The Writer's Guide - Fall 2019 by The Writer's Center

THE WRITERâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S GUIDE FREE

Fall 2019

Interviews with Kristen Arnett & Jericho Brown pg 5 DC Debuts pg 9

Booksellers Unite! pg 30

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The Writer’s Center The Writer’s Guide Fall 2019

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DEPARTMENTS

Executive Editor

EDITOR’S NOTE 4

INSTRUCTOR BIOS 26

EVENTS 11

Zach Powers

POET LORE 32

WORKSHOPS: Schedule 12

BOOK TALK 38

Descriptions 17

REGISTRATION 39

Editors

Laura Spencer Emily Holland Amy Freeman Contributors

FEATURES

Kristen Arnett Jericho Brown Tope Folarin Summer Hardinge Nina Holtz B.J. Love Alexandra Orfetel Julia Tagliere

5 Meet 2019 OutWrite Fest featured authors We chatted with Kristen Arnett and Jericho Brown about their new books and the literary lifestyle.

9 Two DC area debut authors discuss their new novels Tope Folarin and TWC’s own Zach Powers talk about the themes they both address in their fiction.

Graphic Design

Virtually Detailed, LLC

30 Indie bookstores abound Cover Image

Take a look inside the booming business of local bookstores with the owners of some of our favorite local shops.

Carlos Carmonamedina Basilica of the Immaculate Conception & Howard University

34 Rion Amilcar Scott builds a new world in his new book Julia Tagliere reviews the groundbreaking new story collection by the DC area author.

4508 Walsh Street Bethesda, MD 20815 301-654-8664 Writer.org

37 DC reviews Plus, we read the new novels by local authors Angie Kim and Tara Laskowski.

Board of Directors Chair: Mark Cymrot

Vice Chair: Joram Piatigorsky Past Chair: John Hill

Treasurer: Les Hatley

Secretary: William DeVinney

Chair Emeritus: Sally Mott Freeman

Kenneth D. Ackerman • Margot Backas • Tara Campbell • Debbie L. Cohen • Susan Coll • Naomi F. Collins Patrick Corvington • Lakshmi Grama • James T. Mathews • Jim McAndrew • Bill Reynolds • Mier Wolf

Honorary Board Kate Blackwell • Timothy Crawford • Dana Gioia • Jim & Kate Lehrer • Alice McDermott Ellen McLaughlin • E. Ethelbert Miller • Howard Norman

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A NOTE FROM THE EDITORS Confessions of an Open Mic Junkie

rinted essay in trembling hand, I stood before an audience of maybe twenty people. My stomach twisted as though I’d forgotten to wear pants. That’s when I realized how very darned thin a microphone stand is. Nowhere to hide.

The Writer’s Center

my job is serving as one of three emcees for our monthly open mics. Along with Zach Powers and Emily Holland, we’ve created a warm, welcoming space for anyone and everyone in our community to stand up and share their work.

We’ve had first-time readers, long-time readers, readers strumHead down, I stumbled on my first sentence, wishing I’d double- ming guitars and readers alternating lines with partners. We’ve spaced my lines, or at least used heard the grief of the anatomy of a bigger font. As I continued on, though, the familiarity and rhythm depression, the phosphorescent joy of a teen’s first love, the gentle of my own words gave me comfort. I raised my chin and finished calm of a writer by a stream. And at the end of each reading, at the strong (if I do say so myself). The audience clapped and I returned to end of every reading, we as a commy seat, flushed crimson and grin- munity clap, stomp our feet, and let that reader know they’ve been ning. That was the day—maybe four years ago—I became an open heard. mic junkie. Please, come join us, the first Saturday of every month (third Now TWC’s Development DiSaturday in September), from rector, one of the best parts of

Amy Freeman

2 pm to 4 pm! Read your work, or listen to your neighbor’s. And rest assured: The Writer’s Center has a nice solid wood podium, with the skinny mic stand off to the side. So we give you plenty of room to hide, but lots more to shine. — Amy Freeman

ABOUT THE COVER

ince early 2016, artist Carlos Carmonamedina has produced weekly illustrations for his project DC is my City. “During my time in Washington, DC, I have come to love the rich diversity of people, past and present, and the quotidian dramas through which they shape their neighborhoods and the collective urban character,” says Carmonamedina. “My art seeks to document that human presence, in a way that is funny and compelling.” Website: dcismycity.com Instagram/Facebook: @carmonamedinastudio

The Writer’s Guide Fall 2019

Beautiful Messes

A conversation with Kristen Arnett about her New York Times-bestselling novel Mostly Dead Things By Zach Powers

Before Kristen Arnett headlines at OutWrite, DC’s annual LGBTQ literary festival, August 2-4, she took time to chat with TWC. Since we arranged this interview, your novel Mostly Dead Things has totally blown up. Congrats on being a New York Times bestseller! How have your expectations of publication aligned with reality? I have to admit that I did not expect any of this—truly my expectations for publication were only that I would be able to publish this book and hoped that people would see the things I was trying to build in the narrative. I mostly was concerned with writing about the day-to-day operations of queerness and also with writing about a Florida that felt authentic to me. So my expectations were that I would hopefully find an audience who was looking to read that kind of book. I am so happy and feel very

lucky and great that it’s gone over as well as it has. Never in my life did I anticipate that I’d be able to say it was a New York Times bestselling book, but I am so grateful that it is! I am glad that such a broad collection of different kinds of people have wanted to embrace the things I’m trying to write about.

where it’s embedded in the day-today interactions that happen in a household, or at a job, or between friends, or just in relationships and inside families. Readers seem to want this, too, and it’s been so wonderful hearing from those people. I’d like to give a shout out to editors! You worked with Tony Perez at Tin House. Did the novel evolve with his input? What’s your biggest takeaway from the professional editorial process?

Do you have any thoughts on why this novel has been so I absolutely love my team over well received? at Tin House. They took very good care of me and the book, for sure. I really worked hard to make it a When I decided to go with them, I had a long conversation with version of Florida that felt special and personal to me, so I hope that Tony about where we might tweak this is maybe the reason why. Lots the book and ideas that he had for of the feedback I’ve received from how I might work on some parts readers has been about the home I that needed just a little fleshing am trying to create (an authentic, out. We worked very closely on all of this and it was helpful to have real Florida outside of the gensuch good eyes looking over it. I eral wacky narrative people come would say that we went through up with regarding Florida Man, the book twice together—the first etc.) and also about the queerness I wanted to see in fiction. As go around for sticky plot points a reader, I am constantly looking and the second time just as clean up, and then we gave it over to the for stories that aren’t centered on copy editor. Some people when queerness as coming out stories. they get a publisher might need I am looking to read narratives

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more work and some need less. The book luckily didn’t need too much strong editorial work, so we were able to really sit inside the sentences together and look at how we could coax out a bit more nuance. Probably my biggest takeaway is that there is nothing more important than a good editor when it comes to publishing your work: someone who sees the work and understands it, but also a person who sees your vision and wants to help you make it into the book that you want. Popular consensus is that you’re quite funny, but I don’t see you dropping oneliners in your work. For me there’s a difference between jokey and absurd, and I definitely see you tackling the latter. Is humor a goal when you write or a natural byproduct of your worldview? Perhaps something else altogether? When I think about comedy, I am generally thinking about it in lots of different ways. So many things are funny! There is the absurd, the dumb, the puns—but then there is also humor to be found in darker places, or humor that comes from someone not understanding the joke, maybe. In the novel, I find the most humor in Jessa’s controlling tendencies. It’s funny to watch someone try and control everything around them, including other people, because it’s just something that can’t and won’t ever work out the way you want. She is a character who truly never sees the joke

happening around her; she is the straight man, no pun intended, and so when things happen that are absurd it makes it even funnier to look at how she interacts with them because she hardly ever is able to see the joke. I think it’s so great to be able to find humor in so many things. Life is funny and hard and weird and bad and terrible and great all the time, and comedy just sits inside all of these experiences. I was struck by the novel’s physicality, especially in descriptions of the characters. These are messy, sweaty, fuggy folks. How did you make these characters so tangible? Why was that important to you? I am forever interested in the body. How it opens, tactile sensations. Taxidermy was a natural conduit for me to express all the physicality that I always want to write about. People are messy! We are messy and occasionally ugly and we are gross and we are also beautiful. Sex is also messy and ugly and beautiful. Sometimes things are bloody. Sometimes we throw up! Sometimes the body breaks down and we work to rebuild it. I am just continually fascinated by how bodies break open and knit back together. I want to write that in characters because that is how I experience the body. All that sweat and mess and heart. Let’s talk about dysfunctional families! That’s not an uncommon theme in The Writer’s Guide Fall 2019

literature, but I found your characters had a unique will toward functionality. How is family both something to be overcome and embraced at the same time? Families are a lot like the body, too. Very messy! The dynamics in families are forever shifting and attempting to accommodate each other. It’s really hard to know anyone and I think the thing that’s especially interesting about families is that you’ve generally known those people the longest and there is a tendency to believe that you understand a person because you’ve lived with them and known them so long. That’s when things start to really get messy, that idea that you’ve put a person into a role and when they deviate from it, it shocks you. Families are hard and messy for sure, but they are also full of love and then they are also full of lots of other weird and bad emotions. The dynamic there is continually and eternally so wild. I mean sincerely, does anyone have a FUNCTIONAL family? We all have some kind of baggage there, and that’s what makes families so great to write about. Finally, can you share a piece of writing advice for aspiring authors? Just keep working. Even if it’s hard and messy and feels like it’s never gonna get easier. That’s the work, right? Hard and messy. But if it were easy, it probably wouldn’t be anything worthwhile. Stick to the hard stuff.

Traditions Broken

Jericho Brown on his book tour, building a poetry community, and the truth of his art By Emily Holland

hen Jericho Brown’s third book of poetry The Tradition (Copper Canyon Press, 2019) launched at AWP this year, to say that there was some excitement would be an understatement. It was madness. My table for Poet Lore was just a row behind Copper Canyon’s booth and on the day of Brown’s book signing, I could see a line of eager readers stretching far and wide if I peered into the center aisle. Many people waiting were wearing flower crowns, paying homage to the cover image of the book, an Instagram favorite for its muted color palette and striking, young black boy adorned in flowers. Now, nearly 4 months since that launch, Brown is still on tour, and will be for some time, including a stop here in Washington, DC for the OutWrite LGBTQ literary festival, August 2-4. He’s touring until next April, he tells me over the phone one morning, where he’s chatting from a hotel room in New York. Spain, Nebraska, Illinois, and Germany have all been on his recently visited list. But it’s not just the jet lag that’s wearing him down: early into his book tour, he broke a toe. And that kept him

from doing his burpees, which, he assures me, are integral to his artistic process. “Part of the reason why it’s so important to me as a poet is because it’s the only time in the world that I literally cannot be thinking about poetry,” he says. “When you’re an artist you’re working all the time. But if you have a weight over your head that’s about to crush your neck and you need to pick it up so it doesn’t, then it’s really hard for you to be thinking about anything else. Working out is just really a way for me to clear my mind.” Prior to AWP, Brown tweeted a simple hashtag: #AWPBurpeeChallenge. Thousands of writers joined in, posting regularly about their progress and how many burpees they could do in the weeks prior to the literary festival, which had close to 15,000 people in attendance. A community of writers emerged on Twitter, all around an exercise challenge that Brown says started simply as a way to build his own confidence before the large social gathering.

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But Brown has always tried to use his platform to bring people together, whether it’s encouraging writers to do burpees or fostering a public conversation among poets. “I understand now that having a conversation about a poem becomes difficult on Twitter,” he says, “and maybe it’s not where you’re supposed to do that, but then where do people who don’t have the classroom or haven’t had the classroom in a long time, where do they get to do that?” This sense of community is what, according to Brown, continues to draw people to poetry now, and what drew him to the craft in his early days. “Every poet I know is running a reading series or running a blog or writing reviews or teaching, or trying,” he says. “I meet poets all the time who are like ‘I think I’m gonna buy this house and turn it into a writers retreat.’ There are these kinds of things that poets are interested in because we are

community-minded and I really appreciate that about us and I want to be in on it. I want to be in on that which is the best parts of us.” The poems of The Tradition are captivating because Brown is not writing in a vacuum—he is an active participant in the literary and social traditions of his craft. Brown uses his poems to investigate rape culture, the South, and police brutality, using images of flowers and gardening to carry the weight of the subject matter. This book, he says, questions everything from the history of English poetry and the violence of Greek mythology to common institutions like marriage and the prison system. “Part of what the book means to do is to name myself as part of all of these traditions, to name myself as a player in the game, in black poetry, in Southern poetry, in English language poetry, in queer poetry, and at the same time to say that, as a player in the game, I will always be asking questions about these traditions that will become dangerous for the existence of those traditions as we have known them.” From Petrarchan sonnets and persona poems to new forms like the Golden Shovel and his own creation, the duplex, Brown is not only adding his voice to the community, he’s making his own tradition. The duplex, he explains, began as an exercise, a challenge to himself to create a form that represented all of his identities as a black, southern, gay man in

one space. To do so, he combined the classic forms of the sonnet, the blues poem, and the ghazal, utilizing repetition and rhyme in a formula that has now taken off, with poets writing and submitting their own duplexes to literary magazines. And, although there are only a handful of published duplex poems by Brown, both in his book and elsewhere, he realizes that what he started with the duplex is more than a complex form. It is a poetic exercise, and exercises, he says, lead to new poetry. “You might not get a poem out of the exercise, but you do learn something. Every time you do an exercise you grow. Every time you pick up a 30-pound weight, it’s only so long until you can pick up a 35-pound weight. If your goal is 35, you have to pick up 30 first. So, it feels good to be a part of that and to be able to make a contribution that has caught on in that way.” At the core of everything that Brown does is his dedication to himself, his truth, and his craft. He acknowledges how lucky he is, as a poet, to have had such well-received books—his first book, Please (New Issues Poetry & Prose, 2009) won the American Book Award and The Writer’s Guide Fall 2019

his second, The New Testament (Copper Canyon Press, 2014) won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. But, he says, he will always be writing his poems for himself and taking risks to tell his truth. “I have to write these poems to save my own life. I would like to believe that if, indeed, we write the poems that save our lives, then they have no choice but to save someone else’s. If you try to start with saving someone else’s life, you’re going to end up preaching, and I didn’t sign on to be a preacher. I signed on to be a poet, I signed on to cast spells, I signed on to deal with the magic of language and through that language create a new language. That’s what I’m after. Which I think is why my writing is particularly queer. I’m always trying to make the thing new and unexpected and unheard of and yet, suddenly, by its very presence, present.”

Emergent Themes

Debut novelists Tope Folarin and Zach Powers discuss identity, home, and freedom

I was thinking this morning about the nature of identity (because that’s what you do on a commute at 6am). More specifically, I thought about how we forge our identities, and how identities are some combination of who we are at our core and who we want to be. For example, I’m pretty shy at my deepest core level, but I also want to be a performer, a public figure, so I seek out stages. Who I am, then, is neither core nor surface. I’m a combination of foundation and aspiration. I see that same character via conflict in your narrator, Tunde. How did his character emerge as you wrote?

Your description of your identity resonates because I find the same contradictory impulses in myself—I think this is one of the reasons I’m an artist. Art presents a method of examining how something that is fragmented can simultaneously be

whole. And I must say that I love your question because it’s a question that acknowledges how the writing process actually works. When I started writing A Particular Kind of Black Man, I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to write about, or how, so I just started writing. I had this sense that the protagonist of my novel—who was nameless then—would resemble me in some ways; I even toyed with the possibility of writing a memoir. But then I began to write, and I discovered that this character who shared many aspects of my biography was wriggling away from my grasp. He was just as complex and—dare I say it—human as I am, but in profoundly different ways. My job then, as I saw it, was to marshal the skills I’d cultivated over the years to render his personhood and his journey as accurately and as artfully as possible. So his character emerged from the process of writing, which

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is to say that the act of creation doubled as an act of discovery. As it happens, Zach, your novel also concerns identity, and at the outset poses a couple questions that strike at the very heart of how we understand this concept: can two people somehow become the same person? And is it possible for one person to embody two people? How did you develop the incredibly cunning conceit of your novel?

I’d like to lay claim to cunning, but I’m pretty sure my novel spawned from a single thought along the lines of, “Dude, what about space twins!” However, if there’s something I take pride in, it’s my ability to reach more serious territory from even the goofiest beginnings. The joy of speculation, and the thing that gets me writing forward, is thinking about the implications of a conceit and how that conceit

would affect characters. In the case of First Cosmic Velocity, if you have twins pretending to be the same person, you’re obviously going to run headlong into issues about identity. Identity became the inescapable subject of the narrative, and it expanded beyond the twins. For example, there’s only one major character in the whole novel who goes by their actual name. For me, the most interesting part of identity is that there’s no answer to the question “Who am I?” Human existence is too fluid for that.

is born. All this is a way of saying that I think we desire home because we desire to know who we are and to be among those who know us and accept us. Home—as a concept or in reality—is the one space where both of these things are simultaneously possible.

