Opportunities & Announcements: August 7, 2018

In this edition

Register now for the September 8 and November 11 retreat lotteries

Adamant Music School

The lottery for our next BWW summer retreat (Poetry with Baron Wormser) closes August 11. Don’t miss this chance for a day with this well-loved visiting artist in the inspiring setting of Adamant Music School. The lottery for the final retreat (Creative Nonfiction with Jericho Parms) closes October 28.

Baron Wormser’s is a generative poetry-writing workshop. Participants will be given prompts of various poems that offer imaginative opportunities to take off into their own writing. The prompts come from a variety of poets, showing a variety of poetic occasions. There will be time to write as many as six new poems during the course of the day. Discussion will focus on the imaginative presences that turned up in the day’s poems and where they might lead.

Visit our retreats page to learn more about the schedules and leaders. Learn more about BWW retreats >

Questions? Email retreats@burlingtonwritersworkshop.com

RSVP now to attend August 12 BWW Open Mic at the Light Club

Come out and join us for our summer open mic night! Open to all genres, whether read, recited, sung or mashed up with siracha on the side…we invite folks on stage to do their thing—the only restriction, we ask each performer to please limit mic time to 5 minutes or less. Sign-ups are closed for the participation lottery, but you can still sign up on Meet-Up to attend. Bring family and friends for an evening of readings by fellow BWW members hosted by Partridge Boswell and Danielle Thierry.

Workshop leaders provide mutual support

Workshop leaders value each other’s support and guidance to help keep BWW workshops vibrant, creative, and safe. From time to time BWW workshop leaders meet to exchange ideas and discuss issues, but it had been awhile. Recently, 12 workshop leaders gathered to share experiences, define goals, and work through common problems—some perennial challenges and some issues particularly relevant today.

Questions that arose: Do we need formal guidelines? Is the former workshop handbook still viable as BWW evolves in this age of “safe space” and “#Metoo”? What are the leaders’ responsibilities? The participants’? How do we balance heightened sensibilities and triggers with the subversion and transgression that writing can demand?

Following a spirited discussion, a small group agreed to brainstorm, suggest guidelines to discuss with all workshop leaders, and then send to the board. Many thanks to Wendy Anderson, Margaret Grant, and all who made this session happen and to all who give their time leading and participating in BWW workshops.

Full house at historical fiction guest artist session

A group of 12 writers gathered on July 25 with visiting writer, Stephanie Storey, whose historical novel, Oil & Marble was released on March 1, 2016, and quickly became a Los Angeles Times bestseller.

Burlington was lucky to be a stop on Stephanie summer book tour. Packed with practical advice on research and structure, the workshop provided feedback to two BWW writers who submitted excerpts of historical novels in progress. Thanks and good luck to Stephanie. Thanks, also, to Michael Freed-Thall for hosting, and to all those who came out for this informative and stimulating evening.

Writers Roundtable Retreat to focus on CNF for children & teens

Looking for a weekend writing get-away? This year’s three-day Writers Roundtable Retreat will focus on creative nonfiction for children and teens. This program is a high-level, small group masterclass with one-on-one instruction.

October 12-14, 2018, in the Depot in South Londonderry, Vermont. This year’s faculty are Peter Lourie, Laura Backes and Steve Swinburne. (Note: this annual event is not affiliated with the BWW.)

Applications open for Season 9 of AWP Writer-to-Writer Mentorship Program

The AWP Writer-to-Writer Mentorship Program matches emerging writers and published authors for a three-month series of modules on topics such as craft, revision, publishing, and the writing life. Mentors volunteer their time and receive a free one-year AWP membership; the program is free to mentees. Writer-to-Writer is open to all AWP members, and they especially encourage applications from writers who have never been associated with an MFA program; writers of color; writers with disabilities; and those from the LGBTQ community. Applications are open now through August 12.

Congratulations & thanks

Congrats to Margaret Grant, whose story, “Arrieta 410,” has been published by Kenyon Review.

Congrats to Linda Quinlan who has had two poems and one flash nonfiction accepted for publication recently in Ponder, Alternating Current and The Legendary.

Congrats to Candelin Wahl on the July publication poems in two journals: Scarlet Leaf Review and Stonecoast Review—Summer 2018 Issue 9: “Unexpected,” which Candelin reports was composed last September at the BWW poetry retreat with Baron Wormser.

Nina Gaby’s solo show, “Other Alphabets: Dimensional Memoir,” opens September 7 in the Rebecca Lawrence Gallery at AVA Gallery and Art Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire. Nina currently works in mixed-media, focusing on single edition artist books that explore the intersection of narrative and object. The show runs through October 3. At a two-day workshop in conjunction with the show, participants will conceive and construct their own dimensional memoir in words and clay. For more information, visit avagallery.org and www.ninagaby.com.

Thanks to all BWW members who have attended one of the BWW Sustainability input sessions (July 21 and 26) or are planning to attend the August 11 session in Montpelier. Watch O&A for notes on these sessions and formal proposals to be considered at the November annual meeting.

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