WRITING WORKSHOPS

Women's Studio Center

POETRY

I learn by going where I have to go.
Theodore Rothke

What themes do you want to develop in your poetry? What form is best suited for each poem you write? We will do freewriting activities in class and have related take-home assignments that will expand your repertory of poetic techniques and help your approach to ideas evolve. We will discuss participants’ poems in a safe environment, using a non-judgmental practice of critiquing that creates a community of supportive writers. This workshop is ideal for beginning and intermediate poets.

Katrinka Moore, Instructor

SIX SUNDAYS, 3:30-5:30pm, Beginning October 8th

FICTION

The larger purpose of this prose workshop is to support an ongoing sense of the "writerly life", even in those who have only begun to imagine themselves as writers. Its more specific focus, on fiction, means writers will be digging deeper into their lives, and imaginations, for the raw materials of “story”, developing more dependably individual perspectives and voices, and working to extend their grasp beyond the basic tools/techniques of fiction writing. These six informal, but creatively structured, sessions will include directed quickwriting, sharing and discussion of weekly assignments, and a free exchange of literary ideas, all in service to a continuing exploration of what makes fiction live on the page and in readers' minds.

Susan Volchok, Instructor

SIX SATURDAYS, 1-3PM, Beginning October 7

AUTOBIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR

While the substance of ceramics is clay and chemicals, the stuff of life is most certainly people. An autobiogrpahy, therefore, is essentially a big pot, shaped, designed and filled by the people one has known and loved. Here is where the art of autobiography is as imperfect as that of ceramics . . . .
Beatrice Wood, Ceramicist, “Mama of Dada” and
author of I Shock Myself: The Autobiography of Beatrice Wood

What compels us to write about ourselves? Whether a life is unconventional or normal, there is a fasicnation with the lives of others. This form of writing can take the form of full length books or can be essays on perception, observation or studies, juxtaposing the past with the present. To be successful a good memoir must be told with the finesse of fiction, character, plot, presenting dialogue, etc. Through writing exercises, lecture, exploration of author’s published autobiographal texts and critique, from the instructor and your peers, you will emerge from this workshop with stratagies that will make you an intriguing and creative story teller.

Blick, Instructor

SIX SUNDAYS, 1-3pm Beginning October 8