To take this to a more personal level—home is important to me, desperately important, because I’ve never had a solid sense of home. I grew up in Utah where, because of my race, I was always something of a foreigner, and in a family where, because of where I was born, I was culturally Closely related to the theme of identity is the theme of home, and distinct from my parents. So I’ve we both grapple with that concept spent many years searching for in our novels. Your narrator is out- home, and I suppose it’s ineviright questing for it: “Home, in my table that the protagonist of my mind, was a jumble of the varifirst novel is engaged in the same search. ous places I’d lived. My favorite bookshop in Hartville right next to Do you mind if I switch gears my favorite pizza place in Cirrilo. Friends from Bountiful and Cirrilo just a bit? I can’t stop thinking and Hartville laughing and gossip- about a line in your book that has remained with me since I ing with one another. The place I missed did not even exist.” Why do read it—at one point the Grandmother of two of our protagoyou think home is something we desire so deeply while also existing nists says to them that “Freedom only as a fabrication of the human is the possibility of happiness...” This line resonated because, mind? first, I think it’s a beautiful and beautifully true statement, and Gosh, home. Such a hard second because I think it reconcept to pin down. It ally captures one of the more can be a specific place—it often important themes of your book: is—and yet it can also be a feeling, a sense of belonging that isn’t freedom. The pursuit of freedom, the denial of freedom, and how necessarily moored to a location freedom doesn’t guarantee hapon a map. If one has a connection piness or fulfillment. Am I on the to home, whether it is a location right page here? Were you thinkor a feeling, then one also has acing about freedom and its various cess to a space where one makes attributes as I read it? Or should sense. Indeed, home could also I re-read your book (which I plan be described as the beginning of on doing anyway)? identity, the space where identity

The Writer’s Guide Fall 2019

Freedom can be such a huge word, especially here in America, where it’s intrinsically tied to both stompin’ on Redcoats and to our long history of human rights atrocities. When I write, I’m less interested in freedom on this large scale because there are wiser people than me addressing the subject. Instead, I tend to write about a psychological sense of freedom, and how even when we’re constrained by one system or another, we still stake claim to freedom on a smaller, personal scale. Years ago I took a very corporate desk job. It was the kind of place that noted when you entered and exited the building. They tracked your phone calls to make sure you were meeting quota. I found many of their corporate practices ethically gray, at best. After two weeks, I knew that I didn’t fit in (though I’d be stuck there for a year and a half). I remember that I almost got a tattoo while I worked there, just to have something that would mark me as not just another cog in the corporate machine. I’d never considered a tattoo before, but the feeling of freedom that I could choose to get one was downright heady. Would a tattoo have made me happy? Probably not. But I think the desire to be free of imposed constraints is real and legitimate, even if happiness isn’t a guaranteed outcome. A Particular Kind of Black Man by Tope Folarin and First Cosmic Velocity by Zach Powers will both be published on August 6.

EVENTS

Events at The Writer’s Center Tuesday, August 27, 5:30-7:30 pm Happy Hour for Writers Venue TBD Thursday, September 5, 7:30 pm John DeDakis book release Saturday, September 7, 2 pm Little Patuxent Review reading Monday, September 9, 7 pm Café Muse Saturday, September 14, 8:30 am - 6 pm Publish NOW Saturday, September 21, 2-4 pm Open Mic @ The Writer’s Center Saturday, October 5, 2 pm Open Mic @ The Writer’s Center Monday, October 7, 7 pm Café Muse Thursday, October 10, TBD Alan Squire Publishing’s Fall 2019 Book Launch Joanna Biggar, Reuben Jackson, & Linda Watanabe Friday, October 11, 7 pm F. Scott Fitzgerald Festival reading Tania James, Julia Langsdorf, & Deborah Tannen

EVENTS

Fall 2019 Monday, October 21, 7 pm Amsterdam Quarterly reading Saturday, November 2, 2 pm Open Mic @ The Writer’s Center Sunday, November 3, 2 pm Washington Writers Publishing House reading Monday, November 4, 7 pm Café Muse Thursday, November 7, 7:30 pm The Writer’s Center LIVE! Sunday, November 17, 3 pm Women Writing Crime Fiction Cheryl Head, Tara Laskowski, Vanessa Lillie, moderated by Angie Kim Monday, December 2, 7 pm Café Muse Saturday, December 7, 2 pm Open Mic @ The Writer’s Center Monday, December 8, 2 pm Strong Female Protagonists panel discussion Solveig Eggerz, Melanie S. Hatter, Leslie Rollins, Alice Stephens, moderated by Bethanne Patrick Sunday, December 15, 12-3 pm Holiday Book Fair & TWC Birthday Bash

Unless otherwise noted, events are held at The Writer’s Center 4508 Walsh St, Bethesda, MD 20815. Visit writer.org for additional information. for the most up-to-date news and information, visit writer.org

FALL WORKSHOP SCHEDULE WORKSHOP GUIDELINES

SCHEDULE

Learning to write is an ongoing process that requires time and practice. Our writing workshops are for everyone, from novices to seasoned writers looking to improve their skills, to published authors seeking refinement and feedback, to professionals with an eye on competition. Group settings encourage the writing process by teaching writers to prioritize and to help each other using many skills at once. From our workshops, participants can expect: • Guidance and encouragement from a published, working writer; • Instruction on technical aspects such as structure, diction and form; • Kind, honest, constructive feedback directed at individual work; • Peer readers/editors who act as “spotters” for sections of writing that need attention, and who become your community of working colleagues even after the workshop is completed; • Tips on how to keep writing and integrate this “habit of being” into your life; • Tactics for getting published; • Time to share work with other writers and read peers’ work, and • Help with addressing trouble areas and incorporating multiple, sometimes conflicting, ideas into a revision.

BEGINNER LEVEL We strongly suggest that newcomers start with a beginner-level workshop. They are structured to help you discover the fundamentals of creative writing, such as:

• Getting your ideas on the page; • Choosing a genre and the shape your material should take; • Learning the elements of poetry, playwriting, fiction, memoir, etc.; • Identifying your writing strengths and areas of opportunity and • Gaining beginning mastery of the basic tools of all writing, such as concise, accurate language, and learning how to tailor them to fit your style.

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL These workshops will build on skills you developed in the beginner level, and are designed for writers who have: • Critiqued some published works; • Taken a beginner-level workshop; • Achieved some grace in using the tools of language and form and • Have projects in progress they want to develop further.

ADVANCED LEVEL Participants should have manuscripts that have been critiqued in workshops at the intermediate level and have been revised substantially. This level offers: • Focus on the final revision and completion of a specific work; • Fast-paced setting with higher expectations of participation and • Deep insight and feedback.

MASTER LEVEL Master classes are designed for writers who have taken several advanced workshops and have reworked a manuscript into what they believe is its final form. Master classes are unique opportunities to work in smaller

The Writer’s Center groups with distinguished writers on a specific project or manuscript. Workshop leaders select participants from the pool of applicants; selection is competitive.

REGISTRATION Workshop registration is available online at www.writer.org.

refund policy • Full refunds are given only when TWC cancels a workshop. • Workshop participants will be notified via email when a class is cancelled, and recieve the option of a refund or credit. • Workshop participants who have enrolled in and paid for a workshop and choose to withdraw from it within the drop period (see below) will receive a full credit to their account that can be used within one year to pay for another workshop and/or a membership. Please email grace.mott@writer. org to request a credit.

Find Your Niche The Writer’s Center recognizes that all writers and styles are unique! Our staff can help you find the right course(s) for your level of experience, preferred genre and overall goals. Call us at (301) 654-8664.

Drop Period for Credit 5 or more sessions: 48 hours notice required before the second meeting 4 or fewer sessions: 48 hours notice required before the first meeting 12

The Writer’s Guide Fall 2019

ADULTS WRITE FOR CHILDREN (PAGE 17)

LEADER

DATES

DAY

TIME

LEVEL

Writing Picture Books

Mary Quattlebaum

10/3–10/17

7–9:30 p.m.

Self-Publish Your Picture Book

Ariel Mendez

10/26

10 a.m.–12 p.m.

B/I

Picture Books II: Revision

Mary Quattlebaum & Joan Waites

11/7

6:30–9:30 p.m.

I/A

Write & Illustrate a Picture Book (For Kindergarteners and their Grownups)

Chloe Yelena Miller

11/23

10 a.m.–12 p.m.

FICTION (PAGES 17–19)

LEADER

DATES

DAY

TIME

LEVEL

Extreme Novelist Critique Salon

Kathryn Johnson

9/16–12/16

7–10 p.m.

Beginning Fantasy & Sci-Fi

Brenda W. Clough

9/18–9/25

7:30–9:30 p.m.

The Extreme Novelist II: Revision

Kathryn Johnson

10/2–11/20

7–9:30 p.m.

I/A

Fiction in a Flash*

Hildie Block

10/4–10/25

10:30 a.m.–1 p.m.

ALL

Your First (Or Next) Novel

Kathryn Johnson

10/5

10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

ALL

Selling Your Novel to a Major Publisher

Steve Kistulentz

10/12

10 a.m.–4 p.m.

I/A

Advanced Short Story

Hildie Block

10/15–12/17

7–9:30 p.m.

I/A

How to Write a Novel

John DeDakis

10/16

11 a.m.–1 p.m.

ALL

Short Story: Inciting Events!*

Hildie Block

10/16–11/20

7:30–10 p.m.

ALL

Writing Bilingually

Ofelia Montelongo

10/16–10/23 W

7–9 p.m.

Creating Conflict & Tension

Kathryn Johnson

10/19

10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

ALL

From Novice to Novelist

John DeDakis

10/19

10 a.m.–5 p.m.

Beginning Fantasy & Sci-FI*

Brenda W. Clough

10/22–10/29 T

7:30–9:30 p.m.

How to Write a Novel*

John DeDakis

11/6

11 a.m.–1 p.m.

ALL

From Novice to Novelist*

John DeDakis

11/9

10 a.m.–5 p.m.

How to Plot Like a Pro

Kathryn Johnson

11/16

10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

ALL

Advanced Short Story

Alyce Miller

12/3–12/17

10 a.m.–2 p.m.

Crafting Your Main Character

John M. Weiskopf

12/7–12/14

10 a.m.–4 p.m.

B/I

How to Write a Novel*

John DeDakis

12/11

11 a.m.–1 p.m.

ALL

From Novice to Novelist*

John DeDakis

12/14

10 a.m.–5 p.m.

MIXED GENRE (PAGES 19–21)

LEADER

DATES

DAY

TIME

LEVEL

Getting it Down on Paper

Abdul Ali

9/1–9/22

1–4 p.m.

ALL

Impostor Syndrome

Julia Tagliere

9/7

10 a.m.–12 p.m.

ALL

Now That You’re Done, What’s Next?

Herta B Feely & Emily Williamson

9/10–9/24

6:30–8:30 p.m.

I/A

B—beginner

I—intermediate

A—advanced

M—master

ALL—all levels —online class

* Indicates workshops held at one of our satellite locations. Please see descriptions for more information. for the most up-to-date news and information, visit writer.org

SCHEDULE

FALL WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

The Writer’s Center

SCHEDULE

MIXED GENRE (Continued)

LEADER

DATES

DAY TIME

LEVEL

Unclogging Your Brain

Lisa Jan Sherman

9/10

7–9 p.m.

ALL

Getting Started: Creative Writing

Nancy Naomi Carlson

9/28

12–5 p.m.

Structure Your Book

Hildie Block

9/18–9/25

6–10 p.m.

ALL

Making Your Characters Matter

Lynn Auld Schwartz

9/21

9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

B/I

Structure Your Book*

Hildie Block

9/24–10/1

10 a.m.–2 p.m.

ALL

First We Read, Then We Write

Gregory Robison

9/30–11/4

7–9:30 p.m.

ALL

Dialogue for Writers*

Richard Washer

10/3–11/21

7:30–10 p.m.

ALL

Dialogue for Writers

Richard Washer

10/5–11/23

10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

ALL

Unstuck! Facilitating Change and Healing

Laura Oliver

10/10

1–3 p.m.

ALL

Dangerous Writing

Aaron Hamburger

10/22–11/12

7–9 p.m.

ALL

Break Out of Your Writing Rut with Improv

Cecile Ledet & Suzanne Zweizig

10/26

1–4 p.m.

ALL

Getting Started: Creative Writing

Elizabeth Rees

10/30–12/18

7–9:30 p.m.

Celebrating the Work of Joy Harjo

Rose Strode

11/2–11/23

1–4:30 p.m.

ALL

Exploring Our Five Senses

Cheryl Somers Aubin

11/2

9:30–12:30 p.m.

How to Write a Lot

Kathryn Johnson

11/2

10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

ALL

Artifact as Muse

Ann Quinn

11/3

11 a.m.–2 p.m.

ALL

Getting Started: Creative Writing*

Patricia Gray

11/6–11/23

1–4 p.m.

ALL

Reading and Writing Women’s Lives

Sara Mansfield Taber

11/6–1/15

1–3:30 p.m.

ALL

A Perfect Ending

Lynn Auld Schwartz

11/9

9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

B/I

How to Give a Great Reading!*

Patricia Gray

11/2–11/9

1–4 p.m.

B/I

Great Beginnings

Kathryn Johnson

12/14

10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

ALL

Writing Stories From Your Life*

Solveig Eggerz

12/14

10 a.m.–2 p.m.

NONFICTION (PAGES 21-22)

LEADER

DATES

DAY TIME

LEVEL

My Life, One Story at a Time

Pat McNees

9/4–10/9

1–4 p.m.

B/I

Writing the Personal Essay

Pamela Toutant

9/12–10/17

7–9:30 p.m.

ALL

Writing a Memoir

Chris Palmer

9/18–10/2

6:30–8:30 p.m.

ALL

Beginner’s Travel Writing*

Bijan C. Bayne

9/19–10/24

6:30–8 p.m.

Contemporary Memoir

Natasha Scripture

9/22–11/10

10 a.m.–12 p.m.

B/I

The Story of You

GG Renee Hill

9/21

2–5 p.m.

B/I

Advanced Personal Essay

William O’Sullivan

9/28–11/16

10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

Micro Memoir

Laura J. Oliver

9/28

1:30–3 p.m.

I/A

The Writer’s Guide Fall 2019

NONFICTION (Continued)

LEADER

DATES

DAY TIME

LEVEL

So You Want to Write Your Story!

Alyce Miller

10/1–10/8

10 a.m.–2 p.m.

B/I

Words That Heal

GG Renee Hill

10/13

12–3 p.m.

ALL

Nuts and Bolts of Getting Published

Ellen Ryan

10/14–11/18

7–9:30 p.m.

B/I

Publishing Your Personal Essays*

Hannah Grieco

10/19–12/7

10 a.m.–12 p.m.

B/I

Boot Camp for Writers

Beth Kanter

10/30–12/11

10:30 a.m.–1 p.m.

ALL

Writing the Layers

GG Renee Hill

11/16

10 a.m.–1 p.m.

ALL

Life Sentences

Gregory Robison

11/11-12/16

7–9:30 p.m.

ALL

POETRY (PAGES 22–24)

LEADER

DATES

DAY TIME

LEVEL

Saturday Morning Poem Generator*

Rose Strode

9/7–11/2

10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

ALL

Poetry as Experience

Judith Harris

9/7–10/12

10:30 a.m.–1 p.m.

ALL

Poetry Workshop: Discipline and Play*

Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers

9/10–10/15

6:30–8:30 p.m.

ALL

Sestinas 101

Melanie Figg

9/21

1:30–4:30 p.m.

ALL

Writing the Narrative Poem

Sue Ellen Thompson

9/22

1–4 p.m.

ALL

Making It Whole: Chapbook

Anne Becker

9/28–11/9

1–4 p.m.

Identity Poetry

Maritza Rivera

10/5–10/26

1–3 p.m.

ALL

Polishing the Perfect Poem

Nancy Naomi Carlson

10/5

12–5 p.m.

ALL

Sonnet Crash Course

Claudia Gary

10/12

10 a.m.–1 p.m.

I/A

Torque and Profit: A Poetry Workshop

Jona Colson

10/16–11/6

6:30–9:30 p.m.

ALL

Villanelle Crash Course*

Claudia Gary

10/19

10 a.m.–1 p.m.

I/A

Imagery in Poetry

Melanie Figg

10/26

1:30–4:30 p.m.

ALL

Diction: A Poet’s Choice

Sue Ellen Thompson

10/27

1–4 p.m.

ALL

Poetry Workshop: Revision & Craft*

Jacqueline Jules

11/4–11/18

10:30 a.m.–12 p.m.

ALL

The Force of Poetry

Elizabeth Rees

11/4–12/9

7–9:30 p.m.

I/A

The Personal Poem

Judith Harris

11/9–12/14

10:30 a.m.–1 p.m.

ALL

Meter Crash Course

Claudia Gary

11/16

10 a.m.–1 p.m.

I/A

How to Revise a Poem

Sue Ellen Thompson

12/8

1–4 p.m.

ALL

PROFESSIONAL WRITING (PAGES 24–25)

LEADER

DATES

DAY TIME

LEVEL

Fundamentals of Persuasive Writing

James Alexander

9/12–10/17

7–9:30 p.m.

B/I

Blogging to Build Your Platform

Laura Di Franco

9/24

6:30–8:30 p.m.

