Reading and Writing Fairy Tales ($149)

In this 4-part workshop spanning four weeks, you are going to deep dive in the history, reading and writing of the fairy tale and come to know its exciting possibilities as a reader and writer. You will also be engaging in readings and activities in-between the scheduled sessions.

4 sessions
05/04/2024: re-membering fairy tales: history, genre and structure
05/11/2024: reading fairy tales: the classics, the modern and the contemporary
05/18/2024: writing fairy tales: guided prompts and activities
05/25/2024: twisting fairy tales: rewriting, queering, evolving

Francesca Aniballi is an author, a teacher, and a creative practitioner from Italy. She holds a PhD in comparative literature, a master's degree in anthropology and professional qualifications in creativity, expressive arts therapies, and writing.

https://www.blueplanetvision.com 

Writing Life: Exploring Memoir and Personal Essay (starting at $129)

Now more than ever, memoir and personal essay allows us to speak of our own experiences on our terms. Unlike autobiography or biography, which are often preoccupied with the facts of an event, or when things take place on a timeline, memoir can instead focus on the feelings and senses of a memory’s architecture, and the unique ways our memories connect to one another. In this generative six-week workshop, we will study and discuss techniques used by a variety of memoirists and poets who have written their own stories and experiences in interesting ways. Each student will also draft one piece in a form of their choice (prose or poetry) each week that experiments with sharing a memory or experience and receive weekly feedback from me and their classmates. At the close of the course, each student will have up to six new drafts that share or explore memory. Each student will also be encouraged to choose one draft they are most proud of to share with the class during our final Zoom session as part of a celebratory reading.

Lauren Brazeal Garza is a disabled author and Ph.D. candidate in literature at the University of Texas at Dallas with an MFA in writing from Bennington College. Her published poetry collections include Gutter (YesYes Books, 2018), a memoir-in-verse which chronicles her homelessness as a teenager. She has also published three chapbooks of poetry and flash fiction, most recently Santa Muerte Santa Muerte: I was Here Release Me (Tram Editions, 2023), which features fictional interviews with ghosts. Her work has appeared in Poetry Northwest, Waxwing, and Verse Daily among many other journals.

Research and Resonance (starting at $89)

Research ca n deepen our writing across genres, delivering facts, words, metaphors, inspiration, and details to build characters, stories, arguments, and images. It can also help us to understand ourselves as part of a connected world. In this workshop, we will explore the generative power of looking something up, how to keep track of what we’ve learned, and how to use facts to enliven our writing.

Catharina Coenen teaches biology and writing at Allegheny College. She co-hosts IWWG’s virtual open mic series throughout the year. Her essays and poems have appeared in literary magazines, nominated for the Pushcart Prize, noted in Best American Essays, and featured in Best of the Net. More on her creative work can be found at https://sites.google.com/a/allegheny.edu/botany-for-storytellers/about-this-site/author.

Motherhood: The Forever Job. A Reading & Open Mic

Motherhood: The Forever Job

An evening of new writing by author and artist Suzi Banks Baum, followed by a discussion about the importance of writing motherhood with Joy Rose, award-winning artist, activist, and founder of the Museum of Motherhood. Participate in an Open Mic event for IWWG members and guests.

Suzi Banks Baum is a protector of imagination, nurturer of attention, and devotee to the handmade. An award-winning author of creative nonfiction and skilled teacher of mixed media collage and book art, Suzi brings an embodied approach to artistic expression with deep respect for land and community.

