the
Writer's Center
workshop & event guide
summer 2012
Heidi durrow
emily miller
Jody Bolz
Sunil Freeman
TWC Celebrates Its 35th Anniversary
Inside: The conclusion of the member profiles, all about
writing and designing a book, BookTalk: Double Indemnity
interviews, and the summer workshops and events.
&
the Writer's
Center
Workshop Event Guide
SUMMER 2012
Managing Editor
Maureen A. Punte
Contributing Editors
Zachary Fernebok
Sunil Freeman
Contributing Writers
Robert Bausch
Caitlin Cushman
Jason DeYoung
Zachary Fernebok
Nevin Martell
Maureen A. Punte
Art Taylor
Copy Editors
Bernadette Geyer
Charles Jensen
Laura Spencer
Cover Photo Credits
Timothi Jane Graham (Durrow)
Patrice Gilbert (Miller)
Samantha Guerry (Bolz)
Genevieve DeLeon (Freeman)
Contact Us
p 301-654-8664
f 240-223-0458
Writer.org
post.master@writer.org
In the Workshop & Event Guide,
The Writer’s Center’s triquarterly
publication, you’ll find a list of all
of our upcoming workshops and
literary events, not to mention
the occasional interview and
craft feature.
Pick it up; pass it on.
WORKSHOP SCHEDULE
16 Fiction
18 Nonfiction
19 Memoir/Essay
20 Poetry
21 Stage & Screen
24 Songwriting
24 Mixed Genre
26 Younger Writers
27 Professional Development
28 Adults Write for Children
28Online
29 McLean Workshops
30 Capitol Hill Workshops
DEPARTMENTS
Welcome
About the Contributing Writers
Director's Note
How to Choose
Your Workshop
13 TWC Workshops at a Glance
32 Events at The Writer's Center
35 Leesburg First Friday
36 Workshop Leaders
41 TWC Insider
42 Thank You
45Registration
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2
3
12
FEATURES
4
The Heart & Soul of TWC:
A Profile of Sunil Freeman
5
Write Your way to the End:
A Profile of Emily Miller
6
The Author Who
Wrote from Her Life:
A Profile of Heidi Durrow
7
The Gift of Noticing:
A Profile of Jody Bolz
8
A Little Luck Never Hurts
My Career as a Book Author
9
A Million Little Details:
The Career of a Book Designer
Writer.org
10
BookTalk:
Double Indemnity
WELCOME
The Writer’s Center
cultivates the creation, publication,
presentation, and dissemination of literary
work. We are an independent literary
organization with a global reach, rooted
in a dynamic community of writers. As
one of the premier centers of its kind in
the country, we believe the craft of writing
is open to people of all backgrounds and
ages. Writing is interdisciplinary and unique
among the arts for its ability to touch on
all aspects of the human experience. It
enriches our lives and opens doors to knowledge and understanding. The Writer’s
Center is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization. Donations are tax deductible. A
copy of our current financial statement
is available upon request. Contact The
Writer’s Center at 4508 Walsh Street,
Bethesda, MD 20815. Documents and
information submitted to the State of
Maryland under the Maryland Charitable
Solicitations Act are available from the
Office of the Secretary of State for the
cost of copying and postage.
BOOKSTORE
The Bookstore carries one of the most
extensive collections of literary magazines
in the mid-Atlantic states.
Poet lore
Established in 1889, Poet Lore is the oldest
continuously published poetry journal
in the United States. We publish it twice
a year, and submissions are accepted
year-round. Subscription and submission information is available online at
poetlore.com.
DIRECTIONS
The Writer’s Center is located at 4508
Walsh Street in Bethesda, Maryland, five
blocks south of the Bethesda Metro stop.
Walsh Street is located on the east side
of Wisconsin Avenue. For more detailed
directions, please visit Writer.org.
PARKING
Metered parking is across the street from
our building. The meters are $1.00 per
hour on weekdays and free on weekends.
other locations
Writer’s Center Staff
Annapolis
Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts
801 Chase Street
Annapolis, MD 21401
marylandhall.org
Executive Director
Stewart Moss
Assistant Director
Sunil Freeman
Program Manager
Zachary Fernebok
Development & Operations Manager
Karen Callwood
Office Manager
Laura Spencer
Managing Editor of Poet Lore
Genevieve DeLeon
Arlington
Arlington Cultural Affairs Building
3700 South Four Mile Run Drive
Arlington, VA 22206
arlingtonarts.org
Capitol Hill
The Hill Center
921 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE
Washington, D.C. 20003
hillcenterdc.org
Glen Echo
Glen Echo Park
7300 MacArthur Blvd.
Glen Echo, MD 20812
glenechopark.org
Leesburg
Leesburg Town Hall
25 West Market Street
Leesburg, VA 20176
leesburgva.com
McLean
McLean Community Center
1234 Ingleside Avenue
McLean, VA 22101
mcleancenter.org
For directions, visit Writer.org
WEBSITE
Our website is Writer.org. It provides
complete descriptions of workshops,
workshop leader biographies, interactive workshops, event listings, resources,
Writer’s Center publications, and more.
Social networks
You can find us on
&
TWC’s Blog
Business & Operations
Lindsey Gordon
John Hamilton
Jennifer Napolitano
Rhea Smirlock
Contact Us
p 301-654-8664
f 240-223-0458
Writer.org
post.master@writer.org
Board of Directors
Sally Mott Freeman
Chair
Les Hatley
Treasurer
Neal P. Gillen
Vice Chair
Ken Ackerman
Secretary
Margot Backas
Sandra Beasley
Naomi Collins
Mark Cymrot
Michael Febrey
Patricia Harris
John M. Hill
James Mathews
C.M. Mayo
Jim McAndrew
Ann McLaughlin
E. Ethelbert Miller
Joram Piatigorsky
Bill Reynolds
Rose Solari
Linda Sullivan
Dulcie Taylor
Mier Wolf
Wilson W. Wyatt, Jr.
Honorary Board
Kate Blackwell
Dana Gioia
Jim Lehrer
Kate Lehrer
Alice McDermott
Ellen McLaughlin
Howard Norman
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Photos by: MATT BRIGGS (bausch); Kathryn Murphy (cushman); Ann Compton (deyoung); Clinton Brandhagen (fernebok); Danny Fowler (martell); charles jensen (punte); Tara Laskowski (taylor)
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Robert Bausch was educated at George
Mason University, earning a B.A., an M.A., and an
M.F.A., and he says he has been a writer all his
life. He has taught at the University of Virginia,
American University, George Mason University,
The Johns Hopkins University, and Northern
Virginia Community College. He has also been
a director on the board of the Pen Faulkner Foundation. In 2009 he was
awarded the John Dos Passos Prize in Literature. For more information,
visit robertbausch.org.
Caitlin Cushman is a writer/editor at
Boston University. She holds a fiction B.F.A.
from Emerson College and M.F.A. from American
University. She spent seven years at TWC, at one
time simultaneously teaching at AU, finishing her
thesis, and working both as managing editor of
Poet Lore and business and operations coordinator;
she’s thrilled to have just one job right now. Her fiction has appeared in So
to Speak and Amazing Graces, and she has written for First Person Plural.
She loves Shirley Temples and Twain.
Jason DeYoung is a former Writer’s Center
staff member and Managing Editor of Poet Lore.
His fiction has appeared most recently in The Los
Angeles Review, The Fiddleback, New Orleans Review,
and Harpur Palate. His fiction will also appear in
the forthcoming 2012 edition of The Best American Mystery Stories. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
Zachary Fernebok is a playwright, a
company member of Infinite Stage Theatre Company and Flying V, and playwright-in-residence at
American Ensemble Theatre. His plays have been
performed at The National Portrait Gallery and
the Otono Azul play festival in Argentina among
others. His plays, The Pirate Laureate of Port Town
and Navigating Turbulence, will be read and performed this summer with
American Ensemble Theatre. He teaches at Writopia Lab.
Nevin Martell has been writing about food
and culture for more than a decade and a half.
His work has appeared in The Washington Post
Express, DC Modern Luxury, Capitol File, Washington City Paper, Cheese Connoisseur, Restaurant
Management, Men’s Health, and online at The
Washington Post’s All You Can Eat blog. His books
include Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and His Revolutionary Comic Strip, Standing Small: A Celebration of 30
Years of the LEGO Minifigure, Dave Matthews Band: Music for the People, and
Beck: The Art of Mutation. You can find him online at nevinmartell.com.
Maureen A. Punte is a web specialist at
The Johns Hopkins University. She holds a B.S. in
Visual Communications Design from Stevenson
University and an M.A. in Publications Design
from University of Baltimore. Having worked at
The Writer’s Center as the art director, and as a
freelance designer for seven years, she is now
one of the managing principals and weekly blogger at the consulting
group, Radar Collective (radar-collective.com).
Art Taylor’s short fiction has appeared in
several national magazines, including Ellery
Queen’s Mystery Magazine and North American
Review; online at Fiction Weekly, Prick of the
Spindle, and SmokeLong Quarterly; and in various
regional publications. His story “A Voice from
the Past” was an honorable mention for the
2010 Best American Mystery Stories anthology. His story “Rearview Mirror”
won the 2011 Derringer Award for Best Novelette. He regularly reviews
mysteries and thrillers for The Washington Post and contributes frequently
to Mystery Scene, among other publications. For more information, visit
arttaylorwriter.com.
The Writer’s Center is supported in part by:
The Writer’s Center gratefully acknowledges assistance received from
The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation and The Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation.
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photo by: Kyle Semmel
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
Whenever I reflect on what
it means to return to writing
after months, or even years,
of neglecting it while attending to the demands of career
and family, I think of this
line from the Nobel Laureate
Czeslaw Milosz’s poem
“Capri”: “Early we receive
a call, yet it remains incomprehensible, and only late do we discover how obedient
we were.” Milosz is right: It’s difficult to escape forever
from what abides most deeply within us. For all of us
who take workshops and attend events at The Writer’s
Center, returning to our love of the written word is a kind
of homecoming, where others who share our passion are
ready to greet us as if we were voyagers returning to port.
But imagine a very different kind of homecoming, where
soldiers battered psychologically and physically from military service in Iraq and Afghanistan, or any of the other
countries in which the United States has been involved
militarily in recent years, return to a home in which the
joy and relief of what the ancient Greeks called nostos
is made nearly impossible by the severity of their own
wounds. Anger, anxiety, insomnia, flashbacks, and vertigo
are just a few of the symptoms they experience. An article
on “The Traumatized Brain” in a recent issue of Harvard
Magazine states that as many as 20 percent of U.S. soldiers
returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from traumatic
brain injury (TBI), and may also have some degree of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
For the past several weeks, The Writer’s Center has been
honored to be part of a program at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center that uses the arts to heal
these soldiers and restore them to productive lives. As a
participant at the recent national summit on “Arts in Healing for Warriors” observed, “Trauma comes through the
senses, and art can heal through the senses.” The Writer’s
Center’s role is to provide programmatic support for the
National Endowment for the Arts’ critically acclaimed
Operation Homecoming writing workshops that give
soldiers who are being treated at Walter Reed a chance to
write about their experience and regain control of their
own narrative.
The ability to externalize their experience, in fact, is the
beginning of therapeutic healing…and what they went
through is often not easy for these soldiers to explore or express. As Ron Capps, who, along with Jim Mathews, is one
of the workshop leaders and is himself a veteran of several
conflicts, including Afghanistan, states in his book Writing
War: A Guide to Telling Your Own Story:
To begin with, we’re often writing about the most
primal of emotions and urges. We might write about
killing or fear, loneliness or hatred. There might be
violence and brutality, or a grim determination in the
face of unenviable odds. Sometimes there is shame.
But there can also be moments of intense beauty and
surprising gentleness.
I’ve seen these moments of beauty and gentleness during
the creative writing sessions I’ve attended, when soldiers
have described the sun setting over the Hindu Kush after
an exhausting day on patrol, or the pleasure they got from
seeing a young boy in a tiny and remote village splash gleefully in a wading pool they’d just given his father. In all of
their writing, whether of beauty or violence, these soldiers
are paving the way to their own healing, and making a true
homecoming all the more possible.
It’s because of projects like this one, and also the many
workshops and readings at The Writer’s Center that can
play a profound role in the healing of whatever wounds
each one of us may carry, that I believe so deeply in the
work the Center does. And so I ask again that you help
support the Center by contributing to our 35th Anniversary Annual Fund before our fiscal year ends on June
30th. If you’ve already given, I’m deeply grateful and hope
you’ll make an additional contribution. Supporting the
Center is a way, in Milosz’s words, to be ‘obedient’ to your
own calling and to make stepping through the doors of
The Writer’s Center a kind of homecoming for everyone.
With all the best wishes for a wonderful spring and summer of writing,
3
Though he wasn’t there at The Writer’s Center’s (TWC)
founding, Sunil Freeman has been with the organization
longer than any other staff member—26 years! He is often
described as TWC’s “institutional memory.” Hard working,
modest, and giving, Sunil is perhaps the quintessence of TWC.
Sunil has lived most of his life in Maryland, but spent some
years in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and India as a child.
He graduated from University of Maryland, College Park,
in 1978. While there, he majored in journalism and wrote
for The Diamondback, the university’s newspaper. He started
taking workshops at TWC in 1985 and was hired in 1986.
When I asked him how he found out about the Center, he
said his Aunt Grace (who later became the Poet Laureate
of South Carolina) gently encouraged him to take a workshop after reading some of his poems. Sunil found TWC
through word-of-mouth and he started taking workshops,
first with such legendary workshop leaders as Ann Darr and
Rod Jellema, and then later with the wonderfully talented
William O’Sullivan and Cathy Fink. Sunil says in The
Writer’s Center he “found people who were serious about
writing, but who didn’t take themselves too seriously.”