ALL

Media For Writers*

Shanon Lee

10/6

10 a.m.–1 p.m.

ALL

The Business of Writing

Kenneth D. Ackerman

10/19

10 a.m.–1 p.m.

ALL

for the most up-to-date news and information, visit writer.org

SCHEDULE

FALL WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

The Writer’s Center

SCHEDULE

PROFESSIONAL WRITING (Continued)

LEADER

DATES

DAY TIME

LEVEL

Marketing Your Book

Herta B. Feely & Emily Williamson

11/5–11/19

6:30–8:30 p.m.

I/A

Intuitive Copywriting for Entrepreneurs Laura Di Franco

12/3

6:30–9 p.m.

ALL

Book Marketing & Promotional Speaking

Rob Jolles

12/7

10 a.m.–4 p.m.

ALL

Write Like the News

Hank Wallace

12/11

7–9 p.m.

ALL

STAGE AND SCREEN (PAGE 25)

LEADER

DATES

DAY TIME

Screenwriting Intensive

Alexandra Viets

9/12–6/25

7–9:30 p.m.

Playwriting: Dialogue*

Richard Washer

9/17

7–10 p.m.

How To Produce Your Play

Martin Blank

9/21–10/5

2–4 p.m.

ALL

Playwriting: Exposition & Process*

Richard Washer

9/21

10 a.m.–1 p.m.

Your First Five Pages

John M. Weiskopf

9/24–10/22

10 a.m.–3 p.m.

I/A

Playwriting: Character*

Richard Washer

9/26

7–10 p.m.

Writing for TV and Film*

Khris Baxter

9/28

10 a.m.–5 p.m.

ALL

The Secret of Life Through Screenwriting

Joy Cheriel Brown

10/6–11/10

3–5 p.m.

Perfecting The Ten-Minute Play

Marilyn Millstone

10/21–11/25

7–9 p.m.

ALL

Writing for TV and Film*

Khris Baxter

11/2

10 a.m.–4 p.m.

ALL

Writing for TV and Film*

Khris Baxter

11/9

10 a.m.–4 p.m.

ALL

LEVEL

ONLINE

LEADER

DATES

LEVEL

Writing for Life

Nicole Miller

9/2–9/23

ALL

Intro to the Novel

T. Greenwood

9/6–10/25

Diverse Pasts and Futures in Speculative Fiction

Tara Campbell

9/16–10/7

Introduction to the Short Story

Christopher Linforth

9/16–11/4

How To Write Op-Eds

Shanon Lee

9/16–10/21

Rhythm, and Rhyme: Spoken Word Unboxed

Amanda Eke

9/23–11/11

B/I

Plotting Your Novel

T. Greenwood

10/4–10/25

ALL

Funky Forms in Flash Fiction

Tara Campbell

10/21–11/11

I/A

Setting and Voice

Alicia Oltuski

10/21–11/25

ALL

Creating Novel Characters

T. Greenwood

11/1–11/22

ALL

Intro to the Novel

T. Greenwood

11/1–12/20

ALL

Writing with Sensitivity

Jenny Chen

11/11–12/16

ALL

The Writer’s Guide Fall 2019

WORKSHOPS For more detailed class descriptions, please visit writer.org

Picture Books II: Revision Mary Quattlebaum & Joan Waites Learn to deeply revise and polish your picture book manuscript before submitting to an agent or publisher. A widely published author and an acclaimed illustrator will lead discussions in pacing, page turns, storyboarding, and visually dramatic storytelling. During this hands-on workshop, writers will be editing their own manuscripts and enhancing their skills as picture book creators. Bring your questions and two double-spaced copies of a picture-book manuscript that you’ve carefully revised. Workshop may most benefit those who have taken Mary Quattlebaum’s “Writing Picture Books” but all writers ready for revision are welcome. 1 Thursday TWC

6:30–9:30 p.m. 11/7 Intermediate/Advanced $50

Self-Publish Your Picture Book Ariel Mendez Have you considered self-publishing your picture book? This two-hour workshop is for writers interested in sharing their work through self-publishing. Learn the basics to writing and revising a children’s picture book, how to find an illustrator for your picture book, publishing on Amazon and IngramSpark, and marketing tips to get started. By the end of the session, writers will have an understanding if self-publishing is right for them, and how to successfully do it. The workshop will be 1.5 hours long, followed by a 30 minute Q+A to ask questions specific to your picture book project. 1 Saturday TWC

10 a.m.–12 p.m. 10/26 Beginner/Intermediate $50

Write & Illustrate a Picture Book (For Kindergarteners and their Grownups) Chloe Yelena Miller Let’s write a picture book together! After reading a book together, kids and their grownups will choose from a set of colorful, visual prompts. The kids will narrate a story while their grownups help to write the words. Together, they will illustrate the short picture book. The class will end with each child and their grownup presenting the book to the group. The kids and their adults will leave with an exclusive copy of their original tale and art supplies to make additional books together. 1 Saturday 10 a.m.–12 p.m. 11/23 TWC Beginner $65

Writing Picture Books

short discussion of an aspect of writing for children, including story openings and arcs, characterization, plot/pacing, rhythm/sound, and marketing. Suggested readings, prompts, and feedback will inspire and guide writers in the class. By the end of the workshop, participants should have written and/or revised part or all of a picture book and have a better sense of how to create one in the future. If you want feedback, feel free to bring work to the first class (typed and double-spaced and with 16 copies). 3 Thursdays 7–9:30 p.m. 10/3–10/17 TWC Beginner $135

Fiction Advanced Short Story Hildie Block Take your stories to another level! This advanced workshop will take a look at aspects of stories such as character development, world building, and tension, and also places to submit and how to get those stories out in the world. Participants will read from PEN America Best Debut Short Stories 2018 as well as do peer review. Note: No meeting November 5 and November 26. 8 Tuesdays TWC

7–9:30 p.m. 10/15–12/17 Intermediate/Advanced $360

Advanced Short Story Alyce Miller In this workshop, you will read and discuss several short stories by writers who are masters of the form, and then discuss the work you submit to the class. This should be an exciting, energetic class that will offer more insight into the possibilities of story telling and the way craft supports our vision as writers. You will receive reading and writing assignments a week before the first class. 3 Tuesdays TWC

10 a.m.–2 p.m. 12/3–12/17 Advanced $215

Beginning Fantasy & Science Fiction Brenda W. Clough Vampires, zombies, and halflings with swords! Participants will build a world and write in it. The first session of this workshop will be devoted to the basics of fiction and story construction. In the second session, participants will do a start-up exercise to help get them started on a possibly longer work. 2 Wednesdays 7:30–9:30 p.m. 9/18–9/25 TWC Beginner $80 2 Tuesdays Arlington Mill

7:30–9:30 p.m. Beginner

10/22–10/29 $80

Mary Quattlebaum

Crafting Your Main Character

Learn how to write a picture book from a successful author of more than two dozen award-winning books for children. Each session will begin with a

This workshop will ask participants to examine HOW they envision and create their main charac-

John M. Weiskopf

for the most up-to-date news and information, visit writer.org

ter’s voice and point of view. Emphasis will be on authenticity and originality. 2 Saturdays TWC

10 a.m.–4 p.m. 12/7–12/14 Beginner/Intermediate $195

Creating Conflict & Tension Kathryn Johnson It’s often said that without conflict there is no story. It also holds true that strengthening the conflict in any type of fiction will bump up the tension and turn limp, ordinary fiction into an extraordinary tale that will keep readers turning pages. Whether you choose to write literary fiction, mysteries, family sagas, thrillers, historical fiction, sci-fi or fantasy— you can learn techniques for drawing readers into your tales through action, dialogue, setting details, and plot twists that make your work stand out from the crowd. Join us and leave with a handout chock full of ideas to apply to your stories. 1 Saturday TWC



10 a.m.–12:30 p.m. All Levels

10/19 $50

Creating Novel Characters

T. Greenwood When writing a novel, we must know our primary characters inside and out. We need to understand their desires, motivations, and frustrations, their histories and their futures. This workshop will focus on the development of authentic characters. Participants will examine character as both autonomous and residing within the context of the other novelistic elements, and will discuss the challenge of creating and integrating these various elements into a cohesive and credible whole. Participants will explore the main character(s) in their novels-inprogress. 4 Weeks Online

N/A All Levels

11/1–11/22 $195

 Diverse Pasts and Futures in Speculative Fiction Tara Campbell Did you know W.E.B. DuBois wrote science fiction? Have you ever wondered what would happen if we could really change places with other races— George S. Schuyler and Nalo Hopkinson have some ideas to share. Science fiction is not just about men in a lab, or robots in space--it’s also about us, all of us, our families and our communities. Developments in science and technology affect people of all genders, races, and nationalities, so we should all have a voice in exploring the changes we’ll face. What lies in your future? How will climate change, genetic manipulation, or artificial intelligence affect you in the decades to come? Join us to read diverse perspectives in science fiction—and to start writing your own worlds of the future. 4 Weeks Online

N/A 9/16–10/7 Intermediate $195

workshops

Adults Write for Children

WORKSHOPS Extreme Novelist Critique Salon Kathryn Johnson Graduates of The Extreme Novelist I and Extreme Novelist II courses are invited to apply for a place in this advanced writers’ workshop. Space will be limited. The salon will meet on Monday evenings (9/16, 9/23, 10/7, 10/21, 11/4, 11/18, 12/2, 12/16). All members will be prepared to respond to chapters submitted for review by others in the group, and to submit their own work for comments. To apply, please submit a 1- to 2-page plot synopsis of your story and a 10-page writing sample from your workin-progress to laura.spencer@writer.org. 8 Mondays TWC

7–10 p.m. 9/16–12/16 Advanced $430

Fiction in a Flash Hildie Block

workshops

Through prompts and texts lets write, read, and workshop really short fiction (under 1,000 words, maybe even under 55 words!) When we strip stories down like that, what remains? Let’s explore this space together! 4 Fridays Arlington Mill

10:30 a.m.–1 p.m. All Levels

10/4–10/25 $195

From Novice to Novelist John DeDakis This day-long workshop will deconstruct and demystify the novel-writing process for struggling and/or aspiring writers. Go all the way from getting the start of an idea to getting your book into the hands of expectant fans. Along the way you’ll learn how to stay organized, write in the voice of the opposite sex, the art of rewriting, and how to overcome your writing and marketing fears. By the end of the session you’ll be prepared to begin work on a novel and will be equipped with the skills to perfect it. The session will include time for writing. 1 Saturday 10 a.m.–5 p.m. 10/19 TWC Beginner $115 1 Saturday Arlington Mill

10 a.m.–5 p.m. Beginner

11/9 $115

1 Saturday Hill Center

10 a.m.–5 p.m. Beginner

12/14 $135



discover stories organically (i.e., a pantser)? Understanding how to structure a well-conceived story around a main character and central conflict, while paying attention to pacing, can make the difference between a finished, publishable manuscript and an abandoned work-in-progress. Plotting provides a safety net that never robs the author of the joy of writing, and always reduces revision time. Think you can’t plot? Join us for this course, and we’ll show you how! 1 Saturday TWC

10 a.m.–12:30 p.m. All Levels

11/16 $50

Have you ever looked at a map, an order form, or a recipe and thought “there’s a story there”? No? Well, it’s time to change that. In this four-week course, we’ll explore different forms of flash fiction and use them as a basis for our own, off-kilter creations. Come ready to read, write, and give feedback on each other’s work. 4 Weeks 10/21–11/11 Online Intermediate/Advanced $195

How to Plot Like a Pro Kathryn Johnson You have a great idea for a story. Do you dive in and just begin writing, or start by drafting an outline? Are you a born planner or a writer who loves to

Plotting Your Novel

T. Greenwood Whether you are an organized planner or a writer who flies by the seat of their pants, a novel still needs structure. In this four-week online workshop, participants will study the architecture of a novel and devise plans for plotting their novels. 4 Weeks Online All Levels

10/4–10/25 $195

How to Write a Novel John DeDakis

Steve Kistulentz

This workshop offers a practical 16-point plan that takes you from the mere germ of an idea all the way through the creative process, with an eye on getting a finished book into the hands of potential fans. Participants will discuss how to transform the nub of an idea into a book-length project, populated with interesting characters, a twisty-turny plot, snappy dialogue, and an interesting setting. Participants will also look at strategies for finding an agent and marketing the finished product.

We’ll talk about the difference between a book that a publisher sells, and one they pass on.

1 Wednesday TWC

11 a.m.–1 p.m. All Levels

10/16 $50

1 Wednesday Arlington Mill

11 a.m.–1 p.m. All Levels

11/6 $50

1 Wednesday Hill Center

11 a.m.–1 p.m. All Levels

12/11 $65



Intro to the Novel

T. Greenwood If you have always wanted to write a novel but didn’t know where to start, this workshop will help you understand the process so you can get started putting pen to paper. The workshop will focus on everything from generating ideas to developing characters to establishing point of view. Participants will discuss many elements of fiction (dialogue, scene, etc.) but the emphasis will be on discovering the writing process that works best for each writer.

8 Weeks 11/1–12/20 Online Beginner $360

Tara Campbell



Selling Your Novel to a Major Publisher

8 Weeks 9/6–10/25 Online Beginner $360

Funky Forms in Flash Fiction

The Writer’s Center

1 Saturday TWC



10 a.m.–4 p.m. 10/12 Intermediate/Advanced $115

Setting and Voice

Alicia Oltuski This six-week workshop will focus on the fiction elements of setting and voice through a series of fun and varied exercises geared toward cultivating inventive, thought-provoking, and narratively efficient writing. Together we will look at what makes successful setting and voice and how they can be used to further a scene or story. This class is open to writers of all levels. 6 Weeks Online All Levels

10/21–11/25 $270

Short Story: Inciting Events! Hildie Block Stories start with an event that sets the world off balance! In this workshop we’ll look at plot, character, setting, and dialogue and how to set our stories apart! We will peer review stories as well as read outside works from the text Best American Short Stories 2019. 6 Wednesdays Arlington Mill

7:30–10 p.m. All Levels

10/16–11/20 $270

The Extreme Novelist II: Revision Kathryn Johnson

This workshop invites aspiring writers to consider what makes a good short story. After reading examples, participants will explore the craft of short fiction through a set of written exercises. They will gain a sound grasp of the essential building blocks: character, point of view, dialogue, setting, plot, structure, and theme. By the course’s end, participants will have written, workshopped, and revised a complete story and will have material for many more.

This follow-on course to the popular Extreme Novelist is intended for writers serious about their publication goals. Participants will focus on revision and learn ways to avoid the most common issues that result in rejection. Plotting pitfalls, slow beginnings, and weak endings are just a few of the topics tackled as each writer works independently on revising and polishing their manuscript. The goal is to give authors of novels, short story collections, and memoirs the tools they need to self-edit and fine tune their manuscripts, thereby increasing their chance of commercial publication. Instructor critiques provided throughout the course.

