| Creative Writing |
2012 Creative Writing WorkshopsMonday, Wednesday, Friday 1. Melissa Pritchard / Robert Eversz (novel, novella) 2. Stuart Dybek 3. V.V. Ganeshananthan / Moira Crone Poetry 1. Mark Jarman / Terri Witek 2. Christopher Buckley / David St. John Nonfiction 1. Robin Hemley / Rodger Kamenetz Scriptwriting 1. Arnie Johnston and Deborah Percy / Steve Feffer Multi-genre 1. Gerald Costanzo / Richard Katrovas PSP workshop description Most creative writing workshops will have two mentors, one in the first two weeks and one in the second: the slash mark between names in the listing above separates the faculty teaching the first two weeks from the faculty teaching the second two weeks of the program. Stuart Dybek teaches a 4-week workshop (2-week enrollments will be accepted for this workshop). Each workshop will also have a TA who is the class manager; the TA will facilitate the collection and distribution of work prior to the beginning of the program, take roll, disseminate work once workshops are underway and help in the transition from the first two weeks to the second, etc. The TA will also serve as liaison between program participants and the academic director. In addition, the TA, a Western Michigan University MFA or Ph.D. candidate with teaching experience, may serve as a mentor for those program participants who have limited workshop experience. We make our best effort to limit workshops to twelve students, including the TA. Listed above are the workshops as they will likely be configured when the program begins. The creative writing classes will be composed of individuals at all skill levels, and will include both undergraduates and graduates. Novices (who may be brilliant and wildly gifted, but are early in their development as artists, and/or are relatively new to the workshop experience) will meet out of class with their TAs for special tutorials, and will otherwise be observers in the classroom. These tutorials will center on writing assignments and text-editing exercises. In consultation with the TAs, the mentors may invite novice poets and prose writers to submit their writing for critique. Each PSP participant will have work solicited by her or his TA, before the program begins (mid-May 2012), for dissemination online to the rest of the workshop. This is a messy though necessary process that will ensure that each workshop begins crisply. All students seeking academic credit for PSP courses and workshops must also attend the Tuesday Lecture Series (10 a.m. to 1 p.m.) and submit a minimum 1000-word personal essay on the 2012 theme to the PSP director by the evening of the final Tuesday of the program. In addition, creative writing students seeking credit must attend all of the Ypsilon Theater readings (few will find this requirement anything but a joy). |