Sunil’s publications include two books of poems, Surreal
Freedom Blues (1999) and That Would Explain the Violinist
(1993), and numerous poems, essays, and reviews in various literary journals.
Sunil is currently TWC’s assistant director, in charge of
off-site workshops at satellite venues and the Open Door
Reading Series, which he calls the “celebration” of the hard
work that goes on at TWC. He also oversees TWC’s special
projects, such as the NEA-funded “Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience.” Over the years he
has been the managing editor of Poet Lore, the bookstore
manager, and the programs director. “But I was first hired
to do phototypesetting of literary journals and books.”
4
Sunil says what he likes best about working at TWC is the
interaction with the workshop leaders. “They are the heart
and soul of TWC. They are such a talented, accomplished
group of people and that’s a honor to work with them.”
It’s hard to tease Sunil and TWC apart. While talking to
him, you learn that an important part of his character is
the sense of accomplishment he gets from helping lead this
well-oiled organization. He is particularly proud of inviting
Stanley Plumly and Robert Bausch to lead workshops.
When I asked him what people don’t know about TWC,
he said, “I think of just how much work goes on behind
the scenes to make things run smoothly. I think an apt
comparison is what you sometimes hear about musicians.
There are very talented guitarists who make their playing
look like it’s effortless, when in fact there’s a good deal of
work that goes into it. There are a lot of conversations,
emails, and thinking that take place behind the scenes [at
TWC] to ensure that workshop participants, and those attending events, are able to focus on the writing.” ¶
Write Your Way to the End:
A Profile of Emily Miller
Robert Bausch
I was scheduled to teach a workshop in Aspen,
Colorado. One of the manuscripts sent to me in the weeks
before my flight was a brief chapter in a novel by Emily
Miller. It was a scene in a car with a father and son. I think
the story is told from the father’s point of view, but what is
memorable from that scene is the excruciating awkwardness of the father, his sincere need to avoid conflict, set up
against his son’s distant, disrespectful attitude. What the
father says to his son engenders the kind of response he
is getting—taken a certain way, and that is how the son
takes it—but the father’s intentions are not at all what the
son perceives them to be. It’s a car ride, mostly. Not much
happens in the scene in terms of physical action. But the
conflict in that scene is as gripping as any I’ve encountered
in years.
Once the workshop began, I took Emily aside and asked
her, “What are you doing here?”
I told her she could easily teach a workshop herself. She told
me she’d been wrestling with this novel for a long, long time.
She wanted to get response to it in a workshop setting. She
thought it might help her get back on track and finish it.
Emily, I could see, had no faith in what she was doing. I
told her just to write her way to the end, to trust that prodigious talent and see what she’s got when she’s done with it.
A few days after I got back from Aspen, I sent Emily an e-mail
that said simply, “WYWTTE.” I had written that on a sheet
of paper and taped it to my computer, and then I thought
of her and decided to remind her of what I’d told her.
What I got back was an e-mail that said, “It took me
several hours to figure out what WYWTTE stands for.
I get it. And I will.” Of course what it stands for is “Write
Your Way To The End.”
Every day after that, when I sat down to work on my book,
I’d e-mail Emily first. WYWTTE. That’s all. Over the rest of
that fall, through the winter, and into the following summer, I’d ask Emily for a “status report.” She’d ask me how
my work was going, so I’d send her a status report too. At
one point I wrote to say, “I should probably quit sending
you these e-mails; I’m probably getting to be a nuisance.”
She wrote back and said, “No, don’t. It really is a help to
me. And I think I’m helping you, too. Go team.”
Emily finished her book. I’ll let her tell you what happened after that:
I spent the next four months doing two or three big revisions. In January
I decided it was where I wanted it to be. I was ready to look for an agent.
From everything I’d heard in my writing life, I braced for months (if not
more) of frustration and discouragement. To my great surprise, things
happened very quickly. One of the agents I queried in the first batch asked
me to suspend my search for 10 days while she read it. She promised she’d
get back to me the coming Monday, which happened to be Valentine’s
Day and, as promised, that Monday morning I got an e-mail from her
saying she loved the book and wanted to try to sell it. The only change she
wanted me to make was the title. (It was Gold. We changed it to After Augustus, which has since been changed again.) I was of course ecstatic. The
very next week she sent it out to eight. A few came back right away with
interest. I spoke to two editors on the phone on Tuesday, and ended up
accepting a two-book deal from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on Wednesday.
A two-book deal. Emily Miller is now beginning work on
that second novel. And I think when she gets going on it,
she will remember to write her way to the end. ¶
5
The
Author
Who
Wrote
from
Her
Life:
A Profile of
Heidi Durrow
Zachary Fernebok
Growing up in a racially divided town, Heidi Durrow
would often describe herself as “black and white” to satisfy
her curious community. Issues of race, class, and social injustice would later inspire her novel The Girl Who Fell from
the Sky the first recipient of TWC’s McLaughlin-StearnsEsstman Prize, which awards the author of the best first
novel published during a given calendar year.
Your novel, The Girl Who Fell from the Sky, was recently
awarded with TWC’s first-ever First Novel Prize. Pardon
the pun, but how did you fall into writing?
I always wanted to be a writer. But also wanted to be financially secure because I grew up without a lot of money.
I took jobs that allowed me to write for pay: Hallmark
greeting card writer, journalist, lawyer. Ultimately, I realized
that I wouldn’t feel fulfilled if I never gave novel writing
a shot. I quit my job as a corporate attorney and started
working on this book. It took a long time—12 years—
to write it and get it published. It felt like a miracle
when I found out I had won the Bellwether Prize
and would finally see my book in print.
Where did you get your inspiration for The Girl Who
Fell from the Sky?
The story is inspired by a real event in which a family
died in a terrible tragedy and the girl survived. I became
obsessed with the girl. I wanted to know what her survival
6
would look like and I set out to write a future for her, to
give her a voice. I learned after some trial and error that
the girl survivor had some relation to my own story. I
went on from there, blending the initial idea with the
touchstones of my own emotional experience.
At The Writer’s Center, we provide writing workshops
for all levels of writers. While you were writing your
novel, did you workshop your progress? How did
that feedback help your process?
I did try to workshop some of what ended up becoming
the novel. But I think I tried to workshop it too soon in
one instance. In one summer intensive workshop, I got to
share three chapters of the novel. It was there that I found
a trusted reader who gave me great notes on other drafts.
What’s the best advice you can give to our members
working on creative pieces that also address issues
of race, class, and social justice?
I think the best advice is to be true to the story and
characters first. The ideas and issues will be evident—
but you want readers to connect with and empathize
with the characters. If the readers can do that, they will
certainly follow the vision that you are writing. ¶
Read about Heidi’s upcoming reading at TWC on page 34.
The Gift of Noticing:
A Profile of Jody Bolz
Caitlin Cushman
Jody Bolz was three years old when she dictated a poem to her grandmother, a Russian Jew with limited English. The result was incomprehensible,
but one thing became clear: Jody was a poet.
BREAKAGE
Under skylights,
they circle
their subject—torso,
head, and shattered
limbs—in order
to restore it.
The broken body
(male figure
with an angel’s face)
sprawls across
three table-tops
in satin curves
chiseled
in antiquity
by hands like those
they label
“right” and “left,”
then set aside.
The marble’s
rough as gravel
where it ruptures
at each wrist,
reminding us
the history of art,
like history
itself,
is full of damage.
I watch the experts
bend over their work,
eyes and fingers
measuring the task,
in which ruin
is a factor
to be overcome—
time, the adversary,
and repair conceivable.
High school soured poetry with its overanalysis and she flirted instead with fiction—anything to tell a story—until Cornell’s A.R. Ammons brought her back
to poetry for life. He told her, “Poetry is really just paying attention, isn’t it?”
It took her nearly two decades to fully unpack that sentiment, but she came
away with an important assessment of the craft that consumed her: Poetry is a
way of paying back the world for the gift of noticing. Having worked with Jody
and experienced both the mentor and the editor, I’ve seen her talent for noticing, for paying attention, and the ways she’s chosen to thank the world for her
gifts, leaving the rest of us richer for knowing her.
My favorite part of working with Jody on Poet Lore was sharing in the detailed
conversations between her and our poets. Yes, in a move seldom made by
today’s beleaguered editors, Jody remains one of the few who take the time to
write to her poets. The journal’s history (it is the nation’s oldest continuously
published poetry journal) and reputation (beloved by those who know it) are
draws to poets and readers—but Jody’s sensibility reveals the reason poets love
Poet Lore.
Jody came aboard with 24 years of teaching under her belt and a strong editing
background. But beyond her talent for spotting printer errors and grammatical
inconsistencies, Jody is a poet, and she and E. Ethelbert Miller (poet and literary activist) have kept Poet Lore a poet’s journal.
Jody explains, “One of the things that I feel best about is engaging poets in a
serious conversation about their work. It can salvage a poem.” And the attention does not go unremarked. Grateful poets speak of the time Jody took to
deeply evaluate and consider their work. Someone was paying attention.
And she loves the work. “The older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve felt that poetry is
essential,” Jody says. “Poets leave behind a record of humanness—what it’s like
to be alive here and now—an intense connection with a stranger in another
time and space.” That’s what she looks for when reading a poem, and when she
writes her own: work that lasts and that changes your way of thinking.
Her work as editor, poet, teacher, and lover of literature has always been about
those new ways of thinking, especially the kind generated in collaboration.
Whether between an artist and appreciator, an editor and writer, a teacher
and student, or a poet and her subject, Jody Bolz embraces the opportunity
that conversation provides—taking the time to pay attention in a preoccupied
world. We’ve noticed. We’ll pay you back. ¶
Read about Poet Lore’s birthday reading on page 34.
7
Nevin Martell
Scoring a deal with a publishing house can
sometimes seem impossible—at the very least fantastical—
even if you’ve made it happen before. Even though I’ve
written several books, I’m still surprised that any of them
made it to the shelves. Happenstance and luck always seem
to play a role.
My first effort, Dave Matthews Band: Music for the People,
came about when a writer friend managed to sell a similarly styled biography on Oasis. I kept badgering him
over gin and tonics until he introduced me to his agent
and walked me through the process. A short while later, I
found myself cashing an advance check. Basically, I starred
in a publishing fairytale.
When that book sold well, the publisher called me to find
out what music icon I wanted to tackle next. I narrowed
down my options to this new little band called the Foo
Fighters, and Beck, who was alt-rock’s golden child. Unfortunately, I chose the “Loser” singer. As I toiled away on
my book, he proceeded to release increasingly experimental albums that sold progressively fewer copies. Meanwhile,
the Foos became the biggest band in the world. Beck: The
Art of Mutation sank like its namesake’s career and my
publisher stopped calling. My career as a writer was stalled.
More than half a decade passed and I couldn’t come up
with an idea that would stick to the wall. I still had an
agent, but only technically. The only time we communicated was when he emailed to ensure that my royalty
checks for the DMB book were going to the right address.
It wasn’t a bad relationship; it just wasn’t one that productively moved my career forward.
8
After more than a few false starts, I started asking myself
a simple question: What did I love so much that I would
want to spend a year researching it and writing about it?
My epiphany came as I was reading an old Calvin and
Hobbes comic strip. The quirky adventures of the boy and
his tiger got me to thinking: What the hell ever happened
to their creator, Bill Watterson? After some quick research
(ie. Googling), I realized Watterson was a true enigma. I
drew up a one-page proposal in the hopes that someone
would pay me to uncover the mystery.
I shared the concept with my agent, but he wasn’t interested.
I was convinced it was a good idea, but I wasn’t sure how I
was going to get it off the ground without representation.
Around that time, I happened to be talking to an editor at
Continuum Publishing about their 331/3 series, which focuses
on esoteric and forgotten albums. He passed on my idea to
do a book on Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, but I decided
to send him my proposal for my dream project on Bill Watterson anyway. He liked it and asked for a quick chapter
outline. Soon enough, he was sending me a contract for what
became Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional
Story of Bill Watterson and His Revolutionary Comic Strip.
Since my agent hadn’t been supportive of the idea, I decided to represent myself (with a little help from a friendly
lawyer who looked over the paperwork). It all happened
so fast that I had little time to consider my good fortune.
Now I’m putting together a proposal for my next project and I’ve got my fingers crossed. It takes a great idea,
persistence, and a lot of hard work to get a book deal.
But a little luck never hurts. ¶
Maureen Punte
If you’ve read a book and didn’t stumble over the text,
or notice things like ragged paragraphs, widows, or rivers,
you can thank the careful skill of the books’ designer for
bringing it all together. As a book designer with over 35
titles to his credit, Jay Naughton has worn many hats: copy
editor, photo manipulator, illustrator, production coordinator, marketing person, accountant, and business manager.
Book design is something Naughton fell into. A selfproclaimed “software junkie,” he taught himself the latest
programs—including a fad at the time, desktop publishing.
Like others, Naughton was amazed that a person could
produce print material at home. After learning the software,
he started taking on side jobs designing things like menus
and newsletters.
He later worked as a writer for the National Lampoon website. When the company got a book deal, Naughton was
asked if he could produce the book. Having worked at a
nonprofit producing books, he felt he could try. Although
he wasn’t actively marketing himself, this led to more work
from the publisher and others.
As for his design skills, Naughton says he just picked them
up, “I’m not trained at all. Again, it’s just having an eye for
what looks good and what doesn’t.” It’s a modest answer
from someone who knows what makes for a strong book
design, “If the typography and design draws too much
attention to itself, you’re taking away from the fact that it’s
a book someone should be reading, not a museum piece
someone should be admiring.”
At his height, Naughton was producing a new book every
three weeks. This requires a detailed plan. After receiving
information on the size of the book, the page count, and
the word count, he would lay out four or five sample chapters for the client. For some projects, he was given a few
days to sit and think about the layout. For others, he sat
with the authors working out ideas on the spot.