8 Weeks 9/16–11/4 Online Beginner $360

8 Wednesdays TWC



Introduction to the Short Story

Christopher Linforth

The Writer’s Guide Fall 2019

7–9:30 p.m. 10/2–11/20 Intermediate/Advanced $360

WORKSHOPS Ofelia Montelongo The objective of this workshop is to start writing stories in two languages using code-switching. By using two languages the writer could find their unique voice by incorporating a second language, besides English. This type of writing makes our stories unique and reveals the authenticity of our characters. 2 Wednesdays 7–9 p.m. 10/16–10/23 TWC Beginner $80



Writing with Sensitivity

Jenny Chen In this course, we’ll talk about how to write characters from marginalized communities with sensitivity and nuance. Taught by a veteran sensitivity reader and writer who has had work published in Guernica, Washington Post, The Atlantic, New York Magazine, and more. 6 Weeks Online All Levels

11/11–12/16 $270

Your First (Or Next) Novel Kathryn Johnson Writing a novel takes commitment, but it doesn’t need to be daunting. Learn how to generate a handful of plots from which to choose, methods for effectively planning your story, and simple hacks for fine tuning your basic fiction skills. Participants will initiate a flexible writing plan that will keep their writing flowing. This is a great half-day session for the beginning long-form fiction writer, or for the more experienced author in need of a quick strategy brush-up. 1 Saturday TWC

10 a.m.–12:30 p.m. All Levels

10/5 $50

Mixed Genre A Perfect Ending Lynn Auld Schwartz The ending is the last thing your reader sees, but will often feel rushed, added on without thought. They key is to find an organic conclusion for your story, novel, or memoir. Is there an epiphany or a question? A traditional plotted ending or an ambiguous, resonant finish? Has your character gained self-knowledge, and will this matter to your reader? Learn to combine the inevitable with the surprising, resolve interior and exterior conflicts, understand rounding, climax, dénouement and more. 1 Saturday TWC

9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. 11/9 Beginner/Intermediate $50

Artifact as Muse: Using the Things We Share to Bring Nonfiction and Poetry to Life Ann Quinn How can we as writers interact with the past in a tangible way? In this session we will examine how ten writers in both poetry and non-fiction asked

questions of artifact to bring the past into relevant relationship with the present. Come prepared to write: we will practice posing questions to an artifact (bring one, or a picture of one if you like) to see how it can inspire our own writing. 1 Sunday TWC

11 a.m.–2 p.m. All Levels

11/3 $50

Break Out of Your Writing Rut with Improv Cecile Ledet & Suzanne Zweizig Is your writing in a beautifully furnished, air-conditioned rut? Or maybe you just want to have fun and jumpstart your creativity? This three-hour workshop will introduce you to games used by Improv performers and apply them to your writing practice-creating interesting new plot twists, sparking radical never-before-seen imagery, and unleashing all manner of mad word choice and unique characters. Class time will be a mix of game-playing and writing, individual and teamwork. You will leave with some new writing, a toolbox full of games and prompts to inspire your creativity, and a smile on your face. 1 Saturday TWC

1–4 p.m. All Levels

10/26 $50

Celebrating the Work of Joy Harjo Rose Strode Participants will read and discuss a selection of Poet Laureate Joy Harjo’s poems, as well as her memoir, Crazy Brave. The class will also use her work as inspiration for explorations in writing and the arts: since Harjo works in poetry, nonfiction, music, and art, participants can respond to her work in any form. The majority of the class will be discussion, but the final class will be a day to share creative work. Participants should be ready to read assignments during the week with care and thoughtfulness, and be ready to contribute to conversations in class. 4 Saturdays TWC

1–4:30 p.m. All Levels

11/2–11/23 $270

Dangerous Writing Aaron Hamburger In your writing, do you shy away from writing highly charged scenes involving violence, sex, danger, mental illness, intoxication, or a character going through any type of intense physical or emotional state? During this presentation, we’ll confront the challenges of conveying the thrills and fears of the most intense moments of your work in fresh ways that engage your readers’ hearts and minds. We’ll analyze published work for inspiration, do writing exercises, then share the results to come up with common strategies for tackling this kind of challenge. 4 Tuesdays TWC

7–9 p.m. All Levels

10/22–11/12 $135

Dialogue for Writers Richard Washer Dialogue is the playwright’s primary tool for conveying a story that ultimately becomes a visual,

for the most up-to-date news and information, visit writer.org

aural and emotional experience for an audience. But dialogue also features in poetry, screenplays, fiction and even non-fiction. In this workshop, we will explore dialogue through exercises and close readings of various published work, in the context of scene structure, character, exposition and the craft that actors and directors use to bring dialogue to life on the stage and screen. Whether you are just starting out in creative writing, or a writer looking to sharpen your understanding and skills, this workshop will help demystify dialogue and provide an opportunity to apply insights to your own writing, regardless of genre. Weekly meetings will include discussions, exercises and reading selections from work generated by the workshop. 8 Thursdays Arlington Mill

7:30–10 p.m. All Levels

10/3–11/21 $360

8 Saturdays TWC

10 a.m.–12:30 p.m. All Levels

10/5–11/23 $360

Exploring Our Five Senses Cheryl Somers Aubin In this one-day, three-hour class, beginning writers will explore their five senses and how they can be used to enhance their writing. Using writing prompts, participants will be shown images, listen to music, and also experience touch, taste, and smell. After responding to the writing prompts, participants will have the chance to share their work with others if they choose. This will be a fun class and give writers an awareness of the importance of using sensory descriptions in their writing. Note: Please bring your own food for the experience of taste if you have any allergy concerns. 1 Saturday 9:30–12:30 p.m. 11/2 TWC Beginner $50

First We Read, Then We Write Gregory Robison In the end, you write largely what you have read. We all hope to be original, of course, and to develop that most elusive quality: our own voice. But just as we learn to speak by hearing others speak around us, it’s our lifetime of reading that largely makes us who we are as writers. So, what are you reading, and how? In this workshop, you will experience seven techniques for becoming more conscious of yourself as a reader, deepening the experience of reading itself, and thereby grow and mature as a writer. 6 Mondays TWC

7–9:30 p.m. All Levels

9/30–11/4 $135

Getting it Down on Paper Abdul Ali This workshop is ideal for writers of any genre who are looking to get back into writing. We will read and react to selections from Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones. There will be generative writing exercises that we will return to, creating poems, memoir, and/or short fiction drafts. 4 Sundays TWC

1–4 p.m. All Levels

9/1–9/22 $215

workshops

Writing Bilingually

WORKSHOPS Getting Started: Creative Writing

How to Give a Great Reading!

Nancy Naomi Carlson

Patricia Gray

If you have always wanted to write but haven’t known how to begin, this interactive workshop is for you! In one afternoon, participants will explore and try their hand at fiction, poetry (including prose poems), and memoir in order to “jump start” their writing. Exercises started in class will generate ideas to take back home. Goals: loosening up, putting words on the page, and having fun in the process.

Writing is one thing; giving a reading is quite another. This workshop can help you develop your own delivery style based on the sound of your voice, your personality, and material. Shy and nervous? While acknowledging how you feel, the workshop can help you move into reading publicly more easily, and as for that fine line between over-dramatizing and reading with too little expression, you’ll be able find a happy medium. The first session covers some basic ideas and techniques and gives participants the opportunity give and receive feedback on what works. The second session will be all about giving that hoped-for reading and will include information on where readings are held in the DMV. Readings from all genre are welcome in the workshop. Please bring two pieces to read to the first meeting.

1 Saturday 12–5 p.m. 9/28 TWC Beginner $100

Getting Started: Creative Writing Elizabeth Rees

workshops

In this seven-week workshop, beginning writers will have the chance to explore three different genres: memoir writing, short fiction, and poetry. Each week participants will be given a writing assignment and several readings, to be followed by a critique of each participants’ assignment. Participants will learn about voice, point of view, dialogue, description, imagery, and sound. By the end of this workshop, everyone will have written one personal memoir, one short-short story, and three original poems, and have developed a greater understanding of their own writing interests. Note: No meeting on November 27. 7 Wednesdays 7–9:30 p.m. 10/30–12/18 TWC Beginner $315

Getting Started: Creative Writing Patricia Gray Before the holiday madness sets in, why not take a personal breather? In just two Saturday afternoons, you can explore several forms of creative writing. By jump-starting with fun exercises, we will circumvent the analytic brain and give imagination a chance to thrive. You will receive tips on how to free up memories and experiences and use them as inspiration for memoir, fiction, poems, creative nonfiction or journal-writing. Hallmarks of the workshop include in-class assignments, opportunity to read your writing—or not, as you choose—and receive positive, helpful feedback that will point the way toward your writing talents. 2 Saturdays Hill Center

1–4 p.m. All Levels

11/16–11/23 $135

Great Beginnings Kathryn Johnson To capture a reader’s attention and hold it, an author needs a great first sentence, paragraph... chapter. How do we provide the hook that will draw readers into our stories, no matter the genre? This fun workshop will reveal tried-and-true techniques for launching your novel, short story, or memoir that will make your story’s opening irresistible. If you like, bring the opening paragraph of your work-in-progress, and the instructor will provide a critique and suggestions. 1 Saturday TWC

10 a.m.–12:30 p.m. All Levels

12/14 $50

2 Saturdays Hill Center

1–4 p.m. 11/2–11/9 Beginner/Intermediate $135

How to Write a Lot Kathryn Johnson You may think you don’t have the time, energy, or inspiration to write because of your hectic lifestyle. Wrong! Learn what professional writers know about organizing their time, establishing a productive writing routine, and getting their stories written. We’ll share methods many professional writers use to complete their books in months instead of years, their short stories in mere weeks. Become the dedicated author you’ve always dreamed of being. 1 Saturday TWC

10 a.m.–12:30 p.m. All Levels

11/2 $50

Impostor Syndrome: Tips and Tricks for Getting Out of Your Own Way Julia Tagliere

The Writer’s Center yearning, physical description, internal conflict, and come to understand what influences reader empathy. This workshop will benefit those writing a novel, short story, or memoir. 1 Saturday TWC

9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. 9/21 Beginner/ Intermediate $50

Now That You’re Done, What’s Next? Herta B Feely & Emily Williamson Revision and editing are key to developing your final draft. So, what exactly are the steps to revising your own work? In this four-week course, we’ll use the analogy of The Telescope, The Magnifying Glass, and The Microscope, as the three stages to reviewing your manuscript (novel or memoir). We’ll start by looking at the big picture and then delve into the finer details, including character development, plot, pacing, tension, showing vs telling, point of view, voice, setting/description, and how to fine-tune your prose. Participants will be provided with numerous handouts outlining the topics discussed in the class, including lists of resources and contacts, and they will be given an introductory questionnaire to help identify their individual writing goals. Authors may bring the first 15-20 pages of their manuscripts to share during the course of the workshop. 3 Tuesdays TWC

6:30–8:30 p.m. 9/10–9/24 Intermediate/Advanced $115

Reading and Writing Women’s Lives: The Seasoned Woman Sara Mansfield Taber In this workshop participants will read and discuss memoirs, stories, essays, letters, and poetry written by and about women in the second half of life. The readings will include evocations of the experiences of older women as well as reflections by women on the phases of their lives as girls, young, and mature women. Mining these sources for perspectives on what it means to be a woman and a woman seasoned by time, participants will sample a variety of approaches to writing about our lives. Each session will include discussion of craft, a writing prompt, and rich conversation about the readings and class members’ own experience. The short readings will include such authors as Heilbrun, Truitt, Lamott, Olds, and Sarton, as well as lesser-known wonderful writers. Note: No meeting on November 27, December 25, or January 1.

Impostor syndrome is no joke; it can limit our pursuit of new opportunities and exploration of potential areas of interest, and prevent us from participating fully in our vibrant literary communities. In this twohour workshop, participants will learn what impostor syndrome is/isn’t; work to identify the real, negative effects impostor syndrome can have on one’s work; and explore possible strategies for managing its impact. By the end of the workshop, participants will have created a personalized list of strategies and resources to help them “get out of their own way.”

8 Wednesdays TWC

1 Saturday TWC

Structure Your Book

10 a.m.–12 p.m. All Levels

9/7 $50

Making Your Characters Matter Lynn Auld Schwartz At the core of every good tale, is a character with whom the reader wants to spend time. Discover how to move beyond the superficial and cliché, crafting characters who invite the reader to explore the human condition. Illustrations and exercises will help to uncover your character’s inner values (in memoir that character is you) and present them in ways that are integral to your story. We will examine effective techniques for depicting character

The Writer’s Guide Fall 2019

1–3:30 p.m. All Levels

11/6–1/15 $360

Hildie Block For anyone who wants to write a book but needs help getting started, this two session, four hour workshop will get you there! For novels, memoirs, or nonfiction, we’ll talk about what goes where and how to get started. Please bring a 50-word description of your book project to the first class. 2 Wednesdays Arlington Mill

6–10 p.m. All Levels

9/18–9/25 $135

2 Tuesdays TWC

10 a.m.–2 p.m. All Levels

9/24–10/1 $135

WORKSHOPS Lisa Jan Sherman This workshop will allow writers of all genres to think and ‘write’ on their feet. Participants will be guided through original activities to stimulate perspective, generate cognitive flexibility, and gain creative flow. Say ‘YES’ to getting rid of the negativity blocking your creativity in a judgement free zone. Gain a multifaceted perspective knowing that all answers are correct! 1 Tuesday TWC

7–9 p.m. All Levels

9/10 $50

Unstuck! Facilitating Change and Healing Laura Oliver Writing is more than a craft. It’s a tool. This goal-oriented workshop teaches practical ways to let go of the past, dissolve anxiety, heal grief, and improve relationships through the transformative power of writing. Exercises will inspire change, forward momentum, and may become publishable work. Learn how to write and live out a new story. 1 Thursday TWC

1–3 p.m. All Levels

10/10 $50

Writing Stories From Your Life Solveig Eggerz This workshop will help you shape personal stories into powerful fiction or non-fiction for your readers’ pleasure. Participants will explore how to transform memories into vibrant tales using conflict, dialogue, a sense of time, and a reflection on meaning. Prompts will demonstrate how to enhance a personal story through historic events, shifting points of view, and the relationship between scene and summary. 1 Saturday Hill Center

10 a.m.–2 p.m. Beginner

12/14 $100

Nonfiction Advanced Personal Essay William O’Sullivan This workshop is for writers who have a good understanding of what a personal essay is, are open to exploring further the many forms a personal essay can take, and are already working seriously in the genre. The focus will be participants’ writing, supplemented with assigned readings. Participants will workshop two essays (or drafts of the same essay, if they prefer). The class is designed for self-contained essays, not book-length memoirs. To be considered for admission, please submit an essay or excerpt of no more than five double-spaced pages to laura.spencer@writer.org by September 9. 8 Saturdays TWC

10 a.m.–12:30 p.m. 9/28–11/16 Advanced $360

Beginner’s Travel Writing Bijan C. Bayne The purpose of this course is to instruct aspiring magazine and newspaper freelancers in how to

construct a destination or hotel article, pitch it, write effective query letters, and find appropriate outlets. Each week, participants will work on a feature of their choosing, with some classroom reading. They will be encouraged to bring in exemplary features with which they are impressed, also for reading or classroom analysis. At course completion, participants will have completed a query letter, and will own a draft of their tourism feature. 6 Thursdays Hill Center

6:30–8 p.m. Beginner

9/19–10/24 $290

Beth Kanter This course is for individuals who want to tone up their writing muscles so they can go the distance. Each class will include a prompt for a piece that we will start in class. Participants will then focus on specifics like effective beginnings, creative prose, and strong conclusions. Participants will also learn how to avoid common grammatical and usage errors that can distract from their message. This workshop will focus on both craft and technique and is designed for participants of all backgrounds who are looking to take their writing endurance and skills to the next level. Participants will have the start of several narrative pieces by the end of the class. Returning Boot Camp Students always are welcome. Note: No meeting on November 27. 10:30 a.m.–1 p.m. All Levels

10/30–12/11 $270

Contemporary Memoir: How to Share Your Story Natasha Scripture Learn how to write a powerful memoir that will engage readers for years to come! Everyone has a story to tell, which is why contemporary memoir—a form of autobiography where everyday people tell their stories—has become such a popular genre. Whether your life has been strange and quirky, highly eventful, or comparatively run-of-the-mill, there is always something interesting to share about it—a person or an experience that transformed you in some profound way and altered the course of your destiny. It’s just a matter of finding those transformative moments and figuring out how to give them life on paper in the most authentic way possible. In this class, you will learn about memoirs that succeeded and why they worked, as well as become familiar with techniques on how to get started on your own memoir or personal essay. You will also develop your storytelling skills and share your personal transformation narrative in a compelling way. 8 Sundays TWC

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5 Weeks Online

N/A 9/16–10/21 Intermediate $225

Life Sentences Gregory Robison

Boot Camp for Writers

6 Wednesdays TWC

an op-ed, how to generate unique angles pegged to timely news stories, and when to pitch editors. Your weekly reading assignments, writing assignments, and class discussions will examine some of the most thought-provoking opinion pieces online. Participants will leave with a solid draft of an opinion piece that is ready to be pitched for publication.

