workshops - The Writer`s Center

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THE
WRITER'S CENTER
Summer 2011
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writer.org
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THE WRITER'S
CENTER
Workshop Event Guide
WORKSHOP SCHEDULE
Summer 2011
Managing Editor
Maureen A. Punte
Contributing Editors
Caitlin Hill
Kyle Semmel
Contributing Writers
Donald Tiffany Bliss
Kim Roberts
Kyle Semmel
Copy Editor
Bernadette Geyer
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Nonfiction
Fiction
Memoir/Essay
Poetry
Stage & Screen
Songwriting
Mixed Genre
Professional Development
Online
Younger Writers
How 2
McLean Workshops
Independent Study
Annapolis Workshops
Rockville Workshops
Contact Us
p 301-654-8664
f 240-223-0458
www.writer.org
[email protected]
DEPARTMENTS
In the Workshop & Event
Guide, The Writer’s Center’s
triquarterly publication,
you’ll find a list of all of our
upcoming workshops and
literary events, not to
mention the occasional
interview and craft feature.
Pick it up; pass it on.
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writer.org
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Welcome
Director's Note
How to Choose
Your Workshop
Events at The Writer's Center
TWC Insider
Workshop Leaders
Thank You
FEATURES
3
Pen World Voices
Tour Stops at TWC
4
Volunteering
for the Muse
6
Mark Twain:
An American Treasure
9
The Writer’s Center
Honorary Board
WELCOME
THE WRITER’S CENTER
cultivates the creation, publication,
presentation, and dissemination of literary
work. We are an independent literary
organization with a global reach, rooted
in a dynamic community of writers. As
one of the premier centers of its kind in
the country, we believe the craft of writing
is open to people of all backgrounds and
ages. Writing is interdisciplinary and unique
among the arts for its ability to touch on
all aspects of the human experience. It
enriches our lives and opens doors to knowledge and understanding. The Writer’s
Center is a  (c) () nonprofit organization. Donations are tax deductible. A
copy of our current financial statement
is available upon request. Contact The
Writer’s Center at  Walsh Street,
Bethesda, MD . Documents and
information submitted to the State of
Maryland under the Maryland Charitable
Solicitations Act are available from the
Office of the Secretary of State for the
cost of copying and postage.
BOOKSTORE
PARKING
Metered parking is across the street from
our building. The meters require .
per hour and are routinely monitored.
The meters are free on weekends.
WEB SITE
Our Web site is www.writer.org. It provides complete descriptions of workshops,
workshop leader biographies, interactive
workshops, event listings, resources,
Writer’s Center publications, and more.
SOCIAL NETWORKS
You can find us on
&
TWC’s Blog
THE WRITER’S CENTER IS
SPONSORED IN PART BY:
POET LORE
DIRECTIONS
The Writer’s Center is located at 
Walsh Street in Bethesda, Maryland, five
blocks south of the Bethesda Metro stop.
Walsh Street is located on the east side
of Wisconsin Avenue. For more detailed
directions, please visit www.writer.org.
Executive Director
Stewart Moss
Publications & Communications
Maureen A. Punte
Kyle Semmel
Workshops & Events
Sunil Freeman
Business & Operations
Erin Cymrot
Zachary Fernebok
Caitlin Hill
Jennifer Napolitano
Laura Spencer
CONTACT US
The Bookstore carries one of the most
extensive collections of literary magazines
in the mid-Atlantic states. It also has a large
inventory of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction
titles including books on the craft of writing.
Established in , Poet Lore is the oldest
continuously published poetry journal in
the United States. We publish it twice a
year, and submissions are accepted yearround. Subscription and submission
information is available online at
www.writer.org/poetlore.
WRITER’S CENTER STAFF
The Writer’s Center gratefully acknowledges
assistance received from the Cultural Alliance
of Greater Washington’s Business Volunteers
for the Arts Program, the Cafritz Foundation,
and The Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation.
This project is supported in part by an award
from the National Endowment for the Arts.
p 301-654-8664
f 240-223-0458
www.writer.org
[email protected]
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Mier Wolf
Chair
Sally Mott Freeman
Vice Chair
Les Hatley
Treasurer
Ken Ackerman
Secretary
Margot Backas
Sandra Beasley
Ellen R. Braaf
Naomi Collins
Mark Cymrot
Michael Febrey
Neal P. Gillen
Patricia Harris
John Hill
Ann McLaughlin
E. Ethelbert Miller
Joram Piatigorsky
Bill Reynolds
Rose Solari
Linda Sullivan
Dulcie Taylor
Wilson W. Wyatt, Jr.
HONORARY BOARD
Cicely Angleton
Kate Blackwell
Dana Gioia
Jim Lehrer
Kate Lehrer
Alice McDermott
Ellen McLaughlin
Howard Norman
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DIRECTOR'S NOTE
Even during the brief time
that I’ve been at The Writer’s
Center, I’ve been asked many
times—most recently by one
of our own long-time workshop leaders—exactly what we
do here. Maybe the confusion
implicit in this question is
because we do so much: offer a
wide array of workshops, hold
a rich variety of events, act as a
community gathering place. But while I’m often tempted
to respond simply by reciting our mission, I usually say
what I believe is at the core of all we do: We help people
tell their stories and find the best ways to tell them.
In this respect, working at the Center is the fulfillment
of a dream I had many years ago, during a time in my
life when I lived abroad and supported myself as a sort of
itinerant teacher who stopped just long enough in places
as far flung from one another as Scotland and Zimbabwe,
Greece, Afghanistan, and Nepal to earn the money I needed
to continue my journey. The highlights of my travels were
the stories I heard from my fellow travelers and also, since
I traveled overland and often hitchhiked, from the local
people who gave me rides or sat next to me on buses and
sometimes invited me to spend the night at their homes.
By firelight or sputtering lanterns, sitting cross-legged on
dirt floors or hunkering down at dusty border crossings
waiting to clear customs, I listened and watched as tales were
spun, jokes were told, and lengthy narratives—sometimes
in the form of poetry—unfolded. Much of the language
eluded me, but somehow, by paying attention to tone of
voice, gesture, and facial expression, I understood the essence
of what was being said.
Gradually, during those carefree and idealistic days, I developed a vision of what I wanted to do when my travels finally
came to an end: to establish an international school of
storytelling, where people from around the world would
come to tell their stories and learn from one another how
best to tell them.
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For me, The Writer’s Center is just such a place. While
those who come here are mostly from the greater D.C.
area, they carry within them the history of where they’ve
been and what they’ve seen and already perhaps a sense of
how they might give voice to it all. For writers of fiction,
there may be a desire to create characters that are based on
the people they’ve known or imagined, or on composites
of these people. Poets may feel compelled to render their
vivid encounters with the world into the music inherent
in language. And writers of nonfiction may seek just the
right genre—memoir and personal essay among many
possibilities—to bring their life experience into clearer focus.
Unlike the school that I’d dreamed of starting, however,
which I thought would have a single location, The Writer’s
Center has ventured out from our main facility in Bethesda
to reach writers where they are. In addition to our online
offerings that can be accessed anywhere, we’re also launching
a satellite program beginning in May at Maryland Hall for
the Creative Arts in Annapolis (see page ), and another
for teens that will start in June at the Rockville campus
of The Johns Hopkins University (see page ). These
programs complement the ones we’ve already established
in Leesburg, Arlington, and McLean, Virginia, and will
expand our community of writers and readers and lovers
of the written word.
But the world is also coming to The Writer’s Center. On
May nd, our community will be enriched by the PEN
World Voices Festival of International Literature, when
writers from the United States, Sweden, and the Sudan will
read from their work and help us understand the cultures
that have influenced them. I will be here, listening and
watching in rapt attention, as if again on my journey of
many years back. I invite you to join me and, if you’re not
already a member of the Center, to become one and add
your story to the countless others that have been told here
over the past  years.
With all best wishes for a wonderful
spring and summer of writing,
Pen World Voices
tour stops at TWC
I’ve recently noticed an exciting trend in bookstores:
a surge in foreign titles resting on the shelves. Have we
reached the point where publishers are more willing to invest in books from around the globe, confident Americans
will put good money down on translated books? Or is it
simply that my internal gps is set to find translated books?
What certainly is true is that readers here have flocked
to selected titles in droves (Stieg Larsson’s novels come
to mind, or Roberto Bolano’s), thus proving yet again
that if you can tell a good story in a compelling way,
people will read your book.
Kyle Semmel
Engdahl’s description of the United States and its literature
seemed—and still seems—oversimplified. After all, a great
many American writers are second and third-generation,
and their novels, stories, poems, and plays have added a
tremendous layer of richness to the vast quilt that is American literature. In the past few years alone, Americans have
absorbed books by American authors as varied as Jhumpa
Lahiri, Dinaw Mingestu, and Bich Minh Nguyen.
PHOTOS BY LEIF HANSEN KHEMIRI; VAIDA V. NAIRN ABOULELA; KRYSTA FICCA OROZCO
But they’ve also made bestsellers out of plenty of international authors, from Per Petterson to Monica Ali, Sofi
Oksanen to Haruki Murakami. Time and again, Americans have proven that they are in fact very active particiIn , you may recall, Horace Engdahl of the Swedish
pants in the “big dialogue” of literature, and The Writer’s
Academy—the body that selects Nobel Prize winners—
Center is pleased to participate in that ongoing exchange.
made this now famous statement: “The US is too isolated,
This spring, we are honored to be one of the few venues in
too insular. They don’t translate enough and don’t really
the country selected to host a prestigious Pen World Voices
participate in the big dialogue of literature….That ignotour event. Please consider
rance is restraining.” For
joining us on May nd as
obvious reasons, Engdahl’s After all, a great many American writers
three writers from Sudan, the
words set off a firestorm
are second and third-generation, and their United States, and Sweden
of controversy here in the
novels, stories, poems, and plays have
stop by for what will be
states. During the controa memorable evening of
versy, I, like everyone else
added a tremendous layer of richness to
literature—and you can
in the literary community, the vast quilt that is American literature.
bank on our bookstore
attempted to formulate
carrying their books. ¶
some kind of response.
To read more about this event, turn to page 33.
Jonas Hassen
Khemiri, born in
1978, has a Tunisian
father and a Swedish
mother. He grew up
in Stockholm, studied
literature in Paris, and
was an intern at
the United Nations.
In 2003, his novel
One Eye Red was
published to enormous acclaim and
received Sweden’s most illustrious award,
the Borås Tidning Award, in 2004 for best
literary debut. Montecore was awarded
Sweden’s highest honor for a young
novelist, the PO Enquist Literary Prize, in
2006. Khemiri lives in Stockholm.
Leila Aboulela won
the first Caine Prize for
African Writing. Her
new novel, Lyrics Alley,
is set in 1950s Sudan
and is inspired by the
life of her uncle, the
poet Hassan Awad
Aboulela, who wrote
lyrics for many popular Sudanese songs.
Aboulela is the author of two other novels:
The Translator, a New York Times 100 Notable Books of the Year pick, and Minaret—
both long-listed for the Orange Prize and
the IMPAC Dublin Award. Her collection of
short stories, Coloured Lights, was shortlisted for the Macmillan Silver PEN Award.
Daniel Orozco’s
stories have appeared in Best
American Short Stories, Best American
Mystery Stories, Best
American Essays, and
the Pushcart Prize
Anthology, as well as
in publications such
as Harper’s Magazine,
Zoetrope: All-Story, McSweeney’s, Ecotone,
and Story Quarterly. He was awarded a
2006 NEA fellowship in fiction, and was
a finalist for a 2006 National Magazine
Award in fiction. A former Stegner Fellow
and Jones Lecturer at Stanford, he teaches
creative writing at the University of Idaho.
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VOLUNTEERING
MUSE
FOR THE
Of course, the most important things we can do to
make ourselves better writers are the things we must do
alone: writing, for only through practice do we improve;
and reading, for we owe it to ourselves to read as widely
as possible to expand our scope.
But as writers it is imperative that we find community as
well, to surround ourselves with like-minded others. You
are taking classes at The Writer’s Center, so you already
know this. But I would like to make a modest proposal
that you do a little more…and volunteer.
I think that if every serious writer gave just a little of
their time, our literary community would be stronger,
more cohesive, perhaps more sane. Volunteering provides
independent writers with an institutional home, introduces us to others we might not find on our own, builds skills
we didn’t know we had. There are often other perks too:
free admission to special events, the chance to network
with more experienced writers whom we admire.
You don’t have to make a huge commitment. Most literary organizations and publications have small staffs, and
even a small effort can make a big difference. Nearly every
conference, festival, publisher, or reading series would love
to hear from you.
Conferences and Festivals Several organizations in our
region depend on volunteers to help staff events. Volunteers get to attend events for free. Some include: Bethesda
Literary Festival (which takes place each April), Capital
BookFest (late September or early October in Largo, MD),
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Kim Roberts
Conversations and Connections (May in D.C.), Fall for
the Book (September in Fairfax, VA), Hurston/Wright
Writers’ Week (summer in D.C.), International Day of
the Book (April in Kensington, MD), the National Book
Festival (September in D.C.), Western Maryland Publishing Festival (October in Frostburg, MD), Split This Rock
Festival (every other March in D.C.), Washington Writers
Conference (June in D.C.), and others.
Membership Organizations You can help small organizations fulfill their missions despite their small budgets
by offering your time. Often, volunteers get free classes or
remission on their membership fees in return. Area organizations that use volunteers include: The Writer’s Center,
American Independent Writers (D.C.), Black Writers’
Guild of Maryland (Baltimore), Gunpowder Pen Women
(Harford County, MD), the National League of American
Pen Women/D.C. Branch; the Washington Chapter of the
National Writers Union, the Poetry Society of Virginia,
the Washington Chapter of the Women’s National Book
Association, and others.
Community Outreach Organizations Several organizations in the region use literature and literacy to reach
out to special populations. These groups change lives!
They include: CentroNia (D.C.), DC Scores, DC,
Sitar Arts Center (D.C.), Smith Farm Center for Healing
and the Arts (D.C.), Washington Literacy Council, and
the Literacy Councils of Northern Virginia, Montgomery
County, Prince George’s County, and others. Public libraries also seek volunteers.
events. Series include: Cafe Muse (Chevy Chase, MD),
the Capitol Hill Reading Series (D.C.), Intersections
(D.C.), the Iota Poetry Series (Arlington, VA), the
Poetry Lab (Vienna, VA), SpeakeasyDC, Sulu (Arlington,
VA), the Takoma Park Poetry Series, and the Wroteo
Show (Arlington, VA).
Publishers We have a wealth of literary presses and
journals in the region, and many count on the help of
volunteers. Presses include: Gival, Paycock, Plan B, RedBone,
Washington Writers’ Publishing House, and The Word Works.
Journals include Poet Lore, The Baltimore Review, Barrelhouse,
Feminist Studies, The Innisfree Poetry Journal, Lines + Stars,
No Tell Motel, Passager, Potomac Review, Tidal Basin Review,
and my own Beltway Poetry Quarterly.
Kim Roberts is the editor of the acclaimed online journal, Beltway Poetry
Quarterly, and the print anthology Full Moon on K Street: Poems About
Washington, DC (2010). She is the author of three books of poems, most
recently Animal Magnetism, winner of the Pearl Poetry Prize (2011).
More information at www.kimroberts.org.
Reading Series In our region, you can hardly go a day
without at least one reading or spoken word performance
taking place. Many of these series seek help greeting patrons,
setting up, selling books or refreshments, and publicizing
Kim Roberts will read from her new book, Animal
Magnetism, at The Writer’s Center on Sunday, June
12 at 2:00 P.M. Read more about it on page 32.