For Naughton, book design is a constant dialogue. The
designer has to be open to what the author wants because
ultimately it’s the author’s book. It’s also about being prepared for revisions because “final text” doesn’t necessarily
mean “final.” Naughton explains the trouble one small
change can cause. “If [the author] changes one word there,
boom, half of this paragraph’s on the next page. None of
your pictures line up, your captions are gone.”
In addition to his work on the National Lampoon books,
Naughton worked on a series that included a biography
of John Belushi. Belushi’s widow, Judith, a co-author on
the book, had one layout request: make it look like Rolling
Stone. Belushi had appeared in the magazine many times.
This required some research on Naughton’s part. Knowing
how the magazine was laid out, and more importantly
what typeface they used, was crucial. He went through
thousands of fonts on his computer. For each one Judith
said it wasn’t right. He wound up buying the font.
The book included pictures from Belushi’s life. Judith sent
Naughton a trunk of scrapbooks, Polaroids, and notes.
However, there were pictures Judith and co-author Tanner
Colby wanted in the book that weren’t in the trunk. It was
up to Naughton to track these down. This meant calling
John’s old friends and Universal Studios for movie stills.
Each item had to be cataloged, scanned, and cleaned up in
Photoshop. As Naughton points out, “It’s a million little
details,” so staying organized, both digitally and physically,
is essential. All of this became Naughton’s job because, as
he says, “If someone uses a snippet of something you have
to know, it shouldn’t fall on the designer’s shoulders, but if
I’m the only one who can do it I kind of have to.”
When the recession hit, Naughton’s clients started going
out of business and the book design projects went away.
This hasn’t concerned Naughton in the least. As a designer
and freelancer, he says you have to know what’s happening.
Much like the Internet boom and rise of purchasing music
online, Naughton sees the time of the e-reader as exciting,
“I think you’re going to see more interactivity in books,
stuff you can’t do on paper, to justify the cost of buying
it on Kindle or iPad or Nook—little animations, photos,
links, or sounds. Who knows? I’m diving into that now
to see what happens.” As for the books that he designed,
Naughton has been asked to send the materials so e-versions can be produced. ¶
9
art
taylor
BookTalk:
megan
Photos by: Drew reilly (Abbott); kyle semmel (corrigan); Paddy Lehane (Lehane); Stan Barouh (robison)
abbotT
10
maureen
corrigan
con
lehane
blake
robison
James M. Cain’s first two novels—The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity—
earned both sharp notoriety and enduring acclaim for the author, a Baltimore native. Postman, first published in 1934,
was a sensational bestseller, despite (or perhaps because of?) being banned in Boston, and the book famously inspired
Albert Camus’ own first novel, The Stranger. Double Indemnity, serialized in 1936 and published as a novel in 1943,
cemented the author’s reputation as one of the finest crime writers of his generation, a master alongside contemporaries
Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. Both books were adapted into now-classic film noirs, and a third novel,
Mildred Pierce—was recently given fresh life as an award-winning HBO miniseries. →
This spring, Double Indemnity gets its own update with the
East Coast premiere of a new stage adaptation running
May 30–June 24 at Bethesda’s Round House Theatre. In
conjunction with that production, The Writer’s Center will
host a BookTalk event on Sunday, June 10, at 12:30 p.m.,
focused on Cain’s novels, the various film adaptations,
and the local production. As a preview of that talk, the
program’s moderator, fiction writer and critic Art Taylor,
posed some quick questions of each of the panelists. Check
out their responses below, and come join us on Sunday,
June 10, for more of the discussion!
Maureen Corrigan, Georgetown University professor and book critic for National Public Radio and
The Washington Post
Taylor: How well do Cain’s books hold up against today’s
crime or noir novels? Having taught Cain in the college classroom, how have students’ responses surprised you in any way?
Corrigan: Cain is still the crime noir master against whom
all other writers must measure themselves. Fate, fall guys,
femme fatales, and fast cars: Cain mixed them all up in
a California cauldron steaming with sexuality and bad
poetry. Yes, that’s right: “bad poetry.” The amazing thing
about Cain is that he wasn’t a great literary stylist. Anyone
who doubts this judgment should compare the ending of
the novel Double Indemnity to Billy Wilder’s film version.
Cain’s finale is infected by dopey symbols (“the moon,”
that shark!) while Wilder’s ending is elegantly restrained by
comparison. My students are sometimes surprised to find
how wincingly bad Cain’s literary flourishes can be, but
they revere Cain for the doomed mood of his stories and
his ingenious “No Exit” plots. Cain’s novels are a product of
The Great Depression. Given our ongoing Great Recession,
Cain’s writing—particularly its focus on what desperate people will do for a buck—is more socially relevant than ever.
Megan Abbott, Edgar Award-winning author
of six novels, including most recently The End
of Everything.
Taylor: At a noir-themed evening sponsored by City Light
Books a couple years ago, you commented that James M.
Cain’s novels provided your first glimpse at adult love.
What impact did Cain’s books have on you—both as a
young reader coming of age and as a young writer entering
the world of noir?
Abbott: I grew up loving the famous film adaptations of
Cain, their brooding sense of desire run amok. It made
adult desire seem so overwhelming and dangerous. But
nothing prepared me for The Postman Always Rings Twice,
which I first read in my early 20s. It felt like forbidden
terrain. The way it’s structured—as a confession—made
it feel like Frank, the narrator, was whispering a secret
in my ear, an almost unbearable intimacy. It made me
think of the power of noir fiction to let us into not just
the unconscious of the book but also our own unconscious. It fueled everything I wrote after that.
Con Lehane, Writer’s Center instructor and author
of the Brian McNulty mystery novels, including
most recently Death at the Old Hotel
Taylor: To what degree do you look to past masters of crime
fiction as mentors of sorts in crafting your own novels?
Lehane: When I first began writing crime fiction, I was
inspired by the California hard-boiled triumvirate—Hammett, Chandler, and Ross Macdonald. I didn’t directly
model my writing on them; the influence was more subtle
for me, possibly subconscious, but it was very much there.
I didn’t come to the noir writers until after my first book
was published—although I was well aware of some of
the movies, particularly those made from Cain’s books.
If I had come to them earlier, I wonder if I might have
written a different book, because I do feel an affinity with
noir writers—Cain, Jim Thompson, David Goodis, Derek
Raymond, and others.
Blake Robison, Producing Artistic Director, Round
House Theatre
Taylor: As part of its mission, Round House Theatre
has mounted stage adaptations of many great works of
literature—this season’s offerings already included Fahrenheit 451 and Pride & Prejudice. How does it change your
approach when there’s already been a successful—even legendary—film adaptation of the book you’re adapting to the
stage, as with the production of Double Indemnity ahead?
Robison: It’s an interesting question with a double
answer. When describing the adaptation to the public,
we do take the famous film into account, since it’s a
reference point for many people. In our creative work,
however, we steer clear. This adaptation looks to the
source material for inspiration—namely, the novel by
James M. Cain—so that is our primary inspiration. The
play has to work as a play first and foremost. There will
be variances from the novel. Some characters won’t make
the cut, scenes might be moved to different locations, and
so forth. We want audiences to experience the story in a
heightened, theatrical context. ¶
11
HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR WORKSHOP
WHO SHOULD TAKE WRITING WORKSHOPS?
Everyone should—from people who want to try out writing or would like help getting
started, to those more experienced writers who want to learn more and get better. Learning
to write is an on-going process that involves perfecting and using many skills at once, and
even published writers benefit from editors and readers who help them refine their work.
WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM A WORKSHOP?
• Guidance and encouragement from a published, working writer
• Instruction on technical aspects such as structure, diction, and form
• Kind, honest, and constructive feedback directed at the work but never
critical of the author
• Peer readers/editors who act as “spotters” for sections of your writing that
need attention, and who become your community of working colleagues
even after your workshop is completed
• Tips on how to keep writing and integrate this “habit of being” into your life
• Tactics for getting published when ready
EXPECTATIONS OF WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS
• Attend every workshop session you possibly can
• Share your own work
• Comment on and share your ideas about your peers’ work
• Complete workshop leader prompts or reading assignments
• Complete the workshop response form at the end of the course
If you’ve never been in a writing workshop before, regardless of the skill level you think
you have in writing, we strongly encourage you to start with a beginner-level workshop.
Here you’ll learn more about the environment of the workshop: how to give and receive
helpful feedback, how to address problems with the work without criticizing the author,
and how to incorporate multiple (and sometimes conflicting) ideas into your revision.
WORKSHOP REGISTRATION
You can register for workshops at The Writer’s Center in person, through the mail,
online at Writer.org, or by calling 301-654-8664.
refund policy
To receive a credit, you must notify twc by e-mail (post.master@writer.org) within
the drop period. Please confirm receipt of the message if you do not hear back from
twc within two business days.
 If twc cancels a workshop, participants who have already signed up and made payment
will receive a full refund, or they can use their payment as a credit toward another workshop and/or a membership.
 Workshop participants who have enrolled in and paid for a workshop and choose to withdraw from it within the drop period (see below) will receive full credit (but not a cash refund) that can be used within one year to pay for another workshop and/or a membership.
 Workshop participants who have enrolled in and paid for a workshop and choose to
withdraw from it after the drop period has ended will forfeit their full payment and will
not receive any credit to be used to pay for another workshop and/or a membership.
E
xceptions may be made in the case of serious illness or other extenuating circumstances
such as relocation out of the area; in such cases, a formal request in the form of a letter
or an e-mail must be submitted to the Executive Director.
 No refunds or credits will be given for individual classes missed.
5 or More Workshop Sessions
Notice must be given at least 48 hours before the second meeting
4 or Fewer Workshop Sessions
Notice must be given at least 48 hours before the first meeting
12
BEGINNER LEVEL
These workshops will help you discover what
creative writing really entails, such as:
• Getting your ideas on the page;
• Figuring out which genre you should
be working in and what shape your
material should take;
• Learning the elements of poetry,
playwriting, fiction, memoir, etc.;
• Identifying your writing strengths
and areas of opportunity;
• Gaining beginning mastery of the
basic tools of all writing, such as concise,
accurate language, and learning how to
tailor their particular use in your work.
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL
These workshops will build on skills you developed in
the beginner level, designed for writers who have:
• Taken a beginner-level workshop;
• Achieved some grace in using the tools of
language and form;
• Projects in progress that they want to
develop further.
In addition, you may read and discuss some
published works.
ADVANCED LEVEL
Participants should have manuscripts that
have been critiqued in workshops on the
intermediate level and have been revised
substantially. Advanced courses:
• Focus on the revision and completion of
a specific work;
• Run at a faster pace with higher expectations of participation;
• Will reward the persistent writer with
deep insight and feedback into their work.
MASTER LEVEL
Master classes are designed for writers who have
taken several advanced workshops and have
reworked their manuscript into what they believe is
its final form.
Master classes are unique opportunities to work
in smaller groups with distinguished writers on a
specific project or manuscript.
Workshop leaders select participants from the pool
of applicants—selection is competitive.
Of course, art is not a science. The Writer’s Center
recognizes that individual writers of all experience
levels need to find their own place in our program.
If you’d like advice on which courses will be right
for you, please call and speak with a member of
our staff.
TWC WORKSHOPS AT A GLANCE
WORKSHOP
LOCATION START
DAY
Short Fiction Workshop
Freelance Writing/Publishing in the Digital Age
The Narrative Poem: An Evolving Free-Form
The Short Story
Convictions: Writing an American Lyric
Strengthening Your Prose
Personal Essay Workshop
Getting Started: April
Publishing Today: All You Need to Know
The Modernists Poets
Writing Compelling Blog Posts
Advanced Novel and Memoir
Science Fiction & Fantasy Workshop
Beginning Digital Tools for Genealogists
Genealogy for Publication
Gyroscope of Form: Sestinas Past, Present, and Future
Writing Talking Points
Writing the Military Experience
Writing Your Novel or Memoir
The Art & Craft Screenwriting
Fringe 101: Strategies for Self-Producing
Screenwriting in One Lesson
Writing Short and Long Memoirs
Creating Great Articles for Web & Print
Introduction to Creative Nonfiction
Place in Memoir
The Eye and I
The Power of Revision: From Work-in-Progress to Finished Poem
How (and How Not) to Write Dialogue
Podcasting for Writers
Getting Your Poems into Print
Making a Book for Mom
Advanced Creative Nonfiction
Characterization in the Novel
Introduction to Blogging
Online
4/1
Su
Bethesda
4/2
M
Bethesda
4/10
Bethesda
B—beginnger
I—intermediate
A—advanced
LEVEL
PAGE
I/A
29
EVENING
B
24
T
EVENING
ALL
20
4/10
T
EVENING
ALL
16
Bethesda
4/11
W
EVENING
ALL
20
Bethesda
4/11
W
EVENING
B/I
16
Bethesda
4/12
Th
EVENING
I
19
Bethesda
4/14
S
DAY
B
26
Annapolis
4/14
S
DAY
ALL
25
Online
4/17
T
ALL
28
Bethesda
4/17
T
EVENING
ALL
27
Bethesda
4/18
W
EVENING
A
16
Bethesda
4/19
Th
EVENING
I
16
Bethesda
4/21
S
DAY
B
24
Bethesda
4/21
S
DAY
I
24
Bethesda
4/22
Su
DAY
I/A
20
Bethesda
4/24
T
EVENING
B/I
27
Capitol Hill
4/24
T
EVENING
ALL
31
McLean
4/24
T
EVENING
ALL
29
Glen Echo
4/28
S
DAY
B/I
21
Bethesda
4/28
S
DAY
I/A
24
Bethesda
4/28
S
DAY
ALL
24
Bethesda
4/28
S
DAY
ALL
19
Bethesda
5/1
T
EVENING
ALL
18
Bethesda
5/1
T
EVENING
B
19
Online
5/1
T
B/I
29
Bethesda
5/2
W
EVENING
B/I
18
Bethesda
5/3
T
DAY
I
20
Bethesda
5/5
S
DAY
ALL
25
Bethesda
5/5
S
DAY
B
26
Bethesda
5/6
Su
DAY
ALL
21
Bethesda
5/6
Su
DAY
B
27
Bethesda
5/9
W
EVENING
I/A
19
Online
5/12
S
I/A
28
Bethesda
5/12
S
B
27
M—master
TIME
DAY
ALL—all levels
13
TWC WORKSHOPS AT A GLANCE
WORKSHOP
LOCATION START
DAY
TIME
LEVEL
PAGE
Introduction to Marketing Platforms
Bethesda
5/12
S
DAY
B
27
The Power of Revision: From Work-in-Progress to Finished Poem
Bethesda
5/12
S
DAY
I
20
Feature Film Screenwriting
Bethesda
5/14
M
EVENING
I/A
21
Writer Calisthenics
Bethesda
5/14
M
DAY
ALL
25
Close Readings in Contemporary Poetry
Capitol Hill
5/15
T
EVENING
ALL
31
Writing the Television Pilot
Bethesda
5/16
W
EVENING
B
21
First Fire: From Spark to Practice
Capitol Hill
5/17
Th
EVENING
ALL
30
Novel-in-Process
Bethesda
5/17
Th
EVENING
ALL
18
The Force of Poetry (Saturday)
Bethesda
5/19
S
DAY
ALL
20
Narrative Arc
Online
5/19
S
I/A
28
Telling It Slant: Meaning and Music in Translating
Bethesda
5/19
S
DAY
ALL
21
Write What You Don't Know
Bethesda
5/19
S
DAY
ALL
20
The Force of Poetry (Monday)
Bethesda
5/21
M
EVENING
ALL
20
Rewriting Your Screenplay: The Art of the Rewrite
Bethesda
5/24
Th
EVENING
I/A
21
Women's Fiction
Bethesda
5/24
Th
DAY
B/I
18
Crafting Time in Short and Long Form Writing
Bethesda
5/29
T
EVENING
I/A
17
Compounds of Fiction: Structure
Bethesda
6/2
S
DAY
I
17
Personal Essay Weekend Workshop
Arlington
6/2
S
DAY
B/I
19
The Set Piece
Bethesda
6/2
S
DAY
I
25
Writing and Publishing Prose Poems and Flash Fiction
Bethesda
6/2
S & Su
DAY
ALL
26
Writing the Nonfiction Book Proposal
Bethesda
6/2
S
DAY
ALL
18
The Extreme Novelist 1
Bethesda
6/4
M
EVENING
I
17
Writing Staycation
Bethesda
6/4
M-F
DAY
ALL
25
Summer Poetry Calisthenics
Online
6/4
M
I/A
28
Classical Mythology and Me!
