Being A Terrier
With novelist Lesley Kagen

New York Times bestselling author, Lesley Kagen, will talk about the importance of sinking your teeth into your writing and your publishing career. Woody Allen once said, "80% of success is showing up." Kagen believes that 80% of success in the publishing world is never giving up. Join us for some laughs and the author's sometimes not so funny struggle to become published.

LESLEY KAGEN is the bestselling author of the novels, “Whistling in the Dark” and “Land of a Hundred Wonders.” Her new novel, “Tomorrow River,” will be released in April of 2010.

Honey, I Didn’t Shrink The Poems
With poet Christine Swanberg

What if we took an expansive approach to poetry writing and revision rather than a reductive approach? Would it be possible to open up our poems and let them do things we may not have imagined or allowed them to do before? Let’s examine what a poem can do simultaneously: create a short narrative, invent original phrases, construct sparkling juxtapositions, lead to epiphany, probe psychological depth, sculpt elegant stanzas with “music” within them…Bring a couple of poems that seem in need of invigoration, and we’ll talk about strategies to accomplish that. Be open to experimentation as we revise and create new work, enlarging the scope of the poem rather than paring it down. We’ll look at some virtuoso poems for inspiration to set the scene for enlargement rather than confinement of your work. You will have time to create new work as well. Then we will affirm and discuss the work generated through this expansive lens. New poems will be incorporated into the class for returning students.

CHRISTINE SWANBERG has published several books of poetry: Tonight On This Late Road (Erie St., 1984), Invisible String (Erie St., 1990), Bread Upon the Waters (UW-Whitewater, 1990), Slow Miracle (Lake Shore, 1992), The Tenderness of Memory (Plainview Press, 1995), The Red Lacquer Room (Chiron Press, 2001). Her work appears in anthologies such as Knowing Stones: Poems Of Exotic Travel, I Am Becoming The Woman I’ve Wanted, Jane’s Stories, Key West: An Anthology, Pride And Joy, and Still Going Strong .Her newest book, Who Walks Among The Trees With Charity, is now available from Wind Publications (Nicolas, KY). Her poems appear in journals such as The Beloit Poetry Journal, Spoon River Quarterly, Amelia, Chiron, Kansas Quarterly, Creative Woman, Earth’s Daughters, Mid-America Review, Powhatan Review, Midnight Mind, Sow’s Ear, Wind, Plainsongs, The Louisville Review, clark Street Review, Wisconsin Review, Prairie Winds, Out of Line, and others. Awards include a featured reading at Seattle’s Frye Museum through PoetsWest, first and second place in Peninsula Pulse, first place in Midwest Poetry Review, second place in Nit and Wit, the YWCA Leader Luncheon Award for the Arts, and the Womanspirit Award from Womanspace Center. The 2008 Poet’s Market features a full length interview with Christine. She has edited Korone; Confluence: A Legacy Of Rock River Valley; and Land Connections: Writers of North Central Illinois. She founded the Rock River Poetry Contest and has judged many contests including Pen Women and Illinois Emerging Writers. Her weekly column, Literary Hook, has been published in Rock River Times for several years. She has been a writing teacher and mentor since the early 70’s and currently gives workshops at The Clearing in Door County, Wisconsin.

Point of View: The Outsider
With A. Manette Ansay

This class will focus on point of view, exploring that term in its traditional sense (first person, second person, third limited, omniscient) while simultaneously considering narratives--published work as well as impromptu exercises--told from an outsider's perspective: petunias in the onion patch, folks out of step and/or out of sync, the round peg stubbornly (joyfully?) refusing to cram itself into that single square hole. Such a perspective can be considered unreliable (how can you write about us if you're not one of us?). Such a perspective, too, can be considered fresh and insightful (how can the rest of you see the forest for the trees?). We'll look as well at pieces that stretch/augment conventional point of view boundaries, returning to our own work with a collectively honed technical eye. A few short readings will be assigned in advance to confirmed class participants. Please bring these readings as well as your writing tool of choice, be it laptop, notebook, or journal and pen.

A.MANETTE ANSAY grew up in Port Washington, Wisconsin. She is the author of six novels, including Vinegar Hill (an Oprah Winfrey Book Club Selection) and Midnight Champagne (a National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist), as well as a memoir, Limbo, and a collection of stories, Read This and Tell Me What It Says. Her most recent novel, Good Things I Wish You, collages historical fact with contemporary fiction. She teaches in the MFA program at the University of Miami, Coral Gables, where she is Professor of English.

A Poetry Worthshop
With Ellen Kort

What is it about poetry that makes it worthwhile, that compels us to spill words onto paper? Where does poetry fit in our everyday life? Poetry teaches us to be awake, to be human and engaged in the world around us. Poetry asks us to care deeply about language that sparks something unknown or something we already know and are eager to get on paper. Together, we will create a circle of writers and explore a variety of exercises that will get the creative energy flowing. We’ll probe the creative instinct of the deeper self and find the poet that lives within us. This workshop is for writers of all levels; beginners as well as seasoned poets. Bring a notebook and your favorite writing pen.

ELLEN KORT served four years as Wisconsin's first Poet Laureate and has traveled throughout the US, New Zealand, Australia, and Japan, offering poetry workshops and readings. She has authored 14 books, has been featured in a wide variety of journals and anthologies, and has received several literary awards. Her poems have been architecturally incorporated in buildings throughout Wisconsin and Minnesota and included in the Hospice Poetry Recording Project of Seattle. Ellen believes poetry is a "healing art" and facilitates poetry workshops at medical conventions for physicians and psychologists. Her poem, "Light," has been put to music by Philadelphia composer, Jennifer Higdon, and performed at the Weidner Center by the Green Bay Symphony.

