|
 |
The Mid-South
Creative Nonfiction Writers' Conference
February 29 - March 2, 2008 • The University of Mississippi
Journeys:
Travel Writing & Memoir — Turning Experiences into Words |
 |
This conference offers a rare opportunity for writers to hear first-hand from the most influential editors on the field about how they choose the work they publish, and why. Participants will also have the opportunity to meet with agents and editors one-on-one. The schedule also includes time for networking and informal socializing.
Featured speakers will include internationally recognized magazine expert Samir ("Mr. Magazine") Husni, Journalism Department chair, University of Mississippi, and Lee Gutkind, the award-winning editor and founder of Creative Nonfiction.
|
| Featured panels include: |
|
Books: Writing and Publishing Travel Narrative and Memoir
Editors Charlie Conrad (Doubleday/Broadway) and Webster Younce (Houghton Mifflin) and literary agent Gillian MacKenzie will discuss current trends and the market for narrative travel memoir.
|
 |
Travel Narrative/Creative Nonfiction
Magazine editors Ted Moncreiff (Conde Nast Traveler), June Thomas (Slate.com), and Virginia Morell (National Geographic), discuss the market for travel memoir.
|
|
The Writer's Life
Writers Rebecca Skloot (The New York Times Magazine), Mike Rosenwald (The New Yorker, Esquire), and Virginia Morell offer concrete tips for researching markets for your work, pitching stories successfully and building relationships with editors. |
|
 Conference registration fee is $350.
Register online or by phone at 412-688-0304
Food, travel and lodging are not included in the registration fee and must
be arranged separately. For housing options in Oxford, please visit:
http://www.oxfordcvb.com/lodging.html. |
Pre-Conference Workshops
February 28 and 29
These day-long courses will focus on the art, craft and business of writing. Whether you're an established writer looking to expand your range or just beginning to think about a career in writing, these workshops will give you concrete tips for making your writing stronger and finding the right market for it.
Workshops can be attended separately or in conjuction with the rest of the conference.
|
Structuring Creative Nonfiction
Instructor: Rebecca Skloot
Thursday, February 28
 The art of nonfiction often has less to do with what you want to say than with how you decide to say it. This workshop will explore various ways of structuring essay-length nonfiction, from the conventional (chronologically-ordered, book-ended) to more unconventioinal and experimental forms. We will look at ppublished work as examples and, as time permits, discuss some current projects of workshop participants.
Rebecca Skloot is a freelance writer and contributing editor at Popular Science. She contributes to the The New York Times Magazine, O: The Oprah Magazine, Discover and others. Her first book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, is forthcoming from Crown. Skloot teaches creative nonfiction in the MFA program at the University of Memphis, where she directs the River City Writers Series.
 Workshop registration fee is $175.
Register online or by phone at 412-688-0304
|
The Most Interesting Person (or Place) That I Have Ever Met (Or Been To)
Instructor: Michael Rosenwald
Thursday, February 28
Come learn about the lovely lady who eats roadkill. When we get done with her, we will talk about the man who gave an annual ball for the benefit of himself. We all have stories we want to tell everyone we know. In this workshop you will learn what it takes to produce fascinating profiles of people and places — from coming up with an idea to reporting it and selling it to an editor.
Michael Rosenwald is a staff writer at the Washington Post. He is also an accomplished magazine writer whose work has appeared in the New Yorker, Esquire, Smithsonian and Popular Science. He has been a finalist for the National Magazine Award in feature writing.
Conference registration fee is $175.
Register online or by phone at 412-688-0304 |
Manuscript workshop with Dinty W. Moore
Thursday, February 28
 Memoirs-in-progress will be discussed and possibilities for revision identified and analyzed in an intimate workshop setting. Writers may submit up to 10 double-spaced pages in advance to share with other members of the workshop. Please email your work (up to 10 double-spaced pages) to institutes[at]creativenonfiction.org, attached as a Word or text document, by February 15.