Bethesda
6/5
T
EVENING
I
25
The Extreme Novelist 2
Bethesda
6/6
W
EVENING
I/A
17
Compounds of Fiction: Scene
Bethesda
6/9
S
DAY
I
17
The Pleasures/Perils of Writing First Person POV
Bethesda
6/9
S
DAY
B/I
18
Pros and Cons of Self-Publishing
Bethesda
6/9
S
DAY
B/I
24
Writing as Healing
Bethesda
6/9
S
DAY
ALL
25
Writing the Narrative Poem
Annapolis
6/9
S
DAY
ALL
21
The "F" Word: Innovative Forms of Poetry
Online
6/11
M
I/A
28
Writing Longer Poems & Sequences
Online
6/11
M
I/A
29
Creative Writing: Getting Started
Bethesda
6/12
T
DAY
B
25
Getting Started: June
Bethesda
6/12
T
EVENING
B
26
Writing Crime Fiction
Capitol Hill
6/12
T
EVENING
ALL
31
14
TWC WORKSHOPS AT A GLANCE
WORKSHOP
LOCATION START
DAY
TIME
LEVEL
PAGE
Advanced Fiction
Bethesda
6/14
Th
EVENING
A
17
Food Writing Master Class
Capitol Hill
6/14
Th
EVENING
I
31
Writing for the Middle Grade Reader
Bethesda
6/14
Th
DAY
ALL
28
Blogging Tips and Tricks
Bethesda
6/16
S
DAY
I
27
Compounds of Fiction: Conflict
Bethesda
6/16
S
DAY
I
17
How to Produce Your Own Play
Bethesda
6/16
S
DAY
ALL
24
Social Networking for Writers
Bethesda
6/16
S
DAY
I
28
Writing the Mystery Novel: Introduction
Bethesda
6/16
S
DAY
B
16
Compounds of Fiction: Detail
Bethesda
6/23
S
DAY
I
17
Writing a Documentary Treatment
Bethesda
6/23
S
DAY
B
21
Creative Writing for Teens
Bethesda
6/25
M
DAY
B
26
Writing the Dreaded College Application Essay
Bethesda
6/26
T
DAY
B
26
Compounds of Fiction: Time
Bethesda
6/30
S
DAY
I
17
How to Make a Living as a Copy Editor
McLean
6/30
S
DAY
ALL
29
Jumpstart Your Songwriting
Bethesda
6/30
S
DAY
I/A
24
The Novelist's Workshop
Online
6/30
S
I/A
29
Teen Creative Writing
Capitol Hill
6/30
S
DAY
ALL
31
Compounds of Fiction: Mood
Bethesda
7/7
S
DAY
I
17
Introduction to the Novel
Online
7/7
S
ALL
29
How (and How Not) to Write Dialogue
Capitol Hill
7/8
Su
DAY
ALL
30
Natural/Magical Writing (for ages 8–11)
Bethesda
7/9
M-F
DAY
B
26
Young Writers' Circle for Teens
Bethesda
7/9
M-F
DAY
B
27
Researching and Writing Neighborhood Profiles
Capitol Hill
7/10
T
EVENING
B
31
Conflict in Story
Annapolis
7/11
W
EVENING
B/I
16
Different Voices: Persona Poems
Bethesda
7/12
Th
DAY
ALL
20
Realism and Rhythm in Dialogue
Bethesda
7/12
Th
DAY
B/I
18
Chapter One: Writing for Teens and Tweens
Capitol Hill
7/16
M
DAY
B/I
31
Good Dialogue
Bethesda
7/17
T
EVENING
B/I
26
Artscape News (for ages 8–11)
Bethesda
7/24
T-F
DAY
B
26
Travel Writing Master Class
Capitol Hill
7/24
T
EVENING
I
31
Young Writers' Circle (for ages 8–11)
Bethesda
7/24
T-F
DAY
B
27
Compelling Narratives in Science Writing
Bethesda
8/4
S
DAY
B
18
Revision Making Fearless Choices
Bethesda
8/4
S
DAY
I/A
16
Developing the Characters in Your Life Stories
Bethesda
8/13
M-F
DAY
B/I
19
Writing the Memoir
Bethesda
8/13
M-F
DAY
ALL
19
B—beginnger
I—intermediate
A—advanced
M—master
ALL—all levels
15
WORKSHOPS
Good Dialogue
Please note:
TWC will be closed May 26 & 28 for Memorial Day
and Wednesday, July 4, for Independence Day.
 fiction 
The Short Story
Workshop Leader: Dana Cann
This workshop is for short story writers at any level. The focus is on
participants’ work. Each writer will submit up to two stories for constructive critique. In addition, we’ll examine short story elements and
techniques, using the latest Best American Short Stories anthology as our
guide. We’ll review short story markets and strategies for submitting
work. Any participant with a complete story is encouraged to bring
15 copies to the first session.
8 Tuesdays
7:30–10:00 P.M.
Fee: $360
Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
4/10–5/29
All Levels
Advanced Novel and Memoir
Workshop Leader: Barbara Esstman
For serious writers with a book-length project and hopes of publication.
Learn technical skills: character/scene development, language, dialogue,
conflict, and plot. Discuss the psychological aspects: how to locate and
stay with the emotional core of the story and keep going to the end.
We’ll also touch on rewriting and the directions for getting an agent.
Each writer will submit up to 35 double-spaced pages.
Prerequisite: Previous workshops or permission of the instructor required.
8 Wednesdays
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $405
Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
4/18–6/6
Advanced
Science Fiction & Fantasy Workshop
Workshop Leader: Brenda W. Clough
For people who want to write fantasy and science fiction. In this workshop
we will pass around our manuscripts and read and critique them. Special
attention will be paid to the tropes and needs of the genre. Plan to bring
10 copies of a manuscript (not more than 25 pages) to the first session.
8 Thursdays
7:30–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $360
Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
4/19–6/7
Intermediate
Workshop Leader: Lynn Schwartz
Good dialogue is a great tool for both fiction and nonfiction writers. Yet many
writers avoid it. In this specialized workshop, we will demystify dialogue—
exploring “real talk” versus written conversation, analyzing what characters
should say and how they should say it, and identifying how speech creates
action and propels the story forward. The appropriate use of tags, dialects,
and direct and indirect dialogue will also be examined. Reading examples
from plays, short stories, and novels will demonstrate the techniques discussed.
1 Tuesday
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $60
Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
7/17
Beginner/Intermediate
Writing the Mystery Novel: Introduction
Workshop Leader: Alan Orloff
If you’ve always wanted to write a mystery novel but didn’t know where
to start, this workshop is for you. We’ll discuss writing fundamentals
(voice, character, plot, setting, etc.) and their application to the mystery.
We’ll examine characteristics of the many subgenres and learn about
mystery-specific conventions and pitfalls such as tstl (too-stupid-to-live)
syndrome, macguffins, red herrings, killer twists, wacky sidekicks, and
smooth clue dropping, Among others. Sessions will include instruction and writing exercises, with an emphasis on giving and receiving
critiques of participants’ work.
6 Saturdays
10:00 A.M.–12:30 P.M.
Fee: $270
Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
6/16–7/21
Beginner
Revision Making Fearless Choices
Workshop Leader: Jenny Moore
You’ve written a draft and heard some feedback—now you have more
work to do. Revision is essential to finishing a piece of fiction, and it’s
all about making fearless choices in your work. The trouble is, how do
you know which choices are right for the story you’re telling? This class
will consider some of the challenges of the process, look at examples, and
discuss a variety of approaches. We’ll also go through a set of exercises
to help move your own revision process forward. Bring three copies of a
short story or novel excerpt (for your eyes only), maximum 15 pages.
1 Saturday
10:00 A.M.–1:00 P.M.
8/4
Fee: $75
Bethesda
Intermediate/Advanced
(Members receive a 13% discount)
Strengthening Your Prose
Conflict in Story
Workshop Leader: Graham Dunstan
Workshop Leader: Lynn Schwartz
In a novel, short story, or memoir something has to happen to grab
and hold reader interest and empathy. Conflict is an invaluable tool—
it reveals character, creates obstacles, builds suspense and surprise, and
offers an organic path to a satisfying resolution. Learn how to set up
believable conflict, inner and outer, for the characters in your story.
If you’re new to prose writing and have a story to tell, this writing class is
meant for you. We will explore both short fiction and nonfiction and hone
skills that can help you create more powerful prose. Students will write and
critique short prose assignments and read contemporary examples of short
fiction and nonfiction. Join us to create your own voice and to study key
elements of writing including conflict, character development, and style.
1 Wednesday
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $60
Annapolis
(Members receive a 13% discount)
8 Wednesdays
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $360
Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
16
7/11
Beginner/Intermediate
4/11–5/30
Beginner/Intermediate
WORKSHOPS
compounds of Fiction
The Extreme Novelist 1
Workshop Leader: Kathryn Johnson
This semester, 16 brave writers will accept a unique challenge, attempting to complete a full draft of a novel in eight weeks! Students meet as
a group with professional writing coach Kathryn Johnson one evening
a week and commit to an aggressive writing schedule. Kathryn prods,
cajoles, and guides, while offering marketing tips. Yes, she has written
books in eight weeks. You can too—if you commit to this boot camp
for novelists.
8 Mondays
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $360 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
6/4–7/30
Intermediate
One-day intermediate-level workshops.
For more information, see page 23.
Compounds of Fiction: Structure
Expanding on the Elements of Fiction series, here, we use the formula:
time + plot = structure.
1 Saturday 10:00 A.M.–12:30 P.M.
Fee: $60 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
6/2
Intermediate
Compounds of Fiction: Scene
The Extreme Novelist 2
Workshop Leader: Kathryn Johnson
Expanding on the Elements of Fiction series, here, we use the formula:
dialogue + character = scene.
In response to the many requests from graduates of The Extreme Novelist,
Kathryn Johnson offers an advanced class that demands the same dedication and rigorous writing schedule. Emphasis will be placed on revision
techniques, critiquing, writing pitches and queries to agents/editors, and
analyzing the current publishing venues available to novelists today. Students must have completed (or nearly completed) a full draft of a novel.
1 Saturday 10:00 A.M.–12:30 P.M.
Fee: $60 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
8 Wednesdays
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $360
Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
Expanding on the Elements of Fiction series, here, we use the formula:
character + setting = conflict.
6/6–8/1
Intermediate/Advanced
Compounds of Fiction: Conflict
1 Saturday
10:00 A.M.–12:30 P.M.
Fee: $60
Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
No meeting 7/4
6/9
Intermediate
6/16
Intermediate
Advanced Fiction
Workshop Leader: Elizabeth Poliner
In this workshop students will read and discuss each others’ draft stories
or novel excerpts. Discussions will focus on developing this work further
and on elements of craft: point of view, character, plot, conflict, setting.
Prerequisites: At least two previous workshops and/or journal publication.
8 Thursdays 7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $360
Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
6/14–8/2
Advanced
Compounds of Fiction: Detail
Expanding on the Elements of Fiction series, here, we use the formula:
character + point of view = detail.
1 Saturday 10:00 A.M.–12:30 P.M.
Fee: $60 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
6/23
Intermediate
Compounds of Fiction: Time
Crafting Time in Short
and Long Form Writing
Expanding on the Elements of Fiction series, here, we use the formula:
plot + theme = time.