Martha Joy Rose, BFA, MALS with a Master’s in Mother Studies. She is an award-winning artist and activist. Her pursuits have included academia, large-scale community gatherings, and she is the former lead singer of the band Housewives on Prozac. She founded the Museum of Motherhood in 2003 in NYC. In 2019, she brought MoM to St. Petersburg. https://mommuseum.org/

A Quest for Innocence in a Troubled World ($79)

This workshop brings to the poetic table three things: the inspiration to go on a quest; rediscovering a sense of innocence in language; and the overwhelming realities of today's troubled world. So, what does the poet have to say to the child, the adolescent, the newlyweds, the new parents, the people who just bought their first house and had their first baby? How do we re-discover language? Is childhood an innocent place? Is linguistic innocence desirable for a poet in the context of so much societal conflict? An outline of the workshop can be found here: https://poetryschool.com/theblog/blog-on-innocence-in-a-troubled-world-by-carmen-bugan/

Carmen Bugan's most recent books are the collection of poems Time Being (Shearsman, 2022), and the book of essays Poetry and the Language of Oppression: Essays on Politics and Poetics (Oxford University Press, 2021). Her prize-winning memoir, Burying the Typewriter: Childhood Under the Eye of the Secret Police (Picador, 2012), was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, and her new and selected poems, Lilies from America (Shearsman, 2019), was a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation. She teaches literature and creative writing at New York University Abu Dhabi.

Meditation Journaling for Neurotrauma Survivors & Caregivers ($39)

Explore trauma-sensitive meditation journaling as a contemplative practice for self-healing, wonder, and joy. By viewing mindfulness through the lens of neurotrauma, we evolve our understanding of the beauty, power, and practice of narrative presence with heartfelt awareness, by way of the intuitive mind. Learn three different trauma-sensitive meditation journaling methods that reflect a strengths-based approach. Nurture a new perspective of neurodivergent creativity, and connect with writing as an accessible practice for spiritual self-care in difficult times. Caregivers welcome.

Worthy Stokes is a bestselling mindfulness author who survived life-altering neurotrauma and a lucid, Near Death Experience. Her trauma-sensitive meditation journals and programs have since touched thousands worldwide. She currently studies Narrative Medicine at Columbia University.

Featured Reader & Open Mic: Eisha Mason

Eisha Mason is a Baltimore-born, Los Angeles-based writer. As an African American poet, spiritual therapist, activist and teacher, her writing aims to heal, love and create beauty while confronting injustice. Her work explores the relationship between the personal and the communal, spiritual and political evolution. “Through writing, I find my way out of personal trauma and remain true to my soul. Writing deepens my connection with myself, humanity and Spirit.” Eisha's first book of poetry, Red Door, was published in February, 2023 by World Stage Press.

Friday Freewrite: Writing Family

During this session, we will discuss writing that talks about ancestry (where do we come from?), legacy (what do we want to pass down? what do we inherit?), as well as cultural and family traditions.

You’re welcome to bring a photo of family or a family member (broadly defined) or a particular memory/story that you might want to write about. Or feel free to be inspired by the prompts. There will be time for us to share our work with each other.

Angela Siew is a multilingual poet with an MFA from Emerson College. She has received support from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, the City of Boston and Community of Writers Poetry Workshop. A chapbook, Coming Home, is available from Cut Bank (University of Montana): https://angelasiew.com/books/

 Writing the Heritage Poem - from $79

Culture and heritage can be found in our language, our food, our neighborhoods, within the rituals, religious practices or ceremonies your family kept, or in some cases, ignored. Heritage can be found in how you interact with your spouses, loved ones, at the workplace, and society, and what has been taught to you or what you teach your children.

Using the senses and sensory details, we will construct/write a heritage landscape poem, or poems, by unearthing and uncovering those memories hiding and locked in our everyday words, actions, interactions, our conversations and often our therapy sessions. Hopefully, by the end you’ll have a poem (or several) that sings of your heritage, your inheritance, and where you live or where you’re from; a poem(s) that represents you and/or a family member and/or your town, neighborhood or city/region.

Join us for this deep excavation of poetic language and memory!