WESTERN MARYLAND PUBLISHING FESTIVAL
BETHESDA LITERARY FESTIVAL,
CAFE MUSE, INTERNATIONAL
DAY OF THE BOOK, LITERACY
COUNCIL OF MONTGOMERY
COUNTY, POET LORE, POTOMAC
REVIEW, TAKOMA PARK POETRY
SERIES, THE WRITER’S CENTER
All these organizations can be found on the web. For full
listings, see the Resource Bank at beltwaypoetry.com. ¶
GUNPOWDER PEN WOMEN
THE BALTIMORE REVIEW,
BLACK WRITERS’ GUILD OF
MARYLAND, PASSAGER
PLAN B, GIVAL, IOTA
POETRY SERIES, SULU,
WROTEO SHOW,
FALL FOR THE BOOK,
LITERACY COUNCIL OF
NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
THE POETRY LAB
CAPITAL BOOKFEST, FEMINIST
STUDIES, LITERACY COUNCIL
OF PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY
826DC, AMERICAN INDEPENDENT WRITERS, BARRELHOUSE, BELTWAY POETRY
QUARTERLY, CAPITOL HILL READING SERIES, CENTER ARTS CENTER, CENTRONIA,
CONVERSATIONS AND CONNECTIONS, DC SCORES, HURSTON/WRIGHT
WRITERS’ WEEK, INTERSECTIONS, LINES + STARS, NATIONAL BOOK FESTIVAL,
NATIONAL LEAGUE OF AMERICAN PEN WOMEN, PAYCOCK, REDBONE,
SMITH FARM CENTER FOR HEALING AND THE ARTS, SPEAKEASYDC, SPLIT
THIS ROCK FESTIVAL, TIDAL BASIN REVIEW, WASHINGTON CHAPTER OF THE
NATIONAL WRITERS UNION, WASHINGTON CHAPTER OF THE WOMEN’S
NATIONAL BOOK ASSOCIATION, WASHINGTON LITERACY COUNCIL,
WASHINGTON WRITERS CONFERENCE, WASHINGTON WRITERS’
PUBLISHING HOUSE, THE WORD WORKS
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SAMUEL LANGHORNE CLEMENS, THREEQUARTER LENGTH PORTRAIT, SEATED, FACING SLIGHTLY RIGHT, HOLDING PIPE
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Donald Tiffany Bliss
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ver one hundred years after his death on April , ,
the Autobiography of Mark Twain is on The New York
Times (NYT) bestseller list. From  to , Twain
dictated (mostly from his bed, clad in a Persian silk
dressing gown, propped up against snowy white pillows)
some , pages (a half a million words) of rambling
thoughts and memories, jumping around in time and
place, replicating the thought process of the human mind. Amid the insights
into historic events, like imperialist America’s occupation of the Philippines and
tender moments of love and loss, are score-settling vendettas against statesmen
and former colleagues—Theodore Roosevelt and my great-grandfather, Elisha
Bliss, Jr., among them. Twain embargoed the unexpurgated version because “it
is too shocking for today’s taste. There may be a market for it a century from
now.” Not according to Garrison Keillor, who wrote in his NYT review that the
book “is a powerful argument for writers’ burning their papers.” Other reviewers were ecstatic—“America’s first blogger,” “A prose paean to Twain’s enormous
energy level,” “beautifully unorganized genius,” wrote the Los Angeles Times.
Then, precipitating a national debate, Auburn professor Alan Gribben offered
up a sanitized version of Huckleberry Finn—the novel, according to Ernest
Hemingway, from which all American literature comes. The “N” word (used
 times) is replaced with “slave,” and “Indian” substituted for “Injun.” Gribben
wanted to make the book less offensive to younger readers in today’s politically
correct environment. Originally banned by the Concorde Library, it continues
to be black-listed in some school districts. The uproar was deafening. The NYT
editorialized: “We are horrified…it suggests that understanding the truth of the
past corrupts modern readers, when, in fact, this new edition is busy corrupting
the past…doing irreparable harm to the truth of [Twain’s] work.”
Last year—the th anniversary of Twain’s death, the th of his birth, and
the th of the publication of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—a dozen
books about Mark Twain were published, each offering a unique insight into
America’s first global celebrity. Mark Twain is many things to many people: a
western humorist, a Mississippi River pilot, a scathing satirist and irreverent
moralist, a New England progressive, a peripatetic globe-trotting public speaker,
and “the Lincoln of our literature” (according to his literary mentor William
Dean Howells, the Atlantic editor). Known for his quotable quips and witty
wisdom, Samuel Langhorne Clemens—aka Mark Twain—suffered enormous
personal tragedy. Growing up, he witnessed the death of three siblings and his
father, causing him to quit formal school at  and begin work as a printer’s
devil—“a poor boy’s college education,” according to Ben Franklin. As an adult,
7
he suffered the loss of three of his four children and his
beloved wife, Livy. He went through the humiliation of
bankruptcy. He once said that “the true source of humor is
not joy, but sorrow.” His well-spring was bountiful.
For those of us in the national capital area, there is a lesserknown dimension of Twain that continues to reverberate
through the corridors of power. His caustic commentary
on the corrupting influence of money in politics remains
as relevant today as any cable TV talking head, Sunday
morning roundtable, radio talk show host, or political
blogger. He actually served as the legislative aide to a senator in –, but his propensity to satirize congressional
misfeasance and speak truth to power were not well-re-
ceived by his boss. He once dutifully answered a letter
from a constituent seeking a post office for a town in
Nevada, writing for the senator: “You don’t need a post
office. A jail or brothel would do far more for the local
economy.” He was fired in less than two months but continued as a journalist in the capital, reporting on the radical
Republicans doing battle with the inept, tin-eared President
Andrew Johnson over reconstruction of the South, civil
rights for the freed slaves, and eventually impeachment.
When he left Washington in , he took with him a
“gold mine” of stories about Congress and government
that would fuel his writing for years to come.
While living in Washington (at Fourteenth and F Streets, NW),
he had received a letter from Elisha Bliss, Jr., asking if he
would be interested in writing a book about his tour of
Europe and the “Holy Lands” on the Quaker City ship.
The book would be based upon articles he had written for
New York and California papers. Twain traveled to Hartford
to negotiate a contract for Innocents Abroad, which was
to become a best seller and launch his career as a great
American writer. A draft of the book was circulated to
the directors of the American Publishing Company, the
most successful of the subscription publishing houses that
flourished during the latter part of the nineteenth century.
The directors reacted with horror. Accustomed to reverent
prose of a serious nature, they were shocked at the satire of
religious institutions and European customs and traditions.
For the first time, an American writer viewed our European
heritage not as a grateful stepchild but from the perspective
of a common sense democrat who could distinguish between
stale tradition and high art. The directors pleaded with Twain
to release them from their contract, but Bliss confronted
the Board, threatening to take the book elsewhere. They
backed down. Twain felt that Bliss never properly compensated him for the fame and fortune he brought to the
publishing house. In his Autobiography, he calls Bliss a
“rat-eyed professional liar and scoundrel,” who “told the
truth once, to see how it would taste, but it overstrained
him and he died.” Yet, in his old age, Twain had compassion
for him and would “send him a fan” if he could.
In , while living in Hartford, Twain was to collaborate
with Hartford Courant editor Charles Dudley Warner in writing his first novel, The Gilded Age. Based on his Washington
experience and the daily disclosures of Grant Administration
scandals, the book gave the name to that epoch in American
history when speculation in the financial markets ran rampant and the robber barons and industrial tycoons co-opted
Congress. Illustrating the close working relationships between
lobbyists, legislators, and financial speculators, the novel
offers insights that ring true for contemporary critics of
congressional practices. A fervent believer in American
democracy, Twain was a lifelong critic of its imperfections—
the polarization of political parties, the apathy of voters,
the abuse of legislative and executive power, American
imperialism abroad, and the precipitation of “unjust wars.”
As recent events have renewed the public’s interest in the
work of Mark Twain, it is timely to revisit his commentary
on American politics, government, and foreign policy. They
continue to have an uncanny relevance to the challenges
we face today. ¶
Donald Tiffany Bliss is the great grandson of Elisha Bliss, Jr. For several
of his last novels, Puddin’head Wilson and Following the Equator (after
the failure of his own publishing firm Webster & Co.), Twain returned
to the American Publishing Company, then managed by Frank Bliss and
Walter Bliss, the author’s grandfather. Bliss has co-authored Counsel for
the Situation: Shaping the Law to Realize America’s Promise (2010)
and authored The Law of Airline Customer Relations, Stability,
Security, Safety and Service (2002).
There will be a professional reading of Bliss’ new play, Halley’s Comet Returns—about Twain’s dictation of
his autobiography and the darker reflections of his waning years. To read about this event, see page 33.
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The
Writer's
Center
Honorary
Board
The Honorary Board was established in 2010
to recognize individuals who have made a
significant contribution to American letters
and have an affinity with The Writer’s Center.
Board members Margot Backas, Ann McLaughlin,
and Wilson Wyatt were instrumental in establishing the Honorary Board. They include:
Cicely Angleton, poet
Cicely is from Minnesota and Tucson, AZ. She has long been a
resident of the Washington area. She earned a Ph.D. in medieval
history. Her poetry has appeared in many magazines and anthologies. Her two books of poetry are A Cave of Overwhelming ()
and Selected Poems (), and she is included in an anthology
on aging, Inventory ().
Kate Blackwell, short story writer
Kate is from Winston-Salem, NC. She worked as a reporter at
The News & Observer in Raleigh and as editorial writer for the
Greensboro Daily News. Kate has taught at The Writer’s Center
for  years and served on the Board from  to . Her
short story collection, you won’t remember this (), has been
widely praised, and she is working on a second collection of stories.
Jim Lehrer, novelist, news anchor, PBS
Jim grew up in Texas and began his career in journalism at
The Dallas Morning News and the Dallas Times. He began
working with PBS in  and in  he developed and
co-anchored The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, which later
became the PBS NewsHour. Jim has written  novels, two
memoirs, two screenplays, and three plays. His most recent
novels are Oh, Johnny () and Super ().
Kate Lehrer, novelist
Kate is from Texas and has written four novels: Best Intentions
(), When They Took Away the Man in the Moon (),
Out of Eden (), and most recently, Confessions of a Bigamist
(). She has also written short stories, essays, and book
reviews, and she participates in the Diane Rehm Book Club
on National Public Radio. She and her husband, Jim Lehrer,
have given two notable joint talks at The Writer’s Center.
Alice McDermott, novelist, short story writer
Alice is from New York. Her first novel was A Bigamist’s Daughter
(). Her second novel, That Night (), was a finalist for
the Pulitzer Prize. At Weddings and Wakes () followed and
her fourth novel, Charming Billy (), won the National Book
Award. Child of My Heart () followed, and then her most
recent novel, After This (). Alice has taught at The Writer’s
Center where she has given several fine lectures on writing and
has also served on the Board.
Ellen McLaughlin, playwright, actor
Ellen grew up in Chevy Chase and lives in Nyack, NY. Her plays
include adaptations from the classics: Iphigenia and Other Daughters,
The Trojan Women, Helen, The Persians, Oedipus, and Penelope. Her
book, The Greek Plays, was published in . Ellen originated the
part of the Angel in Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, and appeared in every production from its earliest workshops through
its Broadway run. Among her other favorite roles are the Homebody in Homebody Kabul and Hedda in Hedda Gabler.
Howard Norman, novelist
Dana Gioia, poet, critic, arts administrator
Dana is from Hawthorne, CA. He left business to write poetry.
His collection Interrogations at Noon won the  American
Book Award. In , Dana received the John Ciardi Award
for Lifetime Achievement in Poetry. Dana served as chairman
for the National Endowment for the Arts from  to 
and is currently director of the Harman-Eisner Program in the
Arts at the Aspen Institute.
Howard was born in Toledo and lives in Washington. He is a
prolific writer in a variety of styles. How the Glooskap Outwits
the Ice Giants and several others are for juvenile audiences. He
has written books on Canadian folklore, including books about
Cree, Inuit, and Eskimo cultures. Howard received the Lannan
Literary Award for The Bird Artist in , which was a finalist
for the National Book Award, along with Northern Lights. His
latest novel is What Is Left the Daughter. ¶
9
HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR WORKSHOP
WHO SHOULD TAKE WRITING WORKSHOPS?
Everyone should—from people who want to try out writing or would like help getting
started, to those more experienced writers who want to learn more and get better. Learning
to write is an on-going process that involves perfecting and using many skills at once, and
even published writers benefit from editors and readers who help them refine their work.
WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM A WORKSHOP?
• Guidance and encouragement from a published, working writer
• Instruction on technical aspects such as structure, diction, and form
• Kind, honest, and constructive feedback directed at the work but
never critical of the author
• Peer readers/editors who act as “spotters” for sections of your writing
that need attention, and who become your community of working
colleagues even after your workshop is completed
• Tips on how to keep writing and integrate this “habit of being” into your life
• Tactics for getting published when ready
EXPECTATIONS OF WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS
• Attend every workshop session you possibly can
• Share your own work
• Comment on and share your ideas about your peers’ work
• Complete workshop leader prompts or reading assignments
• Complete the workshop response form at the end of the course
If you’ve never been in a writing workshop before, regardless of the skill level you think
you have in writing, we strongly encourage you to start with a beginner-level workshop.
Here you’ll learn more about the environment of the workshop: how to give and receive
helpful feedback, how to address problems with the work without criticizing the author,
and how to incorporate multiple (and sometimes conflicting) ideas into your revision.
WORKSHOP REGISTRATION
You can register for workshops at The Writer’s Center in person, through the mail,
online at www.writer.org, or by calling --.
REFUND POLICY
To get a partial refund once workshops have begun, you must notify twc by e-mail
([email protected]) no later than  hours before the second meeting of the workshop. Workshop refunds are calculated based on the time of notification.
Notice Given
Fewer Than
2 Weeks and
More Than
48 Hours
Notice Given
Fewer Than
48 Hours Or
After Attending
One Session
Notice Given
After the
Second Session
92% of workshop
5 Or More
costs will be
Workshop Sessions
refunded
90% of workshop
costs will be
refunded
85% of workshop
costs will be
refunded
60% of workshop
costs will be
refunded
92% of workshop
4 Or Fewer
costs will be
Workshop Sessions
refunded
85% of workshop
costs will be
refunded
70% of workshop
costs will be
refunded
No refund
Notice Given
2 Weeks Before
the Start Date
10
BEGINNER LEVEL
These workshops will help you discover what
creative writing really entails, such as:
• Getting your ideas on the page;
• Figuring out which genre you should be
working in and what shape your material
should take;
• Learning the elements of poetry, playwriting,
fiction, memoir, etc.;
• Identifying your writing strengths and
areas of opportunity;
• Gaining beginning mastery of the basic
tools of all writing, like concise, accurate
language, and how to tailor their particular use in your work.
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL
These workshops will build on skills you developed in
the beginning level, designed for writers who have:
• Taken a beginner-level workshop;
• Achieved some grace in using the
tools of language and form;
• Projects in progress that they want
to develop further.
In addition, you may read and discuss some
published works.
ADVANCED LEVEL
Participants should have manuscripts that have
been critiqued in workshops on the intermediate
level and have been revised substantially.
Advanced courses:
• Focus on the revision and
completion of a specific work;
• Run at a faster pace with higher
expectations of participation;
• Will reward the persistent writer with deep
insight and feedback into their work.
MASTER LEVEL
Master classes are designed for writers who
have taken several advanced workshops and
have reworked their manuscript into what they
believe is its final form.
Master classes are unique opportunities to work
in smaller groups with distinguished writers on
a specific project or manuscript.
Workshop leaders select participants from the
pool of applicants—selection is competitive.
Of course, art is not a science. The Writer’s Center
recognizes that individual writers of all experience
levels need to find their own place in our programs.
If you’d like advice on which courses will be right
for you, please call and speak with a member of
our staff.
WORKSHOPS
PLEASE NOTE:
The Writer’s Center will be closed on May 28–30 for
Memorial Day and July 2–4 for Independence Day.
If you would like to find out when workshops
begin by month, visit Writer.org.
Click on workshops workshops start date
Three simple clicks. You can also search by in-person/
online, genre, location, day of week, level, time of day,
experience level, and number of sessions.
NONFICTION
Workshop Leader: Lee Fleming
Turning an idea into a saleable article for Web or print depends on
understanding and using the techniques that support success. This
class will explore the elements that all stories need in order to catch an
editor’s attention. In-class discussion and exercises will guide students
in choosing story angles, writing winning query e-mails and letters,
interviewing, organizing material, and refining personal styles. The
goal: To get your great ideas onto the Web or into print.
4/11–5/16
All Levels
CRAFTING THE NONFICTION BOOK PROPOSAL
5 Wednesdays
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $225
Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
4/27–5/25
All Levels
Workshop Leader: Cara Seitchek
Learn how to research and write a grant proposal that will result in
funding for your organization. You will learn prospect research methods
for locating those foundations or corporations that match your organization’s needs. You will learn how to write a targeted grant proposal and
about the review process. This is designed for all levels of writers. Please
identify a project or organization to be funded before the first meeting.
In-person meetings are June , July  & .
6 Saturdays
1:00–4:00 P.M.
Fee: $325
Bethesda/Online
6/25–7/30
All Levels
Workshop Leader: David Taylor
This workshop will help you conceptualize and create a nonfiction proposal,
the key to getting your book published. We’ll cover the basics: what exactly
is a query? A platform? A synopsis? What are the essential components
of the proposal, and how do they fit together? Participants will draft and
polish their proposals with the guidance of the instructor. We’ll workshop
each other’s writing and talk craft; we’ll also discuss the publishing world
and how to navigate it.
4/13–5/18
All Levels
WRITING BRILLIANTLY ABOUT SCIENCE
This one-day workshop explores how to translate ideas in science into
compelling narratives that engage general readers, with examples from
leading publications. Focus will be on finding a narrative structure and
drama from the subject and its characters.
1 Saturday
10:00 A.M.–12:30 P.M.
Fee: $50
Bethesda
6/25
All Levels
FICTION
BUMP UP TO PUBLISHED
Clear writing about science is valuable and compelling. This workshop
explores how generalists can weave scientific thought into their writing
with wit, and how technical experts can make their work engaging for
general audiences. We will look at examples of narrative from leading
writers: Michael Pollan, Rebecca Skloot, Anne Fadiman, Steve Olson,
and more. We will generate fresh ideas, write proposals, conduct interviews, learn how to revise, and manage a portfolio. Plus have fun.
6 Wednesdays
7:30–10:00 P.M.
Fee: $270
Bethesda
This course is for individuals who want to tone up their writing muscles
so they can go the distance in the workplace or in the creative space.
