Art and Craft: the Northwestern Summer Writers' Conference 2009
Conference Schedule
August 12 - 14, 2009
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Wednesday 8/12 |
Thursday 8/13 |
Friday 8/14 |
| 8:30am
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Coffee & Registration UNIVERSITY HALL 121 |
Coffee & Registration UNIVERSITY HALL 121 |
Coffee & Registration UNIVERSITY HALL 121 |
| 9-10am |
Faculty Panel A
Publishers Point of View: Inside Publishing
David Standish, Anne Gendler
UNIVERSITY HALL 102 |
Faculty Panel A
Writers in Cyberspace
TBA
UNIVERSITY HALL 102 |
Faculty Panel A
Writers Point of View: How I Got Published
TBA
UNIVERSITY HALL 102 |
Faculty Panel B
Applying to the MA/MFA Program
Reginald Gibbons
UNIVERSITY HALL 101 |
Faculty Panel B
Chicago Literary Scene
TBA
UNIVERSITY HALL 101 |
Faculty Panel B
Online Publishing
TBA
UNIVERSITY HALL 118 |
Faculty Panel C
Writing for Children/Young Audiences
Jim Aylesworth, Carolyn Crimi, Laurie Lawlor, Deborah Kraus (mod.)
UNIVERSITY HALL 101 |
Faculty Panel C
Crafting the Non-fiction Book Proposal
Kevin Davis, Alex Schwartz UNIVERSITY HALL 122 |
Faculty Panel C
Submitting and Publishing Fiction with Literary Journals
Garnett Kilberg Cohen UNIVERSITY HALL 122 |
10-10:15 |
Coffee break UNIVERSITY HALL 121 |
Coffee break UNIVERSITY HALL 121 |
Coffee break UNIVERSITY HALL 121 |
Morning Sessions
10:15am-12:45pm
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Workshop A
Experiments in Prose
Peggy Shinner
UNIVERSITY HALL 122 |
Workshop A
Parasitic Writing
Daniel Borzutzky
UNIVERSITY HALL 122 |
Workshop A
Fiction: Finding the Story
Garnett Kilberg Cohen UNIVERSITY HALL 118 |
Workshop B
Writing the Spiritual Essay
Michael McColly UNIVERSITY HALL 118 |
Workshop B
Discovering the Soul of Your Character
Roger Rueff UNIVERSITY HALL 101
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Workshop B
Not Me: Creative Non-Fiction
without the "I"
Sandi Wisenberg
UNIVERSITY HALL 101
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Workshop C
Storytelling
Rives Collins UNIVERSITY HALL 101 |
Workshop C
Travel Writing
Michele Morano
UNIVERSITY HALL 118 |
Workshop C
A Memoir is More than Written Memories
Michele Weldon
UNIVERSITY HALL 122 |
Workshop D
Children's Books
Jim Aylesworth
UNIVERSITY HALL 122 |
Workshop D
Fiction: The Art of Sentences
James O'Laughlin
UNIVERSITY HALL 118 |
Workshop D
Capturing Character
Kevin Davis UNIVERSITY HALL 101 |
| 12:45-2:00pm |
Lunch on your own Book Sale and Signing in University Hall 121 |
Lunch on your own
Book Sale and Signing in University Hall 121 |
Lunch on your own
Book Sale and Signing in University Hall 121 |
Afternoon Sessions
2:00-4:30pm |
Workshop A
Insta-React: Children's Picture Books
Carolyn Crimi UNIVERSITY HALL 122 |
Workshop A
Fiction: A Lot Less-the Short-Short Story
TBA
UNIVERSITY HALL 118 |
Workshop A Fiction: The Art of Dialogue
TBA
UNIVERSITY HALL 101 |
Workshop B
Insta-React: Fiction
James O'Laughlin, M.M.M. Hayes
UNIVERSITY HALL 118
|
Workshop B Building Characters
Jodi Cohen
UNIVERSITY HALL 101
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Workshop B
Writing in Today's Marketplace
Ellen Placey Wadey
UNIVERSITY HALL 118 |
Workshop C
Insta-React: Non-Fiction
S.L. Wisenberg, TBA UNIVERSITY HALL 101 |
Workshop C
Fiction: First Chapter/Pages
Diagnostic
TBA
UNIVERSITY HALL 122 |
Workshop C
Freelancing
Miles Harvey and Kevin Davis
UNIVERSITY HALL 122 |
Workshop D
Writing the YA Novel
Laurie Lawlor UNIVERSITY HALL 122 |
Workshop D
Nonfiction: First Chapter/Pages Diagnostic
Alex Schwartz
UNIVERSITY HALL 118 |
Workshop D
Telling What Happened: Diary Writing
Cornelia Spelman UNIVERSITY HALL 101 |
| 4:30-5pm |
Book Sale and Signing in University Hall 121 |
Book Sale and Signing in University Hall 121 |
Book Sale and Signing in University Hall 121 |
| 5:00-7pm |
Opening Reception and Conference Keynote Patrick Somerville McCORMICK TRIBUNE CENTER Forum |
Reception and Faculty Reading Angela Jackson and S.L. Wisenberg McCORMICK TRIBUNE CENTER Forum |
Reception and MFA Student Reading McCORMICK TRIBUNE CENTER Forum |
PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS
The Joy Joy Joy of Repetition
S.L. Wisenberg
Our bodies and our lives are based on repetition--from the beating of our hearts to the brushing of our teeth. In this workshop we will ponder repetition in our lives and work, and explore ways that we can use it as a source for writing. Repetitious tasks often become rote. How can we break open Habit and see afresh? We will also examine repetition as a key part of written work; writers use it variously as muse, chorus, unifier, structural element, appeal to the senses, and more. We will read successful examples of prose and poetry that make sure of repetition, and then write in class. We'll also talk about ways that various forms of repetition can restrict as well as liberate us. We will read published examples aloud, write, and brainstorm. This is for writers at all levels.