10 a.m.–12 p.m. 9/22–11/10 Beginner/Intermediate $50

How To Write Op-Eds

Shanon Lee Want to break into a new area of essay writing, give your cause-driven organization more visibility, or just get paid for your opinion? This five-week workshop is for writers interested in learning how to craft opinion pieces that matter. You will learn the elements of

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“There comes a time,” wrote the late American novelist and short-story writer James Salter, “when you realize that everything is a dream, and only those things preserved in writing have any possibility of being real.” But here’s the problem: the great swirl of experience, observation, sensation and imagination from which all our creative work emerges is itself fleeting. “Without a diary, almost everything we do or say or think or feel slips very quickly into oblivion,” warned English novelist Roland Blythe. In this workshop we will examine the almost limitless ways in which writers, artists and other creatives have used private writing to understand their own lives and to leverage their experiences into work. Whether you want to breathe new life into an established journal practice or hope to start a habit of private writing, this workshop will give you both tools and inspiration. 6 Mondays TWC

7–9:30 p.m. All Levels

11/11–12/16 $270

Micro Memoir Laura J. Oliver This interactive workshop teaches writers to distill a moment of change, conflict, contradiction, or mystery to its essence, so that the impact on the writer resonates profoundly with the reader. We will examine inspiring published examples learning exactly how the writer moved and entertained us, then do an exercise to practice those skills. Using the same tools with which we craft fiction, this workshop is an excellent learning environment for both genres. We’ll conclude this fun and dynamic workshop with a review of where to publish. Tell your story as you lived it: moment by moment. 1 Saturday TWC

1:30–3 p.m. 9/28 Intermediate/Advanced $50

My Life, One Story at a Time Pat McNees The goal in this ‘Guided Autobiography’ workshop is to capture your life experiences in six short pieces of autobiographical writing (true stories) for those who will survive you—or for yourself later in life. Knowing that you are writing not for publication but to set the record straight (in your own mind, if nothing else) may liberate you, allowing you to frankly explore your life choices and experiences. Write a two-page (500-word max) story to bring to the first session, to read aloud, to introduce yourself to others in the group—about a turning point in your life, or a time when you made a choice that changed your life. The emphasis here is on storytelling— making yourself and important friends and family

workshops

Unclogging Your Brain

WORKSHOPS characters in your stories. There is no “literary critiquing”—so you can relax enough to tell your story frankly, and find your natural voice. 6 Wednesdays TWC

1–4 p.m. 9/4–10/9 Beginner/Intermediate $315

Publishing Your Personal Essays

1 Sunday TWC

Hannah Grieco Are you ready to get your essay published? Learn what publications are looking for and how to pitch your piece. Participants will write, revise, and submit two essays by the end of the session! 8 Saturdays Arlington Mill

10 a.m.–12 p.m. 10/19–12/7 Beginner/Intermediate $360

So You Want to Write Your Story! Alyce Miller

workshops

You’ve led an interesting life and want to tell some of your stories to others. You’ve read some memoirs and personal essays, and have been stashing some of your own efforts in a notebook somewhere. Now it’s time to pull them out and begin to craft them into a narrative. Come explore with us, through readings and exercises, how to start to turn private words into public. Pre-class assignments will be sent to you a week before class begins. 2 Tuesdays TWC

10/13 $50

Chris Palmer This interactive workshop is for writers of all levels who would like to create a memoir that values the struggles in their lives, makes sense of them, and explores their meaning. The focus will be practical and designed to help participants make rapid progress with their memoirs. We will discuss the reasons for writing a memoir, how to plan and structure it, how to collect ideas (including ones long forgotten), how to develop character, how to tell powerful and effective stories, how to deal with conflict, how to write scenes with dialogue, how to find your voice, and how to deal with sensitive issues that might hurt other family members. 3 Wednesdays TWC

6:30–8:30 p.m. All Levels

9/18–10/2 $115

Writing for Life

Nicole Miller

Ellen Ryan Learn how to get print and digital articles published for professional pay. This six-week course will teach participants how to generate ideas, where to market them, how to propose them to editors, and how to research and structure an article. 7–9:30 p.m. 10/14–11/18 Beginner/Intermediate $270

The Story of You GG Renee Hill Identifying the key transformational turning points in your life is an important first step in writing your story. In this session, we will explore how to narrow down these turning points and associate specific stories and lessons to each one. Once you have the building blocks, how do you create a beginning, middle, and end? We will work with the standard narrative arc of conflict, crisis, and resolution to create your own unique storytelling format. We will also address the ethical dilemmas that come up with personal writing. What techniques can you use to tell your stories and still distance yourself and your loved ones from direct exposure? You will come away from this session with alternatives and best practices. 1 Saturday TWC

12–3 p.m. All Levels

Writing a Memoir

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10 a.m.–2 p.m. 10/1–10/8 Beginner/Intermediate $135

The Nuts and Bolts of Getting Published

6 Mondays TWC

lives. In this interactive workshop, we approach healing through writing exercises that elevate your thoughts, apply a healing narrative to your memories and empower the way you imagine your future. This workshop highlights how we can all use writing as a path to transformation.

2–5 p.m. 9/21 Beginner/Intermediate $50

Words That Heal GG Renee Hill This workshop is based on the idea that the words we use can change the momentum of our

This workshop will be dedicated to making your memories live on the page, with a special emphasis on capturing childhood scenes and adult reflections. Excerpts from memoirs and essays by authors such as James Baldwin, Tobias Wolff, Joan Didion, Maggie Nelson, Alexander Chee, and Lidia Yuknavitch will teach the art of scene-making. Participants can write chapters of a longer work, or self-contained personal essays which employ elements of fiction in the service of fact: dialogue, character, setting, conflict, consciousness. You will be asked to comment meaningfully on experience and contextualize it. The workshop format will allow for generating drafts and receiving feedback from the instructor and from peers, through an online portal. The first session will ask you to describe your memoir project. 4 Weeks Online All Levels

9/2–9/23 $195

Writing the Layers GG Renee Hill This interactive workshop provides writers of all levels with techniques that reveal the patterns, themes and stories that shape their lives. Participants will practice writing with beginner’s mind, thought labeling to identify hidden ideas and beliefs, and storytelling as a creative path to healing. In this three-hour session, you will write, share, and discuss your work with classmates as you discover new pathways to your own inner wisdom. You will come away with writing exercises that deepen your self-awareness and expand your creative perspective. 1 Saturday TWC

10 a.m.–1 p.m. All Levels

11/16 $50

The Writer’s Guide Fall 2019

The Writer’s Center Writing the Personal Essay Pamela Toutant The personal essay combines a wide range of techniques to make personal stories compelling to readers. Primarily through participants’ work, this workshop will explore the use of voice, reflection, and dialogue as well as other techniques that shape personal stories and make them resonate with the reader. There will be some time spent writing in class; most of the time will be focused on giving constructive and supportive feedback on participants’ work. Each participant will have two opportunities to have work critiqued. If you have a personal essay ready for critique, please bring a copy to the first class. 6 Thursdays TWC

7–9:30 p.m. All Levels

9/12–10/17 $270

Poetry Diction: A Poet’s Choice Sue Ellen Thompson Should the language used in poetry be different from that used in everyday speech? For centuries it most definitely was...and then, thanks to William Wordsworth, things changed. In this workshop, we will examine what diction is and why understanding where certain words come from is essential to using and combining them effectively. Topics for discussion include the relationship between diction and tone, the difference between idiom and cliché, and the role of ambiguity. We will also talk about “poetic diction” and why it should be avoided. 1 Sunday TWC

1–4 p.m. All Levels

10/27 $50

How to Revise a Poem Sue Ellen Thompson All you have to do is to read the early drafts of a well-known poet’s work to realize how crucial revision is. And yet most poets resist doing the hard work involved in turning a rough draft into a finished poem. This workshop will focus on how to distance yourself from your poem so that you can identify its weaknesses. We will examine the strategies other poets have used to get “unstuck” and take a look at various ways to approach the revision process. Then we will look at the “before” and “after” versions of a successful poem to see what the poet changed and why. 1 Sunday TWC

1–4 p.m. All Levels

12/8 $50

Identity Poetry Maritza Rivera We often see ourselves differently than others do and wish they understood who we really are with our work. With the different roles we portray in life, we can create private and public personas that others might never recognize unless we incorporates these roles in our own “Identity Poetry.” Everyone’s voice, identity, and work is unique! By reading selected identity poems, this workshop will help participants incorporate the many facets of our

WORKSHOPS

4 Saturdays TWC

1–3 p.m. All Levels

10/5–10/26 $135

6 Saturdays TWC

Imagery in Poetry Melanie Figg Images are one important way that a poem thinks and makes an argument. By improving our description powers we can build stronger poems that reach beyond words to a powerful collective of visual language. In class, participants will look at a few examples, and explore how expansive images can provide us with a toolbox of words, relationships, and options to focus and strengthen our poems. Bring a poem to be worked on in class (typed, not more than one page) that has imagery you want to improve and expand. 1 Saturday TWC

1:30–4:30 p.m. All Levels

10/26 $50

Making It Whole: Poetry Chapbook Anne Becker In this seven-week advanced, intensive workshop for participants who are ready to put together a chapbook (must have 30 pages of strong poetry), we’ll explore how groups of poems can work together to create a focused and whole experience. During the first six weeks, participants read model chapbooks and consider various strategies of organization, prepare their chapbook manuscripts, have them critiqued by the group and in turn critique the chapbooks of the other participants, revise their chapbooks and have the final draft critiqued. The seventh meeting consists of an hour-long private session with the instructor. Please submit five poems before the workshop to laura.p.spencer@writer.org. 7 Saturdays TWC

1–4 p.m. 9/28–11/9 Advanced $360

Meter Crash Course Claudia Gary Improve your ear for meter, and fine-tune your understanding of how meter works in poetry. Have you ever wondered how scanning the lines of your first draft can make for a better poem? Do you know why listening for the natural rhythms of speech can strengthen your writing? Guided by an internationally published author of sonnets, villanelles, and other metrical poems, this one-day workshop includes scansion of well-known poems, writing exercises, and, if you like, close examination of a poem you’ve drafted prior to class. You’ll leave with new insights about improving the auditory qualities of all your poems and prose. 1 Saturday TWC

ing prompts and mini-lectures on craft, formal elements of poetry as well as the history of the poetry genre will be emphasized. This workshop is open to all – no previous poetry experience required.

10 a.m.–1 p.m. 11/16 Intermediate/Advanced $50

Poetry as Experience Judith Harris Poetry is, in part, high emotion in language. Cultures throughout the world use poetry to share their histories, shape their stories, and express ideas in lyrical form. In this workshop, we will look at our inner language and life experiences to explore writing from personal and cultural memory. Through writ-

10:30 a.m.–1 p.m. All Levels

9/7–10/12 $270

Poetry Workshop: Discipline and Play Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers This course will approach poetry writing as a kind of dance between tradition and experimentation. Class sessions will include in-class “studio” prompts, discussions of model poems, and discussions of the participants’ poems. All class members will produce a series of original poems by the end of the course, approximately one poem a week. 6 Tuesdays Hill Center

6:30–8:30 p.m. All Levels

9/10–10/15 $225

Poetry Workshop: Revision & Craft Jacqueline Jules Is your poem ready to meet the world? Or would a little feedback help you craft something more powerful? Revise your poems and learn submission tips with an award-winning poet whose work has appeared in over 100 journals and three chapbooks. Participants will bring poems to each class and share in a safe environment designed to help each poet strengthen his/her work. Writing models and prompts will be provided to jump-start creativity. 3 Mondays Arlington Mill

10:30 a.m.–12 p.m. All Levels

11/4–11/18 $135

Polishing the Perfect Poem Nancy Naomi Carlson Have a poem that’s almost there but seems to be missing that last touch? Or a poem for which you have questions? In this poetry workshop condensed into one afternoon, we will discuss your poems and help them go from good to great. Bring 15 copies of 2-3 poems (time permitting) for feedback and critique. Free literary journals will be given to participants (to inspire future poems), and publication questions will be addressed. 1 Saturday TWC

12–5 p.m. All Levels

10/5 $100

 Rhythm, and Rhyme: Spoken Word Unboxed Amanda Eke This workshop will cover the essential elements of every rhyming text: rhythm, meter, cadence, and rhyme scheme, breaking down each element in a way that isn’t intimidating, whether on the page or the stage. The Poetry Workshop is an introduction to poetry and poetry performance. This workshop will involve two components: writing and performing poetry. Participants will be exposed to a variety of poetry writing styles and templates. For the performance component, skills taught will be drawn from theatre and choral reading techniques. Sessions will be highly engaging and geared at unlocking creativity. 8 Weeks Online

N/A 9/23–11/11 Beginner/Intermediate $360

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Saturday Morning Poem Generator Rose Strode Feeling stuck? This class will meet for the purpose of becoming un-stuck, and playing with words to find an image or a line that will lead to a new poem. Classes will include time to write in response to prompts the instructor will provide, and creative exercises intended to break down the inner critic. Some instruction and group discussion of literary tools (such as line breaks, meter, rhyme, and so on) will be presented as a means to begin a new poem (or to revise one that won’t budge). Please come to class with a notebook and a writing utensil, and a willingness to move, discuss, and play. Note: No meeting on September 27. 8 Saturdays Arlington Mill

10 a.m.–12:30 p.m. All Levels

9/7–11/2 $360

Sestinas 101 Melanie Figg Sestinas are the short stories of the poetry world— so this class is perfect for fiction writers as well as poets. Take a crack at a sestina or learn how to write better ones in this fun and informative class. Sestinas often fail because writers don’t pair the form with the right sized story/idea, so we’ll begin with brainstorming exercises. We’ll study how a few good sestinas work, and begin to draft our own. The instructor will offer lots of tips and insights on how to work in this form. While practicing sestinas, you’ll build your literary muscles with repetition, diction, storytelling, pacing, description, and more. 1 Saturday TWC

1:30–4:30 p.m. All Levels

9/21 $50

Sonnet Crash Course Claudia Gary Improve your sonnet skills, or write your first one. Guided by an internationally published author of sonnets, villanelles, and other metrical poems, you’ll first read classic and contemporary sonnets to see how and why they work. Then—with or without shortcuts—you’ll write one or more of your own. Next you’ll see how a new poem can be improved by revision. You’ll leave with at least one new (draft) or improved sonnet, as well as insights about how writing poems in form can unlock deeper meaning and enhance everything you write. 1 Saturday TWC

10 a.m.–1 p.m. 10/12 Intermediate/Advanced $50

The Force of Poetry Elizabeth Rees In this six-week workshop, intermediate and advanced poets will concentrate on reading, writing and critiquing poetry. Each class session will include a brief discussion of selected contemporary poems, an in-class writing prompt, and workshopping participants’ poems. Specific exercises will be given to free the imagination, and quiet the inner censor. We will explore formal considerations, stylistic choices, and those moments when a poem catches its own voice. By the end of the class, par-

workshops

lives and paint picture of ourselves that we want to share in our work..

WORKSHOPS ticipants will have produced seven original poems and one revision, and will have refined their poetic voice. Please bring 15 copies of a poem you love (not your own) to the first session, as well as 15 copies of one of your own.

allows, we’ll draft a brief narrative in prose that can be turned into a poem, paying particular attention to the techniques that good poets use to lift their words above the level of simple, straightforward storytelling.

6 Mondays TWC

1 Sunday TWC

7–9:30 p.m. 11/4–12/9 Intermediate/Advanced $270

The Personal Poem This workshop will focus on how autobiography functions as a method of mediating and revivifying past events that hover in the unconscious and surface in the writing process. Through writing prompts, and mini-lectures on poetic craft and history of the genre, participants will learn how the very construction of the poem is a means to contain—and often transform—subjective material so that self-revelation can take place. Students of all levels are invited—no previous poetry experience required.

workshops

10:30 a.m.–1 p.m. All Levels

11/9–12/14 $270

Jona Colson This workshop will focus on the twists and surprises of a poem (torque) and what is essential and needed in the poem (profit). Participants will examine iconic poems as well as work by new writers as models and prompts. Open to those writers who are truly interested in generating new work (often in class) and re-envisioning previous work. 6:30–9:30 p.m. All Levels

1016–11/6 $215

Villanelle Crash Course Claudia Gary Improve your villanelle skills, or write your first one. Guided by an internationally published author of villanelles, sonnets, and other metrical poems, you’ll first read classic and contemporary villanelles to see why they work. The class will write a group villanelle, and then, with or without shortcuts, you’ll write one of your own. Next you’ll see how your new poem can be improved by revision. You’ll leave with at least one new (draft) or improved villanelle, as well as insights about how writing poetry in form can unlock deeper meaning and enhance everything you write. 1 Saturday Hill Center

Blogging to Build Your Author Platform Laura Di Franco Build your author platform with the powerful tool of blogging! In this one-time class participants will learn about the five essential parts of a good blog, how and where to blog to get the most exposure for your message and the secrets to writing a blog that actually gets read. By the end of the night you’ll understand what makes a blog people actually read and engage with and how to use guest blogging to spread your message even further. 1 Tuesday TWC

Torque and Profit: A Poetry Workshop

4 Wednesdays TWC

9/22 $50

Professional Writing

Judith Harris

6 Saturdays TWC

1–4 p.m. All Levels

10 a.m.–1 p.m. 10/19 Intermediate/Advanced $65

Writing the Narrative Poem Sue Ellen Thompson There’s more to a good narrative poem than telling a story in lines rather than paragraphs. In this workshop we will examine the distinction between lyric and narrative poetry and look at some contemporary narrative poems to see what makes them succeed or flounder. We will discuss the varying perspectives from which a story can be told and the elements that bring it to life in a poem. If time

6:30–8:30 p.m. All Levels

9/24 $50

Book Marketing & Promotional Speaking Rob Jolles You’ve written your book – now fight for it! One of the most powerful ways to promote and market a book is to learn how to speak on behalf of that book. Improve your deliveries for the occasional requests to speak that have come your way, or generate additional revenue by building a speaking business. In this workshop we will focus on book promotion through social media, book distributors, and all aspects of speaking including basic delivery skills, creating dynamic keynote presentations and workshops, engaging speaker’s bureaus, marketing, proposal writing, and program pricing. If you think writing a book is exciting, wait until you feel the thrill of stepping in front of a room, and speaking on behalf of that book! 1 Saturday TWC

10 a.m.–4 p.m. All Levels

12/7 $115

Fundamentals of Persuasive Writing James Alexander

The Writer’s Center Intuitive Copywriting for Entrepreneurs Laura Di Franco Write words that help you grow your business! A thriving, successful business is built on a foundation of powerful words. But many entrepreneurs never learned how to express themselves or describe what they do in a way that feels good or effective in terms of building their business. This one-night course will give authors and entrepreneurs powerful tools and the confidence for writing content and copy that resonates deeply and attracts more clients to their business. Expect to learn the secrets to the kind of writing that comes alive on the page, including how to write things like a powerful bio, blog, website copy, or mission statement. 1 Tuesday TWC

6:30–9 p.m. All Levels

12/3 $50

Marketing Your Book Herta B. Feely & Emily Williamson Although most authors now recognize the need to participate in the marketing of their newly published books, the idea of marketing can still inspire fear and loathing. Fortunately, by developing a plan and understanding basic elements of marketing, much of that fear can be dispelled. Whether your book is being published through a big press, indie press, hybrid, or self-publisher, you’ll need to provide marketing support. In this three-week class, you’ll learn the basics of marketing and how to develop a plan well in advance of your book’s publication date. With class participation, we will explore the effectiveness and value of book reviews, various forms of social media, book tours (virtual and real), house parties, targeted advertisement, entering contests, and appearing at book festivals, and more. Handouts and online links include lists of book reviewers (print & online), paid advertising options; PR and publicity firms that promote books; local venues that host readings; lists of festivals, contests, and awards. 3 Tuesdays TWC

6:30–8:30 p.m. 11/5–11/19 Intermediate/Advanced $115

Media For Writers Shanon Lee

Learn how to pack a powerful punch when writing persuasively! This six-week workshop teaches the processes involved in crafting newspaper op-eds and written speeches: Think. Plan. Write. Participants will learn the techniques of audience analysis, message development, targeted research, organization, using persuasive language, and effective use of social media in planning/strategizing. The workshop also covers how to apply persuasive writing principles to lower-profile writing products, such as memos, letters, and emails. This class features hands-on writing, engaging discussions, a recommended reading list, and a blog for amplification.