Shonda Buchanan Biography (228 words)

Kalamazoo, Michigan native Shonda Buchanan is a twice Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, Oxfam Ambassador, a Los Angeles Dept. of Cultural Affairs and California Arts Council Fellow, the founding Literary Editor of Harriet Tubman Press and Board President for Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, one of the oldest arts organization in the country. Author of Black Indian, chosen by PBS NewsHour as a “Top 20 books to read to learn about institutional racism,” Shonda has freelanced for the Los Angeles Times, the LA Weekly, AWP’s The Writer’s Chronicle, Indian Country Today, Capital & Main, LA Progressive, Westways Magazine, Sisters of AARP, The International Review of African American Art, the Daily Press, Los Angeles Magazine, and the Los Angeles Review of Books.

A professor at Loyola Marymount University and in Alma College’s MFA Program in Creative Writing, Shonda’s forthcoming books are, The Lost Songs of Nina Simone and Children of the Mixed Blood Trail. Shonda Buchanan’s work focuses on the intersections of race, identity, migration, landscape and language with a mission to inspire, educate and heal. A descendant of African nations, the Coharie, Choctaw and Eastern Band Cherokee, and Europeans, Shonda writes on Chumash and Tongva lands in Los Angeles and in the Midwest on Ojibwa, (Anishinaabe), Ottawa and Potawatomi lands, yet she considers herself a citizen of the world. For more information, visit www.shondabuchanan.com.

Writing for Children ($25)

Talk about children's writing, editing and adapting animated content for children

Hi, I'm Swarnima, a writer based in Mumbai.
Over the past few years, I've focused on writing animated children's storybooks. I've written, edited, and translated over 100 such books. My skills extend to various writing disciplines, as evidenced by the different projects I've undertaken.

Women’s words…let's talk things through! (starting at $39)

In this 90-minute workshop, we will look at research and poems regarding women’s words and men’s ways. Findings show that women talk more polity than men, using tag questions and empty adjectives. But: which findings are (still) facts, and which ones seem fairy tales? Say, is an interruption just a misunderstanding or a conversation controller?

We will touch upon theories by Lakoff, Stokoe and Cameron (a.o.), and upon poetry by Eliot, Katrin and Rich (a.o.)…with time to write ourselves: about women’s worlds, in women’s words!

Kate Copeland is a linguist and poet, working@ the worldwide web, while
housesitting@ the world. She is curator-editor for Ekphrastic Review and
hosts workshops for IWWG and TER. Find Kate’s poetry@ Instagram [kate.copeland.poems] & published @ TER, Wildfire Words, AltPoetry, First.Lit-East a.o.

Retelling the Classics ($99/$129)

Attempting to retell a classic story may be daunting but can be a tremendous amount of fun. Imagine re-telling a beloved story or play from another character's perspective or how certain characters and plots would fare in the present day. The classic novel, Pride and Prejudice, has been re-told and re-told again. Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin tells Pride and Prejudice in a present-day Muslim community. Pride: A Pride and Prejudice Remix by Ibi Zoboi is the story told from the point of view of a young woman in present day Bronx, NY. Those are just two examples. Jane Eyre, King Lear, and The Age of Innocence have all been re-told in imaginative ways. If you have an idea or would like to explore ideas, this seminar is for you.

Bring examples of your favorite re-tellings and we will warm-up by getting to know classics in new ways. We will engage in activities designed to generate ideas and leave with a solid concept for a re-telling.

Elizabeth Santiago, PhD, Liz, is the founder of The Untold Narratives – a free website dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling. As a fiction writer and writing teacher living in Boston, she seeks to elevate underrepresented and under-heard voices. Her debut novel published by Lee and Low, The Moonlit Vine is available in English and Spanish (Claro de luna) and tells the little known narrative of the Taíno people, the native people of Puerto Rico, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Cuba and Jamaica who are still here and a huge part of Caribbean culture and history. She currently teaches creative writing and literature as an adjunct professor at both Boston College and Emerson College. She also teaches at Boston’s creative writing center, Grub Street, where she has taught workshops like Novel Generator, Retelling the Classics, Magical Realism and Writing Inclusive Young Adult and Middle Grade Novels. She formerly held the role Chief Development Officer at Youth Mentoring Action Network, a youth power-building organization in California. She was also the Chief Program Officer at MENTOR National. She obtained her PhD in Educational Studies from Lesley University, Master of Education from Harvard University, and Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Emerson College.