Each class will begin with a short warm up exercise. We will then focus
on specifics like effective beginnings, creative prose, and strong conclusions. You will also learn how to avoid common grammatical and usage
errors that can distract from your message. This class will focus on both
craft and technique and is designed for students of all backgrounds who
are looking to take their writing endurance and skills to the next level.
COMPELLING NARRATIVES
IN SCIENCE WRITING
Workshop Leader: Shannon O’Neill
6 Wednesdays
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $270
Bethesda
Workshop Leader: Beth Kanter
HOW TO WRITE A GRANT PROPOSAL
CREATING GREAT ARTICLES FOR WEB AND PRINT
6 Mondays
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $270
Bethesda
BOOT CAMP FOR WRITERS:
SO THE WORDS DON’T GET IN THE WAY
4/27–6/1
All Levels
Workshop Leader: Kathryn Johnson
This hands-on workshop for fiction writers will show you how to balance the critical elements of a story—characters, plot, conflict, setting—
and design a short story or novel that will make agents and editors sit
up and ask for more.
1 Saturday
10:00 A.M.–1:00 P.M.
Fee: $60
Bethesda
7/23
All Levels
11
WORKSHOPS
REGISTER AT WRITER.ORG
VAMPIRES, GHOSTS, AND GHOULS:
WRITING SUPERNATURAL FICTION
ADVANCED FICTION
Workshop Leader: Elizabeth Poliner
Workshop Leader: Adam Meyer
From Stephen King to Stephenie Meyer, Neil Gaiman to Charlaine Harris,
supernatural and dark fantasy fiction are as popular as they’ve ever been.
Novel writers and short story writers alike are welcome at this class that
focuses on the how-tos of horror fiction. We’ll look at tips and techniques
for creating strong characters, building suspense, and establishing believable
scenarios in worlds where the impossible is possible. We’ll also workshop
sections from your novels and short stories in progress.
6 Thursdays
7:30–10:00 P.M.
Fee: $270
Bethesda
5/19–6/23
All Levels
8 Thursdays
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $360
Bethesda
6/16–8/4
Advanced
SHORT FICTION FROM FIRST DRAFT TO PUBLICATION
Workshop Leader: Dan Gutstein
WRITING THE MYSTERY NOVEL
Workshop Leader: Con Lehane
If you enjoy reading mysteries and would like to try your hand at writing
one, this is the place for you. The basic format will be a workshop in which
we discuss your works-in-progress. If you don’t yet have a work in progress,
don’t worry. I can help you find the mystery novel you want to write. I
also have exercises that isolate elements of fiction writing—point of view,
characterization, dialogue—and ideas for building suspense and creating
action on the page.
8 Thursdays
7:30–10:00 P.M.
Fee: $360
Bethesda
5/5–6/23
All Levels
6 Wednesdays
7:30–10:00 P.M.
Fee: $270
Bethesda
7/6–8/10
All Levels
WRITING SHORT STORIES
Workshop Leader: John Morris
Are you ready to put your work in front of a group of readers who are also
aspiring writers? If you have a story draft, or are looking for inspiration
to complete a story, this workshop is ideal for you. The goal is for each
participant to finish a successful draft. The workshop leader will provide
detailed written comments on all manuscripts. The workshop’s emphasis
is on encouragement, hard work, and practical suggestions.
8 Mondays
7:30–10:00 P.M.
Fee: $360
Bethesda
In this workshop students will read and discuss each others’ draft short
stories or novel excerpts. Discussions will focus on developing this work
further and on elements of craft: point of view, character, plot, conflict,
setting. We will also read and discuss a short story per week from an
anthology of short fiction. For the first workshop session, if possible,
please bring  copies of a work in progress.
4/11–6/6
All Levels
This workshop is for those serious about publishing short fiction in literary
magazines. The class will study examples from contemporary literature,
and participants will present writing to a helpful, rigorous workshop
setting that will emphasize the building blocks of fiction. We will discuss
the publishing environment at length and, in so doing, strive to inspire
all participants to see their works vault into print. Previous experience
with reading a variety of fiction writers, writing regularly, and workshopping is desirable.
8 Thursdays
7:30–10:00 P.M.
Fee: $360
Bethesda
4/14–6/2
Intermediate and Advanced
POV: THE PRECONDITION FOR FICTION
Workshop Leader: Andrew Altschul (Emerging Writer Fellow)
Point of view is the foundation of any story—without establishing
source and perspective there can be no narrative. Furthermore, by
setting the terms of the reader’s encounter with the narrative, point of
view determines what stories are possible. In this one-day workshop,
we’ll look at some unconventional points of view to see how they guide
the unfolding story and the reading experience. We’ll try some short
exercises to discover how minor changes in perspective lead to major
changes in character, conflict, arc, and theme.
1 Saturday
10:00 A.M.–1:00 P.M.
Fee: $60
Bethesda
4/23
All Levels
INSPIRED BY LITERATURE
Workshop Leader: Nancy Lemann
No meeting May 30
We will pass around and critique short story manuscripts, with a focus
on the basics of plot, character, and theme. Plan to bring  copies of a
manuscript to the first class session.
Based on the premise that you can learn more about writing from
reading great books than from any other source, we adopt a syllabus
of readings with written assignments inspired by the books to explore
the concepts of narration, style, structure, voice, atmosphere, and
character. Authors include Nabokov, Walker Percy, Graham Greene,
Evelyn Waugh, Raymond Chandler, and others. The ensuing discussion
analyzes the books as well as the students’ writing.
7 Tuesdays
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $315
Bethesda
6 Tuesdays
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $270
Bethesda
WRITING SHORT STORIES
Workshop Leader: Brenda W. Clough
12
6/28–8/9
All Levels
5/31–7/5
All Levels
WORKSHOPS
FICTION WRITING OR HOW TO TELL A GOOD LIE
Workshop Leader: Tricia Elam
We will explore basic fiction crafting techniques with writing exercises,
reading excerpts, and class critiquing of each other’s work. Students will
produce one draft and one revision of a fiction piece.
6 Tuesdays
10:30 A.M.–1:00 P.M.
Fee: $270
Bethesda
6/7–7/12
All Levels
A SHORT STORY BECOMES A NOVEL
Workshop Leader: Peter Brown
Expand your short story into a novel, the way Jack Kerouac made his
novel On The Road from a short story. Or do it more organically, the
way Jhumpa Lahiri grew her novel The Namesake from her story “Gogol.”
6 Mondays
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $220
Bethesda
6/13–7/25
No meeting July 4
THE EXTREME NOVELIST 1
Once again  brave writers will take on the challenge and attempt to
complete a full rough draft of a novel in just  weeks! Students meet as a
group with professional writing coach and author Kathryn Johnson and
commit to an aggressive writing schedule.
8 Wednesdays
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $360
Bethesda
7/6–8/24
YOU SHOULD BE WRITING
Workshop Leader: Tricia Elam
This workshop is for those with stories to tell but who always find an excuse
not to write, be it the urge to do laundry or the need to check Facebook.
This course will help you produce at least two pieces of writing and teach
you how to both assess other’s work and handle critique of your own.
6 Tuesdays
10:30 A.M.–1:00 P.M.
Fee: $270
Bethesda
6/7–7/12
All Levels
PERSONAL ESSAY WORKSHOP
Workshop Leader: Sue Eisenfeld
Examine, probe, and muse about life through moments and memories.
Discover what makes personal essays sing; read examples of personal
essays from magazines, newspapers, and literary journals; explore the
writing process; and share and discuss your writing in a workshop setting. Students should be prepared to submit at least two manuscripts for
critique during the course of this workshop. Those interested in publishing will undertake additional research to determine the best markets
for their work. This course is geared toward those who have written
personal essays and who want to take their work to the next level.
8 Thursdays
7:30–10:00 P.M.
Fee: $360
Bethesda
5/5–6/23
THE WRITER’S TOOLBOX
Workshop Leader: Sara Taber
THE EXTREME NOVELIST 2
In response to many requests, this advance form of the Extreme Novelist bootcamp will be offered to students who have completed at least ¾
of their novel and are ready for revisions. Material covered will include
self-critiquing, revision techniques, writing pitches, and queries and
analyzing current publishing venues.
8 Mondays
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $360
Bethesda
MEMOIR/ESSAY
7/11–8/29
This workshop is for students who want to hone their skills in the elements
of writing that make for fine literary nonfiction. We will examine published
work by essayists, memoirists, travel writers, and journalists. Then students
will practice aspects of the writer’s craft, focusing on important building
blocks such as: figurative language; characterization and dialogue; story;
voice; scene, summary, and musing; and sense of time and place.
8 Tuesdays
7:30–10:00 P.M.
Fee: $360
Bethesda
6/7–7/26
All Levels
THE PERSONAL ESSAY
Workshop Leader: Pamela Toutant
The personal essay combines a wide range of techniques to make personal
stories compelling to a general audience. Primarily through the participants’ work, we 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 the
workshop sessions, and one short writing assignment. Most of the time
will be focused on giving constructive and supportive feedback on
participants’ manuscripts.
8 Wednesdays
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $360
Bethesda
6/8–8/3
All Levels
No meeting July 13
13
WORKSHOPS
FIRST FIRE: GENERATING FRESH IDEAS
FOR NEW AND VETERAN POETS
POETRY
Workshop Leader: Naomi Ayala
GETTING YOUR POEMS INTO PRINT
Workshop Leader: Michele Wolf
Whether you have yet to submit your first poem to a literary journal or
are ready to offer a publisher a book-length manuscript, this intensive
one-day workshop will give you advice on how to succeed. Get tips on
placing poems in journals and anthologies, publishing chapbooks and
books, the pros and cons of contests, the etiquette of poetry submission,
how to develop your poetry network, and how to keep your morale high
while facing rejection in a highly competitive field. Magazine handouts
will be provided.
1 Sunday
2:00–5:00 P.M.
Fee: $60
Bethesda
5/22
All Levels
Workshop Leader: Laura Fargas
In this workshop we will concentrate not only on creating but on revising
as well. Revised versions of previously submitted poems will be explored
as a way to distinguish the needs of the poet from the needs of the poem.
There will be weekly writing assignments aimed at generating fresh poems.
4/14–5/19
All Levels
PARTS OF THE POEM
In this workshop, we will look at the elements that make a poem a poem—
word, line, music, stanza, fixed forms, etc.—with an eye toward using
them individually or in concert to make the first draft of a poem richer,
deeper, and ultimately more itself. We will talk a little about examples
of these elements, but the main emphasis is on participants’ work.
8 Thursdays
1:00–3:30 P.M.
Fee: $360
Bethesda
5/19–7/7
All Levels
INSPIRED BY WORLD POETS: A WORKSHOP
POETS ON POETRY: ESSAYS BY MASTERS
Workshop Leader: Charles Jensen
Poetics—the principles behind the creation of poetry—can be just as
instructive to writers as reading poems themselves. This workshop will
read selected essays from Twentieth-Century American Poetics: Poets on
the Art of Poetry, including seminal essays by Robert Frost, Ezra Pound,
Charles Olson, Denise Levertov, Louise Glück, Dana Gioia, and others,
with an eye toward encouraging participants to understand broadly our
poetic roots and develop a sense of their own poetics.
8 Thursdays
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $360
Bethesda
6 Saturdays
10:00 A.M.–1:00 P.M.
7/9–8/13
Fee: $325
Bethesda
Beginner and Intermediate
APPROACHING POETRY
6 Thursdays
1:30–4:00 P.M.
Fee: $270
Bethesda
Whether you are a beginner or beginning once again, come generate
new work and gain insight into your creative process as you expand
your breadth. Our focus is a “creator mind” expedition into who we
are, what defines us, and our personal and collective narratives in the
real-world context of our lives. Activities involve the use of dictionaries, research prompts, photo expeditions, and the instructor’s exercises
developed over the course of  years of teaching.
5/12–6/30
All Levels
Workshop Leader: Yvette Neisser Moreno
In this workshop, we will look at contemporary poets from around the
globe for inspiration and new directions in our own work. Each week,
we will read the work of one poet, then write a poem inspired by that
poet’s style, form, or subject matter. Class sessions will include a brief
discussion of the readings, followed by critique of students’ poems.
Readings may include Homero Aridjis (Mexico), Kim Chi-Ha (Korea),
Mahmoud Darwish (Palestine), Herta Müller (Germany-Romania),
Wislawa Symborska (Poland), and others.
6 Wednesdays
10:30 A.M.–1:00 P.M.
Fee: $270
Bethesda
6/29–8/3
All Levels
INTRODUCTION TO POETRY
THE FORCE OF POETRY
Workshop Leader: Melanie Figg
Workshop Leader: Elizabeth Rees
Open to poets of all levels, we will focus on workshopping poems, inclass writing, and discussion of contemporary 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 the poem catches its own voice. Bring  copies of a poem you
love (not your own) to the first session, as well as  copies of one of
your own.
In this workshop, you’ll get a thorough introduction to the craft of
poetry with lots of fun, inspiring assignments, and chances to workshop
each other’s work. We will read poems by accomplished writers and
begin to unravel the structure of a poem as we discuss voice, sound,
imagery, diction, rhythm, form, line breaks, and more. We will also
devote time to student workshops. You will leave the class with a general
knowledge of what it takes to create a poem as well as be on your way to
becoming an informed, appreciative reader of poetry.
8 Wednesdays
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $360
Bethesda
8 Tuesdays
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $360
Bethesda
5/18–7/6
All Levels
No meeting 6/14
14
6/7–8/2
Beginner
WORKSHOPS
THE POWER OF REVISION:
FROM WORK-IN-PROGRESS
TO FINISHED POEM
STAGE AND SCREEN
Workshop Leader: Naomi Ayala
We tend to look at our own poems as either failures or successes. In
fact, many of the poems we bring into this world come to teach us how
to become better writers. In the complex interplay between original
vision and evolving text, we sharpen skills and grow into our authentic
“voice.” Our focus will be to bring poems to final draft form. You will
participate in guided revisions, “workshop” poems in class, and receive
individual feedback during a half hour session with your instructor.
7 Saturdays
1:30–4:30 P.M.
Fee: $380
Bethesda
7/9–8/20
MAKING IT NEW: MODERN POETRY
7/7–8/25
All Levels
A WORLD BOLD AS LOVE
Workshop Leader: Reuben Jackson
This workshop, open to new and seasoned writers, will use literary, musical
and other devices to kindle or re-kindle the keen sense of observation so
crucial to poetry. In-session writing, weekly assignments and discussion
are the backbone of the workshop. Shyness is lovingly discouraged.
6/14–7/19
All Levels
MAKING IT WHOLE: THE POETRY CHAPBOOK
Workshop Leader: Anne Becker
In this advanced intensive workshop for students ready to put together
a chapbook (must have  strong pages of poetry, have a series of related
poems, or are composing a long poem) we’ll explore how groups of
poems (or many pages) work together to provide a focused and whole
experience. Instructor will also meet individually with each participant
for a one-hour session.
8 Thursdays
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $405
Bethesda
This workshop is designed for the writer who wants to complete a feature
screenplay. It can be an original or a rewrite. The participant should have
an idea for a screenplay at the first meeting, and should have a basic
understanding of formatting, structure, and dialogue. We will go into
these topics in greater detail as we workshop sequences from participants’ scripts. Most of the workshop time is devoted to reading and
evaluating works-in-progress. Some time is given over to discussions
of screenwriting techniques and concepts.
4/18–6/13
No meeting May 30
If modern poetry intrigues, baffles, or annoys you, this workshop is for
you. With Kenneth Koch and Kate Farrell’s anthology Sleeping on the
Wing as a starting point, we’ll read selections from modern masters such
as William Carlos Williams, Federico Garcia Lorca, and Gertrude Stein.
With Koch and Farrell’s accessible essays to guide us, we’ll experiment,
through in-class exercises and at-home assignments, with some of the
innovative approaches these and other modern poets pioneered.
6 Tuesdays
10:30 A.M.–1:00 P.M.
Fee: $270
Bethesda
Workshop Leader: Jonathan Eig
8 Mondays
7:30–10:00 P.M.
Fee: $360
Bethesda
Workshop Leader: Nan Fry
8 Thursdays
10:30 A.M.–1:00 P.M.
Fee: $360
Bethesda
FEATURE FILM SCREENWRITING
6/23–8/11
Advanced
WRITING THE ROMANTIC COMEDY SCRIPT
Workshop Leader: Lyn Vaus
Next to horror, the ever-popular romantic comedy is Hollywood’s most
cost-effective genre. That’s why a well-written romantic comedy script
is always in demand. Workshop participants will get an overview of
rom-com genre conventions, highlights, and specifications, while also
visiting or revisiting the basics of three-act structure, character development, and script formatting (if necessary). Participants will workshop
their ideas with the aim of beginning or continuing a romantic-comedy
script. We will read each other’s work and develop your script following
proven industry techniques.
8 Thursdays
7:00–10:00 P.M.