Whether your editor expects you to promote your articles, or your book is set for release and you need to attract readers - visibility matters. This workshop is for writers searching for ways to build their author platform and boost their personal brand. You will learn how to position yourself for success on the most relevant social media platforms for your audience, strategies to attract radio/ TV producers and how to prepare for important media opportunities when offered. Participants will be asked to submit links to their website and all relevant social media profiles in advance and receive a personalized critique by the end of the workshop.

6 Thursdays TWC

1 Sunday Arlington Mill

7–9:30 p.m. 9/12–10/17 Beginner/Intermediate $270

The Writer’s Guide Fall 2019

10 a.m.–1 p.m. All Levels

10/6 $50

WORKSHOPS

Working on a book (or planning to) and need to understand the business side of getting it done? This one-day workshop focuses on the basics: publishing, contracts, copywrites, organization (setting up a writing business), the changing marketplace, and how to position yourself for success.

comedies and dramas of the past decade. Then, you’ll apply those techniques to your own writing. Your work will be read aloud and critiqued in class, and you’ll be asked to revise/polish/perfect throughout the course. The goal is for you to finish the course with a competition-worthy, ten-minute play. Please bring A More Perfect Ten: Writing and Producing The Ten-Minute Play (first edition) by Gary Garrisonto the first class.

tunity to present a total of 250 pages, to include an original draft and the completed revision of a feature script. The course will be limited to ten participants to provide an intensive, M.F.A. level of discipline and rigor. Other benefits include:

1 Saturday TWC

6 Mondays TWC

*A staged reading of participant scenes at TWC

Kenneth D. Ackerman

10 a.m.–1 p.m. All Levels

10/19 $50

Write Like the News Lead with the future — not background. That’s the most important of eight journalism skills that will transform your writing. The others: write your readers’ language, be positive (to be both clear and upbeat), lay out logically, be consistent, be precise, be brief, and choose strong verbs. Highlights: communicate in a crisis, correct errors the correct way, choose between raw numbers and a ratio, and write around generic “he.” (Plus a Speak Like the News skill: avoid “uptalk?”) Emulate the vivid news examples you’ll see in this workshop, and you’ll strengthen your writing voice with lively, engaging news style. At 7 sharp, we’ll critique TheWallStreetJournal.com homepage, seeing how to communicate your main point in just a few words. Then we’ll talk our way through the workshop booklet, emphasizing reasons, not just rules, for your writing choices. To cover as much ground as possible, we’ll have just a few writing exercises and most of them will take less than a minute each. 7–9 p.m. All Levels

12/11 $50

Stage and Screen How To Produce Your Play Martin Blank Tired of waiting for a theater to say “yes”? In this workshop, you’ll give yourself the “yes” by learning everything you need to produce you own play on any budget, starting at zero. Week one will cover how to write a budget-friendly play, where to find a space, as well as who you’ll need to hire and how to find and hire them. Week two, participants will look at budgets, contracts, preproduction, and marketing. And in week three, participants will work as both playwrights and producers in rehearsals, from opening night to closing. By the end of this workshop, you’ll know exactly what to do and, just as important, what not to do to get your play in front of an audience. Many playwrights who have taken this workshop have then produced their own plays successfully. 3 Saturdays TWC

2–4 p.m. All Levels

10/21–11/25 $215

Playwriting: Character

Hank Wallace

1 Wednesday TWC

7–9 p.m. All Levels

9/21–10/5 $115

Perfecting The Ten-Minute Play Marilyn Millstone If you aspire to be a produced playwright, the ten-minute play could be your ticket to success. In this highly interactive course, we’ll read aloud and analyze for technique some of the best ten-minute

Richard Washer Characters set in motion a series of events and actions that become the engine of your play. In this workshop we will look at strategies for exploring and developing characters in the early stages of writing your play and discuss ways to assess the potential of the characters to drive action in your story. In addition, in order to better understand the instrument we are writing for, we will also look at character through the eyes of actors and directors seeking to interpret and portray a character to see how this informs our process of building a play. 1 Thursday Arlington Mill

7–10 p.m. Beginner

9/26 $50

Playwriting: Dialogue Richard Washer Among the tools available to the playwright, dialogue is the most obvious and possibly least understood element of craft. In this session participants will identify some of the many uses of dialogue and discuss how the writer uses this tool to explore, discover, and build a play. The workshop will also take a look at how actors and other theatre artists approach the play on the page and how this can inform the writer. 1 Tuesday Arlington Mill

7–10 p.m. Beginner

9/17 $50

Playwriting: Exposition & Process Richard Washer What does your audience need to know and when do they need to know it? In this workshop writers will consider various strategies for managing exposition in the context of process in writing a play (getting started, exploring a first draft, analysis, and revisions). Participants will look at examples to better understand how to handle exposition and discuss strategies to employ at various stages of the process. Although the focus in this session will be on playwriting, writers of all genres are welcome. 1 Saturday Arlington Mill

10 a.m.–1 p.m. Beginner

9/21 $50

Screenwriting Intensive Alexandra Viets This year-long workshop will provide participants a structured setting to complete, revise, and workshop a feature-length screenplay under the direction of an award-winning professional screenwriter. Each participant will have the oppor-

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*Scene breakdowns with readings by actors from Acme Theater Corporation of Baltimore *Guest speakers presenting their experiences writing and taking a screenplay into production *Free access to a Workspaces at TWC during the full year (valued at $1,000) The class will meet every other week for twentyone sessions from September 12 –December 19 and again from January 9 – June 25, 2020. To apply: Serious applicants should send a letter of interest along with a writing sample of a completed first act (approximately 25-30 pages) to laura.spencer@writer.org. Thursdays 7–9:30 p.m. TWC

9/12–6/25 $5000

The Secret of Life Through Screenwriting Joy Cheriel Brown This course teaches beginning screenwriters a process to use to write an entire screenplay. Each week, participants will learn a different aspect of screenwriting such as developing a premise, structuring the story, or building a character. By the end of this course, participants should be able to write a complete screenplay from beginning to end. 6 Sundays 3–5 p.m. 10/6–11/10 TWC Beginner $215

Writing for TV and Film Khris Baxter These are exciting times to be a screenwriter. With more shows and television channels than ever, the opportunities for inventive ways of storytelling increase daily. This hands-on workshop will guide beginning and intermediate screenwriters through the process of crafting a professionalgrade screenplay and/or TV pilot. Participants will examine proven methods for adapting fiction and narrative nonfiction to the big screen, discuss strategies for promoting and marketing their screenplays or pilots, and work on advancing their careers as screenwriters. This workshop is open to all levels and genres. 1 Saturday Glen Echo

10 a.m.–5 p.m. All Levels

9/28 $115

1 Saturday Glen Echo

10 a.m.–4 p.m. All Levels

11/2 $115

1 Saturday Arlington Mill

10 a.m.–4 p.m. All Levels

11/9 $115

Your First Five Pages John M. Weiskopf When writing a screenplay, your first five pages is the most important hurdle that you MUST clear. 5 Tuesdays TWC

10 a.m.–3 p.m. 9/24–10/22 Intermediate/Advanced $450

workshops

The Business of Writing

WORKSHOP LEADERS Kenneth D. Ackerman, attorney and writer in Washington, D.C., has written five commercially published book on American history and biography, including his most recent, Trotsky in New York 1917: A Radical on the Eve of Revolution. James Alexander has more than 30 years experience writing professionally, including stints as a political speechwriter at the Cabinet level. After earning a B.A. in Journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he worked as a bylined newspaper reporter at The Charlotte Observer and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and also interned at The Washington Post. He later served on Capitol Hill as a U.S. Congressional Fellow and then worked as a Hill press secretary which involved writing lots of speeches and op-eds. As a ghostwriter, James penned dozens of op-eds for political figures with publications in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, and Washington Post, among others. He works full-time in media relations and still writes.

LEADERS

Abdul Ali is the author of Trouble Sleeping, the 2014 winner of the New Issues Poetry Book Prize. He has received fellowships from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Maryland Arts Council, and The Cave Canem Foundation. His work has been published in numerous journals and anthologies. He currently works as an Andrew Mellon Foundation Program Coordinator at the Community College of Baltimore County. More about him at: www.abdulali.net. Cheryl Somers Aubin has been writing and publishing for almost 30 years. She has an M.A. in Writing from Johns Hopkins University. Cheryl is the author of The Survivor Tree: Inspired by a True Story, and the nonfiction editor for The Delmarva Review. Bijan C. Bayne is a travel writer and author whose work has appeared in Ohio, AAA, Pathfinders Travel, JustLuxe, and Family Digest. Anne Becker, author of The Transmutation Notebooks: Poems in the Voices of Charles and Emma Darwin, The Good Body (chapbook), and Human Animal, has presented programs at Johns Hopkins, University of Connecticut, Folger Library, and Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum. She offers tutorials for those putting together poetry chapbooks and full-length collections. More about her at: www.annebeckerhuman.com. Martin Blank is a producer and playwright. His play The Law of Return pre-

miered off-Broadway and is in development with a major Hollywood production company. He served as Literary Manager, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Founding Artistic Director, Theater J, and worked as an N.Y.C. theater producer. He attended the Yale School of Drama. Hildie Block has been leading workshops since the mid-90s. She’s led workshops at American University, and George Washington University. Having published over 50 short stories, Hildie published her book Not What I Expected, and has had stories widely anthologized. She loves helping students fill their tool boxes and get to the next step. More about her at: www.hildieblockworkshop.com. Joy Cheriel Brown is an accomplished screenwriter who owns Third Person Omniscient Productions, and has served as a mentor for DC Shorts and a panelist for the screenwriting panel at the Prince George’s County Arts and Humanities Council’s Festival of Literary Arts. Tara Campbell is a writer, teacher, Kimbilio Fellow, and fiction editor at Barrelhouse. Prior publication credits include SmokeLong Quarterly, Masters Review, Jellyfish Review, Booth, and Strange Horizons. She’s the author of a novel, TreeVolution, a hybrid fiction/ poetry collection, Circe’s Bicycle, and a short story collection, Midnight at the Organporium. She received her M.F.A. from American University in 2019. More about her at: www. taracampbell.com. Nancy Naomi Carlson is a poet, translator, essayist, and editor, and has authored 10 titles. A recipient of grants from the NEA, Maryland Council for the Arts, and Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County, her work has appeared in APR, The Georgia Review, The Paris Review, and Poetry. More about her at: www.nancynaomicarlson.com. Jenny Chen is a writer based in New Haven. She is a veteran sensitivity writer and has had work published in Guernica, Washington Post, The Atlantic, New York Magazine, and more. Brenda W. Clough is a novelist, short story, and nonfiction writer. Her recent ebooks are Revise the World and Speak to Our Desires. Her novels include How Like a God, The Doors of Death and Life, and Revise the World. She has been a finalist for both the Hugo and the Nebula awards. She has been teaching science fiction & fantasy workshops at The Writer’s Center for over 10 years. More about her at: www.brendaclough.net.

The Writer’s Guide Fall 2019

The Writer’s Center Jona Colson’s first poetry collection, Said Through Glass, won the Jean Feldman Poetry Prize from the Washington Writers’ Publishing House. His poems have appeared in Ploughshares, The Southern Review, The Massachusetts Review, and elsewhere. His translations and interviews can be found in Prairie Schooner, Tupelo Quarterly, and The Writer’s Chronicle. He is an associate professor at Montgomery College in Maryland and lives in Washington, DC. Novelist and writing coach John DeDakis is a former editor on CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.” DeDakis is the author of five mystery-suspense novels. His fourth novel, Bullet in the Chamber, is the winner of Reviewers Choice, Foreword INDIES, and Feathered Quill book awards. In his most recent novel, Fake, protagonist Lark Chadwick is a White House correspondent trying to walk the line between personal feelings and dispassionate objectivity in the era of “fake news” and #MeToo. More about him at: www.johndedakis.com. Laura Di Franco, MPT, is the owner of Brave Healer Productions and writes to Feng Shui her soul. Brave Healing, a Guide for Your Journey, is her sixth book to help inspire your fiercely alive whole self. Join her to write words that heal the world. More about her at: www.BraveHealer.com. Solveig Eggerz, a native of Iceland, is the author of two novels, Seal Woman and Sigga of Reykjavik. She teaches for Heard, an Alexandria, VA non-profit that brings the arts to underserved populations. Amanda Eke is a Nigerian American artist and scholar. A Fulbright Award winner and author, she addresses socio-political issues and contemporary culture prevalent in society today through her art. Amanda has worked with young adults in Malta, United States, Nepal, and Nigeria where she has created and held Spoken Word-Workshops. Herta Feely is a local author, editor, writing coach, and ghostwriter. Her novel, Saving Phoebe Murrow, was an Amazon UK best debut and won three Indie press awards in the US. Her clients have been published traditionally, through hybrid presses and selfpublished. She is the co-founder of Safe Kids Worldwide. Melanie Figg is a 2017-2019 NEA Fellow and the author of the award-winning poetry collection, Trace. As a certified professional coach, she has helped hundreds of writers to publish, tame their inner critics, and add more

WORKSHOP LEADERS

Claudia Gary is author of Humor Me (David Robert Books, 2006) and several chapbooks including Genetic Revisionism (2019). Internationally published and anthologized, she is a former poetry editor and a threetime finalist for the Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award, as well as a health science writer for vvaveteran.org. In 2019 she chaired the panel “Why Poets Need Science, and Why Scientists Need Poetry” at the West Chester University Poetry Conference. Her spring course at FAES. org is “The Poetry of Science, the Science of Poetry” (GENL355). See pw.org/content/ claudia_gary, @claudiagary. Patricia Gray, author of Rupture from Red Hen Press, formerly headed the Library of Congress’s Poetry and Literature Center. An award-winning poet, Gray’s poems were short-listed for the Faulkner Wisdom Poetry Prize and appeared recently in Oberon and in Endlessly Rocking, an anthology celebrating Walt Whitman. Her honorable-mention poem, “Fractals” is on www.palmbeachpoetryfestival.org/tech-honorable-poems/. T. Greenwood is the author of thirteen award-winning novels including Rust & Stardust, Where I Lost Her, and Bodies of Water. Hannah Grieco is a parent advocate and writer in Arlington, VA. She has published work in Washington Post‘s “On Parenting,” Huffington Post, First for Women, Today’s Parent, Motherwell, Scary Mommy, and many other publications. Aaron Hamburger is the author of the story collection The View From Stalin’s Head (winner of the Rome Prize in Literature), the novel Faith for Beginners (Lambda Literary Award nominee), and the new novel Nirvana is Here. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Tin House, Crazyhorse, and many more. Judith Harris is the author of three books of poetry, Night Garden, The Bad Secret, Atonement, and the acclaimed critical book, Signifying Pain: Constructing and Healing the Self Through Writing. Her poetry has appeared in The Nation, The Atlantic, The New Republic, Slate, The New York Times blog, Ploughshares, The Hudson Review, The Southern Review, and the syndicated column “American Life in Poetry,” among many other anthologies and journals. Her critical work and interviews have appeared widely. She is a recipient of a Yaddo fellowship and multiple

arts grants and has taught at several universities in the D.C. area and has been a resident seminar leader at Frost Place and the University of North Iowa. GG Renee Hill is an author and advocate for self-discovery through writing. She has published a free verse memoir about heartbreak and healing, a book of short essays for quiet women who want to be heard, and a mindfulness workbook for self-reflection and personal growth. More about her at: allthemanylayers.com. Kathryn Johnson’s 40+ published novels (finalist for the Agatha Award, winner of Heart of Excellence and Bookseller’s Best Awards), include historical fiction (e.g., The Gentleman Poet, wherein Shakespeare escapes to the New World aboard a ship bound for disaster) and contemporary suspense. Her The Extreme Novelist (nonfiction) is the text based on her courses at The Smithsonian and The Writer’s Center. Kathryn’s premium mentoring services can be found here: https:// KathrynJohnsonLLC.com. Reach out with questions or for a free 20-minute private consultation: Kathryn@KathrynJohnsonLLC.com. A 30-year professional speaker, and threetime bestselling author with books translated in over a dozen languages, Rob JollES coaches and mentors business authors around the world. His designed approach and manuscript development process have been successful in the production of numerous conventionally published business books. He lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland. More about him at: to www.jolles.com. Jacqueline Jules is the author of three chapbooks, Field Trip to the Museum, Stronger Than Cleopatra, and Itzhak Perlman’s Broken String, winner of the 2016 Helen Kay Chapbook Prize from Evening Street Press. Her work has appeared in over 100 publications including Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, Beltway Poetry, Innisfree Poetry Journal, and Gargoyle. More about her at: www.jacquelinejules.com. Beth Kanter is a writer, photographer, and workshop leader with more than 20 years of experience. She is the author of six books including No Access Washington DC, which she wrote and photographed. Additionally, her essays, articles, and photos have appeared in a variety of newspapers, magazines, journals, and online publications. Steve Kistulentz is the author most recently of Panorama (Little, Brown), named a must-read by Entertainment Weekly and The New York Post. He directs the graduate cre-