How Food Invokes Poetry (starting at $99)

How Food Invokes Poetry is a three-week workshop that is an invocation to all five senses and brings alive both food and poetry. You will engage with multi-dimensional paradigms by bringing your own experiences, close reading of evocative poetic texts related to food as well as creating your own food poems. oetry is witness, and what better location to witness than at the kitchen table? Ingredients, recipes, and rituals of honoring are a celebration and a meditation. Mealtimes hold us, as well as history. Every morsel is an activation process; stories have been buried within our pots and pans. Flavors serve as a platter of beginnings and endings of relationships, cultures, identities, memory, medicine, and bodies.

**All readings will be done online, and materials shall be provided by the teacher during class as slides and handouts.

Kashiana lives in North Carolina and is a TEDx speaker with two full length poetry collections and a chapbook. Her newest full-length collection, Witching Hour is due in 2024 with Glass Lyre press . Kashiana serves as Managing Editor for Poets Reading the News.

Two Lands, Two Languages, Two Minds (starting at $39)

As a Korean-American poet, I often describe my writing process as two minds trying to communicate on the same page, across the gaps between identities; I naturally write in both languages because I think in both languages. So I will use my poem, “The Gap,” to demonstrate the effect of different languages represented as different minds. Then, participants will use the “gap method” to create their own short poem.

Tanya (Hyonhye) Ko Hong is an internationally published poet, translator, and cultural curator championing bilingual poetry and poets. Born and raised in South Korea, she immigrated to the USA at the age of eighteen. She holds an MFA degree from Antioch University, Los Angeles. Tanya is the author of five books, including The War Still Within (KYSO Flash Press, 2019). Her work appears in Rattle, Beloit Poetry Journal, Allium, Entropy, Cultural Weekly, WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly (The Feminist Press), great weather for MEDIA, the Choson Ilbo, and The Korea Times, among others. You can find her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Featured Reader & Open Mic: Trish Hopkinson

Trish Hopkinson is a poet and advocate for the literary arts. You can find her online at SelfishPoet.com and in western Colorado where she runs the regional poetry group Rock Canyon Poets and is a board member of the International Women's Writing Guild. Her poetry has been published in several lit mags and journals, including Sugar House Review, TAB: The Journal of Poetry & Poetics, Cultural Daily, and The Penn Review. Hopkinson’s full length book A Godless Ascends was published by Lithic Press in March 2024. Her fourth e-chapbook Almost Famous was published by Yavanika Press in 2019 and her third chapbook Footnote was published by Lithic Press in 2017. Hopkinson happily answers to labels such as atheist, feminist, and empty nester; and enjoys traveling, live music, and craft beer.

Writing the Octavia E. Butler Poem or Flash Fiction Story - $79

When Octavia Estelle Butler’s grandmother, Eloise Guy, migrated to Victorville, California in the mid-1930s with six children, no husband and closed-mouth about her past, she simply wanted to “start over,” she told her family without telling them why. Born in the Jim Crow South in Lafayette, Louisiana, Eloise worked hard, scraping by while the country entered World War II in 1939.

Raised by her domestic worker mother and strict Baptist grandmother in difficult, volatile times for African Americans who demanded equal rights, during the nation’s formation of secret intelligence, and in budding national awareness of alien existence, Butler’s award-winning science fiction is replete with the themes, motifs, possibilities, dangers and triumphs of the 20th and 21st centuries.

After exploring Butler’s life, we’ll draft poems in this workshop that capture one or several moments of Octavia Butler’s life from girlhood to adulthood, and her writing journey, as well as her writing about the land. We’ll also incorporate elements of her struggles to publish, teach, and overcome shyness and dyslexia.

In this workshop, you will have the option to either write an ODE poem about Octavia Butler or write a flash fiction story in the vein of an Octavia Butler novel or short story. We’ll use Kindred for the flash fiction prompt. Or you can do both or blend the poem and flash fiction story if it feels right.