Fee: $430
Bethesda
4/14–6/2
All Levels
THE ART AND CRAFT OF SCREENWRITING INTENSIVE
Workshop Leader: Khris Baxter
This intensive one-day workshop will guide the beginning or intermediate screenwriter through the entire screenwriting process: idea,
story, plot, structure, character development, scene construction, and
dialogue. In short, the necessary tools to begin writing a feature-length
screenplay. Participants should arrive with a short synopsis (no more
than a page) of their screenplay idea.
1 Saturday
10:00 A.M.–4:00 P.M.
Fee: $100
Glen Echo Park
4/16
All Levels
One-hour lunch break
1 Saturday
10:00 A.M.–4:00 P.M.
Fee: $100
Glen Echo Park
6/18
All Levels
15
WORKSHOPS
INTRODUCTION TO SCREENWRITING
REWRITING YOUR SCREENPLAY:
THE ART OF THE REWRITE
Workshop Leader: Khris Baxter
This workshop is designed to give the beginning screenwriter all the
tools necessary to begin a feature screenplay. Through writing exercises,
lectures, and film screenings, we will cover the basics of format, structure,
character, and dialogue. By the end, the participant will have a treatment
for a feature film, as well as the first several scenes of the feature screenplay. The participant will be ready to enter the features workshop and
write a feature screenplay.
8 Wednesdays
7:30–10:00 P.M.
Fee: $360
Bethesda
4/20–6/8
Beginner
The workshop is designed to give the participant the essential tools
necessary to write a feature screenplay. It assumes no previous knowledge of the form. A combination of lecture and workshopping. Topics
include formatting, structure, character, and dialogue. This workshop
is designed to allow the participant to move directly into Feature Film
Screenwriting.
6/8–7/20
Beginner
Workshop Leader: Michael Kang
With hundreds of television channels to choose from, the demand for
original content is at an all-time high. This workshop is designed to
hone the craft of dramatic writing for an original television pilot as
well as guide participants through the more pragmatic ins-and-outs
of navigating the TV business. Participants will develop an original
idea for a television show from pitch to shooting script. The workshop
will also cover the dramatic structural differences between television
shows and feature films.
6/16–7/21
All Levels
This workshop focuses on a key to making any documentary: the visual
treatment. Come with an idea for a short film. You’ll learn principles of
visualizing key scenes, honing in on character, and finding a workable
structure, based on discussion of a sample treatment and choices in
developing your own.
1 Saturday
10:00 A.M.–12:30 P.M.
Fee: $50
Bethesda
8/20
All Levels
JUMPSTART YOUR SONGWRITING
Workshop Leader: Cathy Fink
Keep your songwriting going this summer with a batch of new ideas on
finding topics to write about, writing methods, daily writing exercises, and
fine tuning your songs. There will be  sections to the full day program:
) Jump in and start with writing “mini songs.” )  songwriting devices
that help create a structure for your song. How can you make each song
better both musically and lyrically? ) Song circle and critique. Bring in
your best and we’ll talk about making it even better. Bring your lunch,
paper and pencil, rhyming dictionary if you have one, and musical
instrument if you’d like to.
1 Saturday
10:00 A.M.–4:00 P.M.
Fee: $125
Bethesda
HOW TO PRODUCE YOUR OWN PLAY
Workshop Leader: Martin Blank
Want to put on your own play? Or learn to be more effective with a theater producing your work? With developments like the Capital Fringe
Festival and other outlets in the D.C. area, there are more opportunities
than ever to get your plays in front of an audience. “How to Produce
Your Own Play” will focus step by step on exactly how to produce
your play with a budget as low as a few hundred dollars, to as large as
several thousand. By putting on the producer’s hat even for just a one
day workshop, you’ll discover how to make your play more attractive to
other theaters, or easier to produce yourself.
16
6/16–8/4
SONGWRITING
WRITING THE TELEVISION PILOT
1 Saturday
10:00 A.M.–5:00 P.M.
Fee: $135
Bethesda
8 Thursdays
7:30–10:00 P.M.
Fee: $360
Bethesda
Workshop Leader: Jonathan Eig
6 Thursdays
7:30–10:00 P.M.
Fee: $270
Bethesda
In the business of filmmaking often the most important aspect of
screenwriting is the ability to rewrite. Workshop participants will learn
how to refine their scripts on their own and by incorporating the feedback of others. A completed or nearly completed first draft is required.
WRITING A DOCUMENTARY TREATMENT
INTRO TO SCREENWRITING
7 Wednesdays
7:30–10:00 P.M.
Fee: $315
Bethesda
Workshop Leader: Lyn Vaus
6/18
All Levels
6/25
All Levels
Members of The Writer’s Center, Songwriters’ Association of Washington, or Washington
Area Music Association will receive a discount on this workshop. If you are a member of
these organizations, please call The Writer’s Center at 301-654-8664 to register.
WORKSHOPS
WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE DON’T TALK
MIXED GENRE
Workshop Leader: David Y. Todd
GETTING STARTED: CREATIVE WRITING
If you have always wanted to write but haven’t known how to begin, this
is the workshop for you! We will explore journals, short stories, poems
(and prose poems), and memoirs in order to “jump start” your writing.
Participants will explore journaling, short stories, poems and prose poems,
and memoirs. Exercises done in the workshop will focus on transforming
a creative idea into actual words on a page. Goals: loosening up, generating new material, and enjoying the excitement of writing.
Getting Started: Saturday Afternoon
Workshop Leader: Elizabeth Rees
8 Saturdays
1:00–3:30 P.M.
Fee: $360
Bethesda
4/30–6/25
Beginner
No meeting May 28
Getting Started: Tuesday Afternoon
8 Tuesdays
1:30–4:00 P.M.
Fee: $360
Bethesda
Creative Writing: Tuesday Evening
Workshop Leader: Elizabeth Poliner
8 Tuesdays
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $360
Bethesda
5/17–7/5
Beginner
6/14–8/2
Beginner
PROS AND CONS OF SELF-PUBLISHING
Workshop Leader: Diana M. Martin
More professionals and authors are choosing self-publishing via online
and print presses to get their writing out to the public. Explore the wide
variety of publishing opportunities, the costs, marketing, and experiences
of those who have gone this route.
1 Saturday
1:30–4:00 P.M.
Fee: $50
Bethesda
5/14
All Levels
GETTING PUBLISHED: HANDS-ON ADVICE
“How can I know what I think until I see what I say?” said a Nobelwinning male author. This workshop is designed to inspire men who are
interested in writing about their experiences as men, whether confidentially
or for the workshop, in fiction, memoir, or verse. The instructor, a former
lawyer and college teacher, has facilitated confidential initiation rites in
the woods for men of diverse backgrounds and, yes, has published creative
writings of sex and comic violence.
2 Mondays
7:30–10:00 P.M.
Fee: $100
Bethesda
5/9–5/16
All Levels
CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY
Workshop Leader: Carolyn Clark
Embrace the basics of classical mythology in reading and writing, poetry,
and prose. The workshop is designed to increase appreciation of classical
mythology and awareness of archetypes in modern culture. Participants
are encouraged to develop their own aesthetic and share their personal
writing/reading choices throughout this six-week adventure!
6 Wednesdays
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $270
Bethesda
4/13–5/18
All Levels
SEEING THE WORLD NEW:
MAKING EFFECTIVE USE OF IMAGE
Workshop Leader: Susanna Lang (Emerging Writer Fellow)
We are often tempted to tell our readers how to think about the world
instead of creating the world we want them to see. Through image we
can make our world visible to others. In this workshop for writers of all
experience levels, we will first explore the work of poets who are master
craftsmen of images, and then examine our own poems to see where we
have an opportunity to sharpen the images.
1 Saturday
10:00 A.M.–12:30 P.M.
Fee: $50
Bethesda
5/21
All Levels
APPLYING STANDUP COMEDY TECHNIQUES
TO YOUR WRITING
Workshop Leader: Basil White
Workshop Leader: Nancy Naomi Carlson
Have you wanted to get your writing published but didn’t know where
to start? Are you already publishing but want to be published in more
competitive markets? Come learn “the secrets” of fiction, poetry, and
nonfiction submission, as well as how to target appropriate markets. We’ll
discuss such topics as cover and query letters, agents, how to “read between
the lines” of an editor’s response, and tracking submissions. Please bring
eight copies of a one-page work sample to discuss in class as time allows.
If you can read this and you can laugh, you can write humor! Learn to
apply the basic psychology of how your brain gets a joke to discover what’s
“gettable” about your subject matter, real or fictional, for humor writing
or other ironic purposes. This class also works as a fun introduction to
the fundamentals of workshopping for those new to the expectations of
creative workshops. Before class, read handout at www.basilwhite.com/
comedyworkshop so we can frame the course content around your own
questions about the handout.
1 Saturday
12:00–5:00 P.M.
Fee: $100
Bethesda
Saturday & Sunday
1:00–5:00 P.M.
Fee: $155
Bethesda
6/4
All Levels
5/14–5/15
All Levels
17
WORKSHOPS
LUNCHTIME WRITING RETREATS
Workshop Leader: Pamela Ehrenberg
Enliven your writing with a change of scenery! This workshop explores
sites around Washington, D.C., where you can write effectively during
an extended lunch hour. You’ll try out five two-hour retreats that will
leave you feeling energized and ready to begin a new writing routine.
This is a five-session workshop.
Note: Specific destinations will be based on participants’ work and/or home locations.
A syllabus with meeting locations will be emailed before the first session.
Monday–Friday
12:00–2:00 P.M.
Fee: $180
Bethesda
8/8–8/12
All Levels
Workshop Leader: Jenny Rough
This workshop will give you the chance to explore your personal experience with illness or injury through writing. Writing is good for our
health. Studies show it can decrease stress, improve sleep habits, boost
immunity, and reduce disease severity. We’ll read short passages from
authors who have written on the topic of illness or injury, then use their
words to launch us into a series of exercises. Don’t miss this opportunity
to share community and honor your own journey. No previous writing
experience is required.
1 Saturday
10:00 A.M.–12:00 P.M.
Fee: $40
Bethesda
6/18
All Levels
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
INTRODUCTION TO SPEECHWRITING
Workshop Leader: James Alexander
Participants will get hands-on experience in speechwriting research,
working collaboratively with organization principals in preparing a
speech, message development, organization, phraseology and timing.
To demonstrate how a speech is different, we will take the exact same
subject information and use it to write both a speech and article. The
subtleties of speech writing will be revealed for participants when they
experience the awkwardness of trying to read an article like a speech and
read a speech like an article. Each participant will also write a speech
over the course of the workshop that they will deliver at the last class.
6/29–8/3
WRITING THE REPORT
Workshop Leader: Arthur Besner
A “road map” is introduced to facilitate preparing a report—whether it
is an accomplishments, special issue, annual, or recurrent report. The
process starts with a set of critical thinking skills to identify and analyze
useful information and resources. It follows with identifying a theme
18
Wednesday & Thursday
10:30 A.M.–1:30 P.M.
Fee: $115
Bethesda
5/18–5/19
All Levels
Monday & Tuesday
7:00–10:00 P.M.
Fee: $115
Bethesda
7/11–7/12
All Levels
WRITING THE INFORMATION MEMORANDUM
WRITING FOR WELLNESS
6 Wednesdays
7:00–9:00 P.M.
Fee: $220
Bethesda
that serves as the foundation for writing the report and techniques for
categorizing and synthesizing information. The process leads to outlining,
drafting, revising, and completing the final report.
In a work setting, we are continuously furnishing information on our
projects and issues in which we have some expertise. The structure of
the Information Memorandum recognizes that supervisors, managers,
and our colleagues have limited time to review materials. The components of the Information Memorandum help us to focus and stay
on message. The exercises in this workshop show how we can present
essential information succinctly without sacrificing substance.
1 Wednesday
1:00–5:00 P.M.
Fee: $60
Bethesda
5/25
All Levels
WRITING THE DECISION MEMORANDUM
The Decision Memorandum helps the organization make sound and
supportable decisions. The structure of the Decision Memorandum
provides management with all options that should be considered in
making a decision. The writer is challenged to use high level analytical
and critical thinking skills in weighing the advantages (“pros”) and the
disadvantages (“cons”) of each option. High performance organizations
report that the Decision Memorandum facilitates the decision making
process and establishes accountability for implementing a management
decision.
Tuesday & Wednesday
7:00–10:00 P.M.
Fee: $115
Bethesda
6/14–6/15
All Levels
PUBLIC SPEAKING FOR WRITERS
Workshop Leader: Sidney Rocke
For many of us, public speaking can be challenging or even frightening,
and unfortunately, many good writers are not confident public speakers.
This course will cover the basics of public speaking, including overcoming anxiety and using your voice as a tool. Students will sharpen
their skills while reading their works and delivering short speeches.
We will also cover the organization and presentation of basic types of
speeches—introductions, informative, or entertaining. Please bring two
written works, from any source, to read aloud in the first class.
4 Wednesdays
7:00–9:00 P.M.
Fee: $155
Bethesda
5/4–5/25
All Levels
WORKSHOPS
INTRODUCTION TO BLOGGING
Workshop Leader: Angela Render
This introductory class explains what a blog is, and what it can do for a
writer. It will cover several blogging software options, the basics on how
to set up a blog, choose a domain name, how to post, and how to insert
images. Participants will get a feel for what sort of content should be
included in a post, how to organize their content, how to invite comment, and how to promote themselves on other people’s blogs. The
workshop will brainstorm topic ideas for their own blogs.
1 Saturday
12:00–2:00 P.M.
Fee: $40
Bethesda
5/21
Beginner
SOCIAL NETWORKING FOR WRITERS
Does the world of social media make you want to head for a cave? Do
you think the world’s all gone to Twitter, Facebook, and other social
networks? Learn to navigate the social surf online and in person as you
learn how to approach social networking online and off.
1 Saturday
3:00–5:00 P.M.
Fee: $40
Bethesda
5/21
Beginner
WRITING PROJECT WORK PLANS
Before an employee undertakes a project, management will want to
see a work plan. There are basic questions that must be addressed since
a project may involve substantial resources and strategic goals. A two
component work plan provides the rationale for the project and the
major activities and related action steps. The work plan also allows the
employee and the organization to monitor progress and establishes accountability throughout the project.
1 Wednesday
7:00–10:00 P.M.
Fee: $60
Bethesda
5/11
All Levels
BLOGGING TIPS AND TRICKS
An intermediate level workshop that is best suited for people who are
already blogging and want to take their blogs to the next level. Students
will learn techniques to improve their posts and their exposure. Basic
graphics editing, search engine optimization (seo), and ways to come
up with sustainable topics to write about will be discussed.
1 Saturday
12:00–2:00 P.M.
Fee: $40
Bethesda
6/18
Intermediate
INTRO TO MARKETING PLATFORMS
Getting published is hard, especially for a first-time author. Publishers
want you to come with a platform and this workshop will discuss what
a platform is and when to start building it. It will also give a brief overview of the tools available to writers for building a platform on the web,
and discuss internet privacy and copyright. Participants will brainstorm
what types of internet media might be right for them to use.
1 Saturday
3:00–5:00 P.M.
Fee: $40
Bethesda
6/18
All Levels
ONLINE
Our online workshops are ideal for those whose
schedules or distance from our physical venue
make participation in a conventional workshop
impossible. Internet workshops have their own
unique virtues: the ability to comment on discussion boards from any location and at any
time; the archiving of everyone’s comments
for future consultation; and the fact that your
manuscript is read in the workshops precisely
as your published piece would be read in the
world, namely, by people you cannot see.
FREELANCING FOR MAGAZINES
Workshop Leader: Elaina Loveland
Discover what it takes to research paying magazine markets, write query
letters that work, get an assignment, and finish the article for publishing
in magazines. Learn from an instructor who has worked on “both sides
of the desk” as a freelance writer and as a magazine editor.
2 Online Sessions
Fee: $85
Internet
5/16–5/23
Beginner
MAKING TIME TO WRITE
IN AN IMPOSSIBLY BUSY LIFE
Have you been interrupted every time you’ve started to read this paragraph? You’ve got a project or an idea half-started, but life won’t slow
down enough for you to write. This workshop is for you! We’ll set goals
specific to our own projects, cheer each other on, and share strategies
for sticking to our goals—during the workshop and beyond.
8 Tuesdays
Fee: $270
Internet
4/26–6/14
All Levels
8 Wednesdays
Fee: $270
Internet
6/22–8/10
All Levels
19
WORKSHOPS
ONE POET: READING DENISE DUHAMEL
SHORT FICTION WORKSHOP
Workshop Leader: Dave Housley
Denise Duhamel began her career marked as a “stand-up poet” whose
work seemed more interested in earning a laugh than moving her reader.
Over several collections, Duhamel’s work has evolved to include both
humorous and satirical work as well as deeply moving poetry in the
Confessional mode of writing. In this online workshop, we will read
four collections of Duhamel’s poetry and discuss its strengths, its
impact, and the way Duhamel has grown and changed over the
course of her career, from straightforward free verse to formal
experiments, long poems, and biography.
An online workshop for intermediate or advanced short-fiction writers. Students will workshop two stories, and will write several shorter
pieces written to prompts. We’ll read a variety of fiction from literary
magazines or collections and will discuss aspects of fiction writing, such
as voice or dialogue, as well as flash fiction and experimental writing.
