4:00-5:00

Friday, June 25

Concurrent Sessions (75 min.)

A1.   The Tools of Creative Nonfiction Jean Harper
Workshop introduction to the four basic tools creative nonfiction writers use to gather material: Observation, Questions, Memory, and Reflection. Writing exercises in the subgenre of memoir.

A2.   Finding Story Lines in the Finite Elizabeth Latosi-Sawin
Biological, historical, and literary passages about distinctive Rocky Mountain flora and fauna will give participants a way to weave their own stories into the landscape.

A3.   Lenses: Viewing Personal Story from Multiple Perspectives—An Exercise for Writing Across the Curriculum Julie J. Nichols
Brief and allegedly "trivial" personal stories form the basis for a fun but eye-opening exercise in heightened awareness through analyzing and revising from multiple perspectives.

A4.   Knowing Our Place David Gessner
To find words for a place, first “become vulnerable to a place." Before the session, think of a specific place, jot down (in past tense) a particular memory associated with it, and plan to use it to create a short essay about place. 

Writing Workshops (3 hr.)

B1.    From Molehills to Mountains: Finding Spiritual Guidance Within
Mary Cartledgehayes and Debra Engle
What inspires and empowers you? Open the channels to your own spiritual guidance to strengthen your voice and write with more passion and clarity.

B2.    “Oh, The Places You’ll Go”: The Borderlands of Creative Nonfiction
 Cecile Malek
Working in the fertile borderlands located between traditional creative nonfiction forms (personal essay and memoir) and the genres of poetry and fiction.

B3.    Creating the Loop Collage  Elizabeth Sargent
After some guided loop writing, participants will work with partners to construct their own collages from the raw material of the loop writing.

Concurrent Sessions (75 min.)

C1.   “Inseeing” the Landscape Elizabeth Lawson
Exercising watchfulness over the natural scene, we will explore clouds, rocks, and flowers to write about their “ideas” and workshop ways of “inseeing” the landscape.

C2.   Creating Nonfiction Through Dialogue: An Interactive Workshop
Dianne Sautter & Kia Richmond, Presenters; Erin Sullivan, Session Chair

This session will allow participants to use a focused-meditation session to write a fresh piece and to receive some ideas about how to begin revising that piece.

C3.   Writing Home Mary Elizabeth Pope
Participants discuss excerpts of place writing, record observations outdoors, and through a series of exercises in contrast, use these observations to write about their home environments.

C4.   Mapping and Mining Childhood Nan Phifer
We'll map to recover buried memories and write to explore them. Then we will consider the texts that have emerged using questions likely to illuminate underlying spiritual dimensions.

Concurrent Sessions (75 min.)

D1.   The “Hermit Crab” Essay: Using Adopted Forms in Creative Nonfiction
Brenda Miller

Participants will read, write and learn how to teach personal essays that adopt non-traditional forms (such as a list, a bibliography, a “how-to” article, a series of math problems, etc.)

D2.   Multiple Identity Writing: Creative Nonfiction Techniques for Composition Lita Kurth
Given heuristics, participants will explore a topic written through several of their identities, share, and reflect, employing creative writing techniques and surrounding physical objects.

D3.   From Epistle to Email: The Role of the Letter in the World of Letters
Holly Welker
This session will consider the historical and current importance (or lack thereof) of the letter in the larger realm of literary nonfiction.

D4.   “Practice Resurrection”: The Hidden Life in Objects
Linda Elizabeth Peterson
Participants will display, discuss, and write about an object from a home of origin, however they wish to define it, in order to discover the hidden life within. 

 9:00-11:00                  

Sunday June 27