Workshop Leader: Alicia Oltuski
1 Saturday 10:00 A.M.–12:30 P.M.
Fee: $60 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
Most writers, novice or veteran, know the stories they are looking to
tell, but the order in which they reveal characters, the pacing they
choose, and their buildup to plot points often pose challenges to executing a story. This class will allow participants to develop a project of their
choice (welcoming undertakings of any genre) and gain insight on techniques that will improve the texture of their work with a focus on the
element of time. We will regard short texts for narrative craft tools and
assign a few small writing exercises. Most importantly, a workshop component will let participants share their writing for advice and critique.
4 Tuesdays
5:00–7:00 P.M.
Fee: $195
Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
5/29–6/19
Intermediate/Advanced
6/30
Intermediate
Compounds of Fiction: Mood
Expanding on the Elements of Fiction series, here, we use the formula:
setting + theme = mood.
1 Saturday 10:00 A.M.–12:30 P.M.
Fee: $60 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
7/7
Intermediate
17
WORKSHOPS register at writer.org
Women’s Fiction
Workshop Leader: Toby Devens
This course answers the age-old question, “What do women really want?”
...in fiction, that is. We’ll talk about gender-specific differences in plot,
level of action, and character development; discuss characters women
relate to, what makes female readers (and agents/editors) wince, and
what makes them (surprisingly) cheer. We’ll compare the formula novel
to the break-out novel, the stand-alone to the series, and see what makes
for success in each. Class exercises, peer and leader critiques of work-inprogress will offer practical guidance in shaping your project for publication. And we’ll take a look at the current market for women’s fiction.
4 Thursdays 10:30 A.M.–1:00 P.M.
Fee: $195
Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
5/24–6/14
Beginner/Intermediate
The Pleasures/Perils of
Writing First Person POV
 nonfiction 
The Eye and I
Workshop Leader: Matthew Davis
Contemporary creative nonfiction writing employs the use of the “I”
and the “Eye.” The genre is instinctively both of the writer and the
world the writer is situated in. In all forms and topics of creative nonfiction, a writer makes choices on how much of the “I” should go into
a piece and how much “Eye.” Through small writing exercises and a
larger essay, this workshop will get students to think about the balance
between the “I” and the “Eye” in their own creative nonfiction.
6 Wednesdays
7:00–9:00 P.M.
Fee: $270
Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
5/2–6/6
Beginner/Intermediate
Workshop Leader: Toby Devens
Creating Great Articles for Web & Print
Having your narrator tell his own story creates an intimacy unparalleled
by other points of view. But first person POV has drawbacks; its narrow
vision holds the author and the reader to a single perspective. What
happens to conflict/suspense when the action is seen from only one
POV? How does the writer admit the reader to a larger universe? Learn
techniques for finessing the limitations while preserving the emotional
impact of first person. Class exercises that include writing the same
scenes from varied viewpoints will illustrate the pitfalls and produce
solutions for writing effectively in first person.
Workshop Leader: Lee Fleming
1 Saturday
1:00–3:30 P.M.
Fee: $60 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
6/9
Beginner/Intermediate
Turning an idea into a saleable article for web or print depends on
understanding and using the techniques that support success. This
class will explore the elements that all stories need in order to catch an
editor’s attention. In-class discussion and exercises will guide students
in choosing story angles, writing winning query e-mails and letters,
interviewing, organizing material, and refining personal styles.
The goal: To get your great ideas onto the web or into print.
6 Tuesdays
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $270
Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
5/1–6/5
All Levels
Realism and Rhythm in Dialogue
WRITING THE NONFICTION BOOK PROPOSAL
Workshop Leader: Toby Devens
Workshop Leader: Edward Ugel
People in novels don’t talk the way real people talk, but good writers
make them sound as if they do. We’ll focus on creating believable dialogue that advances the story and emphasizes characters’ personalities;
we’ll explore the rhythm of dialogue, how to avoid stilted exchanges and
long monologues, how the pace of dialogue reflects tempo of plot, and
when dialogue works better than narrative. We’ll cover internal monologues, dialect, and how stylized dialogue establishes an author’s unique
identity. We’ll write/review our own passages and, reading aloud, hear
how written dialogue reflects but doesn’t replicate spoken exchanges.
The beauty of a nonfiction book is that you can sell it before you write
it. For many of us, the barrier to writing fiction is that you have to write
the entire book before you have a clue if you can sell it. Thus, nonfiction is often the choice of first time writers. All you’ve got to do is write
an excellent book proposal. But how on earth does one write a successful (read: sellable) book proposal? This workshop walks writers from all
levels through every step necessary to write a great proposal.
4 Thursdays 10:30 A.M.–1:00 P.M.
Fee: $195 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
7/12–8/2
Beginner/Intermediate
1 Saturday
10:00 A.M.–2:00 P.M.
Fee: $100
Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
6/2
All Levels
Compelling Narratives in Science Writing
Novel-in-Process
Workshop Leader: David Taylor
Workshop Leader: Jenny Moore
This one-day workshop explores how to translate ideas in science to
compelling narratives that engage general readers, with examples from
leading publications. Focus will be on finding a narrative structure and
drama from the subject and its characters.
For writers who have started work on a novel. As a group we will read
and workshop excerpts from each person’s novel, and discuss issues of
craft (including structure, point of view, and character development)
from the novelist’s perspective. Bring 10 copies of your novel excerpt
(no more than 30 double-spaced pages) to our first meeting, if possible.
8 Thursdays
7:00-9:30 P.M.
Fee: $360 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
18
5/17–7/5
All Levels
1 Saturday
10:00 A.M.–12:30 P.M.
Fee: $60
Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
8/4
Beginner
WORKSHOPS
 memoir/essay 
Advanced Creative Nonfiction
Workshop Leader: Tim Denevi
Personal Essay Workshop
Workshop Leader: Sue Eisenfeld
Examine, probe, and muse about life through moments and memories.
Discover what makes personal essays sing; read examples of personal essays
from magazines, newspapers, and literary journals; explore the writing
process; and share and discuss your writing in a workshop setting. Students should be prepared to submit at least two manuscripts for critique
during the course of this workshop. Those interested in publishing will
undertake additional research to determine the best markets for their work.
This course is geared toward those who have already dabbled in writing
personal essays and who want to take their work to the next level.
6 Thursdays
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $270
Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
4/12–5/17
Intermediate
Re-telling FAMily History/Memoir
Workshop Leader: Judith McCombs
Family history is full of stories—verifiable, likely, concealed, invented.
Whether you are writing memoir, fiction, or poetry, you can give this
material more scope—and more appeal to readers—by using the tools
of imaginative writing. The essays/stories of Alice Munro’s multi-genre
View from Castle Rock, which range from family history to re-created
memoir, exemplify what can be done with shifting viewpoints, dialogue,
characters, and plot evoked from fact, allusion, recurring themes, and
images. Participants can bring in their own or exercise-suggested memoir,
fiction, or poetry. Constructive, honest criticism will be encouraged.
6 Tuesdays
10:30 A.M.–1:00 P.M.
Fee: $270
Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
4/10–5/15
All Levels
Writing Short and Long Memoirs
Workshop Leader: Susan Tiberghien
This workshop will cover the elements of memoir writing, seen as a window
into your life. There will be examples of contemporary memoir writers and
guided writing exercises. You will work on your own short or long memoir.
1 Saturday
1:30–4:30 P.M.
Fee: $75
Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
4/28
All Levels
8 Wednesdays 7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $360 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
5/9–6/27
Intermediate/Advanced
Personal Essay Weekend Workshop
Workshop Leader: Jenny Rough
This workshop will explore the personal essay format. Bring 12 copies of
an essay (600–1,200 words) to the first session and revise that essay after
receiving feedback.
2 Saturdays 10:00 A.M.–5:00 P.M.
Fee: $200 Arlington
(Members receive a 13% discount)
6/2–6/9
Beginner/Intermediate
Writing the Memoir
Workshop Leader: Thomas Larson
Join Thomas Larson, author of The Memoir and the Memoirist: Reading
and Writing Personal Narrative, for a workshop in memoir writing.
We begin by discussing the significant differences between traditional
autobiography and contemporary memoir. Next we explore memoir’s
demanding questions: Where do I begin? What is my focus? How do
I discover the emotional truth of my story? How do I write about the
living? With numerous writing prompts, we look at the mainstays of the
memoir form: truth-telling and self-disclosure; sudden versus long-ago
memoir; good and bad therapeutic writing; and the importance of
metaphor and myth in the personal life.
Monday–Friday (1 week)
10:30 A.M.–1:00 P.M.
Fee: $225
Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
8/13–8/17
All Levels
Developing the Characters
in Your Life Stories
Workshop Leader: Solveig Eggerz
Introduction to Creative Nonfiction
Workshop Leader: Tim Denevi
In this class, we’ll chart an introduction to the genre along four lines:
memoir, essay, literary journalism, and the hybrid. We’ll write short
versions of each, conduct workshops, and read selections from various
authors working within and beyond these categories. No previous
experience with creative nonfiction is necessary.
8 Tuesdays 7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $360 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
In this class, we’ll read, compose, and critique various forms of creative
nonfiction, including memoir, essay, travel writing, narrative journalism, and works of a more hybrid nature. Our structure will follow that
of a graduate-level creative writing class; participants will turn in drafts
of their own writing, and each week we’ll workshop up to three pieces.
The goal is to craft and revise a finished product that might then be
submitted to a magazine or literary journal.
Discover your stories with a special emphasis on developing characters. Using in-class writing, we will focus on a different aspect of story
each day in this week-long class. Each session will connect to the next
session, so that by the end of the week, you will have a good start on a
longer work.
Monday–Friday (1 week)
10:30 A.M.–1:30 P.M.
Fee: $225 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
8/13–8/17
Beginner/Intermediate
5/1–6/19
Beginner
19
WORKSHOPS register at writer.org
 poetry 
Convictions: Writing An AMErican Lyric
Workshop Leader: Alison Palmer
Do you believe strongly in something? Do you want to write it down in
a way even more powerful than the customary, free verse poem? Does
your “statement of purpose” warrant mass attention? Let’s explore the
area of “American lyric” through Claudia Rankine’s book, Don’t Let Me
Be Lonely. Hers is a plea to herself as human, as poet, as sister, daughter,
as well as a plea to the rest of us to help get her through the troubled
mood of America today. An American lyric is very functional poetry,
poetry put to work, poetry that works hard to express its writers’ emotional state and direction in this world.
5 Wednesdays 7:00–9:00 P.M.
Fee: $195 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
4/11–5/9
All Levels
The Power of Revision:
From Work-in-Progress to Finished poem
Workshop Leader: Naomi Ayala
We tend to look at our poems as either failures or successes. In fact,
many of the poems we bring into this world come to teach us how to
become better writers. In the complex interplay between original vision
and evolving text, we sharpen skills and grow into our authentic “voice.”
Our focus will be to bring poems to final draft form. You will participate in guided revisions and “workshop” poems in class.
8 Thursday 2:30–5:00 P.M.
Fee: $360 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
5/3–6/21
Intermediate
8 Saturdays 10:30 A.M.–1:00 P.M.
Fee: $360 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
5/12–6/30
Intermediate
Write What you Don’t Know
Workshop Leader: Christopher Goodrich
Together, let’s destroy that static tenant: write what you know. Workshops will focus on freeing the imagination, leaving the self, creating
empathy in our work and lives and exploring personas that, at first,
seem to stray from who we are. Let’s have the courage, patience and
bravado to open our writing to the 99% of the world that isn’t in our
knowledge base and see what happens. By exploring who you are not,
and experiencing what is foreign to you, you may end up learning
something about yourself.
6 Saturdays 10:00 A.M.–12:00 P.M.
Fee: $270 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
5/19–6/23
All Levels
Gyroscope of Form:
Sestinas Past, Present, and Future
Workshop Leader: Sandra Beasley
The sestina, with its patterning and repetition, is one of the most acrobatic
and challenging of all for Where did it come from, what makes it work,
20
why is it rising in popularity today? We will read sestinas from a range
of eras, discuss where the form is heading, consider ways to honor the
tradition in poems that are fresh, funny, and impassioned, culminating
in an in-class writing exercise in the form.
1 Sunday
1:00–3:30 P.M.
Fee: $60
Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
4/22
Intermediate/Advanced
Different Voices: Persona Poems
Workshop Leader: Nan Fry
If you’ve ever acted in a play, you know the pleasure of taking a vacation
from your personality and trying on someone else’s. Poets can enjoy this
too by writing persona poems in which the speaker is not the poet but a
created character. Poets sometimes worry about finding their voices. In
this workshop we’ll take an indirect approach to this concern by experimenting with different voices and points of view. For inspiration, we’ll
read examples from the Middle Ages to the present and then experiment
with our own poems through in-class exercises and at-home assignments.
6 Thursdays 10:30 A.M.–1:00 P.M.
Fee: $270 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
7/12–8/16
All Levels
The Force of Poetry
Workshop Leader: Elizabeth Rees
Open to poets of all levels, this class will focus on workshopping
poems, in-class writing exercises, and discussion of contemporary
poems. Specific exercises will be given to free the imagination, and
quiet the inner censor. We will explore formal considerations, stylistic
choices, and those moments when the poem catches its own voice.
Bring 15 copies of a poem you love.
8 Saturdays 10:00 A.M.–12:30 P.M.
Fee: $360
Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
5/19–7/14
All Levels
8 Mondays 7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $360 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
5/21–7/16
All Levels
No meeting 5/28
The Narrative Poem: An Evolving Free-Form
Workshop Leader: Alison Palmer
Narrative poetry is poetry with a plot, a story, a mix between novel
and verse. These poems can be long or short, structured or fragmented,
defined by characters, or obscured in personification. Most likely, you
know the great epics of Homer—these are classic narratives. While this
form is vital to understanding the narrative craft, modernization continues to update and innovate (Anne Carson’s Autobiography of Red: A
Novel in Verse). We will explore various and differing facets of this often
intimidating genre. The end goal is to create your own interpretation of
a narrative poem, as we will focus on contemporary examples that will
inspire you.