Ideally, students will leave this course with a better understanding of the
current fiction landscape and will hone and expand their writing skills.
5 Online Sessions
Fee: $170
Internet
4/11–5/9
All Levels
ONLINE POETRY WORKSHOP
Workshop Leader: Jenny Rough
In this workshop, writers will use material from their own lives to explore
broader themes. The goal of the course will be to complete one short
essay (–, words) and one long essay (,–, words). The
main focus will be discussing your essays and receiving feedback through
the workshop, after which you’ll go back and revise your pieces. We’ll
also explore essay markets.
6 Mondays
Fee: $200
Internet
7/11–8/15
All Levels
INDEPENDENT STUDY: THE MANUSCRIPT
Poets assembling a full-length collection of work (– pages) will
receive thoughtful feedback on manuscript structure, cohesiveness,
thematic arc, and comments on individual pieces.
5/2–6/20
8 Mondays
Fee: $270
Internet
7/11–8/29
All Levels
INTRO TO MODERN POETRY (1900–1945)
The th century was a time of radical change and development for
American poetry. In this workshop, we will read selections by some of
the most important poets of the first half of this era, using our online
forum to discuss poetic movements, practices, and individual pieces
by poets like Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, Marianne Moore, H.D., William
Carlos Williams, and others.
8 Mondays
Fee: $270
Internet
7/11–8/29
All Levels
INTRODUCTION TO THE NOVEL
WRITING THE YOUNG ADULT NOVEL
For writers who have a young adult novel in progress. We’ll discuss
the elements of story—hook, plot, character, dialogue, voice, setting,
grounding, pacing, conflict, story arc, theme—and how to tie the
elements together. There will be handouts and exercises.
20
For busy poets seeking feedback on their work, this online collaborative
will provide an opportunity to read and comment on work by other
writers while getting useful and insightful feedback on your own work.
Workshop Leader: T. Greenwood
Workshop Leaders: Beckie Weinheimer & Kathryn Erskine
8 Sundays
Fee: $270
Internet
5/1–6/19
PERSONAL ESSAY FOR PUBLICATION
8 Mondays
Fee: $270
Internet
8 Sundays
Fee: $270
Internet
5/1–6/19
Intermediate
You have always wanted to write a novel but didn’t know where to start.
This workshop will help you understand the process of writing a novel
so you can get started putting pen to paper. We will focus on everything
from generating ideas to developing characters to establishing point of
view. We will touch on many elements of fiction (dialogue, scene, etc.),
but the emphasis will be on discovering the writing process that works
best for you.
8 Saturdays
Fee: $270
Internet
6/4–7/23
Beginner
WORKSHOPS
YOUNGER WRITERS
HOW 2
Workshops for ages 8–18
NATURAL MAGICAL WRITINGS (AGES 8-11)
Workshop Leader: Adele Steiner Brown
Using Hogwart’s style, we’ll research and journal our experiences with
folklore, myth, magic, and the fantastical wooded realms in Glen Echo
Park. Our observations, character sketches, and interesting happenings
with magic folk and animals will be the inspiration for our collections
of stories, essays, and poems. Bring a notebook and pens/pencils for your
imaginings, and we’ll have a fairy feast and goblin gobbling complete
with reading for family and friends during our last workshop together.
This is an eight-session workshop.
Tuesday–Friday
1:00–3:00 P.M.
Fee: $290
Glen Echo Park
6/21–7/1
All Levels
MY LIFE IN WORDS (AGES 12–15)
Life has so much to offer whether it be good, bad, exciting, or troublesome, so why not write about it before we forget it? Experiences with
best friends, favorite summer vacations, encounters with nature, new
home or new school experiences, as well as funniest, scariest, or most
embarrassing situations can be the subjects of your essays, memoirs,
creative fiction, or perhaps even a play! Time will be set aside for comments and revision of work, and we’ll have a reading for family and
friends during our last workshop. This is an eight-session workshop.
Tuesday–Friday
1:00–3:00 P.M.
Fee: $290
Bethesda
7/5–7/15
All Levels
ARTSCAPE NEWS (AGES 8–11)
Participants will conduct interviews and photo ops and write front
page articles, movie, play, and book reviews, horoscopes, and an advice
column. There will be time set aside in each session for comments and
editing before a “press release” reading for family and friends at the
conclusion of the workshop. This is an eight-session workshop.
Tuesday–Friday
10:00 A.M.–12:00 P.M.
Fee: $290
Bethesda
7/5–7/15
All Levels
These concentrated one-day workshops provide
valuable information on a variety of topics—
from the nuts and bolts of revision to getting
your work published.
HOW 2 CREATE (AND MAINTAIN!) A WRITING GROUP
Your mom is flattered when you ask her to read your work, but you’re
starting to think feedback from others might help too. Or maybe you’ve
been part of a critique group before and wonder how to start one up
again and keep it from fizzling. This one-shot workshop will send you
home with ideas and an action plan for incorporating the feedback and
community of a writing group into your writing life.
1 Sunday
1:30–4:00 P.M.
Fee: $50
Bethesda
5/15
All Levels
1 Thursday
7:00–9:00 P.M.
Fee: $40
Bethesda
6/23
All Levels
HOW 2 MAKE TIME TO WRITE
Work. Deadlines. Pressure. Family. Soccer. Childcare. Who on earth has
time to write? This one-shot session includes specific decisions, actions, and
strategies writers can use in balancing their work lives with their personal
lives—and yes, actually writing. Our focus will be on goal-setting and
maintaining a momentum. Participants should come to class with an
idea for a specific writing project they wish they had time for.
1 Sunday
1:30–4:00 P.M.
Fee: $50
Bethesda
4/10
All Levels
1 Thursday
7:00–9:00 P.M.
Fee: $40
Bethesda
6/16
All Levels
HOW 2 WRITE A BETTER
COLLEGE APPLICATION ESSAY
The application essay is one of the most important factors in getting
accepted to the college of your choice. High school students and adults
applying for college will learn tips on what admission committees look
for and how to personalize an essay so it stands out among the rest.
Note: This workshop is also being offered in Rockville. Please turn to page 28 for details.
1 Saturday
1:30–4:00 P.M.
Fee: $50
Bethesda
6/4
All Levels
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WORKSHOPS
MCLEAN
WORKSHOPS
The Writer’s Center is pleased to join in partnership
with the McLean Community Center (MCC), to
offer workshops at their location at 1234 Ingleside
Avenue, McLean, Virginia. The MCC is handling
registrations for these workshops.
Current Writer’s Center members who register for a workshop
at the MCC will pay the full rate and receive the member
discount as a refund. For more information about the MCC,
visit www.mcleancenter.org.
Workshop Leader: Barbara Esstman
Working from  pages of your own writing, learn character and scene
development, dialogue, tone, language, point of view, plot, and focus—
the essential directions for writing your book and not getting lost in the
process. Also, tips on how to publish.
4/26–5/31
All Levels
4 Wednesdays
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: See MCC Web site
McLean
7/6–7/27
Beginner/Intermediate
DOCUMENTARY PRODUCTION
This workshop walks students through the creative process of making a
documentary: from research to visual treatment, production, editing, and
distribution. Learn how to write for a visual medium, structure a story,
interview subjects, use digital video equipment, and work with a crew.
Students will complete a short documentary. This is -session workshop.
Monday–Friday
10:00 A.M.–12:30 P.M.
McLean
7/5–7/18
All Levels
CREATIVE WRITING FOR TEENS
Workshop Leader: M.A. Schaffner
WRITING ABOUT ANIMALS
Workshop Leader: Judith Tabler
Interested in crafting a story about an animal? You’re in good company:
Annie Dillard, John Grogan, James Herriot, Laura Hillenbrand, John
Steinbeck, and James Thurber. Each week participants will read an
excerpt from a leading work in the field (fiction or nonfiction), and
workshop their own manuscripts.
4 Tuesdays
7:00–9:30 P.M.
McLean
This workshop aims to help each attendee discover the poetic style,
techniques, and tools that work best for them. We’ll first take a look
at verse written over the last few centuries to get a sense of how poetry
has evolved with the language. This will include a brief look at forms,
perspectives, and the social role of the poet as, variously, entertainer,
educator, philosopher, and critic. We will then read and discuss our own
and each other’s poems to better understand our individual voices, skills
and challenges. At that point we can begin to discuss how and when to
publish.
Workshop Leaders: David Taylor, Brandon & Lance Kramer
WRITING YOUR NOVEL OR MEMOIR
6 Tuesdays
7:00–9:30 P.M.
McLean Community Center
INTRODUCTION TO POETRY
Workshop Leader: M.A. Schaffner
7/5–7/26
All Levels
WRITING THE PERSONAL ESSAY
This quick immersion in the experience of creative writing will include
both prose and poetry. We’ll examine basic tools and techniques, the
practical value of creative writing skills, and how (and when) to approach
publication. Participants will hear short presentations on how to organize
themselves for writing, how to review and edit their work, and how to
deal with criticism. They will have the opportunity to apply these skills
in discussions and readings, and finally will receive individual critiques
on their work from the instructor. This is a five-session workshop.
Monday–Friday
1:30–4:00 P.M.
McLean
7/11–7/15
All Levels
Workshop Leader: Anne Cassidy
PERSONAL ESSAY FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
The personal essay is a marvelously flexible form. This workshop is for
those with works in progress or those who need help getting started. We
will concentrate on crafting clear sentences, delivering strong take-away
points and creating memorable beginnings and endings. We will read
classics of the genre for inspiration.
Workshop Leaders: Hildie Block
4 Wednesdays
7:00–9:30 P.M.
McLean
24
7/20–8/10
All Levels
Together let’s work on some essays about YOU! Your challenges, your
best day, your worst day, the day your world ended and everything
changed. Led by a former admissions officer and a college writing
instructor, this workshop will help young people with all writing
levels write powerful essays—open to rising th–th graders.
This is a three-session workshop.
Tuesday–Thursday
12:30–3:00 P.M.
McLean
7/12–7/14
All Levels
WORKSHOPS
INDEPENDENT STUDY
Have you taken a number of workshops at The Writer’s Center, an M.F.A. program, or elsewhere? Are you
interested in a writing mentor to give you focused guidance? If you answered “yes” to these questions,
consider applying for one of our new independent study workshops, where you will work one-on-one
with one of our workshop leaders.*
In order to be eligible for an independent study, you will need to demonstrate a certain level of expertise in your chosen genre—as determined by the individual workshop leader. Independent studies are
not meant to replace workshops, but rather to augment them by giving you one-on-one attention.
If you are interested in one of the following independent studies, please contact The Writer’s Center
at 301.654.8664 or by e-mailing [email protected] with “independent study” as the subject.
All independent studies are 6 hours for $850.
*Only the workshop leaders listed below are currently offering independent studies.
KHRIS BAXTER (SCREENWRITING)
SHANNON O’NEILL (NONFICTION)
I work with screenwriters of all levels on premise, story, structure,
scenes, and dialogue. In short, developing a screenplay from idea
through the final draft. I also work with writers on developing a
sound strategy for getting their work in front of producers, agents,
and decision makers.
I offer a close read and critical assessment of nonfiction manuscripts
intended for a general audience. In offering thoughts and suggestions
on both the style and substance of your work, I’ll approach questions of
audience, voice, structure, and overall execution. I will provide editorial
advice on improving the manuscript on a developmental level and, if
appropriate, advice on how to proceed toward the goal of publication.
BRENDA CLOUGH (SCIENCE FICTION)
In an independent study workshop, I read the student’s manuscript
closely. We would discuss micro issues, like formatting and sentence
structure; and macro issues, like plot, pacing, and character. My particular focus would be working within the science fiction genre, and
shaping the work toward success in that arena.
T. GREENWOOD (NOVEL)—ONLINE ONLY
I provide comprehensive editorial services for completed drafts of novels.
Services include a thorough critical read of the manuscript followed by
an analysis and evaluation of plot, characterization, point of view, prose—
as well as recommendations for revision.
ANN MCLAUGHLIN (FICTION)
I write a comprehensive letter with each manuscript describing how
effectively I think the novel or story develops its theme, how authentic
the characters seem to me, and how well the plot and points of view
work, with a view toward possible revisions. I edit as I read, so the
writer gets a letter, plus the edited manuscript.
SUE ELLEN THOMPSON (POETRY)
I prefer working with free verse poets who combine narrative and lyric
elements, poets who enjoy writing in form, and poets who believe, as
Stanley Kunitz did, in “an art so transparent that you can look through
and see the world.” I will provide line-by-line feedback in person or via
e-mail, focusing on form, syntax, diction, imagery, and line breaks. I
can review manuscripts as a whole, groups of three–five poems, or individual poems on which the poet is “stuck.”
RICHARD WASHER (PLAYWRITING)
I begin by working with the writer to set a goal for the independent
study in order to determine the most appropriate feedback for the
writer, the project, and the stage the project is in (developing an idea,
early draft, finished draft, polishing a script). In the context of this goal,
the focus of our sessions will be on what works, what doesn’t work, and
why. Depending on the unique nature of the project, various topics
in dramatic writing will emerge: theatricality, characterization, action,
structure, pacing, etc.
25
WORKSHOPS
MAKING METAPHOR WORK
ANNAPOLIS
Workshop Leader: Sue Ellen Thompson
Beginning this summer, The Writer’s Center
will now offer workshops at Maryland Hall for
the Creative Arts (801 Chase Street, Annapolis,
MD 21401).
SPRING INTENSIVE WORKSHOP: CHARACTER
Workshop Leader: Lynn Schwartz
“Fiction, inescapably, is the art form of human yearning.”
—Robert Olen Butler
What do your characters yearn for? This workshop will examine how
a character’s wants and desires drive key elements of story, including
narrative, dialogue, conflict, and plot. Exercises and short readings will
illustrate ways to identify and depict a character’s passion, which is
essential to creating a compelling person. Come to strengthen what is
memorable about the people who populate your tales, or come ready to
create a new character whose story commands attention.
2 Wednesdays
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $100
Annapolis
5/18–5/25
All Levels
WHAT SUCCESSFUL WRITERS KNOW ABOUT SETTING
Workshop Leader: Laura Oliver
From The Secret Garden to The Perfect Storm, setting is an exceptionally
potent tool for creating memorable fiction and nonfiction. As intimate
as a hospital room, as broad as a landscape, setting is so influential it
can become a character in itself. Learn to create settings that amplify
emotion, reveal character, or set a specific mood. Learn to introduce setting organically and how setting can power your plot. In this setting-intensive, we will study brilliant examples of published work and perform
writing exercises that will elevate absolutely everything you write.
1 Tuesday
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $50
Annapolis
6/14
Intermediate
Workshop Leader: Lynn Schwartz
Do you want to begin a writing project, need to quiet your inner critic,
or develop new habits to keep you on course? In this workshop, writers
will be introduced to creative techniques adapted from different art
forms. We will explore how acting exercises, creative journaling,
collage, vision boards, and writing prompts can inspire, focus, and
energize writers. Each technique presented is designed to connect
authors to the core of their stories and the essence of their characters.
Participants will learn to apply the exercises to individual projects.
No fine art or acting experience is necessary.
26
1 Saturday
1:00–4:00 P.M.
Fee: $60
Annapolis
5/14
All Levels
THE MYSTERY OF LINE BREAKS
Workshop Leader: Sue Ellen Thompson
Many free verse poets write for years without really understanding how
a line of poetry functions and where it should end. Should it be as long
as a breath, or should it end wherever there is a comma, a period, or
a break in the syntax? In this workshop, we will look at how modern
poets have dealt with this issue and how their decisions can help us
manage line breaks in our own poems.
1 Saturday
1:00–4:00 P.M.
Fee: $60
Annapolis
5/21
All Levels
TRAVEL WRITING INTRODUCTION
Workshop Leader: L. Peat O’Neil
Are you an enthusiastic voyager or a specialist in local lore? Is this the
year you’ll start writing and publishing your travel experiences? This
course explores the art and technique of travel writing. Learn how
to create effective articles about regional or exotic destinations. Class
covers the types of travel articles, structure of articles and essays about
travel, research, and how to integrate your travel experiences in an
article or blog. In-class exercises include expanding travel article story
ideas into a proposal and writing travel memories.
1 Saturday
10:00 A.M.–3:00 P.M.
6/4
Fee: $100
Annapolis
CREATIVE PROMPTS FOR WRITERS
1 Wednesday
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $50
Annapolis
Every poet knows that it’s a brilliant image—simile or metaphor—that
makes a poem memorable. In this workshop we will examine some of
the more challenging and unusual metaphors that contemporary poets
have used to bring their poems to life. We will talk about how to choose
between simile and metaphor, how to control and extend an image, and
how to avoid making comparisons that are sentimental or clichéd. There
will be a writing exercise designed to challenge our image-making powers
and time to examine the effectiveness of the similes and metaphors in the
poems that participants bring to class.
7/13
All Levels
INTRODUCTION TO FOOD WRITING
Learn the basics about writing food and culinary articles for online
or print publication. Course covers writing style, self-editing, recipe
construction, interviewing techniques, and publication options. In class
exercise and discussion focuses on shaping a culinary experience into a
story. Participants should bring a 150 word outline of their food article
idea and, for the recipe construction exercise, two or three favorite
recipes.