Friday 2:00 pm - 4:30 pm Workshop D
Telling What Happened: Diary-Writing
Cornelia Spelman
"Looked at broadly," wrote the late writer and New Yorker fiction editor William Maxwell, "what happened always has meaning, pattern, form, and authenticity." Brenda Ueland, author of If You Want to Write, advised us to "write freely, recklessly." In this workshop, diary-writing is valued as its own genre, but also as a writer's cupboard, from which fiction, non-fiction, and poetry can be created. Diary-writing and diary-reading are also therapeutic, offering a form of Freud's famous "talking cure." Participants will examine and discuss diary excerpts from both ordinary and well-known people, and are invited to bring a paragraph from their own diaries. A bibliography of diarists will be provided.
Thursday 10:15 am - 12:45 pm Workshop D
Workshop: The Art of Sentences
James O'Laughlin
Beginning fiction writers often set their sights on finishing a story, on resolving the story's tensions, on moving their character through some kind of change. But they often forget what writers often remind us is at the heart of their craft: sentences. From Gustave Flaubert to contemporary American short story writer Charles D'Ambrosia, fiction writers have often asserted that writing sentences is what they really do. In this workshop, we'll look closely at sentences to see how they build fictions, or how, to use Eudora Welty's phrase, writers "make reality real" with sentences. We'll look closely at form, at interconnections between structure, length and rhythm, to see how individual sentences pull readers in, and create a plausible, believable world. We'll discuss examples from a wide range of story writers and also excerpts from Tufte's Artful Sentences and Le Guin's Steering the Craft.
Wednesday 2:00 pm - 4:30 pm Workshop A
Insta-react with children's book author Carolyn Crimi
Carolyn Crimi
Award-winning children's book author Carolyn Crimi will critique picture books during this interactive workshop. The first part of the session will be devoted to the dos and don'ts of picture books. The second part of the session will focus on critiques. Please bring two copies of your picture book manuscript to share in class. Manuscripts should be no longer than four, double-spaced pages.
Friday 10:15 am -12:45 pm Workshop A
Finding the Story
Garnett Kilberg Cohen
How does a writer find and generate material to write about? And, once the material is located, how does a writer go about mining and shaping the material into a compelling narrative? This seminar will devote time to both of these questions. Also, about one fourth to one third of the session will be spent writing in response to creative prompts. Class participants are also free to bring in a piece that they have already written, and would like to see discussed (whether or not these pieces are uses in the session will depend on time constraints), and everyone will have an opportunity (if he/she chooses) to have at least a portion of his/her in-class work critiqued.
Friday 10:15 am -12:45 pm Workshop B
Not Me: Creative Nonfiction Without the "I"
S.L. Wisenberg
So often we think of creative nonfiction as memoir, as a record of the experience of the author. This workshop will serve as introduction to creative nonfiction that has voice and point of view, but is not about the life and travails of You. We will look at and discuss examples, brainstorm, and write a few beginnings.
Thursday Workshop B
Building Characters
Jodi Cohen
"How you do what you
do is who you
are." Joe Bill, Annoyance Theatre
Someone who's chopping vegetables madly or in a dreamy
trance creates two different scenarios. In this workshop
we'll explore what characters do, how they do it, and
how that reflects on their attitudes and emotions and ultimately
what's at stake. Using simple writing exercises we'll
apply improv principles of working with our ideas, noticing
where an idea takes us and letting our work change moment
to moment. Come with a character you want to examine more
closely or create characters in the workshop. Unlike previous
Improv for Writers workshops, this one will be solely sitting
and writing.
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