5 Tuesdays 7:00–9:00 P.M.
Fee: $195
Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
4/10–5/8
All Levels
WORKSHOPS
Writing the Narrative Poem
Writing a Documentary Treatment
Workshop Leader: Sue Ellen Thompson
Workshop Leader: David Taylor
There’s more to a good narrative poem than telling a story in lines
rather than paragraphs. In this workshop we will examine the distinction between lyric and narrative poetry and look at some contemporary
narrative poems to see what makes them succeed or flounder. We’ll draft
a brief narrative in prose and then turn it into a poem, paying particular
attention to the techniques that good poets use to lift their words above
the level of simple, straightforward storytelling.
This workshop focuses on a key to making any documentary: the visual
treatment. Come with an idea for a short film. You’ll learn principles of
visualizing key scenes, honing in on character, and finding a workable
structure, based on discussion of a sample treatment and choices in
developing your own.
1 Saturday 1:00–4:00 P.M.
Fee: $75 Annapolis
(Members receive a 13% discount)
6/9
All Levels
6/23
Beginner
Feature Film Screenwriting
Workshop Leader: Jonathan Eig
Getting Your Poems Into Print
Workshop Leader: Michele Wolf
Whether you have yet to submit your first poem to a literary journal or
are ready to offer a publisher a book-length manuscript, this intensive
one-day workshop will give you advice on how to succeed. Get tips on
placing poems in journals and anthologies, publishing chapbooks and
books, the pros and cons of contests, the etiquette of poetry submission,
how to develop your poetry network, and how to keep your morale
high while facing rejection in a highly competitive field. Magazine
handouts will be provided.
1 Sunday
2:00–5:00 P.M.
Fee: $75 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
5/6
All Levels
8 Mondays 7:30–10:00 P.M.
Fee: $360 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
5/14–7/9
Intermediate/Advanced
No meeting 5/28
Workshop Leader: Michael Kang
Workshop Leader: Nancy Naomi Carlson
Ortega y Gasset, Spanish philosopher, considered all translation
“Utopian,” which is to say impossible. Still, because the world’s greatest
literature originates from a multitude of languages, translation remains a
necessity. This panel of poets, translating from such languages as Altaic,
Creole, French, Polish, Russian, and Spanish, will discuss alternative
approaches to finding one’s way into a text to be translated, as well as
different strategies for rendering the impossible more possible.
1 Saturday 12:00–5:00 P.M.
Fee: $100 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
This workshop is designed for the writer who wants to complete a feature screenplay. It can be an original or a rewrite. The participant should
have an idea for a screenplay at the first meeting, and should have a
basic understanding of formatting, structure, and dialogue. We will go
into these topics in greater detail as we workshop sequences from participants’ scripts. Most of the workshop time is devoted to reading and
evaluating works-in-progress. Some time is given over to discussions of
screenwriting techniques and concepts.
Writing The Television Pilot
Telling It Slant:
Meaning and Music in Translating
5/19
All Levels
With hundreds of television channels to choose from, the demand for
original content is at an all-time high. This workshop is designed to
hone the craft of dramatic writing for an original television pilot as
well as guide participants through the more pragmatic ins-and-outs
of navigating the TV business. Participants will develop an original
idea for a television show from pitch to shooting script. The workshop
will also cover the dramatic structural differences between television
shows and feature films.
8 Wednesdays 7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $360 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
5/16–7/11
Beginner
No meeting 7/4
 stage & screen 
The Art & Craft of Screenwriting
Workshop Leader: Khris Baxter
We will examine the fundamental components for crafting and writing
the feature-length screenplay: premise; story; structure; the dramatic
scene; and dialogue. We’ll look at multiple techniques for getting
started and strategies for writing a first draft.
1 Saturday
10:00 A.M.–4:00 P.M.
Fee: $100
Glen Echo
(Members receive a 13% discount)
1 Saturday 10:00 A.M.–12:30 P.M.
Fee: $60 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
4/28
Beginner/Intermediate
Rewriting Your Screenplay:
The Art of the Rewrite
Workshop Leader: Lyn Vaus
In the business of filmmaking, often the most important aspect of
screenwriting is the ability to rewrite. Workshop participants will learn
how to refine their scripts on their own and by incorporating the feedback of others. A completed or nearly completed first draft is required.
8 Thursdays 7:30–10:00 P.M.
Fee: $360 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
5/24–7/12
Intermediate/Advanced
21
Need Space?
ReNt OuRS
The Allan B. Lefcowitz Theatre, Jane Fox Reading
Room, and classrooms are available weekdays
from 10:00 A.M.–6:00 P.M., when not occupied by
The Writer’s Center workshops.
Those rooms are also available on Friday, Saturday,
and Sunday evenings; and Saturday and Sunday afternoons, when workshops and events are not being held.
Occasionally rooms are available for one-time rentals on
weekday evenings and Saturday mornings.
Please contact The Writer’s Center for availability
inquiries—laura.spencer@writer.org or 301-654-8664.
Rent the Allan B.
Lefcowitz Theatre:
Film Screenings
Intimate Concerts
Theatre Productions
Conferences
Rent the Jane Fox
Reading Room:
Events/Parties
Business Meetings
Staged Readings
Receptions
Rent a Classroom:
Quiet Personal Writing
Small Writing Groups
Study Groups
Book Clubs
Allan B. Lefcowitz Theatre
Jane Fox Reading Room
Classrooms**
Rehearsals
no access to the public
$65/hr
Performances
$125/hr
Pre- and Post-Performance
$80/hr
TWC Staff Time*
$25/hr
Rehearsals
no access to the public
$35/hr
Performances
2-hr minimum
$80/hr
Pre- and Post-Performance
$35/hr
TWC Staff Time
$25/hr
$15/hr (members)
$25/hr (non-members)
Security Deposits (Refundable
two weeks after the end of
the show): $500
** To rent a classroom for auditions
and rehearsals please contact TWC
to make these special arrangements.
*Staff Time: When space is rented outside our normal business hours, we charge a $25/hr staff fee to keep a TWC staff person available
to maintain the building. This fee is not, however, charged to the renter as a hire fee. TWC staff members are not working for the renter.
The renter needs to hire independently from TWC all necessary staff needed for set up and to operate sound and light equipment.
The entire amount of the theatre or reading room rent is due upon signing the rental contract. No space is reserved until the contract
is signed and the deposits are made. Once the contract is signed, the group/tenant is responsible for the total financial commitment
agreed upon. Rent is due seven business days before the day of the event.
22
The Compounds
of Fiction
workshop series
In this follow up to last season’s Elements of
Fiction series, the combination of the elements
(plot, setting, theme, character, point of view,
and dialogue) have been combined to create
the advanced compounds of fiction. Six brand
new one-day workshops will be conducted
this summer by more of TWC’s most well-known
and brand new workshop leaders. Each seminarstyle class will have a detailed focus on how to
strengthen and utilize each compound of fiction
to the fullest—through example, lecture, and
hands-on exercises. No previous writing or
workshop experience required…just a
passion for storytelling!
We’re not saying writing is a science, but we
hope to hear you say “Eureka! I’ve got it!”
Pricing*
One Workshop:
$60 ($52.20 members)—register online
Three Workshops:
$150 ($130.50 members)—call to register
All Six Workshops:
$280 ($243.60 members)—call to register
All Elements of Fiction workshops
will be held in Bethesda.
*To take advantage of the package
deals, please call in your registration
at 301-654-8664.
23
WORKSHOPS register at writer.org
Fringe 101: Strategies for Self-Producing
Workshop Leader: Seamus Sullivan
The Capital Fringe Festival is one of the most popular and innovative
venues for new plays in D.C. It can also be a daunting introduction to
the stressful process of self-producing. This workshop will tell you what
to prepare for and how to ensure a rewarding process when writing and
producing a show for Fringe or any festival, from the actual writing to
the application to the fast and furious guerrilla strike that is tech.
1 Saturday
10:00 A.M.–12:00 P.M.
4/28
Fee: $40
Bethesda
Intermediate/Advanced
(Members receive a 13% discount)
Screenwriting in One Lesson
Workshop Leader: Jeffrey Rubin
If you want to know how to turn your movie idea into a full-fledged
screenplay then this intensive, 1-day workshop is for you. Topics include:
elements of successful screen stories, building the three-act structure,
creating compelling characters, writing great dialogue, visual storytelling,
formatting basics, and more. Students will be encouraged to discuss their
own script ideas and works in progress.
1 Saturday 10:00 A.M.–5:00 P.M.
Fee: $75 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
4/28
All Levels
Workshop Leader: Martin Blank
Want to put on your own play? Or learn to be more effective with a theater producing your work? With developments like the Capital Fringe
Festival and other outlets in the D.C. area, there are more opportunities
than ever to get your plays in front of an audience. How to Produce
Your Own Play will focus step-by-step on exactly how to produce your
play with a budget as low as a few hundred dollars, to as large as several
thousand. By putting on the producer’s hat even for just a one day
workshop, you’ll discover how to make your play more attractive to
other theaters, or easier to produce yourself.
6/16
All Levels
 songwriting 
Jumpstart Your Songwriting
Workshop Leader: Cathy Fink
Keep your songwriting going this summer with a batch of new ideas on
finding topics to write about, writing methods, daily writing exercises
and fine tuning your songs. We will explore the intersection of art and
play, songwriting devices and ways to think both inside and outside of
the box.
Note: Bring a new song to share.
1 Saturday 10:00 A.M.–4:00 P.M.
6/30
Fee: $100 Bethesda
Intermediate/Advanced
(Members receive a 13% discount)
24
Beginning Digital Tools for Genealogists
Workshop Leader: Angela Render
Learn how to use the Internet for quality research. Learn the difference between primary and secondary sources, and avoid totally useless
sources. Learn how to save material electronically. Learn what sort of
records exist online: from census records to land records, rare books to
satellite imagery.
1 Saturday 12:00–2:00 P.M.
Fee: $50 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
4/21
Beginner
Genealogy for Publication
Workshop Leader: Angela Render
This two-hour workshop continues to demystify technology for
genealogists. In this fun class we’ll look at how to use digital tools to
organize and present your research for publication. We’ll delve into the
anatomy of what makes a printed reference valuable and how to lay out
your data for POD publication. Learn how to make your book available
for purchase from Amazon, and other book sellers.
1 Saturday 3:00–5:00 P.M.
Fee: $50 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
How To Produce Your Own Play
1 Saturday
10:00 A.M.–5:00 P.M.
Fee: $100 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
 mixed genre 
4/21
Intermediate
Freelance Writing/
Publishing in the Digital Age
Workshop Leader: Jordan Michael Smith
Freelance writing before the Internet was a completely different art.
Payments are plummeting, as print journalism experiences an unprecedented crisis and web publications cannot replicate their advertising
rates. Yet the proliferation of blogs and online publications offer many
opportunities for the freelance writer. This course will help you take
advantage of them. This course will NOT focus on improving attendees’
writing—what it will do is get their writing published. Beginning with
blogs, the course will survey the full roster of online publications, from
self-designed e-zines to large newspapers and journals.
6 Mondays 7:00–9:00 P.M.
Fee: $270 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
4/2–5/7
Beginner
Pros and Cons of Self-Publishing
Workshop Leader: Diana M. Martin
Is self-publishing right for you? More people are choosing self-publishing via on-line and print presses to get their writing out to the public.
Explore the wide variety of publishing opportunities in this growing
industry, the costs, and marketing. Open to those considering selfpublishing and those who have already gone this route.
1 Saturday 1:30–4:00 P.M.
Fee: $60 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
6/9
Beginner/Intermediate
WORKSHOPS
Creative Writing: Getting Started
Writing Staycation
Workshop Leader: Laura Fargas
Workshop Leader: Zahara Heckscher
If you have always wanted to write but haven’t known how to begin,
this is the workshop for you! We will explore journals, short stories,
poems (and prose poems), and memoirs in order to “jump start” your
writing. Exercises done in the workshop will focus on transforming a
creative idea into actual words on a page. Goals: loosening up, generating new material, and enjoying the excitement of writing.
Do you dream of participating in a writing retreat, but can’t get out
of town? This workshop, a non-residential week-long retreat at The
Writer’s Center, is for you. Join us for an intensive, supportive, exhilarating, focused week of writing. Each day begins with a short reading and brief discussion. Then tons of time for working on your own
writing–whether it is poetry, a novel, or nonfiction work in your brain,
or a manuscript that needs some final polish. Optional lunch speakers,
afternoon walks, and group shares.
8 Tuesdays 1:00–3:30 P.M.
Fee: $360 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
6/12–7/31
Beginner
The Set Piece
Workshop Leader: Matthew Davis
Like in movies, the set piece in literature is key, and it is one of the most
important skills and techniques a writer can learn. Without knowing
how to sustain an engaging set piece, whether in memoir, reportage,
or fiction, a writer’s work will often melt into abstraction. It also won’t
be as entertaining. This is a workshop for both writers of fiction and
nonfiction, as we explore both what makes a good set piece in literature
and how to write one.
1 Saturday 12:00–5:00 P.M.
Fee: $100 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
6/2
Intermediate
Writing as Healing
6/4–6/8
All Levels
How (and How Not) To Write Dialogue
Workshop Leader: C.M. Mayo
One of the most powerfully vivid ways to show character, relationship, conflict and/or mood is through the use of dialogue. For both
beginning and advanced fiction and nonfiction writers, this workshop
focuses on the use and misuse of dialogue, with a series of mini-lectures
interspersed with brief exercises. The goal is that, by the end of the
workshop, your dialogue will be of notably higher quality.