1 Saturday
10:00 A.M.–3:00 P.M.
7/9
Fee: $100
Annapolis
WORKSHOPS
TRAVEL WRITING INTENSIVE
FROM INSPIRATION TO REALIZATION
Workshop Leader: Grace Cavalieri
Finish a travel article. First meeting introduces content for today’s travel
articles, online publication, and market trends. Discussion explores structure, pace, mood and style for travel articles. In-class exercises focus on
drafting an article, developing writer’s voice, selecting historical and factual
information, and transforming travel journal notes or e-mails into articles.
During the second meeting, writers continue editing practice and add
point of view through style and mood imagery. Discussion covers contacting and quoting experts, what editors require, and how to present queries
and articles.
From exercises and language experience, we will create poems and analyze
them, cultivating four elements of good writing: thinking, feeling, sensual,
intuitive. Poetry does not care at what point it is entered, so beginning
poet and professional alike will profit from the inception of new thought,
finding the right forms to shape it. We will learn our poetic antecedents,
even as we break new ground. The principles of narrative, imagery, and
lyricism can help writers of other genres, fiction also.
2 Saturdays
1:00–5:00 P.M.
Fee: $155
Annapolis
7/23–7/30
5 Wednesdays
2:00–4:30 P.M.
Fee: $225
Annapolis
6/22–7/20
All Levels
ANNAPOLIS WORKSHOP LEADERS
GRACE CAVALIERI has written 16 books and
chapbooks of poetry; and 24 full length and shortform plays. Her latest books of poems are Sounds Like
Something I Would Say and Navy Wife. Anna Nicole:
Poems, won the 2009 Paterson Award. Water on the
Sun was on the Pen Center Best Books List. She’s
produced “The Poet and the Poem,” now in its 34th
consecutive year on public radio. Her play Lena’s Quilt appeared in NYC in 2011.
Her play Anna Nicole: Blonde Ambition is in trial in NYC. Her honors include the
Allen Ginsberg Award for Poetry, the Columbia Poetry Award, and Pen Fiction
Award, among other honors.
L. PEAT O’NEIL wrote for The Washington
Post for 17 years. Her freelance writing has been
published in newspapers, magazines, Web sites,
trade journals, and literary reviews. She has taught
writing at numerous educational centers including
The George Washington University, Smithsonian
Resident Associates, Georgetown University, and
the USDA Graduate School. She currently teaches writing online for University of
California, Los Angeles. O’Neil is also an advisor on social media content management. She is the author of Travel Writing: See the World-Sell the Story, published
in five languages and Pyrenees Pilgrimage, about her solo walk across France.
Blog: peatoneil.wordpress.com
LAURA OLIVER, M.F.A., is the author of The
Story Within. Her essays and short stories appear in
numerous regional and national periodicals such as
The Washington Post, Country Living, and Glimmer
Train. She has taught Creative Writing at the University of Maryland and currently teaches writing at
St. John’s College. Nominated for a Pushcart Prize,
her work has won numerous awards including a Maryland State Arts Council
Individual Artist Award in Fiction. Her M.F.A. is in Creative Writing and Literature
from Bennington College, and she has completed nonfiction workshops at The
University of Iowa.
LYNN SCHWARTZ’S plays have been
performed in Atlanta and NYC, including the Bruno
Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center. Her stories have
appeared in literary journals and she has authored
numerous lifestyle features. She founded the Temple
Bar Literary Reading Series in NYC and received an
Individual Artist Award in Fiction from the Maryland
State Arts Council. She is a graduate of The City
College of New York, Columbia University, and The Neighborhood Playhouse
School of the Theater. She teaches fiction at St. John’s College.
SUE ELLEN THOMPSON is the author of
four books of poetry, most recently The Golden Hour
(2006), and the editor of The Autumn House Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry. Her work has
been included in the Best American Poetry series,
read on National Public Radio by Garrison Keillor,
and featured in U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser’s
nationally syndicated newspaper column. She has
taught at Wesleyan University, Middlebury College, State University of New York
at Binghamton, and Central Connecticut State University before moving to the
Eastern Shore in 2006. She was awarded the 2010 Maryland Author Prize from
the Maryland Library Association.
27
WORKSHOPS
ROCKVILLE
With special thanks to The Johns Hopkins University/Montgomery County campus, The Writer’s
Center will now offer youth workshops for writers, actors, and budding filmmakers in Rockville
(9601 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD 20850).
HOW 2 WRITE A BETTER
COLLEGE APPLICATION ESSAY
(AGES 14–18)
YOUTH WRITING WORKSHOP
(AGES 12–18)
Workshop Leader: Kenneth Carroll
The application essay is one of the most important factors in getting
accepted to the college of your choice. High school students applying
to college will learn tips on what the admission committees look for
and how to personalize an essay so it stands out among the rest. This
is a two-part class. At the second session, participants will be required
to bring a draft of their essay to share with the class and instructor. If
time permits, individual feedback from the instructor will be available.
2 Wednesdays
10:00 A.M.–12:30 P.M.
Fee: $100
Rockville
7/20–7/27
All Levels
A fun youth writing workshop that provides a safe and nourishing
space for writers – who are looking to improve their writing in
an in-novative workshop and to connect with other young writers.
This is an eight-session workshop.
Tuesday–Friday
1:00–3:30 P.M.
Fee: $360
Rockville
6/28–7/8
All Levels
1 DAY PLAYWRITING INTENSIVE
FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
(AGES 14–18)
Workshop Leader: Martin Blank
DOCUMENTARY PRODUCTION
(AGES 14–18)
This workshop walks students through the creative process of making a
documentary: from research to visual treatment, production, editing, and
distribution. Learn how to write for a visual medium, structure a story,
interview subjects, use digital video equipment, and work with a crew.
Students will complete a short documentary. This is a -session workshop.
You will have written a -minute play before this workshop day is over.
A -minute play is the most easy and direct way for a new playwright
to be noticed and produced. You’ll also learn how to create characters
that are unique to the stage, plot a play, as well as develop your own
voice as a playwright. We’ll also study contemporary -minute plays,
and you’ll learn tricks of the trade that successful playwrights have used
for centuries, as well as discuss writing longer plays and where and how
to submit your work.
Monday–Friday
2:30–5:00 P.M.
Fee: $525
Rockville
1 Friday
10:00 A.M.–5:00 P.M.
Fee: $135
Rockville
Workshop Leaders: Brandon & Lance Kramer
7/11–7/22
All Levels
PLAYWRITING 3D
(AGES 14–18)
Workshop Leaders: Zachary Fernebok & Greg Twomey
Dream it! Draft it! Do it! In this two-week workshop, participants will
write their own ten-minute plays, while learning the essential elements
of dramatic writing: plot, character, dialogue, and conflict, along with
the importance of improving your writing through performing it. The
workshop will culminate in a play reading of the new, original work for
family and friends. This is an eight-session workshop.
Monday–Thursday
1:00–3:30 P.M.
Fee: $360
Rockville
28
7/11–7/21
All Levels
6/24
All Levels
To find workshops listed exclusively online,
or to sign up for The Writer Center’s weekly
or monthly e-newsletter, visit writer.org.
WORKSHOPS
ROCKVILLE WORKSHOP LEADERS
MARTIN BLANK is the author of 10 plays.
His The Law of Return was produced at Center Stage
Theater; his play Jerusalem was produced at Maryland
Ensemble Theatre, and was optioned for Broadway.
His comedy, Avenue of the Americas, was produced
Off Broadway at the Tank Theater. He is published by
Smith & Kraus. He has served as artistic associate for
the American Jewish Theatre and American Place Theatre, as well as literary manager, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, and founding artistic director, Theater
J. Currently, he is artistic director for American Ensemble Theater. He attended the
University of Maryland and the Yale School of Drama.
KENNETH CARROLL is a native Washingtonian, his writings appear in
numerous publications including, Stanford University Education Journal, Penguin’s
African American Textbook, and Turn the Page: Sharing Successful Chapters in Our
Lives with Youth. He has worked as an educator in the D.C. public schools for the past
20 years where he has used literature and writing to reach youth and to engage
students in learning and leadership opportunities. As the former director of DC
WritersCorps, he created the country’s first Youth Poetry Slam League, which was
honored by the President’s Commission for the Arts and the Humanities in 1999.
ZACHARY FERNEBOK has a B.A. in theatre
from the University of Maryland, and is a company
member of Infinite Stage Theatre and Flying V. His play,
American Voices: Uncovering the Mystery of the American
Experience, was recently performed at The National
Portrait Gallery. His work has also been produced for
American Conservatory Theatre and Teatro de Havana.
His work can be found at zacharyfernebok.com.
BRANDON KRAMER, a teaching artist and
documentary filmmaker for Meridian Hill Pictures, has
taught for the Kennedy Center’s On Location program,
The Story Pirates, and the Youth Exchange & Study
Program. He is a Maryland native and graduated
from Boston University, where he studied Film
Production and Cultural Anthropology.
LANCE KRAMER, creative director at Meridian
Hill Pictures, a D.C.-based production company, has
a wide range of experience in film, journalism, and
education. He is an award-winning children’s author
and has taught English in Ethiopia. Lance is a Dartmouth
College graduate with a History major and Film minor.
DIANA M. MARTIN has a M.F.A. in Creative Nonfiction and is currently an
adjunct professor at Montgomery College. Ms. Martin also has an extensive background in association, nonprofit, and corporation marketing. As a freelance writer
for over 20 years, she has contributed to national and international publications.
She shares a new business with her son, Alex’s Art Loft, which promotes creativity,
independence, and support for people with disabilities.
GREG TWOMEY has a B.A. in theatre from the
University of Maryland, and is a professional actor in
the Washington, D.C., area. He was last seen in both Rent
and Happy Days the Musical at Toby’s Dinner Theatre.
MILES DAVIS’
ELECTRIC PERIOD
1968–1991
FRIDAY, APRIL 29 & SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 7:30 P.M.
SEE PAGE 33 FOR MORE DETAILS
29
the
McLaughlin-Esstman-Stearns
first novel prize
Thanks to the generosity of board member Neal P. Gillen, The Writer’s Center is pleased to announce
that it will award $500 annually to the author of the best first novel published during a given calendar
year. Conceived and funded by Gillen, the McLaughlin-Esstman-Stearns Prize honors three dedicated
writers and members of The Writer’s Center faculty—Ann McLaughlin, Barbara Esstman, and Lynn
Stearns—each of whom unselfishly nourish and inspire students and fellow writers.
Eligibility and Requirements:
Following the judging process, books will not be
All first novels published in 2010 are eligible, including
returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed,
those published by major, independent, and self-publishstamped envelope with sufficient postage. The Writer’s
ing presses. Only American authors publishing in English
Center is not responsible for lost or damaged books.
are eligible.
Writer’s Center staff, board, and workshop leaders may
All entries must be postmarked by July 15, 2011.
not enter.
Entries not postmarked prior to or on this date will be
ineligible, and they will not be returned unless accompaSend submissions via regular mail only (postmarked no
nied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope.
later than July 15) to Zachary Fernebok, Administrative
Coordinator, 4508 Walsh Street, Bethesda, MD 20814.
Authors must submit three copies of their published
novel along with a contact cover sheet indicating name,
address, phone number, and e-mail address (no cover
letter required). No galley proofs will be accepted.
Judging:
The Writer’s Center will solicit a group of no more than 15 volunteer judges to serve as first-round
judges. These volunteers will evaluate books to determine if they meet eligibility requirements,
and they will read and evaluate the submissions. Submissions advancing to the second round of
judging will be evaluated by a team of three final judges. Final judges will be selected from our
membership and workshop leader pool. These judges will determine at their sole discretion the
Award recipient.
The Winner:
The Winner will be announced in October. He or she will receive a feature in the Winter/Spring edition
of The Workshop & Event Guide, at Writer.org, and our blog, First Person Plural. In addition, if feasible, he
or she will be invited to read at The Writer’s Center during a reception to honor his or her work.
www.writer.org/firstnovelprize
would like to thank
Donohoe Construction
Company
for the in-kind donation
to the Jane Fox reading
room renovation project.
1
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¬INSIGHTFUL¬REVIEWS¬¬
WHAT¬MORE¬COULD¬¬
0OET¬,ORE¬WANT
!
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Need to publicize your
book,
business,
play,
conference,
or event?
Advertise in the
Workshop & Event Guide
3UBSCRIBE¬3UBMIT¬
www.writer.org/poetlore
visit www.writer.org/adrates
to learn more
EVENTS AT THE WRITER'S CENTER
We host more than 50 events annually, including Sunday Open Door
readings, Story/Stereo, and theatre productions at our historic black box
theatre. If you would like more information about these events—including
interviews, videos, audio—please visit our Web site www.writer.org/events
or our blog, First Person Plural.
OPEN DOOR
READINGS
Nan Fry, and Rose Solari discussing the
enduring appeal of classic myths, and
contemporary re-tellings of those myths.
SUN, MAY 22, 2:00 P.M.
Novelist Ann
McLaughlin
reads from A Trial
in Summer, and
Alan Orloff reads
from his new novel,
Killer Routine.
Alan Orloff
SUN, JUNE 5, 2:00 P.M.
Linda Pastan reads from Traveling Light, her
new collection of poems. She is joined by poet
Michael Salcman, who reads from his recent
collection, The Enemy of Good is Better.
SUN, JUNE 12, 2:00 P.M.
Poetry reading by
Priscilla Becker,
who reads from
Stories That Listen,
and Kim Roberts,
who reads from
Animal Magnetism.
SUN, APRIL 10, 2:00 P.M.
Erika Meitner reads
poems from her
latest collection,
Ideal Cities. She is
joined by novelist
Candace Katz, author
of Schaeffer Brown’s
Detective Observations.
Erika Meitner
SUN, MAY 8, 2:00 P.M.
Mother’s Day Poetry and Prose Open Mic.
Sign-up for readers begins at 1:30 P.M.
SUN, MAY 15, 2:00 P.M.
The Writer’s Center presents a panel
discussion with authors Donna Denize,
32
SUN, JULY 10, 2:00 P.M.
Joan Gussow reads from Growing, Older:
A Chronicle of Death, Life, and Vegetables.
She is joined by poet W. Perry Epes, who
reads from Nothing Happened.
SUN, JULY 17, 2:00 P.M.
The Writer’s Center presents three poets with recent
collections: Elisavietta Ritchie (Cormorant Beyond
the Compost), Ellen Aronofsky Cole (Prognosis),
and Kimberly Becker (Words Facing East).
SUN, JULY 24, 2:00 P.M.
Poet David Salner
reads from Working
Here. He is joined by
David Shaman, who
reads from and discusses The World Bank
Unveiled: Inside the
Revolutionary Struggle
for Transparency.
SUN, JULY 31, 2:00 P.M.
Kim Roberts
SUN, JUNE 19, 2:00 P.M.
Father’s Day Poetry and Prose Open Mic.
Sign-up for readers begins at 1:30 P.M.
SUN, JUNE 26, 2:00 P.M.
Novelist Deborah Clearman reads from Todos
Santos. She is joined by Cynthia Phoel, author
of Cold Snap, a collection of short stories.
David Salner
Brandon Friedman
Brandon Friedman
reads from his memoir, The War I Always
Wanted. He is joined
by Elspeth Cameron
Ritchie, who reads from
Tearing Through the
Moon: Poems and
Prose of an Army
Psychiatrist.
SUN, AUGUST 7, 2:00 P.M.
Poetry and Prose Open Mic. Sign-up for
readers begins at 1:30 P.M.
EVENTS AT THE WRITER'S CENTER
SPECIAL EVENTS
GOOGLE & OUR SOCIETY
FRI, APRIL 15, 7:30 P.M.
Join senior writer for Wired magazine,
Stephen Levy, as he talks about how Google
thinks, works, and shapes our lives in his new
book, In the Plex. This event is part of the
Bethesda Literary Festival.
POET LORE VOL. 106, NO. 1/2
LAUNCH PARTY
SUN, APRIL 17, 2:00 P.M.
Celebrate the launch
of Poet Lore’s spring/
summer issue! The
nation’s oldest
continuously
published poetry
journal, at 122 years
old, hosts readings by
local poets Janice Lynch
Schuster, Melanie Figg, and R. Dwayne Betts.
CALL IT ANYTHING:
MILES DAVIS’ “ELECTRIC
PERIOD” 1968–1991
FRI AND SAT
APRIL 29 & 30, 7:30 P.M.
Through the use of film footage and excerpts
from seminal recordings like “Live-Evil” and
“On the Corner,” poet, music critic, and Writer’s
Center workshop leader Reuben Jackson will
discuss this rich, influential, and still controversial chapter of Miles Davis’ career.
THE RETURN OF
HALLEY’S COMET
SUN, MAY 1, 2:00 P.M.
A reading from The
Return of Halley’s Comet,
a play by Donald Bliss
about Mark Twain’s
dictation of his autobiography, followed
by a discussion of
the autobiography.
See page 6 to read more about Mark Twain.
PEN WORLD VOICES
FESTIVAL TOUR
MON, MAY 2, 7:00 P.M.