for the most up-to-date news and information, visit writer.org

ative writing program at Saint Leo University in the Tampa area. Cecile Ledet is a native Washingtonian who has studied standup, improv, and sketch writing at the DC Improv and UST. She was a founding member of the troupe “Sometimes Bears” and is currently playing with her team, “What Now?” Cecile is a lover of all things comedy and firmly believes that life really does begin where your comfort zone ends. Shanon Lee is a contributor for Forbes and The Lily at The Washington Post. Her bylines include Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Marie Claire, Playboy, Good Housekeeping, Woman’s Day, Redbook, Refinery29, Women’s Health, and Prevention Magazine. In 2018, she was featured in Poets & Writers Magazine for forging an unconventional writing career. Her opinion essays on misogyny and racism are widely circulated and have been shared by notables including bestselling author J.K. Rowling, rap legend MC Lyte and political activist Kevin Powell. Shanon is a Women’s Media Center (WMC) SheSource Expert, a member of the 2019 WMC Progressive Women’s Voices cohort, and an alumna of the Association of Opinion Journalists/Poynter Institute Minority Writers Seminar. She was recently named to The Tempest’s 40 Women To Watch 2019 list. As a commentator, Shanon has appeared on national and international live-stream and network television programs including HuffPost Live, TRT World’s The NewsMakers, TV One’s For My Woman and the REELZ Channel’s Scandal Made Me Famous. Christopher Linforth has published work in The Millions, Fiction International, Notre Dame Review, Gargoyle, Day One, and Descant, among other magazines. He has been awarded fellowships and scholarships to the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Vermont Studio Center, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Pat McNees, writer-editor, helps people and organizations tell their life story. A former editor in book publishing (at Harper & Row and Fawcett) and a freelance writer, she also manages the Washington Biography Group. She has taught life writing at The Writer’s Center for several years. More about her at: www.writersandeditors.com/bio.htm. Ariel Mendez is an author/illustrator from Montgomery County, MD. Her debut picture book, Fear and a Friend, was launched on Kickstarter and selected as a Kickstarter “Project We Love.” Ariel has also illustrated Hair Like Me, which was featured on HLN, and Dear God to be released in the Fall of

LEADERS

creativity, balance, and intentionality to their lives. She also leads annual writing retreats. More about her at: www.melaniefigg.net.

WORKSHOP LEADERS 2019. Ariel is a member of the Society of Childrens Book Writers and Illustrators, and frequently presents on the topic of selfpublishing and children’s book writing. More about her at: arielmendez.com. Alyce Miller is the award-winning writer of four books of fiction and one book of nonfiction, as well as more than 250 essays, short stories, poems, articles, and book reviews. She is Professor Emerita from the English Department and Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Indiana University-Bloomington, where she also received awards for her teaching. More about her at: www.alycemillerwriter.com.

LEADERS

Nicole Miller is the winner of the 2014 Dorothy Cappon prize for the essay, and has published memoir in New Letters and Arts & Letters magazine. Her fiction has appeared twice in The May Anthology of Short Stories, edited by Jill Paton Walsh and Sebastian Faulks. She received an M.Phil in Victorian Literature from Lincoln College, Oxford, a Ph.D. in English at University College, London, and an M.F.A. at Emerson College, Boston, where she held the Graduate Fellowship in Creative Writing. At The Oxford English Dictionary, she has served as a scholarly reader for British Dialects since 2002. She edits faculty manuscripts in Harvard’s English Department and teaches the nineteenth and twentieth century British novel at Politics and Prose in Washington D.C. She also leads fiction workshops at Grub Street in Boston, and has been named an emerging writer in residence at Kingston University, Kingstonupon-Thames, UK. More about her at: www. inthesmallhours.com. Chloe Yelena Miller is a writer and writing teacher living in Washington, D.C. She and her six-year-old enjoy making books together. Marilyn Millstone’s plays, including her award-winning ten-minute comedy Compos Mentis, have been produced around the world. Two of her monologues appear in Smith and Kraus’s Best Women’s Monologues of 2019. Her full-length drama Proprioception recently won AACT NewPlayFest 2020; it will be produced in April 2020 and published by Dramatic Publishing. Ofelia Montelongo is a bilingual writer originally from Mexico. She received a B.A. in accounting and finance, an MBA, and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. Ofelia is a freelance writer and photographer and has collaborated with magazines such as Phoenix New Times, So Scottsdale, and Phoenix

Magazine. She led creative writing workshops in Spanish at Palabras Bilingual Bookstore and was the Editor-in-Chief for the journal Superstition Review in the fall of 2016. She taught Spanish at Arizona State University and she is pursuing her M.A. in Latin American literature at the University of Maryland. Her research interests include Chicano and Latin American literature, theory of translation, borderlands, creative writing, and more. Her work has been published in Latino Book Review, Four Chambers Press, Los Acentos Review, Rio Grande Review, and Ponder Review. She is currently reading for Potomac Review and she is the 2019 Undiscovered Voices Fellow at The Writer’s Center. William O’Sullivan is an essayist and editor whose writing has appeared in Washingtonian, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The North American Review, 100 Word Story, and others. His work has been cited three times among the notable essays of the year in The Best American Essays. Laura Oliver is the author of The Story Within (Penguin Random House), endorsed by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Jon Franklin and by Poets and Writers Magazine as one of the best writing books ever published. Her short stories and essays have appeared in The Washington Post, Country Living Magazine, The Sun Magazine, Glimmer Train, The Writer Magazine, and The Baltimore Review to name a few. With an M.F.A. from Bennington College, Oliver has been an adjunct professor of writing, both fiction and essay, at The University of Maryland and taught writing at St John’s College. She is the winner of a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist award, an Anne Arundel County Arts Council Award and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. More about her at: www. thestorywithin.com. Alicia Oltuski’s work has appeared in Tin House, McSweeney’s, Glimmer Train, W magazine, and other publications. She has been included in the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers series and received a David Berg Foundation Fellowship at Columbia University, where she received an M.F.A. in Creative Writing. Chris Palmer is an author, speaker, film producer, and retired professor. He has published six books, including the most recent, College Teaching At Its Best, from Rowman & Littlefield. More about him at: www.ChrisPalmerOnline.com. Mary Quattlebaum is the author of 27 award-winning children’s books (Pirate The Writer’s Guide Fall 2019

The Writer’s Center vs. Pirate; Jo MacDonald Hiked in the Woods; Brother, Sister, Me and You) and of numerous stories and poems in children’s magazines (Cricket, Spider, Ladybug, Highlights). She teaches in the M.F.A. program in writing for children and young adults at the Vermont College of Fine Arts and is a popular school and conference speaker. Ann Quinn’s poetry was selected by Stanley Plumly as first place winner in the 2015 Bethesda Literary Arts Festival poetry contest, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her work is published in Potomac Review, Little Patuxent Review, and other journals and is included in the anthology Red Sky: Poetry on the Global Epidemic of Violence Against Women. Ann lives in Maryland with her family where she teaches reflective and creative writing and music and plays clarinet with the Columbia Orchestra. Her chapbook, Final Deployment, is published by Finishing Line Press. More about her at: www.annquinn.net. Elizabeth Rees, M.A. is the author of the poetry collection Every Root a Branch (2014). Three of her four poetry chapbooks are award winners, most recently Tilting Gravity (2009). Twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize, her poems have been widely published in journals, including Partisan Review, Kenyon Review, Southern Review, and Agni. She has taught at Harvard University, Boston University, Macalester College, Howard University, the U.S. Naval Academy, and in the graduate program at Johns Hopkins University, among other schools. A workshop leader at The Writer’s Center since 1989, she has also been a poet-in-the-schools for the Maryland State Arts Council since 1994. She has served as a consulting writer and editor to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian Museums’ Traveling Exhibitions, and PBS. Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers is the author of two poetry collections: Chord Box (University of Arkansas Press, 2013) and The Tilt Torn Away from the Seasons (Acre Books/ The Cincinnati Review, forthcoming, 2020). Her essays can also be found in Best American Nonrequired Reading, Best American Travel Writing, and elsewhere. A former Kenyon Review Fellow and a current editor at The Kenyon Review, she has been a visiting professor at several colleges and universities. Ellen Ryan has been published in AARP, Outside, Good Housekeeping, USNews.com, Washingtonian, ForbesLife Executive Woman, Sister2Sister, and many other national and regional publications.

WORKSHOP LEADERS

Natasha Scripture is an author with a passion for transformational nonfiction. Her debut memoir Man Fast: A Memoir came out in June 2019, and was featured in The Washington Post as one of The 10 books to read in June. Her personal essays have been published in The New York Times, The Telegraph, Glamour UK, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Boston Globe, The New York Post, Marie Claire, and The Atlantic, among other publications. Lisa Jan Sherman is an actor, improvisational acting and cognitive skills coach. She has been a member of AFTRA and SAG for over 35 years, and has performed on stage, television, film, and radio. Lisa received a B.A. in Theatre and Speech at University of Maryland. She is a founding member of ‘NOW THIS!, the totally improvised, musical comedy troupe which had a 27 year run. Facilitating communication skills groups with children since 1995, and finding that the improvisational ‘piece’ created a natural basis for social skill development, Lisa co-developed the ‘Act As If’ program and with Laura McAlpine cowrote Act As If (improvisational activities for better social communication). Rose Strode is a teacher, gardener, essayist, and poet. She is a recipient of the Sidney L. Gulick Fellowship at the Brauer Museum of Art at Valpariso University in Chicago; a student in the M.F.A. program for poetry at George Mason University; and a volunteer gardener at a Buddhist temple. Sara Mansfield Taber is author of Chance Particulars: A Writer’s Field Notebook. She has also published the award-winning Born Under an Assumed Name: The Memoir of a Cold War Spy’s Daughter; Dusk on the Campo: A Journey in Patagonia, and Bread of Three Rivers: The Story of a French Loaf. Her essays, memoirs, and cultural commentary have appeared in literary journals such as The American Scholar, newspapers including The Washington Post, and have been produced for public radio. More about her at: www.saramansfieldtaber.com. Julia Tagliere’s work has appeared in The Writer, Potomac Review, Gargoyle Magazine, and numerous anthologies. She completed her M.A. in Writing at Johns Hopkins

University, and in 2017, won The Writer’s Center’s Undiscovered Voices Fellowship. She serves as an editor with The Baltimore Review. More about her at: justscribbling.com. Sue Ellen Thompson’s fifth book of poems, They, was published in 2014. An instructor at The Writer’s Center since 2007, she has previously taught at Middlebury College, Binghamton University, the University of Delaware, and Central CT State University. She received the 2010 Maryland Author Award from the Maryland Library Association and was recently nominated for Maryland Poet Laureate. Pamela Toutant is a widely published personal essayist and feature writer. Her work has appeared in Salon, Slate, The Washington Post, Redbook, Washingtonian Magazine, Applause Magazine,and Bethesda Magazine. She was selected as the winner of the Penelope Niven Creative Non-Fiction Award, was a Pushcart Prize nominee, and a three time Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellow. More about her at: www.PamelaToutant.com. Alexandra Viets is a screenwriter and journalist who received her M.F.A. from Columbia University. Her first feature-length screenplay, Cotton Mary, was produced by Merchant Ivory. Her most recent screenplay, Ask Me No Questions, won Best Screenplay for 2018 at the Auckland International Film Festival. She teaches at Johns Hopkins University. More about her at: https://alexandraviets.com/. Joan Waites has illustrated more than 40 children’s books and most recently has written and illustrated A Colorful Tail: Finding Monet at Giverny, and An Illustrator’s Night Before Christmas. She teaches arts classes for children at her private studio and speaks frequently at schools and conferences. Hank Wallace, a Columbia Law School graduate, was a government reporter for New Jersey’s Middletown Courier and Red Bank Daily Register, and the assistant director of law-school publishing for Matthew Bender. He wrote the FCC’s plain-language newsletter and newswriting tips for the Radio Television Digital News Association. For more information about Hank Wallace, visit his website at: hankwallace.com. Richard Washer is a playwright and director, and serves as Associate Artistic Director and First Draft Resident Playwright at The Rose Theatre Company. He holds a B.A. (University of Virginia) and an M.F.A. (American University). His produced full-length

for the most up-to-date news and information, visit writer.org

plays include Missa, Of a Sunday Morning, Monkeyboy (co-written with Keith Bridges and Chris Stezin), The Fetish, Getting It, and Quartet. His musical (music by Mark Haag) Persephone: A Burlesque received a development and workshop reading at First Draft at the Rose Theatre in March, 2018. Most recently, his new play, The Migrant received a reading at First Draft in March 2019. More about him at: www.richardwasher.com. John M. Weiskopf received an M.F.A. in Film Production from UCLA and currently teaches at American University. He wrote a novel entitled The Ascendancy, which was widely and positively reviewed. It sells on Amazon. He did author book-signing tours in California, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, and Washington D.C. for Barnes and Nobel and some small bookstores. He subsequently wrote the adapted screenplay for the novel, and currently is in active development on Ascend, an episodic television series based upon his novel. Emily Williamson is an author, editor, and literary agent at Williamson Literary. Her short stories and poems have been published in numerous literary journals, including Blackbird, Measure, Word Riot, and others. She is the recipient of the 2018 No Chair Press Chapbook Prize for her collection of poems, Dead Reckoning. Suzanne Zweizig is a writer and translator whose work has appeared in numerous literary journals, including Subtropics, RHINO, Grist, and others. She is the former translation editor of Poet Lore magazine, the recipient of writing fellowships from The MacDowell Colony and others, and fell in love with improv when she took two courses a couple of years ago.

Teach for Us The Writer’s Center is always looking for individuals to add to our talented pool of workshop leaders. If you are a published writer with teaching experience, please send a cover letter and resume to the attention of Laura Spencer, Director of Programs, at: laura.spencer@writer.org.

LEADERS

Lynn Schwartz is a story development editor and ghostwriter. Her plays have been performed in NYC, including Lincoln Center. She founded the Temple Bar Literary Reading Series in NYC, has received two Individual Artist Awards in Fiction from the Maryland State Arts Council, and taught fiction at St. John’s College.

Indie Bookstores Unite! New and established shops thrive in DC By Zach Powers

erhaps the single best thing you can do to support our literary community is buying books at local, independent bookstores. Indie shops have direct connections to local authors. They host readings and book clubs. They’re involved with the books they sell in a way no online retailer can ever hope to be. Every dollar spent locally supports the writers living and working here. Most importantly, indie booksellers bring us together. I reached out to some of the DC area’s favorite booksellers to see what inspires their work in our literary community. What led you to open a bookshop? Laurie Gillman, Owner, East City Bookshop

I’ve always loved bookstores, but opening one wasn’t something I even thought about until a few years ago. Our neighborhood bookstore closed in 2009, and as a long-time resident it was clear to me that my neighborhood needed a bookstore. I was sure someone would open one, but after a few years of waiting, it occurred to me that maybe I could open a bookstore. At that point, there were still many independent bookstores closing, so I wasn’t sure if it would be viable. I decided to do as much research as possible to really learn about the business, and I saw that a slight indie bookstore resurgence was just beginning. Once I realized that it just might work, I couldn’t get the idea out of my head, so I envisioned my perfect neighborhood bookstore and kept moving toward that.

