Course of Study

The daily schedule begins with morning workshops and continues in the afternoon with special topics classes, fellow and staff readings, craft lectures, and evening faculty readings. Each workshop consists of 12 participants and is led by two faculty members. Workshops meet five times, on alternating days, to form the core of the 12-day program. Writers also benefit from an hour-long individual meeting with a faculty member and a half-hour individual meeting with a fellow to discuss their manuscript in depth.

Workshop Faculty Pairings

FICTION
Chris Bachelder & Kirstin Chen
Venita Blackburn & Michael Knight
Vanessa Hua & Maurice Carlos Ruffin
Holly Goddard Jones & Stephanie Powell Watts
Leigh Newman & Kirstin Valdez Quade

POETRY
Eduardo C. Corral & A. E. Stallings
Camille Dungy & Nate Marshall
Tarfia Faizullah & Caki Wilkinson

NONFICTION
Alexander Chee & Lacy M. Johnson
Jaquira Díaz & Aisha Sabatini Sloan

PLAYWRITING
David Adjmi & Talene Monahon
Brittany K. Allen & Dan O’Brien
Professional actors will assist the playwriting workshop.

In addition to workshops, daily craft lectures will delve into writing techniques and challenges. Our craft lectures will include:

Camille Dungy, “The Trouble with Wilderness, or how to write about the wild world without coming off as a culturally disengaged loon”
Lacy M. Johnson, “Towards a New Nature Writing”
Holly Goddard Jones, “Mind the Gaps”
Vanessa Hua, “Model Minority Myth: What Does It Mean to Be a Solution?”
Dan O’Brien, “The Playwright’s Voice”
A. E. Stallings, "Rhyme Schemes"
Kirstin Valdez Quade, “Teetering at the Edge: On Sentimentality in Fiction”

We will also offer special topics classes taught by faculty, visitors, and fellows. Our special topics classes will include:

Eduardo C. Corral, “Writing and Structuring a First Book of Poems”
Vanessa Hua, “Craft Class: Revision Bootcamp”
Annie Hwang, “Queries about Queries”
Margaret Riley King and Sophie Cudd, “How to Find an Agent”
Maggie Su, “Developmental Edits in Short Prose (Fiction & NF)”
Caki Wilkinson, “The Art of the Very Short Poem”
Ginny Smith Younce, “What to Expect When You Work with a Publisher”
Renée Zuckerbrot, “How to Assemble a Short Story Collection … and Land an Agent and a Book Deal”