Hosted by Lisa Page,
President of the Pen
Faulkner Board of
Directors. Writers
from Sudan (Leila
Aboulela), the United
States (Daniel Orozco),
Lisa Page
and Sweden (Jonas
Hassen Khemiri) stop by for what will be a
memorable evening of world literature.
Members/Students
(with a valid ID) $5
Non-members $10
See page 3 to read
about the Pen World
Voices Festival Tour.
THE CHERRY ORCHARD
JULY 8–AUGUST 7
The Quotidian Theatre Company’s production of
The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov. Chekhov’s
final play looks at societal changes in late 19 th
century Russia, love, and loss in a masterful
combination of comic and tragic themes.
Translated and directed by Jack Sbarbori.
STORY/STEREO
FRI, APRIL 22, 8:00 P.M.
FRI, MAY 20, 8:00 P.M.
Emerging Writer Fellowship recipients Eli Hastings
(Falling Room) and Andrew Foster Altschul
(Deus Ex Machina) will read. Musical guest:
Amy Domingues
Emerging Writer Fellowship recipients Susanna
Lang (Even Now) and Merrill Feitell (Here
Beneath Low-Flying Planes) will read.
Musical guest: The Cornel West Theory
Find Story/Stereo on Facebook
facebook.com/storystereo
33
TWC INSIDER
PUBLISHED WORK
Amin Ahmad’s story, “A Taste of Revolution,” appeared
in the newest issue of the New England Review.
Jennifer Alandy was published in
Hint Fiction: An Anthology of Stories
in 25 Words or Fewer by W. W. Norton
in November 2010.
Sandra Beasley’s new book, Don’t
Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales from an
Allergic Life, is forthcoming from
Crown in July 2011.
Amy Bonaccorso’s new book How
to Get to “I Do” A Dating Guide for
Catholic Women was published in
August 2010 by Servant Books.
Carole Burns’ story “The Road Taken”
was pubilshed in an anthology of
flash fiction called Exposires by Cinnamon Press in (November 2010).
Mary & Katie
Carpenter’s book, Lost and Found
in the Mississippi Sound: Eli and the
Dolphins of Hurricane Katrina, was
published by Tenley Circle Press in
December 2010.
Brenda Clough’s new novel, Speak to
Our Desires, was published by Book
View Cafe in January 2011. Read
about her workshop on page 12.
Patricia Fisher and Yvette Neisser Moreno’s translation of Venezuelan poet María Teresa Ogliastri’s South
Pole/Polo Sur will be published by Settlement House
Press in December 2011.
Nan Fry’s poetry was published in
The Beastly Bride, an anthhology for
young adults and adults, published
by Viking in spring 2011, and in
The Poet’s Cookbook: Recipes from
Germany, Poems by 33 American
Poets, published by Goethe-Institut
in October 2010. Read about her
workshop on page 15.
34
Barbara Goldberg’s Jefferson, In His Own Words, was
performed by the Richmond Symphony Orchestra in
November. Her essay on Charles Simic appeared in
the March issue of Innisfree Poetry Journal.
T. Greenwood’s novel, This Glittering
World, was published in January
2011 by Kensington. Read about
her workshop on page 20.
Patricia Gray’s poem, “The Eggplant,” was published in The Poet’s
Cookbook: Recipes from Germany,
Poems by 33 American Poets.
Dan Gutstein’s book, non/fiction,
was published in April 2010 by
Edge Books.
Lyn Lifshin’s new poetry collection,
Ballroom, was published by March
Street Press in October 2010.
Nevin Martell’s book, Looking for
Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill
Watterson, was published by Continuum in August 2010.
Patricia McArdle’s new book,
Farishta, will be published in
June 2011 by Riverhead.
Ann McLaughlin’s novel, A Trial
in Summer, will be published by
Daniel & Daniel Publishers in
April 2011. She
will be reading
from A Trial in Summer in May, for
details, see page 32.
Yvette Neisser Moreno’s poetry
was published in the January issue
of Beltway Poetry Quarterly (the
Langston Hughes tribute issue).
She will be a featured poet in April
2011. Read about her workshop on page 14.
TWC INSIDER
Melvina Noel’s book, How to Thrive in College,
was published in January 2011 by Outskirts Press.
Marianne Villanueva’s stories “The Great Emptying
of the Three Triangles” and “Dust” were published in
December in the online journal, The Writing Disorder.
Alan Orloff ’s new book, Killer Routine,
will be published in April 2011 by
Midnight Ink. He will be reading
from Killer Routine in May, for details,
see page 32.
Richard Washer’s play Getting It
was produced at the The National
Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in
Georgetown, D.C., in December.
Leslie Pietrzyk’s “The Chicago
Brother” appeared in the special
Illinois issue of Crab Orchard Review
in Fall 2010.
Michele Wolf’s poetry book Immersion, selected by Denise Duhamel,
will be published by The Word
Works in early 2011. Read about
her workshop on pages 14.
Mary Quattlebaum’s picture book,
Pirate vs. Pirate, was published by
Disney Hyperion in March 2011.
Her article on writing picture books
appeared in the September 2010
issue of The Writer and her story
“The Thank-You Pie” was published
in the November 2010 issue of
Highlights High Five.
Sharon Rainey’s book, Making
a Pearl from the Grit of Life, was
published in November 2010
by Pinctada Publishing.
Jenny Rough’s essays “My Virtual
Cat” and “The Lost Coast” will be published in two anthologies: Cherished:
21 Writers on Animals They Have Loved
(New World Library; April 2011) and
Lost and He Said What?: Women Write about Moments
When Everything Changed (Seal Press; April 2011).
Read about her workshops on pages 18 and 20.
Terese Svoboda’s novel Pirate Talk
or Mermalade was published by
Dzanc Books in October 2010 and
her novel Bohemian Girl is forthcoming from Bison Books.
David Taylor’s illustrated book, Tall
Ship Odysseys, will be published by
Boston Publishing in 2011. Read
about his workshops on pages 11, 16, and 24.
AWARDS
Elisabeth Murawski’s poem “Emma Hardy Speaks
from the Grave” won Shenandoah’s Graybeal-Gowen
Prize for Virginia poets.
Bonnie Naradzay’s poem “Mother Wore Kid Gloves with
Cultured Pearls” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. The
poem was originally published in the fall issue of The
Pinch, the literary journal of the University of Memphis.
Sandra O’Connell’ s book, An American Family in World
War II, was awarded the silver medal for biography by
the Military Writers Society of America.
David Taylor’s DVD of Soul of a People: Writing
America’s Story came out this summer and won
a CINE Golden Eagle Award and a Bronze plaque
in the Chris Awards.
Joyce Winslow’s narrative poem, “The,” won 2nd place
in the Allan Ginsberg Poetry Awards. The poem will
be published in 2012 in the book Distinguished Poets.
Share your news with
community!
To be included in TWC Insider, e-mail your
news along with a high-resolution image
of your book cover or author photo to
[email protected].
The deadline for the fall issue is June 27.
35
WORKSHOP LEADERS
JAMES ALEXANDER has been writing professionally for more than 30 years and spent several
of those years as a political speechwriter including at
the Cabinet level. After earning a B.A. in Journalism
at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he
started his career as a bylined newspaper reporter
back in the days when newspapers mattered. He
worked for The Charlotte Observer and The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution and also interned at The Washington Post. Alexander followed up his newspaper
career by serving in the House and Senate as a U.S.
Congressional Fellow before working several years
on Capitol Hill as a press secretary.
NAOMI AYALA is the author of two books of
poetry Wild Animals on the Moon and This Side of Early.
She lives in D.C. where, until recently, she served
as the executive director of 826DC. Distinguishing
herself as a poet who writes in both Spanish and
English, her most recent work appears in Al pie de
la Casa Blanca: Poetas Hispanos de Washington, D.C.
KHRIS BAXTER is a screenwriter, producer, and
script consultant. He teaches screenwriting at The
Writer's Center, Gettysburg College, and at the lowresidency M.F.A. at Queens University of Charlotte,
NC. His body of work includes many optioned screenplays and one produced film. He is a member of the
Virginia Film Office where he is a judge for the annual
Screenwriting Competition. He is also the founder of
Baxter Baker & Associates (baxterbaker.com).
ANNE BECKER, M.A., The Writing Seminars
at The Johns Hopkins University, poet laureate of
Takoma Park, Maryland State Arts Council grantee,
is author of The Transmutation Notebooks: Poems
in the Voices of Charles and Emma Darwin and The
Good Body. Poems have appeared in Antioch Review,
Southern Poetry Review, and Little Patuxent Review.
She teaches Writing the Body, for those who have
experienced life-threatening and chronic illness
(bodywriting.org). For 17 years, she produced
Watershed Tapes, recordings of major American
and international poets.
ARTHUR BESNER has more than 30 years experience at the U.S. Department of Education, where,
among other things, he wrote speeches—delivered
by the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights and the
36
Department Secretary—that were given to national
education, civil rights, and legal organizations. He
also designed and delivered an ongoing training course,
“Writing Memoranda and Reports,” for Department
employees. He teaches at Montgomery College.
MARTIN BLANK is the author of 10 plays.
His The Law of Return was produced at Center Stage
Theater; his play Jerusalem was produced at Maryland
Ensemble Theatre, and was optioned for Broadway.
His comedy, Avenue of the Americas, was produced
Off Broadway at the Tank Theater. He is published
by Smith & Kraus. He has served as artistic associate
for the American Jewish Theatre and American
Place Theatre, as well as literary manager, Woolly
Mammoth Theatre Company, and founding artistic
director, Theater J. Currently, he is artistic director for
American Ensemble Theater. He attended the University of Maryland and the Yale School of Drama.
HILDIE S. BLOCK, M.A. The Johns Hopkins
University, has been leading writing workshops since
1996. She was an admissions officer at The Johns
Hopkins University, and taught writing at American
University and The George Washington University.
She has published over 50 short stories and essays.
Her book, Not What I Expected, came out in 2007.
ADELE STEINER BROWN B.A. and
M.F.A. in English Literature and Creative Writing
(Poetry) (University of Maryland); an instructor
with Montgomery College and Maryland State Arts
Council; host of Café Muse; and author of Refracted
Love, Freshwater Pearls, The Moon Lighting, and Look
Ma, “Hands” on Poetry. Her work has appeared in
WordWrights!, Maryland Poetry Review, Gargoyle,
Lucid Stone, Smartish Pace, and So to Speak.
PETER BROWN is the author of the awardwinning novel Ruthie Black, which got raves from
Midwest Book Review and Pleiades. View his TV interview at his Web site, www.pbrown.us. His novella,
The Death Of Rhett Butler, can be read in its entirety
at www.deathofrhett.blogspot.com, which was
recently featured in The Writer’s Center’s blog, First
Person Plural. His short story collection, Sidewalk
People, was a finalist in the Grace Notes Publisher’s
2010 Competition.
KENNETH CARROLL is a native Washingtonian, his writings appear in numerous publications
including, Stanford University Education Journal, Penguin’s African American Textbook, and Turn the Page:
Sharing Successful Chapters in Our Lives with Youth. He
has worked as an educator in the D.C. public schools
for the past 20 years where he has used literature and
writing to reach youth and to engage students in
learning and leadership opportunities. As the former
director of DC WritersCorps, he created the country’s
first Youth Poetry Slam League, which was honored
by the President’s Commission for the Arts and the
Humanities in 1999.
ANNE CASSIDY, is a writer, editor, and author
of Parents Who Think Too Much. Her work has appeared
in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Woman’s
Day, and elsewhere. She is the editor of Georgetown
Law’s alumni magazine. She writes mini-essays daily
on her blog, A Walker in the Suburbs.
CAROLYN CLARK is a teacher-scholar-poet
with a passion for Classics and Archaeology. Her formal
training is from Cornell University, Brown University,
and The Johns Hopkins University (Ph.D, Classics).
Since the 1980s, while teaching at university, college, and high school, her work appeared primarily
as scholarly articles, book reviews, and a long dissertation; now she is working on her “slender” (lyric)
poetry—and a smaller book.
BRENDA W. CLOUGH is the author of eight
novels, many short stories, and a number of nonfiction
works. 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 at least 10 years.
JEHANNE DUBROW is the author of three
poetry collections, most recently Stateside. Her work
has appeared in Poetry, New England Review, The New
Republic, Prairie Schooner, and Ploughshares. She earned
her Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and
her M.F.A. from University of Maryland. She is an assistant professor in literature and creative writing at
Washington College, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
WORKSHOP LEADERS
PAMELA EHRENBERG is the author of two
novels for young people, Tillmon County Fire (2009)
and Ethan, Suspended (2007). A former junior high
teacher and AmeriCorps alumna, she is currently
a higher education consultant and mom to two
small children. For an introvert, she can be found
on a surprising number of social networking sites,
including twitter.com/pamelaehrenberg, Facebook,
and MySpace, as well as on her own Web site
(www.pamelaehrenberg.com).
JONATHAN EIG has been teaching screenwriting workshops in the Washington, D.C., area for
the past 20 years. He is a winner of The Austin Film
Festival Heart of Film Screenplay Competition and a
CINE Golden Eagle. He currently teaches screenwriting and film history at Montgomery College, Takoma
Park, and leads a film series at the AFI Silver Theatre.
SUE EISENFELD’S essays and articles have
appeared in The New York Times, The Gettysburg
Review, Potomac Review, The Washington Post,
The Washingtonian, Under the Sun, Ars Medica,
Virginia Living, and other publications. Her essays
have been twice listed in the Best American Essays
(2009 and 2010). She was awarded the 2010 Goldfarb
Family Fellowship at the Virginia Center for the
Creative Arts, and she holds an M.A. in Writing
from The Johns Hopkins University.
TRICIA ELAM is an award-winning writer and
commentator who has been widely published in The
Washington Post, Essence, The Crisis, and numerous
journals and anthologies. She has also provided
commentary for National Public Radio, CNN, and the
BBC. Elam is the author of the critically acclaimed
novel, Breathing Room, and currently teaches at
Howard University.
KATHRYN ERSKINE, a lawyer-turned-author,
grew up in six countries, an experience that helps her
write from different perspectives. Her novels include
the 2010 National Book Award winner for Young
People’s Literature, Mockingbird, also a 2011 ALA Best
Fiction for Young Adults pick and 2011 ALA Children’s
Notable Book, Quaking, an ALA Top Ten Quick Pick for
Reluctant Readers, and The Absolute Value of Mike, a
Junior Library Guild Selection. While covering weighty
topics, her books use humor to make difficult issues
approachable. She is a writing instructor and frequent
workshop presenter.
BARBARA ESSTMAN, M.F.A., is a National
Endowment for the Arts, Virginia Center for the Creative
Arts, Virginia Commission for the Arts fellow, and a
Redbook fiction award winner, among other distinctions. Her novels, The Other Anna and Night Ride Home,
are in numerous foreign editions. Both were adapted
for television by Hallmark Productions. She co-edited
an anthology, A More Perfect Union: Poems and Stories
About the Modern Wedding, and has taught extensively
in universities.
LAURA FARGAS has published both fiction
and poetry, most recently An Animal of the Sixth Day.
She has taught at American University and in the
Goddard College M.F.A. Program.
MELANIE FIGG recently moved from the Twin
Cities, where she taught creative writing at The Loft
Literary Center and worked at Graywolf Press. She has
won many awards and fellowships for her poetry, and
been published in The Iowa Review, LIT, MARGIE, Colorado Review, and other journals. Her first manuscript,
“Monarch,” has been a finalist for the Walt Whitman
Award, the Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize, the Tupelo
Prize, and three other national competitions. She
now lives in Silver Spring and works in D.C. as Development Director at The Theatre Lab.
CATHY FINK is a prolific songwriter with two
GRAMMY Awards, 11 GRAMMY nominations, and 50
awards from the Washington Area Music Association
in bluegrass, folk, and children’s music. She shares
all her awards and recordings with Marcy Marxer.
Cathy & Marcy maintain an active tour schedule as
children’s/family performers and folk/roots/country/
swing artists. Cathy’s song “Names,” about the AIDS
Memorial Quilt, was recorded by over 20 artists in
several countries. www.cathymarcy.com
LEE FLEMING has been writing, editing,
and teaching both for more than two decades. Her
articles have appeared in The Washington Post, City
Paper, The Washingtonian, as well as other national
newspapers, magazines, and Web sites. A former
senior editor at Museum & Arts, and Garden Design
magazines, and managing editor/editor-in-chief
of Landscape Architecture, Fleming has received a
number of fellowships and awards for journalism
and fiction.
NAN FRY, Ph.D. (Yale University), is the author
of two books of poetry, Relearning the Dark and Say
What I Am Called, a chapbook of translations from
the Anglo-Saxon. Her work has appeared in numerous journals, anthologies, and textbooks, and she
has received two awards from the Maryland State
Arts Council. She taught in the Academic Studies
Department of the Corcoran College of Art + Design
for over 20 years.