1 Saturday 1:00–5:00 P.M.
Fee: $100 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
5/5
All Levels
Classical Mythology and Me!
Workshop Leader: Ann McLaughlin
Writing is a useful way to possess difficult experiences; it can help people objectify them and heal. This workshop will deal with stories and
novel beginnings about personal or imagined experiences that members
want to examine and better understand. We will work on character, plot
and, as always, the telling detail. Everyone will have two opportunities
to submit manuscripts for discussion by the group. We will also discuss
one published work by a well-known writer. Open to beginners as well
as those with manuscripts they have already begun.
6 Saturdays 10:00 A.M.–12:30 P.M.
Fee: $270 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
Monday–Friday (1 week)
10:00 A.M.–5:00 P.M.
Fee: $360 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
6/9–7/14
All Levels
Publishing Today: All You Need to Know
Workshop Leader: Laura Oliver
Workshop Leader: Carolyn Clark
Improve your knowledge of (mostly Classical) mythology and enhance
your own writing through discovery of a personal connection to myth.
Craft and share your own work (whatever the genre); read and critique
additional selections from poetry, fiction, essays, even film. Become comfortably conversant with wide-ranging sources (primary and secondary,
ancient, and Internet/global) but narrow enough to discover which myths
are for you!
4 Tuesdays 7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $195 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
6/5–6/26
Intermediate
Writer Calisthenics
Workshop Leader: Alicia Oltuski
Learn how to negotiate the selective world of publishing in this dynamic and interactive workshop. Acquire the skills you need to write a
cover letter, a query letter, and a book proposal. Learn how to identify
publishers and agents most likely to want your work and how to prepare
your short story, essay, article, novel, or nonfiction book for submission.
Whether you are interested in approaching a major house, an independent, a boutique publisher, magazine, literary review, or you are ready to
self-publish, acquire the information you need to achieve your goal.
A uniquely tailored approach, this course is ideal for writers or aspiring
writers who don’t find as much time as they would like to devote to writing. The group will be given several writing exercises to be completed
during weekly class time, and the option of sharing work for critique.
Exercises will be catered to the goals of participants, honing specific aspects of craft with an eye toward fine-tuning individuals’ skill set. At the
end of sessions, the class will discuss and the instructor will customize
new exercises for following weeks. The curriculum will allow participants to improve on craft, expand launched projects, and spark ideas.
1 Saturday
1:00–3:30 P.M.
Fee: $60
Annapolis
(Members receive a 13% discount)
8 Mondays 3:00–5:00 P.M.
Fee: $360 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
4/14
All Levels
5/14–7/9
All Levels
No meeting 5/28
25
WORKSHOPS register at writer.org
Podcasting for Writers
Workshop Leader: C.M. Mayo
Audio podcasts, online digital files, not only serve as an important
promotional tool for writers, but they can be storytelling vehicles
themselves, whether as stand-alone works or complements to text.
This workshop provides an introduction and overview of podcasting
for writers, from basic concepts to nuts-and-bolts tips. The goal is that,
by the end of the workshop, you will be able to go home and use your
iPhone or digital recorder and computer to generate and then post a
simple podcast online.
1 Saturday 10:00 A.M.–12:00 P.M.
Fee: $60 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
5/5
Beginner
Do poets and fiction writers speak the same language? Can one draw
the line between prose poems and flash fiction, or does it matter? In
this workshop we’ll read and write in both forms, both genres, finding
(or not finding) distinctions between each. We’ll generate work from
prompts and respond to drafts, created inside and outside of class,
emphasizing compression, concision, detail and image, resonance
and depth. Advice on publishing will also be offered, particularly
with regard to manuscript preparation and self-presentation,
markets, and venues.
6/2–6/3
All Levels
Getting Started
If you have always wanted to write but haven’t known how to begin,
this is the workshop for you! We will explore journals, short stories,
poems (and prose poems), and memoirs in order to “jump start” your
writing. Exercises done in the workshop will focus on transforming a
creative idea into actual words on a page. Goals: loosening up, generating new material, and enjoying the excitement of writing.
Getting Started: June
Workshop Leader: Elizabeth Poliner
8 Tuesdays 7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $360 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
Workshop Leader: Susan Land
We’ll look at several common application prompts, brainstorm, free
write, revise, revise, and revise. Rather than letting 500 words hang
over you the whole summer, get something down and make it something that shines.
2 Tuesdays 12:30–3:00 P.M.
Fee: $100 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
4/14–6/2
Beginner
Teens who would like to write creatively are given instruction and
experience with different genres through fun and thought-provoking exercises and a workshop format. After reading and discussing exemplars
from published authors, participants will have an opportunity to write
poetry, narrative, nonfiction, and to pursue projects of individual interest. They will also receive individual feedback from the instructor and
have an opportunity to provide feedback on their peers’ writing, as well.
8 Mondays 12:00–2:00 P.M.
Fee: $360 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
6/25–8/13
Beginner
Artscape News (for ages 8–11)
Workshop Leader: Adele (Steiner) Brown
Participants will publish a summer edition of Artscape News! They will
write short stories, poetry, interviews, the latest sports and fashion news,
horoscopes, and travel guides. Sessions will be “hands-on,” and we will
examine the role of “play” in creative writing as well as the importance
of organization and structure in report writing. Time will be time set
aside in each session for comments and revision of work, and students
will have a “press release” reading for family and friends at the conclusion of the workshop. There are no texts required for the workshops,
but students will need paper and pencils.
8 Tuesday–Friday (2 weeks)
10:00 A.M.–12:00 P.M.
Fee: $270 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
7/24–8/3
Beginner
Natural/Magical Writing (for ages 8–11)
Workshop Leader: Adele (Steiner) Brown
6/12–7/31
Beginner
Using Hogwart’s style, we’ll research and journal our experiences with
folklore, myth, and magic. Our observations, character sketches, and
interesting happenings with magic folk, animals and their homes will
be the inspiration for our collections of stories, essays, and poem. Bring
a notebook and pens/pencils for your imaginings, and we’ll have a fairy
feast and goblin gobbling complete with reading for family and friends
during our last workshop together.
10 Monday–Friday (2 weeks) 10:00 A.M.–12:00 P.M.
Fee: $360 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
26
6/26–7/3
Beginner
Workshop Leader: Sarah Mahoney
Workshop Leaders: Nancy Naomi Carlson and Kirk Nesset
Getting Started: April
Workshop Leader: Elizabeth Rees
8 Saturdays
1:00–3:30 P.M.
Fee: $360
Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
Writing the Dreaded
College Application Essay
Creative Writing for Teens
Writing and Publishing
Prose Poems and Flash Fiction
Saturday & Sunday
12:00–5:00 P.M.
Fee: $200 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
 younger writers 
7/9–7/20
Beginner
WORKSHOPS
Young Writers’ Circle (for ages 8–11)
Introduction to Marketing Platforms
Workshop Leader: Adele (Steiner) Brown
Workshop Leader: Angela Render
Participants will use nature writings as their inspiration and experiment
with poetry, prose, and drama, and have an opportunity to share new
ideas for writing forms and techniques. The workshop is an opportunity
for young writers to deepen their understanding of how various types of
writing work and what makes them and their use of language powerful.
Participants will share finished work for appreciation and helpful comments from their peers, and a reading of their collected works for family
and friends will conclude the series of workshops.
Getting published is hard, especially for a first-time author. Publishers
want you to come with a platform and this workshop will discuss what
a platform is and when to start building it. It will also give a brief overview of the tools available to writers for building a platform on the web,
and discuss Internet privacy and copyright. Participants will brainstorm
what types of Internet media might be right for them to use.
8 Tuesday–Friday (2 weeks)
12:30–3:30 P.M.
Fee: $270 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
7/24–8/3
Beginner
Workshop Leader: Angela Render
Workshop Leader: Adele (Steiner) Brown
Participants will use nature writings as their inspiration and experiment
with poetry, prose, and drama, and have an opportunity to share new
ideas for writing forms and techniques. The workshop is an opportunity
for young writers to deepen their understanding of how various types of
writing work and what makes them and their use of language powerful.
Participants will share finished work for appreciation and helpful comments from their peers, and a reading of their collected works for family
and friends will conclude the series of workshops.
7/9–7/20
Beginner
Workshop Leaders: Zahara Heckscher and Debra Farkas
A workshop for moms, dads, or guardians to make short books with
their young children, ages 5–8, in advance of Mother’s Day.
5/6
Beginner
 professional

develoPMent Writing Talking Points
Workshop Leader: Arthur Besner
Talking points help organize and focus your main thoughts so you will
deliver information concisely and effectively. They serve as a guide and
easy way to stay on track when you prepare or deliver information to
an internal or external audience. Talking points also can establish the
foundation for writing pamphlets, press releases, newsletters, opinion
pieces, reports, and speeches.
1 Tuesday
7:00–10:00 P.M.
Fee: $60
Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
This introductory class explains what a blog is and what it can do for a
writer. It will cover several blogging software options, the basics on how
to set up a blog and choose a domain name, how to post, and how to
insert images. Participants will get a feel for what sort of content should
be included in a post, how to organize their content, how to invite
comment, and how to promote themselves on other people’s blogs.
Participants will brainstorm topic ideas for participants’ own blogs.
1 Saturday 12:00–2:00 P.M.
Fee: $50 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
5/12
Beginner
Blogging Tips and Tricks
Workshop Leader: Angela Render
Making a Book for Mom
1 Sunday
2:00–4:30 P.M.
Fee: $60 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
5/12
Beginner
Introduction to Blogging
Young Writers’ Circle for Teens
Monday–Friday (2 weeks)
12:30–2:30 P.M.
Fee: $360 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
1 Saturday 3:00–5:00 P.M.
Fee: $50 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
4/24
Beginner/Intermediate
An intermediate level workshop that is best suited for people who are
already blogging and want to take their blogs to the next level. Students
will learn techniques to improve their posts and their exposure. Basic
graphics editing, search engine optimization (seo), and ways to come
up with sustainable topics to write about will be discussed.
1 Saturday 12:00–2:00 P.M.
Fee: $50 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
6/16
Intermediate
Writing Compelling Blog Posts
Workshop Leader: Patrick Ross
What brings you back to your favorite authors? Is it the cover art, font
selection, or marketing campaigns? Or is it the writing? Blogs succeed
when the writer has a defined voice and brings value and pleasure to the
reader; in other words, it’s no different than any other form of writing.
In this class we will workshop each other’s blog posts each week, with an
emphasis on voice and theme. By the end of the class, students will be
writing blog posts that stand out in the crowded field of writing blogs.
This class is meant for those who already have blogs as well as those
considering launching one.
6 Tuesdays 7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $270 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
4/17–5/22
All Levels
27
WORKSHOPS register at writer.org
Social Networking for Writers
The Modernist Poets
Workshop Leader: Angela Render
Workshop Leader: Charles Jensen
Does the world of social media make you want to head for a cave? Do
you think the world’s all gone to Twitter, Facebook, and other social
networks? Learn to navigate the social surf online and in person as you
learn how to approach social networking online and off.
Familiarity with blogging or taking Introduction to Blogging first recommended.
Modernism began around 1911, and with its rise American poets embraced
free verse, creating along the way a variety of rules and guidelines still in
use today. This workshop will study the major poets of the movement
(Pound, Eliot, Moore, Williams, Stevens, Brooks, etc.) and discuss their
poems and essays using our online message board.
1 Saturday 3:00–5:00 P.M.
Fee: $50 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
8 Tuesdays
Fee: $270
Online
(Members receive a 13% discount)
6/16
Intermediate
 adults write

for children Writing for the Middle Grade Reader
Workshop Leader: Judith Tabler
Middle graders (children ages 8–12) can be a terrific audience for
your creative skills. This age group devours both nonfiction and fiction. We will look at middle grade literature (classic and current), but
most class time will be spent discussing participants’ writings. We will
explore protagonists, plot, conflict, action, humor, dialogue, villains,
secondary characters, good beginnings, strong middles, and great endings. Beginners welcome. Bring a favorite middle grade book or article
to the first class.
6 Thursdays 10:30 A.M.–1:00 P.M.
Fee: $270 Bethesda
(Members receive a 13% discount)
6/14–7/19
All Levels
 Online 
Online workshops are conducted at onlinetwc.org/
workshop/—feel free to check out our sample workshop.
One simple location with the freedom to participate
at any time of the day, TWC’s online workshops are
perfect for busy writers like you!
Summer Poetry Calisthenics
Workshop Leader: Charles Jensen
Each week, students will be given a prompt and be asked to generate a
poem within 24 hours of receiving it. Students will receive constructive
feedback from the rest of the workshop over the course of the next six
days. On the seventh day, students will revise the poem. On the eighth
day, a new prompt will be received and the cycle will begin again. By
the end of summer, students will be limber, flexible, and strong in their
ability to generate new work and revise it effectively.
10 Mondays Fee: $340
Online
(Members receive a 13% discount
28
6/4–8/6
Intermediate/Advanced
4/17–6/5
All Levels
The “F” Word: Innovative Forms of Poetry
Workshop Leader: Charles Jensen
When we approach writing poems, we should distinguish between
“pattern” (repetition) and “form” (shape). We’ll encourage each other
to consider form broadly and workshop our poems in progress while
reading examples of surprising and innovative takes on form (indexes,
lists, prose poems, etc.) from contemporary poets. You’ll come away
with all the tools you need to structure your work creatively and effectively. A familiarity with traditional forms (however slight) is especially
helpful for this workshop.
6 Mondays Fee: $200 Online
(Members receive a 13% discount)
6/11–7/16
Intermediate/Advanced
Narrative Arc
Workshop Leader: Alicia Oltuski
In fiction and nonfiction, one of the most crucial elements of any piece
is the degree to which it accomplishes forward motion over time. Depending on the subject and style, this mobility may be subtle or stark;
gradual or sudden, yet it represents a component that virtually every successful piece of writing comprises. This class is open to writers working
on (or seeking to work on) fiction or nonfiction and will hone narrative
change, character development, and storylines, important to all genres.