Dinty W. Moore is a professor of English at Ohio University and the publisher of Brevity, an online journal of concise literary nonfiction. His fiction and essays have appeared in magazines and journals including the New York Times Magazine, The Southern Review, The Georgia Review, and others. He is the author of three books of nonfiction, Between Panic and Desire, The Accidental Buddhist and The Emperor's Virtual Clothes; a collection of stories, Toothpick Men; and a textbook, The Truth of the Matter: Art and Craft in Creative Nonfiction.
Workshop registration fee is $250.
Register online or by phone at 412-688-0304 |
How to Begin Your Memoir
Instructor: Kristen Iversen
Thursday, February 28
Your life is a web of stories containing vital truths that readers will recognize from their own lives. But where to begin? This class will discuss strategies to explore, shape, and develop vivid moments from your life and ways to begin to construct a cohesive narrative.
Kristen Iversen teaches creative nonfiction in the MFA program at The University of Memphis. She is Editor-in-Chief of The Pinch and is the author of Molly Brown: Unraveling the Myth, winner of the Colorado Book Award, and a textbook, Shadow Boxing: Art and Craft in Creative Nonfiction. Her memoir, Full Body Burden: Living and Dying in the Shadow of Rocky Flats, is forthcoming.
Workshop registration fee is $175.
Register online or by phone at 412-688-0304 |
The Art and Craft of Characterization in Memoir
Instructor: Dinty W. Moore
Friday, February 29
The people we write about in memoir are real, and our descriptions of them are true, but these people we write about—including the author/narrator/self—still function as characters on the page. The challenge is to bring them to life through their actions, reactions, dialogue and intimate detail. This seminar will explore strategies used by memoirists and include exercises designed to increase the writer's skill at transforming complex flesh-and-blood individuals into words, sentences and scenes.
 Workshop registration fee is $175.
Register online or by phone at 412-688-0304
|
Scenes From a Notebook: How to Make Words Cinematic
Instructor: Michael Rosenwald
Friday, February 29
Learn the nuts and bolts of turning life experiences, reportage, and even the most mundane facts into pulsing, scenic narratives that are impossible to put down. You will learn to write long scenes, short scenes, and what order to put them in so they become stories. You will learn to tuck facts into scenes. And you will study some of the greatest scenes in creative nonfiction history.
Workshop registration fee is $175.
Register online or by phone at 412-688-0304 |
Book Proposals and Query Letters
Instructor: Rebecca Skloot
Friday, February 29
Editors say they're always looking for new writers, but they're also flooded with letters, proposals and story ideas from writers eager to sell their work. This workshop will offer tips for writing query letters and book proposals that will stand out and help you land assignments and maybe even a book deal. Find out how to research agents and potential markets for your writing; condense story ideas into queries or effective summaries; and write cover letters and proposals that will make editors want to read more!
Workshop registration fee is $175.
Register online or by phone at 412-688-0304 |
Manuscript workshop with Kristen Iversen
Friday, February 29
Memoirs-in-progress will be discussed and possibilities for revision identified and analyzed in an intimate workshop setting. Writers may submit up to 10 double-spaced pages in advance to share with other members of the workshop. Please email your work (up to 10 double-spaced pages) to institutes[at]creativenonfiction.org, attached as a Word or text document, by February 15.
Workshop registration fee is $250.
Register online or by phone at 412-688-0304 |
Word of Mouth
Instructors: Blair Hobbs and John T. Edge
Friday, February 29
Eating is the most intimate act we humans engage in with regularity. This personal
narrative workshop leverages time at table (and stove) to explore matters of import.
Family. Fidelity. Province. Prejudice.
Instructors are husband-and-wife Blair Hobbs (M.A. Creative Writing, Hollins
College, M.F.A. Creative Writing, University of Michigan) and John T. Edge (M.A. Southern Studies, University of Mississippi, Contributing Editor, Gourmet.)
Workshop registration fee is $175.
Register online or by phone at 412-688-0304 |
|
