphor. Day Two will focus on how metaphor and figuration sustain different poetic forms: in particular, the sonnet, the pastoral, and the elegy. For each, we’ll discuss figurative strategies that liberate formal parameters, sustain and challenge our ideas of place, and generate, out of absence or the threat of loss, the vivid presence of satisfying poems. An excellent course for poets of all levels and for fiction writers who want to explore the power of metaphor. Biography Michael Morse has taught at The University of Iowa, the City University of New York, and The New School University; he currently teaches at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in New York City. Michael has published poems in various literary magazines, including the Antioch Review, A Public Space, Field, The Iowa Review, The Literary Review, Ploughshares, and Tin House. Honors include fellowships at the Millay Colony, the Ucross Foundation, Ledig House International Writers’ Colony, Vermont Studio Center, and the Willard Espy Literary Foundation; three Pushcart Prize nominations; and the Charles Angoff Award from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He received his M.F.A. in Poetry from The University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

	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 January 10, 2008