Hope you’ll join us in honoring the memory of this wonderful author!

ABOUT SHONDA

Kalamazoo, Michigan native Shonda Buchanan is a twice Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, Oxfam Ambassador, a Los Angeles Dept. of Cultural Affairs and California Arts Council Fellow, the founding Literary Editor of Harriet Tubman Press and Board President for Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, one of the oldest arts organization in the country. Author of Black Indian, chosen by PBS NewsHour as a “Top 20 books to read to learn about institutional racism,” Shonda has freelanced for the Los Angeles Times, the LA Weekly, AWP’s The Writer’s Chronicle, Indian Country Today, Capital & Main, LA Progressive, Westways Magazine, Sisters of AARP, The International Review of African American Art, the Daily Press, Los Angeles Magazine, and the Los Angeles Review of Books.

A professor at Loyola Marymount University and in Alma College’s MFA Program in Creative Writing, Shonda’s forthcoming books are, The Lost Songs of Nina Simone and Children of the Mixed Blood Trail. Shonda Buchanan’s work focuses on the intersections of race, identity, migration, landscape and language with a mission to inspire, educate and heal. A descendant of African nations, the Coharie, Choctaw and Eastern Band Cherokee, and Europeans, Shonda writes on Chumash and Tongva lands in Los Angeles and in the Midwest on Ojibwa, (Anishinaabe), Ottawa and Potawatomi lands, yet she considers herself a citizen of the world. For more information, visit www.shondabuchanan.com.

Conference Schedule Site

This year IWWG’s  2024 Summer Conference, will take place August 1-5 on the beautiful, seaside campus of Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island. Join us for this once-a-year immersive weekend; experience Community, Connection, and Creativity in the company of women Writing Together. You’ll thank yourself.

Every day, choose from among 20 different workshops, in all genres, taught by teachers both familiar and those bringing exciting new voices and perspectives. Experience the joy of being “heard” during in-class readings, nightly open mics, and intensive workshops and critiques focused on your own writing. Unwind, rejuvenate, and build lasting connections with like-minded women writers joined by our words and our stories. The beauty of this location will inspire both you and  your creativity. We hope you'll join us for this transformative journey into Writing Together by the sea.  

This year will feature the option of a single room or choosing to room with another, cutting your cost significantly. All rooms are in 'quad' suites, set up for four (2 bedrooms, 2 in each room). Single rooms (single occupancy per bedroom) share bath, common area and kitchen with another single room in the suite. Double rooms (double occupancy in twin beds) share bath, kitchen, and common area with another 2-person double in the suite. 

Slides of our Open House/Information Session from 2/4/2024

WRITING TOGETHER VIRTUAL WORKSHOPS

August 2-4, 2024

Friday, August 2nd

A Conversation with Sigrid Nunez. Time and description  to be announced; Visit Sigrid’s website here: sigridnunez.com

Saturday, August 3rd

“Our Blinding, Bright Lives”: A Meditation and Freewriting Circle #1 with Lisa Freedman

9:00 - 10:00 am EST: We will gather, and Lisa will guide us in five minutes of silent, breath-awareness meditation. Then we will freewrite off quotes and poems by Tracy K. Smith and share what comes through. The sharing is optional. The focus here is listening – listening to your inner self, listening to Tracy K. Smith’s lines, and listening to your own and each other’s words. 

11:30-12:30 - FLASH FICTION  

Writing Peace with Amy Shimshon-Santo

1:00 - 2:30 pm EST: Writing Peace - how women are imagining culture and place beyond conflict and war. 

Sunday, August 4th

“Our Blinding, Bright Lives”: A Meditation and Freewriting Circle #2 with Lisa Freedman

9:00 - 10:00 am EST: We will gather, and Lisa will guide us in five minutes of silent, breath-awareness meditation. Then we will freewrite off quotes and poems by Tracy K. Smith and share what comes through. The sharing is optional. The focus here is listening – listening to your inner self, listening to Tracy K. Smith’s lines, and listening to your own and each other’s words.

