WiM to offer Narrative Workshop by Melora Wolff
Writers
in the Mountains announces a workshop in the personal essay, Portraits
and Elegies , taught by Melora Wolff on May 5th and 6th and May 12th and
13th. There will be two sessions on each day, limited to 8 participants.
Session one will meet from 10 am to 1 pm; Session two will meet from 2:30
-5:30 pm. All classes will be held in The Old Bank Gallery of The Roxbury
Arts Group and will cost $75. For 4 sessions.
This class is a workshop in the personal essay form. On the first weekend, participants will bring to the workshop an image or memento--a photo, a souvenir, an object--and write specific exercises about that memento. As a supportive and critical group, we will discuss the written exercises and their possible subjects, styles and motifs; we will discern the function of purposeful digression in the form; and clarify the meaning of a "balanced" portrait in prose.
The second weekend will be spent drafting and revising a longer essay based on the exercises. We work to compose vivid portraits or laments of other people we know or have known. Our aim is to craft essays as an homage or response to their presence in our lives. Only work written for the class will be discussed; no fiction, journalism, or poetry. Some readings and discussion of readings as well.
The two workshops are being offered concerently; one workshop is in the morning and one in the afternoon.
Melora Wolff, essayist and poet, has taught creative writing in colleges and arts centers for fifteen years. Her personal essays, poetry and articles have appeared in several journals and anthologies. She is co-author of the book "Movies To Manage By" (contemporary Books) and a recipient of the Artists Fellowship in Nonfiction Literature from The New York Foundation for the Arts.
Born in New York, she completed her B.A. at Brown University and her M.F.A. at Columbia University. Her work has appeared in Rivendell, Weber Studies, Penumbra Literary Journal, and elsewhere. She has taught creative writing at Binghamton University, Hartwick College, and Long Island University. Recently she served as Acting Director of the O’Neill Literary House and Creative Writing Program at Washington College in Maryland.
Pre-registration for these workshops is essential. Call (607) 326-7908 or register online at writersinthemountains .org.