Weekend Writing Intensive Workshops

DESCRIPTION:
From June 24 through June 26, 2011, the Hudson Valley Center will be hosting the Sixth Weekend Writing Intensives in: Writing for Children, Food Writing, Dramatic Writing, Fiction/Nonfiction and Poetry. Beginners as well as seasoned writers are welcome.

The intensives will be held at the Business Resource Center at Ulster Community College in Kingston, New York. Lodging suggestions will be provided to students who register. In addition to tuition, students will be charged $50 for the weekend which will cover breakfast and lunch on Saturday and Sunday.

Students may register for one of these workshops/groups in the May A or May B term. When registration opens up for the May term, students can find these groups listed under “Writing Residency” in the Term Guide, or under the mentor’s last name.

Contact Steve Lewis (Steve.Lewis@esc.edu, 845 883-5332) for additional details.

Contact associate dean Amy Ruth Tobol (AmyRuth.Tobol@esc.edu, 914-948-6206 x3595) for questions about registration and logistics.

WORKSHOP DETAILS AND FACULTY PROFILES

Writing for Children (4 Credits/Advanced/Liberal)
Tutor: Wendy Townsend

A story can be described as being an emotional journey. Dramatic events, wild plots, extreme settings -- all grand! But the emotional core of the story carries the energy. Discovering the emotional core of your story -- whether novel, short story or picture book -- will be our focus. During our time together, we¹ll write, read our work to each other, and talk about it. Rather than criticize, we will ask plenty of questions, like, What is the character’s situation or quest, and how do we know (what clues have you given us)? How can the character come to terms with the situation or succeed in the quest -­ how will the character be okay? Have you moved us to care if the character is okay? The workshop goal will be for each of you to have your story, that is, to discover an emotion, issue or question that fascinates or haunts you, and to create a character who will take that emotional journey.

In 1993 Wendy Townsend co-authored a biology and husbandry book (on iguanas) and has since written many articles for magazines on similar subjects. When she made the leap into fiction in 2002 she began a Young Adult novel (first in an Empire State College study—and then en route to her MFA at Vermont college). The book, Lizard Love, was published by Front Street Books in 2008. On March 1, 2011, The Sundown Rule, was published by namelos. Townsend has written a picture book, currently in the hands of the illustrator, and she is at work on her third novel.

Poetry (4 Credits/Advanced/Liberal)
Tutor: Doris Umbers

For writers at all levels, this intensive poetry workshop explores the poetics of memory and place. We will generate new work through exercises in- and out-of-class and wide as well as deep readings of contemporary poetry. All work, in a sense, is a draft — this encourages us to take risks yet seek strategies for revision. Honest and generous in the quality of attention paid to our work, we will develop a critical eye for craft and language and reflect on what indwells in our poems.

Doris Umbers is the editor of Harpur Palate, Binghamton University’s national literary journal, founder and editor of Bluestone Quarry Press, a chapbook and broadside press, and writing faculty member at Binghamton University. She is also a Ph.D. candidate in Binghamton University's Graduate English/Creative Writing Program and a graduate of Empire State College. Her work has been published in Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art, The Paterson Literary Review, LIPS Literary Journal, Dyed in the Wool (Vivisphere Press, 2001), Dialogue Through Poetry Anthology (Rattapallax, 2000), Heartsongs (Rodale Press, 1999), If the Drum is a Woman (Wanganegresse Press) and Poems from Prompts. She was named winner of the Academy of American Poets’ University Prize, 2003 and 2004.

Microfiction/Nonfiction: The Whole Enchilada On A Single Page (Or Less) (4 Credits/Advanced/Liberal)
Tutor: Steve Lewis

The great (and wordy) novelist William Faulkner, whose forte was apparently not mathematics or understatement, advised would-be authors that writing is “99% talent, 99% discipline, and 99% work.” In this unique weekend workshop, novice and experienced writers alike will take Faulkner’s advice and exercise 297% of their writing talent, discipline, and work ethic toward the creation of short narratives. Built on image and suggestion, these short pieces will blossom into literary experiences much larger than themselves. There will be lots of in-class exercises, take-home triggers, and rich ongoing conversations about the way less can be more. We will meet once again in July to share and present the completed "chapbook" manuscripts. Several weeks prior to the workshop I will be sending out a brief writing " trigger" for the opening session and links to materials that should be read by the time we meet.

Steve Lewis is a mentor at Empire State College, a member of the faculty at the Sarah Lawrence College Writing Institute and a long-time freelance writer with publication credits that include The New York Times Magazine, Ladies Home Journal, Washington Post, L.A. Times, The Christian Science Monitor and a biblically long list of parenting magazines. His recent books are Fear And Loathing of Boca Raton: A Hippie's Guide to the Second Sixties, Zen and the Art of Fatherhood, The ABCs of Real Family Values,The Complete Guide for the Anxious Groom: How to Avoid Everything That Could Go Wrong on Her Big Day, and a collection of poems with accompanying photographs by Tom Nolan, A Month on a Barrier Island.

Food Writing (4 Credits/Advanced/Liberal)
Tutor: Gary Allen

This course explores several forms of food writing, including: food reminiscences, recipes, menus, restaurant reviews, "how-to" and other informative articles, and book-length projects. Several short-to-medium-length writing assignments introduce the student to the techniques used in professional food writing. Finally, the course addresses the professional practices of the working food writer.
Gary Allen is Food History Editor at LeitesCulinaria.com, teaches food writing and various food & culture courses at Empire State College, and has been Vice President, Newsletter Editor and Webmaster for the Association for the Study of Food and Society. His books include The Resource Guide for Food Writers, The Herbalist in the Kitchen, The Business of Food: Encyclopedia of the Food and Drink Industries and the anthology Human Cuisine (the last two co-edited with historian Ken Albala). He has contributed to numerous culinary encyclopedias. Gary has just finished writing Herbs: A Global History, for Reaktion Press's Edible Series (due Spring 2012), and is starting another book for the series, on sausage. His website (On the Table) and blog (Just Served) can found at http://onthetable.us.

Dramatic Writing (4 Credits/Advanced/Liberal)
Tutor: Mara Mills

Stage to Page: Improvisation is a dramatic tool for directors and actors to explore character and plot while working on a script. In this workshop, writers will work backwards, using improvisation to develop characters, plot, and dialogue for a final collaborative scripted work. Writers will also have a chance to develop an individual character monologue as they work toward the final collaboration.

Mara Mills has been an educator, storyteller, writer, stage director and producer for over 30 years, In 1991, she founded the Herbert Mark Newman Theatre with Marsha Newman and Jeremy Gratt, at the Rosenthal JCC in Pleasantville. Her focus, at the theatre and in her teaching and storytelling, is to provide ways to creatively involve the community, examine social issues through the arts, and to introduce new work to the public. (The Newman closed in 2004.) She has written several integrated curricula, which combines drama and academia. Mara has toured shows regionally and internationally. She received the 1995 East Coast Theater Conference award for Outstanding Service to Theater and the 2007 Cab Calloway Award for Theater.

Mara teaches theatre, social issues through drama, storytelling, and creativity at Empire State College; works with Seniors to write their life stories, and continues to write and sponsor original work, including a recent festival of short script inspired by and performed in front of large works of art and a poetry and sculpture program. Mara has worked with Domestic Abuse survivors to write an eight minute choral reading script about domestic abuse and recovery for the Northern Westchester Shelter and, with a playwright and an ESC Masters graduate, she directed a play on language and aging in Olean, NY. Mara is a published poet and writer and has published integrated curriculum that brings together arts and academic learning.