Iowa Summer Writing Festival


Previous Page \| Registration Form \| Site Map \| Next Page
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	Sarah Saffian Memoir: The Vertical Pronoun And The Who Cares? Question One-Week Workshop July 13–18 Narrative Journalism: The Art Of The Profile Weekend Workshop July 19–20 Biography Memoir: The Vertical Pronoun And The Who Cares? Question One-Week Workshop July 13–18 Though only one letter long, the word “I” can intimidate a writer. In this course, we’ll spend half our time discussing excerpts from various memoirs—by Vladimir Nabokov, Kathryn Harrison, Frank McCourt, Lucy Grealy—and exploring our own personal storytelling through short (250-word max) exercises in memory mining, verb tense and voice, and character, dialogue and plot. The rest of the time we’ll workshop our memoirs-in-progress, striving to answer the pesky Who Cares? question: How can my story be both unique and universal, both precisely mine and meaningful to others? Please plan to send me your work (10 pages maximum) in advance of our session. While this course is ideal for memoirists in the midst of projects, writers at any stage are welcome. Those who come in with an already completed draft will equip themselves to revise rigorously, and those with little more than a concept will chip away considerably at that block of marble, to find the statue emerging. Narrative Journalism: The Art Of The Profile Weekend Workshop July 19–20 The profile, one of the foundations of narrative journalism, is a portrait painted in words. A profile writer serves as the eyes and ears for the reader, enabling the reader to experience the subject as palpably as one can without meeting in person. In this course, we’ll learn the interviewing and the writing aspects of the profile process: getting your subject to talk; being both prepared and open to surprise; trying on different perspectives (degrees of first person, fly-on-the-wall); prioritizing information and using quotes to convey your subject vividly and precisely, bringing him or her to life on the page. On day one, we’ll explore the nuts and bolts of the form, and what makes profiles like Lillian Ross’s “Portrait of Hemingway” and Gay Talese’s “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold” successful; then we’ll split up to interview one another. Overnight, you’ll write a short (500-word max) profile of your colleague. On day two, we’ll read these profiles aloud and discuss what’s working, what isn’t, and why. Inquisitive wordsmiths at all levels are welcome. Biography Sarah Saffian (M.F.A., Columbia University) is the author of Ithaka, her memoir of being an adoptee who was found by her birth family (Basic Books; Dell). A journalism professor at the New School University, Sarah has written and edited for publications including The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, Entertainment Weekly, and slate.com. She has been a writer-in-residence at Millay and the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and recently completed an essay for a forthcoming anthology on parent loss.

	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