Poetic Freedom: Accessing Primary Content and the Authentic Voice
With John Amen

All registered students receive copy of John’s new collection, At the Threshold of Alchemy.



What are the basic assumptions and expectations that define our relationships with our own poetry and the broader creative process? Where do these assumptions come from? Are they really “ours” in any organic or empowering sense, or are they actually standards and criteria which we have inherited and internalized? Can we distinguish between the historical censor and our authentic voices? What within us is calling to be expressed? Are we truly accessing and following our muses? Through various discussions, writing exercises, and sharing of work, we will explore new creative approaches, as well as ways to expand our usual techniques and default orientations. We will also discuss the role of revision, cultivating our abilities to objectively and adventurously approach the shaping of our poems. While our focus will be on our writing, it is possible that our explorations will also yield broader realizations, as it is often true that the way in which we write is also the way in which we live!



JOHN AMEN is the author of three collections of poetry: Christening the Dancer (Uccelli Press 2003), More of Me Disappears (Cross-Cultural Communications 2005), and At the Threshold of Alchemy (Presa 2009). In addition, his work has appeared in numerous publications nationally and internationally. He has released two folk/folk rock CDs: All I’ll Never Need (Cool Midget 2004) and Ridiculous Empire (2008). He is also an artist, working primarily with acrylics on canvas. Further information is available on his website: www.johnamen.com. Amen travels widely giving readings, doing musical performances, and conducting workshops. He founded and continues to edit The Pedestal Magazine (www.thepedestalmagazine.com).

A Day With Memoir: a Creative Nonfiction Workshop
With Michael Perry

Drawing on this patchwork background, Perry will discuss a wide range of subjects related to memoir and freelance writing including: balancing art and survival; capturing “sense of place” (and knowing when to move on); the advantages of writing from the middle of nowhere; making the common uncommon; why scattered thoughts are an essayists best friend; the unexpected benefits of do-it-yourself publishing; the realities of book sales and promotion; the use of humor (or, why kidney stones are funny); working with editors from afar; and how he learned everything he ever needed to know about writing by cleaning his father’s calf pens. The discussion will be offbeat and lighthearted, but always sincere, and is predicated on the idea that we write first of all from our hearts.

MICHAEL PERRY is the author of Population 485,Truck, and Coop. He grew up on a
Wisconsin dairy farm, worked on a Wyoming ranch, obtained a nursing degree, and then wound up writing by accident.

Nuts, Bolts and Jackhammers: a Poetry Workshop
With Marilyn Taylor

How do you put a good poem together? Maybe simply by getting better acquainted with poetry’s basic components—sounds, rhythms, and the anatomy of the line. In this poetry workshop, we’ll begin with sounds—the soft sounds, hard sounds, clustered sounds, and musical sounds that make up our English language. Then we’ll consider rhythms, and see how they can be manipulated to change a poem from slow to speedy, tranquil to punchy, gentle to jazzy—and vice versa. Finally, we’ll focus on the elements of the line itself—length, word-order, basic anatomy—and discover how any line can be shaped and molded to enhance its effect on the reader. It’ll be intensive, it’ll be fun, and it’ll be worth it, because your poetry is bound to come out of it stronger than ever.

MARILYN TAYLOR, Ph.D., is the Poet Laureate of the state of Wisconsin. She has taught for the Department of English and the Honors College at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Redbird Studio in Milwaukee, AllWriters Workplace in Waukesha, and for many other venues in the state and around the country. Her sixth and most recent poetry collection, titled Going Wrong, was published by Parallel Press in 2009. Marilyn’s poems have appeared in many anthologies and journals, including The American Scholar, Smartish Pace, Measure, and Poetry magazine. Her work has been awarded first place in recent contests sponsored by The Atlanta Review, Dogwood, The Ledge, and GSU Review poetry journals. She is a Contributing Editor for THE WRITER magazine, where her columns on craft appear bi-monthly.

Dialogue in Fiction and Nonfiction
With Jackie Mitchard

Even creative non-fiction depends on the narrative and no narrative can come to life without great dialogue. But writing speech is a skill that takes thought and practice. Unlike movie dialogue (which can rely on visual cues) and spoken language, which relies on context, history and the information of all five senses, written dialogue must sound natural to the "ear of the brain." Stilted dialogue can stunt even the freshest narrative. Novelist and essayist Jacquelyn Mitchard teaches from one of her greatest strengths -- written speech -- with examples, exercises and hints to make your dialogue come alive.

JACKIE MITCHARD is the New York Times bestselling author of 18 books for adults, teens and children -- including the first selection of the Oprah Winfrey Book Club, 'The Deep End of the Ocean,' named in 2007 as one of the most influential novels of the past 25 years. Her essays are widely anthologized, in collections that range from 'Mr. Wrong' (Ballantine, 2007) and the Chicken Soup for the Soul collection, 'Thank You, Mom...' (April, 2010). Her most recent novel, 'No Time to Wave Goodbye,' (Random House, 2009) is the sequel to 'The Deep End of the Ocean'. Mitchard lives with her husband and nine children, including two daughters adopted from Ethiopia on Christmas Day, 2009. Visit Jacquelyn on the web at www.jackiemitchard.com.