T. GREENWOOD is the author of six novels.
She has received grants from the Sherwood Anderson
Foundation, the Christopher Isherwood Foundation,
the National Endowment for the Arts, and, most
recently, the Maryland State Arts Council. Two Rivers
was named Best General Fiction Book at the San
Diego Book Awards last year. Four of her novels have
been BookSense76/IndieBound picks; This Glittering
World is a January 2011 selection. She teaches creative
writing at both the Univeristy of California, San Diego’s
Extension Program and at The Ink Spot. She and her
husband, Patrick, live in San Diego, CA, with their
two daughters. She is also an aspiring photographer.
DAN GUTSTEIN’S writing has appeared or
will appear in more than 65 publications, including
Ploughshares, Prairie Schooner, The American Scholar,
TriQuarterly, The Iowa Review, and Best American
Poetry. A first collection, non/fiction, appeared in
2010. He has received grants from several organizations, including the Maryland State Arts Council.
He currently works at Maryland Institute College
of Art and The George Washington University, and
has previously held positions in economics, editing,
theatre, and journalism. He has taught tae kwon do
and done farm work, as well.
DAVE HOUSLEY’S collection of short fiction,
Ryan Seacrest is Famous, was published in 2007. His
work has appeared in Beloit Fiction Journal, The Collagist, Hobart, Nerve, Quarterly West, the anthology
Best of the Web 2010, and some other places. He’s
one of the editors at Barrelhouse. He keeps his virtual
stuff at davehousley.com.
37
WORKSHOP LEADERS
REUBEN JACKSON is a poet, radio commentator, and music critic living in Washington, D.C.
He was curator of the Smithsonian Institution’s Duke
Ellington Collection from 1989 until December 2009.
His poems have been published in 28 anthologies,
journals, and magazines such as Gargoyle, Beltway
Poetry Quarterly, and Indiana Review, and he is the
author of a volume of poetry entitled fingering the
keys, which won the 1992 Columbia Book Award. His
radio essays have aired on National Public Radio and
WAMU FM.
CHARLES JENSEN is the author of The First
Risk, which was recognized as a finalist for the 2010
Lambda Literary Award. His previous collections include Living Things, which won the 2006 Frank O’Hara
Chapbook Award, and The Strange Case of Maribel
Dixon. A past recipient of an Artist’s Project Grant
from the Arizona Commission on the Arts, his poetry
has appeared in BLOOM, Columbia Poetry Review,
Copper Nickel, The Journal, New England Review,
Spork, and West Branch. In 2006, he founded the
online poetry magazine LOCUSPOINT, which publishes
work on a city-by-city basis. He serves on the Board
of Directors of the Arts & Humanities Council of
Montgomery County and on the Emerging Leader
Council of Americans for the Arts. His Web site is
www.charles-jensen.com.
KATHRYN JOHNSON has published 41 novels
with major U.S. and international publishers. She is an
inspiring speaker at national writers’ conferences and
the founder of Write by You, www.writebyyou.com,
a professional mentoring service for fiction writers
who seek support in reaching their publication
goals. Her most recent critically acclaimed novel
is The Gentleman Poet: A Novel of Love, Danger,
and Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.”
MICHAEL KANG is an independent filmmaker
currently recovering from a three-year stint in Hollywood. He has taught screenwriting workshops
through The Asian American Writers’ Workshop, The
Poet’s Theater, and InDuLoop. He is currently teaching
Broadcast & Film Writing at Towson University. His
film The Motel premiered at the Sundance Film Festival
and is currently available on DVD through Palm
Pictures. Michael has received numerous awards for
his work including the Humanitas Prize, NEA Artist’s
38
Residency Grant at The MacDowell Colony, and the
Geri Ashur Award in screenwriting through the New
York Foundation for the Arts.
BETH KANTER is a feature writer specializing
in parenting and travel. Her stories have appeared
in a variety of publications including Wondertime,
Parents, American Baby, Working Mother, Shape,
and Chicago Tribune. She is the author of Day Trips
from Washington, DC: Getaway Ideas for the Local
Traveler and a regular contributor to the Fodor’s
and Michelin guidebook series. She earned her
M.S.J. from Northwestern University’s Medill
School of Journalism.
BRANDON KRAMER, a teaching artist
and documentary filmmaker for Meridian Hill
Pictures, has taught for the Kennedy Center’s On
Location program, The Story Pirates, and the Youth
Exchange & Study Program. He is a Maryland native
and graduated from Boston University, where he
studied Film Production and Cultural Anthropology.
LANCE KRAMER, creative director at Meridian
Hill Pictures, a D.C.-based production company,
has a wide range of experience in film, journalism,
and education. He is an award-winning children’s
author and has taught English in Ethiopia. Lance is
a Dartmouth College graduate with a History major
and Film minor.
CON LEHANE is a former bartender, union
organizer, college professor, and labor journalist. He
holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in fiction writing
from Columbia University and is the author of three
mystery novels, Beware the Solitary Drinker, What
Goes Around Comes Around, and Death at the Old
Hotel. He is currently at work on a fourth.
NANCY LEMANN has written Lives of the
Saints, The Ritz of the Bayou, Sportsman’s Paradise,
The Fiery Pantheon, and Malaise. She is a visiting
writer and instructor at The Johns Hopkins University
graduate writing program and recently judged the
first Walker Percy Prize in fiction for Loyola University
and New Orleans Review.
ELAINA LOVELAND, M.A., a professional
writer and editor since 1999, is the author two
books: Creative Colleges: A Guide for Student Actors,
Artists, Dancers, Musicians and Writers and Creative
Careers: Paths for Aspiring Actors, Artists, Dancers,
Musicians and Writers. She has written and edited
for numerous magazines (including American Careers,
The International Educator, Dance Teacher, The Northern Virginia Review, and U.S. News and World Report’s
annual college guide, among others) and has taught
writing at the college level.
DIANA M. MARTIN has a M.F.A. in Creative
Nonfiction and is currently an adjunct professor
at Montgomery College. Ms. Martin also has an
extensive background in association, nonprofit,
and corporation marketing. As a freelance writer
for over 20 years, she has contributed to national
and international publications. She shares a new
business with her son, Alex’s Art Loft, which
promotes creativity, independence, and support
for people with disabilities.
ADAM MEYER is a novelist, filmmaker, and
television writer. His novel The Last Domino was an
ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers,
and his new novel, When She’s Gone, is due out
in 2012. He is also writer/director of the feature
film Two Fireflies, and has written documentaries
and TV series for Fox, CBS, Discovery, and National
Geographic Television.
YVETTE NEISSER MORENO is a poet
and translator whose work has appeared in
numerous magazines and anthologies, including
the International Poetry Review, Palestine-Israel
Journal, Potomac Review, and The Virginia Quarterly
Review. She has translated two books of poetry from
Spanish—most recently South Pole/Polo Sur, by
María Teresa Ogliastri (co-translated with Patricia
Fisher), which is forthcoming—and is currently
seeking a publisher for her first book of original
poetry, Grip. She works as a freelance writer/editor,
and teaches writing at the University of Maryland
University College and at Brookside Gardens.
JOHN MORRIS has taught at The Writer's Center
since 1995. He has published fiction and poetry in
more than 80 literary magazines in the U.S. and Great
Britain. His work has been nominated for a Pushcart
Prize and reprinted in Twentieth Century Literary
Criticism. A chapbook, The Musician, Approaching
WORKSHOP LEADERS
Sleep, appeared in 2006 from Dos Madres Press.
His musical project, Mulberry Coach, a collaboration
with singer and lyricist Katie Fisher, released its fifth
CD in 2009.
SHANNON O’NEILL is an agent with the
Sagalyn Literary Agency, which has represented
journalists, academics, business writers, and novelists
for over 20 years. Shannon has a Master’s degree in
Writing from The Johns Hopkins University and graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College. She teaches
at American University and serves on the editorial
board for Potomac Review.
SUSAN O’SHAUGHNESSY has 25 years
of experience in professional writing and training.
She has taught writing courses at the World Bank,
the International Monetary Fund, and Georgetown
University. As an instructional designer, she has
created classroom and e-learning courses for
federal agencies and private companies.
WILLIAM O’SULLIVAN, M.F.A., essayist,
editor, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts fellow.
His personal essays have appeared in The New York
Times, Newsday, National Geographic Traveler, The
Washingtonian, and North American Review, among
others. He has received two Artist Fellowships from
the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and
his work has been listed three times among the notable
essays of the year in The Best American Essays.
ELIZABETH POLINER (J.D., M.F.A.), poet
and fiction writer, is the author of Mutual Life &
Casualty, a novel-in-stories. Her short fiction has
appeared in The Kenyon Review, Other Voices, Ascent,
and others, with several Pushcart nominations. Her
poetry has appeared in The Southern Review, Prairie
Schooner, Seneca Review, and others. A recipient
of seven individual artist grants from the D.C.
Commission on the Arts, she has also been awarded
scholarships to the Bread Loaf and Sewanee conferences. She teaches in the M.F.A. program at Hollins
University as well as at The Writer’s Center.
ELIZABETH REES, M.A., has taught at several
leading colleges, including Harvard University, the
U.S. Naval Academy, Howard University, and in The
Johns Hopkins University’s graduate program. She
works as a “poet-in-the-schools” for the Maryland
State Arts Council. She has published over 250 poems
in journals such as Partisan Review, The Kenyon
Review, AGNI, and North American Review, among
others. She has four award-winning chapbooks,
most recently, Tilting Gravity, winner of Codhill
Press’ 2009 contest.
ANGELA RENDER designed and maintained
Web sites since 1994 and is the founder and owner
of Thunderpaw Internet Presence Management,
thunderpaw.com. Her published work includes:
Forged By Lightning: A Novel of Hannibal and Scipio,
Marketing for Writers: A Practical Workbook, a column
for WRITERS' Journal, and ghost blogging. In addition
to her classes at The Writer's Center, she teaches
at-risk middle-school girls and has been a guest
speaker at numerous local conferences.
JASON RODRIGUEZ is a writer and editor
of comics and graphic novels. His works include the
Harvey-nominated Elk’s Run and the Harvey and
Eisner-nominated anthology Postcards: True Stories
That Never Happened. He’s currently working on a
WWI graphic novel, a novel, and several shorts for
various comic anthologies.
JENNY ROUGH is a lawyer-turned-writer. She’s
written articles and essays for The Washington Post,
Los Angeles Times, AARP The Magazine, USA WEEKEND,
More, Yoga Journal, and Writer’s Digest, among other
publications. She blogs about fertility for Mothering.
com, and she’s the Green Scene columnist for the
Washington Examiner. Her radio commentaries
have appeared on WAMU FM in Washington, D.C.
SIDNEY ROCKE, J.D., is a former federal prosecutor and Maryland Assistant Attorney General. He
has handled numerous trials and court appearances
nationwide, and regularly testified before Congress
and state legislatures. He also taught in a variety of
settings, including the FBI Academy and Georgetown
University. He has written for The Washington Post,
The Baltimore Sun, and LegalTimes. He received his
law degree from The George Washington University,
and a B.A. in Communication Studies from the
University of Massachusetts.
M.A. SCHAFFNER has recent poems in Poetry
Ireland, Poetry Salzburg, Stand, The Dalhousie Review,
and Illumination, as well as previous appearances in
more than 200 other journals. He has also authored the
collection The Good Opinion of Squirrels and War Boys,
a coming-of-age novel set during the Vietnam War.
CARA SEITCHEK has written grant proposals for
local, state, and national nonprofit organizations. In
addition, she evaluates proposals for the Institute of
Museum and Library Services, American Association of
Museums, and the Maryland State Arts Council. She has
an M.A. in writing from The Johns Hopkins University.
ANNE SHELDON is a children’s librarian, storyteller, adjunct instructor at University of Maryland,
and poet. She has worked as a poet-in-the-schools
with elementary-aged children in Kentucky, Maryland,
and Washington, D.C. Her most recent book, The
Adventures of the Faithful Counselor, is a verse narrative set in ancient Sumer. Her poems have appeared
in Poet Lore, The Dark Horse, and Edge City Review,
among others.
SARA MANSFIELD TABER was a William
B. Sloane Fellow in Nonfiction at the Bread Loaf
Writer’s Conference. She is the author of Dusk on
the Campo: A Journey in Patagonia; Of Many Lands:
Journal of a Traveling Childhood; and Bread of Three
Rivers: The Story of a French Loaf. Her short pieces
have appeared in The Washington Post, literary
magazines, and on public radio. Her memoir, Born
Under an Assumed Name:The Memoir of a Cold War
Spy’s Daughter, is in press.
JUDITH TABLER writes books on animals and
has received awards from the Dog Writer’s Association
of America. She has written for DOG FANCY, Bark,
Kennel Review, AKC Gazette, Middleburg Life, and
the National Geographic Society’s education department. Judith holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing and
teaches at a local university.
DAVID TAYLOR is an award-winning writer
and filmmaker on science, history, and culture. He
has written scripts for documentaries broadcast
on PBS, the Discovery Channel, The Travel Channel,
and other networks. He wrote and co-produced the
Smithsonian documentary Soul of a People: Writing
39
WORKSHOP LEADERS
America’s Story, nominated for a 2010 Writer’s Guild
Award, and the book, Soul of a People: The WPA
Writers’ Project Uncovers Depression America,
named among Best Books of 2009.
She was selected as a 2004 finalist for the Penelope
Niven Creative Nonfiction Award, was a 2006 Pushcart Prize nominee, and is a Virginia Center for the
Creative Arts Fellow.
DAVID Y. TODD is a writer and public relations
consultant. After working as a trial lawyer, then as a
journalist, he wrote, edited, and taught at universities
before turning to public relations full time in 1998. He
has directed publications and aided media relations for
individuals, nonprofits, government, and educational
institutions and has spoken and written for himself
and others online and in The Washington Post,
The Christian Science Monitor, The Yale Review,
and numerous other venues. Find him online
at www.davidytodd.com.
LYN VAUS, a longtime screenwriter and industry
professional, is best known for his award-winning
Miramax romantic comedy Next Stop Wonderland.
He began his career as a story editor for a production company in Hollywood where he oversaw the
script for New Line’s hit science fiction film “The
Lawnmower Man.” He has had numerous screenplays
of his own optioned, and in some cases produced by,
among others, Imax, Fineline, SenArt, and Miramax.
PAMELA TOUTANT, is a personal essayist
and occasional feature writer. Her work has appeared
in Salon, Redbook, Ms. Magazine, The Washington
Post Magazine, Washingtonian Magazine, Applause
Magazine, and Bethesda Magazine among others.
writers find their voice, the heart of the story, and to
develop multi-dimensional characters
BASIL WHITE is a speechwriter, a published
joke writer (Judy Brown’s Squeaky Clean Comedy, The
Comedy Thesaurus, and Larry Getlen’s The Complete
Idiot’s Guide to Jokes), public speaker, and business
humor consultant. Basil helps people add humor
to presentations, advertising, movie scripts, and
user manuals. He also writes articles and online
courses on creative technology writing, usability,
and information design. www.basilwhite.com.
MICHELE WOLF is the author of Immersion
(selected by Denise Duhamel, Hilary Tham Capital
Collection), Conversations During Sleep (Anhinga
Prize for Poetry), and The Keeper of Light (Painted
Bride Quarterly Poetry Chapbook Series). Her poems
have also appeared in Poetry, The Hudson Review,
North American Review, Antioch Review, Boulevard,
and numerous other literary journals and anthologies.
She is a contributing editor for Poet Lore. ¶
BECKIE WEINHEIMER’S coming of age
young adult novel, Converting Kate, is an ALA Best
Book, Kliatt:Editors’ Choice, Books of the Teen AgeNYPL, and CBC Notable Book. She has an M.F.A. in
Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont
College of Fine Arts. She lives in New York City and
in her popular workshops her strength is in helping
Do you know someone
in your family who is interested
in taking writing workshops?
to:________________________________________
4 5 0 8 WA L S H S T R E E T
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to:________________________________________
4 5 0 8 WA L S H S T R E E T
BE THESDA, MD 20815
to:________________________________________
from: ___________________________________
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W W W.WRITER.OR G
from: ___________________________________
301.654.8664
W W W.WRITER.OR G
4 5 0 8 WA L S H S T R E E T
BE THESDA, MD 20815
to:________________________________________
4 5 0 8 WA L S H S T R E E T
BE THESDA, MD 20815
from: ___________________________________
301.654.8664
W W W.WRITER.OR G
from: ___________________________________
301.654.8664
W W W.WRITER.OR G
Would you like to buy that person the gift of a workshop but don't know which one to choose?
Well, you can now purchase gift cards of $50, $100, $250, and $500 and give
them to a friend or family member. Next time you visit The Center,
ask the front-desk receptionist how you can purchase your gift card.
40
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Room, and classrooms are available weekdays
from 10:00 A.M.–6:00 P.M. when not occupied by
The Writer’s Center workshops.
Those rooms are also available on Friday, Saturday,
and Sunday evenings; and Saturday and Sunday
afternoons, when workshops and events are not
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Please contact The Writer’s Center for availability
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92% of the workshop cost will be refunded for notice given more than two weeks before
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CONTAINS DATED MATERIAL
Inside this issue:
Pen World Voices Festival Tour page 3
Volunteering in the
Writing Community page 4
Celebrating Mark Twain page 6
Readings, Performances,
and Events page 32
And the summer
workshop schedule page 11

workshops - The Writer`s Center

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