Bard’s Alley

Jen Morrow, Owner, Bard’s Alley

I was inspired to open Bard’s Alley when my son, who was in kindergarten at the time, learned to read. I realized that there was a void here, in Vienna, Virginia, that needed to be filled; in every community I had lived in up until then, I had had a “third place” to go where I could browse for books, connect with other readers, and meet the authors I admire. These bookstores had given me so much, and I felt that it was important to establish that third place for my community as well. Jake Cumsky-Whitlock, Co-Owner, Solid State Books

East City Bookshop

The simplest explanation is that I love books, love just being around them. Bookstores have always played an outsized role in my life. I grew up in the Boston area and spent much of my childhood exploring the dense warren of stacks that was The New England Mobile Book Fair, sitting in the windows at Wordsworth, or exploring the labyrinthine Harvard Coop. The Writer’s Guide Fall 2019

What’s the most exciting thing going on for you right now in bookselling? Bradley Graham, Co-Owner, Politics and Prose

Most exciting is the role being played by many independent bookstores in promoting and preserving our country’s democratic values. Those values of justice, truth, diversity, and freedom of speech are under siege by forces of intolerance, mendacity, incivility, and autocracy. What P&P and other indies can do is help bring people together, engage them in discussions of literature and ideas, offer books that inspire, comfort, and teach, and provide a community antidote against the toxic political and cultural divisions of our times.

ferred table in the café. And most of all, a profound desire to see this special place remain at the heart of our community. Laurie Gillman

We are a neighborhood of readers, and overall our customers read to experience other viewpoints, to learn and try to understand something unfamiliar, and simply to be immersed in a well-told story. Our customers really love to connect with each other through books and talk about what they’ve read—we have a dozen store book clubs, most through customer requests and suggestions. Our goal is to have a community that welcomes everyone who wants to be part of it and to support readers throughout their lives. Jake Cumsky-Whitlock, Co-Owner, Solid State Books

Politics & Prose

Jen Morrow

Again and again, customers enter the shop and tell me how grateful they are that Bard’s Alley exists. But, the truth is, we wouldn’t be here without their support. Our particular community is wonderfully diverse with varying interests that span social issues, particularly women’s issues; history; compelling contemporary fiction; poetry; and children’s books. We recognize many of our customers by name, but we still meet new faces all the time. Can you tell me a little about the community of readers and writers that’s built up around your shop? Bradley Graham

Politics and Prose is supported by a very loyal community of readers, many of whom have stories about the bookstore. A favorite employee or aisle to browse in. A memorable author event. An instructive children’s storytelling event. A faithful book club. A pre-

What a gratifying thing this has been to see. It has been amazing to watch people we don’t know (or, more accurately, didn’t know before we opened) take ownership of the store—running and attending book clubs, meeting at the front table with their knitting group, having a drink and reading a new book at the bar. Every day it’s a potent reminder of exactly why we do what we do. What a ride! Some of our favorite indies specializing in new books: Bard’s Alley

Vienna, VA bardsalley.com

Bridge Street Books

Georgetown bridgestreetbooks.com

East City Bookshop

Capitol Hill eastcitybookshop.com

Kramerbooks & Afterwords

Old Town Books

Alexandria, VA oldtownbooks.com

One More Page

Arlington, VA onemorepagebooks.com

Politics & Prose

3 locations politics-prose.com

Scrawl Books

Dupont Circle kramers.com

Reston, VA scrawlbooks.com

Loyalty Books

Solid State Books

Upshur Street loyaltybookstore.com

for the most up-to-date news and information, visit writer.org

H Street Corridor solidstatebooksdc.com

POET LORE

The Writer’s Center

Meet the Editor: A Conversation with Poet Lore’s New Executive Editor B.J. Love By Emily Holland, Managing Editor, Poet Lore

e are excited to announce that poet and teacher B.J. Love is the new Executive Editor of Poet Lore. As an introduction to all of our writers and subscribers, he chatted with Managing Editor Emily Holland about what he hopes to bring to the journal, how the internet is changing literary magazines, and where readers can find some of his own work! A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, B.J. has written and taught poetry and literature for more than 15 years. In that time, he has created youth programs in Italy, led writing workshops in Sitka, Alaska, taught fiction and poetry writing for the Putney School Summer Programs in Vermont, and directed a group of young writers around Ireland. His writing has been published in many journals, magazines, newspapers, and anthologies including; Gulf Coast, The North American Review, Stirring: A Literary Collection, The Moon City Review, Hobart, and Pinwheel Journal. What should our readers know about you right off the bat?

What are you most excited about as you start your journey as Poet Lore’s new executive editor? The internet was supposed to kill print, and yet, here we are. So, a little like Lazarus, it’s up to us to figure out what to do with this new life. I’m most looking forward to that. Figuring out what life as a print magazine needs to do to run for another 100 years. Given the journal’s long history, what do you hope to bring to the issues you curate? I.M. Pei died while I was thinking about this question, and if there is anything I hope for my time here, it can be summed up in Pei’s glass pyramid at the Louvre; to both modernize while still preserving what’s already there. You’re a teacher, and you might get this question a lot, but how is editing like teaching? How do they differ? I’m not trying to teach my students to write like me. My goal is to show them the best tools they can use to figure out how to write like themselves. Editing isn’t much

I don’t have to be called B.J. Love. I choose to be called B.J. Love.

The Writer’s Guide Fall 2019

different; I’m not trying to put together poems for me (I would quickly become the only subscriber left!), I want a magazine that everyone can enjoy. In either case, teaching or editing, my tastes, my desires are not the focus, I’m trying to give you what I think/hope you need. In three words, describe the type of work you are hoping to feature in Poet Lore… Meaningful, but irreverent. Any tips for eager submitters? If you’re sending poems to friends, then definitely send them to us while you’re at it.

POET LORE Poet Lore is one of a diminishing few lit mags still in print—what do you see as the role of a print magazine? A person can develop great intimacy with physical objects. They become triggers for our memories, for our wants and desires. I think Poet Lore needs to become very deliberate about the object we’re putting out in the world. The first ‘date’ my wife and I went on was after we’d noticed we were both carrying around the same book and so went to a park and took turns reading it to each other. I’ve also started conversations with complete strangers who were wearing t-shirts that featured my favorite bands. People have come up to me on the street to talk about my dog. The things we keep around us are invitations to commune and I

hope to make Poet Lore one of the things that people carry around. What can Poet Lore do to tap into the online energy that seems to make those journals so popular and diverse? Trying to put your finger on exactly what a broad audience of readers wants could drive a person insane, but one thing I think we can all say is that when we read we feel a special jolt when we see ourselves represented in some way; physically, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, etc. Who do you hope will read Poet Lore?

What are you currently working on and where can our readers find some of your poems? I write every day, so I always have a few irons in the fire. I’m hoping to finish a book this summer about a guy named Thad Shumway who loves Subway, pop music, and driving in his Nissan Maxima. There’s a dumb beauty to it that I’m really excited about. I have another book I’m just now finishing up called What is Wrong With Me. You can find lots of those poems around in places like, Stirring: A Literary Collection, Bear Review, Moon City Review, Gulf Coast, Gold Wake Live, Gravel, and Josephine Quarterly.

Everyone. I want everyone to read Poet Lore!

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Building a World A review of Rion Amilcar Scott’s The World Doesn’t Require You By Julia Tagliere

become religion, salvation, and Sherman is the deity.

ion Amilcar Scott set his 2017 debut collection Insurrections, which won the PEN/Robert A. Bingham Award for Debut Fiction, in the fictionalized town of Cross River, Maryland. Scott’s latest book, The World Doesn’t Require You, due out this August from Liveright, revisits that setting with a dazzling collection that includes eleven short stories and a complete novella; some of the stories appeared previously in publications such as Bartleby Snopes, Midnight Breakfast, and Barrelhouse, among others. In a recent interview, Scott said of his Cross River world that he’d spent more time imagining it this time around; that time was clearly well spent. While the Cross River of Insurrections served as an effective, believable setting, in The World Doesn’t Require You, Scott breathes this world, the site of the only successful slave revolt in US history, to extravagant life, just as thoroughly as Tolkien did his Middle Earth. Each of Scott’s stories provides another fragment of the town’s rich, detailed history: it has its own literary canon, its own mythology, its own music—even, at times, its own language. But Scott’s skill in fully realizing Cross River lies in more than a gener-

Scott’s masterful use of this technique throughout the collection, telling one character’s story and then doubling back to it as established history or canon in another, is part of what makes Cross River feel so very real. But just in case the reader somehow missed it, Scott provides a deliciously meta reminder of how he accomplishes this feat in Special Topics in Loneliness Studies:

ous supply of details; it’s also in the way he infuses them into each story, blending them with “real” history and literary canon, as well as in the structure of the book as a whole. For example, “David Sherman, the Last Son of God,” the first story in the collection, reads initially as Sherman’s quest to find himself and his God/Father through music; it does well as a standalone with a beautiful, open ending. But several stories later, in “The Temple of Practical Arts,” the reader learns the music Sherman sought in the earlier story has now The Writer’s Guide Fall 2019

After all, I’m so Cross River it feels as if I’ve made it all up. Every inch of it. From the cracks on the sidewalks of Angela Street to the feet walking over those cracks to the stray dogs in the Wildlands being confused for wolves to every single ripple bobbing across the Cross River. I even created the sunlight sprinkled across those ripples when the sun sinks into the waters in the early evening. And the sun, I created that too.

Although Scott’s capacity for world building approaches the Tolkien-esque, any further comparison must end there. Tolkien used his world of dragons and hobbits and returning kings to tell lofty, soaring tales of heroism and self-sacrifice (yes, it was also a clear rejection of fascism).

By contrast, Scott’s Cross River—though infused with supernatural elements, like “waterwomen, mystical shape-shifting water creatures who live on an island beneath the water of the Cross River” and, in “A Loudness of Screechers,” massive birds that snatch a ritual human sacrifice from a terrified family—is unsparingly grounded in the grim realities of racism and slavery, state brutality and random violence, misogyny and madness, and, in the wrenching novella, Special Topics in Loneliness Studies, in the desolation of a man doomed by his growing inability to connect emotionally. Scott holds nothing back in this collection. His language ranges from raw and brutal to scathingly contemptuous (particularly of academia), from heartbreakingly beautiful to wickedly funny. A few examples: II. COURSE DESCRIPTION:

He ruined us. Transformed us all from little symphonies into the faded plucks beneath the bleeding fingers of God the spent guitarist. The last thumps in the dying heart of God.

- The Temple of Practical Arts In my memories, Loretta turns to white dust midsentence and blows away, leaving behind the sweet scent of gardenias in bloom. And that’s how she left me. - Numbers Art’s not capable of banging the dents out of the world, man, or creating the sort of… um…accumulated hurt they want it to, and they’ll abandon it for politics or psychology or mass murder. Watch. It’s all the same thing to them, really.

Scott doesn’t stint with his technical feats of wonder, either, particularly in the novella, a dizzying display of craft that includes photos, partially-redacted intra-office emails, a PowerPoint presentation, authoritative-yet-disturbing footnotes, and a Matryoshka doll’s worth of nested narratives. Most significantly, Scott doesn’t pull any emotional punches for the reader: sorrow, terror, love, hate, lust, shame, anger, pride, envy, despair, self-loathing—each takes center stage at one point or another in this often unsettling rollercoaster ride. But each is also absolutely necessary for a literary work to succeed as a cleareyed, unfiltered study of the best and worst aspects of the human condition. Succeed? The World Doesn’t Require You does just that—and so much more.

- Slim in Hell

First, this is a writing intensive course. If that is a problem for you there are plenty of other professors in this department who will award you an A grade for making power ballads, Play-Doh sculptures, YouTube videos, and the like as your primary coursework.

- Special Topics in Loneliness Studies

for the most up-to-date news and information, visit writer.org

Winner of the 2019 Bethesda Urban Partnership Poetry Contest Judged by Michael S. Glaser

Navigating Fault Lines Summer Hardinge Some believe one day California will crack, fall into sea. From above, it looks entirely possible, the land cuts an angular silhouette, undulates mountains, skirts bay and ocean. In a more ancient story, Poseidon wielded his triton, struck Earth, tremors erupted, bridges collapsed, roads changed course, buildings toppled, thousands lost. Lately Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve encountered my own fault lines: a trembling building, fear of lying under rubble, wanting last sight sky, smoldering talks with no one to blame, yet friendships fissure, strike-side, fall off like a California. I tell you now in moments of sudden dark, as walls crack, doorways crumble, ears fall deaf, I cleave to true things, far from fault lines, fractures and aftershocks, reach for you on your side of the bed.

The Writerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Guide Fall 2019

Finding Authenticity in a Courtroom Thriller A Review of Miracle Creek By Nina Holtz

ngie Kim’s debut novel Miracle Creek begins with an explosion and doesn’t lose momentum from there. In Miracle Creek, Virginia, Pak Yoo and his wife Young have staked their hopes on an experimental medical treatment called hyperbaric oxygen therapy. A pressurized chamber allows patients to breathe in high levels of oxygen, which may be able to help children with autism or cerebral palsy. They name the chamber Miracle Submarine, but when someone lights a fire, the Yoo’s dreams go up in flames as the submarine explodes, killing two people inside. The tragedy at the beginning of the novel quickly turns into a courtroom drama where friends and family members begin to doubt each other, unsure of who is guilty as more and more secrets are revealed. Kim masterfully jumps between the perspectives of the characters involved in the accident. She trans-

ports the reader into the points of view of a mother of a “submarine” patient, a troubled doctor, a Korean immigrant family, and the alleged arsonist being tried for the murder of a child. Kim uses her experience as an immigrant, lawyer, and mother to bring a feeling of truth into her writing. She tackles a multitude of difficult issues—predominantly, what it feels like to be the mother of a child with a disability and the worries that come with it. Her life as a mother of three children who have dealt with medical issues lends authenticity to her characters. Kim’s first novel is an engrossing and well-thoughtout story about the hidden thoughts and secrets behind each character, and the responsibility we all must take for our actions.

Small-Town Thrills A Review of One Night Gone By Alexandra Orfetel

ara Laskowski’s One Night Gone is the perfect book to cozy up with this fall. Filled with suspense and mystery, Laskowski takes her readers through the quaint town of Opal Beach as the secrets surrounding a thirty-year cold case are finally uncovered. In her own Capote-esque style, Laskowski tells the story of Allison’s growing obsession with the odd disappearance of a headstrong teen set on finding her destiny. The charming imagery of a mid-1980s summer will bring back even the youngest of generations to neon carnivals, boardwalks, and twilight bonfires on the horizon. The smooth twists and turns through warm summer nights paired with the chilling thrills of riddles and small-town conspiracies will keep any reader on the edge of their seat. for the most up-to-date news and information, visit writer.org

BOOK TALK The Imperial Spy Tamar Anolic tamaranolic.com

Vsevolod Ioannovich Romanov is a member of the Russian Imperial family, a Prince of the Imperial Blood . . . and a spy against the Nazis. From Warsaw to Budapest, Rome to Tsaritsyn, Vsevolod assumes various disguises as he infiltrates the Nazi’s front lines. Soon, Vsevolod becomes the Nazis’ most wanted man.

Midnight at the Organporium Tara Campbell taracampbell.com

What do a homicidal houseplant, an enchanted office picnic, sentient fog, and the perfect piece of toast have in common? They’re all part of the world of Midnight at the Organporium. At turns droll, wicked, and surreal, these tales cover topics from white flight, to the Princess and the Pea, to marriage in the afterlife.

Ghost Riders of Cumberland Gap Ron Chandler “Ron Chandler’s young adult novella, Ghost Riders of Cumberland Gap, tells the story of a young cancer patient who time travels to an adventure.” - BlueInk Review. It features many amazing events including chasing wild mustangs in the highlands, hunting bison, and finding a precious gift for a fair Indian maiden. Available at Amazon.com.

Sigga of Reykjavik Solveig Eggerz solveigeggerz.com

Sigga escapes the farm only to face grinding poverty in Reykjavik. Supporting her

family as a fish woman and embroiderer, Sigga welcomes the World War II occupation by Allied forces. But she must choose between financially exploiting the occupation and protecting her young daughter from soldiers.

Dusk and Ember Robert Jacoby robert-jacoby.com

Can a life come apart and be rebuilt in one night? 19-year-old Richard Issych is about to find out. One friend is dead—murdered by another friend—and all Richard wants to do is get to the wake, come home, and start a new life. But for one life to begin another must end.

First Cosmic Velocity Zach Powers

The Writer’s Center tient. Newly wed, his wife Terri faces a future of full-time caregiving. In this touching tale of peaks, valleys—and an amazing ascent to walk again—Michael reflects candidly on the humbling, humorous, and heartfelt moments of his life.

Beowulf: fragments Translated by Stephen O. Glosecki, edited by John M. Hill, with a forward by Marijane Osborn Thrym & Ellen Press, 2018

This is a new translation of sections of the poem, accompanied by alliterative prose links from section to section. The passages of half-line by half-line translation are uniquely faithful to the ancient diction, stress, and on-going, phrasal rhythm of the Old English epic.

Beowulf f

Translated by Stephen O. Glosecki, edited by John M. Hill, with a foreword by Marijane Osborn.

Thrym & Ellen

Lineage Emily Holland emily-holland.com

zachpowers.com

It’s 1964 in the USSR, and the Soviet space program is a sham. While the program has successfully launched five capsules into space, they have never successfully brought one back to earth. By turns grim and whimsical, fatalistic and deeply hopeful, this is a sweeping novel of the heights of mankind’s accomplishments, the depths of its folly, and the people with whom we create family.

Two Mountains: Kilimanjaro to Quadriplegic and Back S. Michael Scadron michaelscadron.com

Four months after summiting Mount Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa, the author Michael Scadron mysteriously transforms from vibrant athlete to wheelchair-bound pa-

The Writer’s Guide Fall 2019

The poems in Emily Holland’s debut chapbook, published by dancing girl press, follow an arc of growth, maturation, and closure. Beginning with poems that explore the Southern pastoral and pagan femininity, the chapbook moves into an examination of queerness and familial lineage, interrogating questions of identity and tradition.

Advertise Your Book in Book Talk! $50 for members of The Writer’s Center Winter/Spring Issue Deadline: October 18 Go to www.writer.org/adrates for more information.

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