Pet Whispers with Kate Copeland

11:30am - 12:30pm EST: During this workshop, we are going to read, write and whisper about pets! Whether they are swimmers or singers, curled up on your bed or crawled away in a crate, pets are our sweet, loyal (and yes, sometimes annoying) companions. Expect fun and facts re animal language and training thoughts, expect lots of ‘pet prompts’ as well. Even if you do not own a dog or never had a cat, you will find inspiration in the animal pieces that will spring up. Do bring photos or memorabilia along, and let’s nose at how pets’ moves affect us in all manner of ways!

The Modern Publishing Landscape

3:00 - 4:30 pm EST: The publishing industry today looks much different than it did a decade ago. In that time, self-publishing has outgrown its longstanding 'vanity' stigma and become a viable publishing option for many writers. The traditional publishing industry has also experienced great changes and as a result it just isn’t what it used to be, even for those who’ve found success within the system. This workshop provides an overview of the modern book publishing landscape and gives advice to authors on how to successfully navigate it. We’ll discuss the general publishing options of Traditional Publishing, DIY, and Assisted Self-Publishing — how it all works and the logistics of moving your book from the computer screen to the bookshelf.

IWWG BOOK FAIR

• Each author will share a 6 foot table
  
• Authors responsible for shipping books to/from venue
  
• Authors responsible for set up and breakdown of their area
  
• Please bring enough books for half a 6 foot table
  

If shipping, send to: (please do not have boxes arrive before July 25, 2024)

Roger Williams Mail Center

Intermediate Playwriting ($199)

Every script, every new play is a theory. I don’t know if it’s going to work, which means a 

writer has to go in like a tailor, and listen to the actors and say, trim this more, or give her more. If it is perfectly tailored for the first cast it will be universal.” In this six-week course, you will get to sharpen your craft, learn revision techniques, and hear your work read aloud by professional actors. Each week, the instructor will share a short craft lesson, lead group discussions, facilitate breakout rooms, and guide you through writing exercises with skill focused prompts. There will be some outside assignments, including reading plays and short craft essays. The reading list will focus on work that push outside of traditional play structure, with notable works by Sharifa Yasmin, Hansol Jung, and Dave Harris. By week three, we will transition in

to workshop where you will have the opportunity to hear your work read aloud by professional actors and receive on-the-spot feedback. Using the Liz Lerman Critical Response Process, workshops will aim to nurture the growth of a play in early development. Your instructor will organize one-on-one meetings for extensive feedback, as well as individual time to dig into you as an artist. The course will culminate with a session focused on the business of playwriting. The instructor will share professional knowledge about the development of a new play, the submission process, artistic statements, and equip you with resources to take your theatre work to the next level. This class is intended for intermediate and advanced level playwrights who are familiar with the theatrical form

KIRA ROCKWELL is a neurodivergent playwright and educator. She is an Artist Fellow in Dramatic Writing with the Mass Cultural Council, a Recipient of Judith Royer Excellence in Playwriting Award, Second place recipient of the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, and more. Selected plays include OH TO BE PURE AGAIN (world premiere Actor's Express); THE TRAGIC ECSTASY OF GIRLHOOD (workshop premiere Boston Playwrights’ Theatre); and WITH MY EYES SHUT (published with Original Works). Her work has been developed with The Kennedy Center, National New Play Network, Great Plains Theatre Commons, among others. Commissions with Ensemble Studio Theatre, Actor's Express, and Moonbox Productions. She holds a BFA in Theatre Performance, and an MFA in Playwriting from Boston University. As an educator, Rockwell has taught at Brandeis University, Wheaton College, and centers across New England. Before graduate school, Rockwell worked at the intersection of mental health and arts education. Through a trauma-informed, healing-centered lens, she aims to nurture communal spaces that disrupt passivity and empower agency. www.kirarockwell.com