Summer Writing Fesitival: Avoiding Avoidance

Jim Heynen

00L:113/00L:213 Undergraduate/Graduate Independent StudyLAB

This one-week workshop, designed for young adult to adult writers of all levels, will help participants apply their imagination to their life experiences.   Meets July 6 to 10.

This is, first of all, a writing workshop in which we’ll try to help each other become the most effective writers we can be.  We’ll give a special twist to the workshop by focusing on what we have avoided—projects we know we should have started or projects we know we should finish.  Various forms of expression will be explored, including the personal essay, poetry, and short fiction.

Participants will meet in a classroom setting on the campus of Iowa Lakeside Lab for three hours each afternoon, with one individual conference with the instructor during the week. High speed wireless internet is available. The workshop is limited to 12 participants.

The instructor is Jim Heynen, a native of Sioux Center in rural northwest Iowa and a widely published writer of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

Mr. Heynen wrote the text for the new book, Sunday Afternoon on the Porch: Reflections of a Small Town in Iowa 1939-1942, a collection of historic photos.  His most recent collection of short stories, The Boys House, was an Editors Choice book of the year by Booklist, The Bloomsbury Review, and Newsday. His most recent novel is Cosmos Coyote and William the Nice. His 1997 novel, Being Youngest, was a Young Hoosier Book Award winner. Other recent books include Standing Naked: New and Selected Poems, and Fishing for Chickens: Stories about Rural Youth (ed.). Earlier books include The One-Room Schoolhouse and the nonfiction book One Hundred Over 100. He has frequently been featured on National Public Radio reading his own stories and has been awarded National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships in both poetry and fiction.

You may register for 1 graduate or undergraduate credit through The University of Iowa for the workshop. Grading will be on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis for graduate credit or on a pass/nonpass basis for undergraduate credit. Those who do not desire college credit should register for audit status. Tuition for credit or for audit status is the same ($242 for undergraduates or $381 for graduate students). Please register by completing the online registration/housing form. You will be billed for tuition by The University of Iowa.