6 Saturdays Fee: $200 Online
(Members receive a 13% discount))
6/28–8/2
Intermediate/Advanced
Characterization in the Novel
Workshop Leader: T. Greenwood
When writing a novel, we must know our primary characters inside and
out. We need to understand their desires, motivations, and frustrations, their histories and their futures. This workshop will focus on the
development of authentic characters. We will examine character as both
autonomous and residing within the context of the other novelistic
elements, and we will discuss the challenge of creating and integrating
these various elements into a cohesive and credible whole. Participants
will explore the main character(s) in their novels-in-progress.
8 Saturdays Fee: $270 Online
(Members receive a 13% discount)
5/12–6/30
Intermediate/Advanced
WORKSHOPS
Introduction to the Novel
The Novelist’s Workshop
Workshop Leader: T. Greenwood
Workshop Leader: Jenny Moore
So, you have always wanted to write a novel but didn’t know where to
start. This workshop will help you understand the process of writing
a novel so you can get started putting pen to paper. We will focus on
everything from generating ideas to developing characters to establishing point of view. We will touch on many elements of fiction (dialogue,
scene, etc.), but the emphasis will be on discovering the writing process
that works best for you.
Struggling with your novel and ready for some feedback? Bring your
work into the virtual classroom. In this online workshop we’ll critique
excerpts from each participant’s novel, looking at craft challenges and
targeting areas to work on. Weekly writing exercises will sharpen your
technique and help shape your revision process.
8 Saturdays Fee: $270 Online
(Members receive a 13% discount)
7/7–8/25
All Levels
Short Fiction Workshop
Workshop Leader: Dave Housley
An online workshop for intermediate or advanced short-fiction writers.
Students will draft two stories, and several shorter pieces written to prompts.
We’ll read a variety of fiction from literary magazines or collections.
Ideally, students will leave this course with a better understanding of the
current fiction landscape and will hone and expand their writing skills.
8 Sundays Fee: $270 Online
(Members receive a 13% discount)
4/1–5/20
Intermediate/Advanced
Writing Longer Poems & Sequences
Workshop Leader: Charles Jensen
If you’ve never written past the edge of your page, this workshop will be
a great experiment for you. Using techniques of collage, montage, and
sequencing, we will build long poems or works that elapse over several
smaller pieces. For inspiration, we’ll read poets who work with these
techniques to get a better understanding of our creative options while
pushing ourselves to cross boundaries, take chances, and explore what
lies beyond the page break.
10 Mondays Fee: $340
Online
(Members receive a 13% discount)
6/11–8/13
Intermediate/Advanced
8 Saturdays Fee: $270 Online
(Members receive a 13% discount)
6/30–8/18
Intermediate/Advanced
 mclean

workshops The Writer’s Center is pleased to join in partnership with
the McLean Community Center (MCC), to offer workshops
at their location at 1234 Ingleside Avenue, McLean, VA.
The MCC is handling registrations for these workshops.
Current Writer’s Center members who register for a
workshop at the MCC will pay the full rate and receive
the 13% member discount as a refund. For more information about the MCC, visit mcleancenter.org.
Writing Your Novel or Memoir
Workshop Leader: Barbara Esstman
Working from 20 pages of your own writing, learn character and scene
development, dialogue, tone, language, point of view, plot, and focus—
the essential directions for writing your book and not getting lost in the
process. Also, tips on how to publish.
6 Tuesdays
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: See MCC Web site
McLean
(Members receive a 13% discount)
4/24–5/29
All Levels
How to Make a Living as a Copy Editor
Workshop Leader: Bernadette Geyer
Place in Memoir
Workshop Leader: Matthew Davis
In every personal story there is the backdrop­—the country, the town, the
nature reserve, the home, the room—where much of the vital action occurs. The impact of this place can be quite deep on the story being told.
This workshop will focus on place in memoir, as students explore how to
effectively use the physical location the story is set in. The goal is to get
students to think of the location as another character in their story,
a “person” who can further illuminate the main character of the writer.
8 Tuesdays Fee: $270 Online
(Members receive a 13% discount)
5/1–6/19
Beginner/Intermediate
Whether you are drawn to the corporate world or a freelancer’s life, this
workshop will cover what you need to know to pursue a career as a copy
editor. You will learn how a copy editor differs from a proofreader, how
to build experience now to make a career switch later, key tips every
copy editor should know, and the steps you’ll need to take if you want
to work on a freelance basis.
1 Saturday 1:30–4:00 P.M.
Fee: $60 McLean
(Members receive a 13% discount)
6/30
All Levels
To find workshops listed exclusively online,
or to sign up for The Writer Center’s weekly
or monthly e-newsletter, visit Writer.org.
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WORKSHOPS register at writer.org
 Capitol hill workshops 
The Writer’s Center is offering a variety of workshops at The Hill Center (921 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, Washington,
D.C.). To register for these workshops visit the The Hill Center’s website: hillcenterdc.org. To view Hill Center workshops listed exclusively online, visit www.writer.org/capitolhill.
How (and How Not) To Write Dialogue
First Fire: From Spark to Practice
Workshop Leader: C.M. Mayo
Workshop Leader: Naomi Ayala
One of the most powerfully vivid ways to show character, relationship, conflict and/or mood is through the use of dialogue. For both
beginning and advanced fiction and nonfiction writers, this workshop
focuses on the use and misuse of dialogue, with a series of mini-lectures
interspersed with brief exercises. The goal is that, by the end of the
workshop, your dialogue will be of notably higher quality.
1 Sunday 2:00–5:00 P.M.
Fee: $75
Capitol Hill
(Members receive a 13% discount)
30
7/8
All Levels
This workshop is structured to include a zillion activities that will have
your creative mind spinning in new directions, helping you find new
ways to respond to what excites you, and motivating you to renew and/
or establish your commitment to a writing practice. From snake-flow
and ritual poems to collaging work, to using research and dictionary
prompts as well as exercises developed by the instructor over the course
of 25 years of teaching, you will feel positively challenged as you gain
insight into your creative process and expand your breadth.
6 Thursdays 7:00–9:00 P.M.
Fee: $215 Capitol Hill
(Members receive a 13% discount)
5/17–6/21
All Levels
WORKSHOPS
The Writer’s Center is pleased to announce that it has received a generous
grant from The National Endowment
for the Arts allowing us to offer four
tuition-free workshops for veterans and active duty military.
One of these is being offered this summer at the Hill Center:
Writing the Military Experience
Workshop Leader: Ron Capps
Travel Writing Master Class
Workshop Leader: L. Peat O’Neil
For travel writers who maintain a blog. Also suitable for writers active
in another field, including fiction, who want to explore nonfiction and
travel journalism. Class covers content for today’s travel articles, blog
writing, and publication trends. Exercises to improve structure, pace,
mood, and style for travel feature writing. We’ll work on developing
writer’s voice, selecting historical and factual information, and tightening existing draft article or travel journal notes. Participants bring a
draft article (up to 2500 words) to class.
A seminar and workshop designed for veterans, service members, and
military family members and taught by a combat veteran. Using examples
written by veterans we study craft elements including scene, setting, dialogue,
point of view, and narrative structure. Participants’ writing in fiction,
nonfiction (including memoir), or poetry is shared among the group.
1 Tuesday 6:00–9:00 P.M.
Fee: $75 Capitol Hill
(Members receive a 13% discount)
6 Tuesdays
FREE for Military Veterans
Writing Crime Fiction
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Capitol Hill
4/24–5/9
All Levels
Researching and Writing
Neighborhood Profiles
Workshop Leader: David Taylor
D.C. has a wealth of hidden neighborhood stories. This course helps resi-
Workshop Leader: Con Lehane
This workshop is for writers of crime fiction in all its manifestations—
from the village cozy to darkest noir, from suspense to intrigue to the
page-turner action thriller. We’ll cover the essential aspects of fiction
writing that apply to all genres: compelling openings, exciting action,
characters readers care about, seamless plots, stories that endure.
dents to research and write profiles akin to those produced in the 1930s by
the Federal Writers’ Project. The workshop will explore research, interviews,
reporting, and outreach, guided by a published author/filmmaker. We’ll
use examples and exercises; includes a session on how to share profiles
interactively. Students can choose topics guided by the instructor.
8 Tuesdays
7:00–9:30 P.M.
Fee: $360
Capitol Hill
(Members receive a 13% discount)
6 Tuesdays 7:00–9:00 P.M.
Fee: $270 Capitol Hill
(Members receive a 13% discount)
Workshop Leader: Kenneth Carroll
7/10–8/14
Beginner
Chapter One: Writing for Teens and Tweens
Workshop Leader: Pamela Ehrenberg
You’ve got: an idea, a manuscript, or part of a manuscript. You’d like:
friendly but critical eyes to help you shape, polish, and submit your
work. You’ll find: a safe, encouraging space to ask questions (middle
grade or ya? agent or not?) and resources to help you see your project
through to completion. Participants will be invited to submit 20 pages
before the first meeting—but if that sounds scary, please come anyway
and bring whatever you’ve got. Your newest cheering section looks
forward to having you join us!
2 Mondays
2:00–4:30 P.M.
Fee: $100
Capitol Hill
(Members receive a 13% discount)
7/16–7/23
Beginner/Intermediate
Food Writing Master Class
Workshop Leader: L. Peat O’Neil
Refine and finish your culinary memoir or feature article. This class focuses on advanced feature writing style, self-editing, recipe construction,
interviewing techniques, and publication options. Exercises include
evaluating story ideas, structuring a culinary article, and requirements
for recipes. Participants bring a draft of a food memoir, essay, or article
with related recipes to work on during class.
1 Thursday 6:00–9:00 P.M.
Fee: $75
Capitol Hill
(Members receive a 13% discount)
6/14
Intermediate
7/24
Intermediate
6/12–7/31
All Levels
Teen Creative Writing
This workshop, for writers who want to improve their poetry, fiction, or nonfiction, consists of fun and engaging interactive exercises.
Participants will discuss writing basics and will work individually with
the instructor and in workshop readings to improve their approach to
writing. Participants will have the opportunity to read their work to
the class during our last workshop. This workshop works for passionate
young writers and for students looking for inspiration and technique to
get their creative writing juices flowing.
6 Saturdays
1:00–3:30 P.M.
Fee: $270 Capitol Hill
(Members receive a 13% discount)
6/30–8/4
All Levels
Close Readings in Contemporary Poetry
Workshop Leader: Jean Nordhaus
Close readings of recent books by three contemporary poets will examine how the poems are made and explore how poets manage to find
and transform the matter of our ordinary world. This is not a writing
class, although there will be suggestions given for generating new material and opportunity for airing of poems and meditations that arise in
response (or opposition) to the poems discussed in class. The books to
be discussed in these sessions are: Robert Bly, Talking into the Ear of a
Donkey; Stephen Dunn, Here and Now; Linda Pastan, Traveling Light.
Participants should read Linda Pastan’s collection before the first class.
6 Tuesdays
Fee: $215
(13% Discount for Members)
6:30–8:30 P.M.
Capitol Hill
5/15–6/19
All Levels
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EVENTS AT THE WRITER'S CENTER
We host more than 50 events annually, including Sunday Open Door
readings and theatre productions in our historic black box theatre. If you
would like more information about these events—including interviews,
videos, and audio—please visit our website www.writer.org/events
or our blog, First Person Plural.
open door
readings
SUN, APR 15, 2:00 P.M.
Jenni B. Baker
Editor-in-Chief of The
Found Poetry Review,
Jenni B. Baker, reads
from some of her found
poems, adaptations
of existing texts.
She is joined by a
recent contributor
of Big Lucks.
SUN, APR 22, 5:00 P.M.
Richard Peabody
SUN, APR 1, 2:00 P.M.
The Writer’s Center
features authors
recently published in
The Pedestal Magazine.
Readers are John Amen,
Cortney Bledsoe, Alan
Britt, Nathan Leslie, Lyn
Lifshin, Jen Michalski,
and Richard Peabody.
SUN, APR 29, 2:00 P.M.
SUN, MAY 6, 2:00 P.M.
Carolyn Parkhurst
Amy Stolls
Authors Amy Stolls (The Ninth Wife) and Carolyn
Parkhurst (The Nobodies Album) read from their
work, discuss the craft of writing while trying
to avoid phrases as dull as “the craft of writing,”
and grill each other on issues ranging from the
value of writers’ groups to the challenges of
writing during childbirth. They probably won’t
discuss which friend once compared Carolyn’s
work to the music of Phil Collins or why Amy
swapped dresses with someone else halfway
through Carolyn’s wedding.
Following the reading a reception will be held
to launch a series of seasonal art openings
displaying new exhibits of visual art curated
by The Yellow Barn.
SUN, MAY 13, 2:00 P.M.
Patricia McArdle
Yvette Neisser Moreno
Co-translators Yvette Neisser Moreno and
Patricia Bejarano Fisher join Venezuelan poet
Maria Teresa Ogliastri in a bi-lingual reading of
Ogliastri’s South Pole/Polo Sur. They are joined
by author Patricia McArdle, who reads from her
debut novel, Farishta.
32
Clara Changxin Fang
Liliana Hernandez
Local poets who attended Smith College between
1948 and 2002 will read from a short selection of
poems. Authors include: Andrée Betancourt, Clara
Changxin Fang, Marilyn Heilprin, Liliana Hernandez,
Barbara Lefcowitz, Nancy Meneely, Chloe Yelena
Miller, Eileen Ivey Sirota, Ellen Dore Watson,
Anne Harding Woodworth, and Kate Young.
Mother’s Day Poetry and Prose Open Mic.
Sign up for readers starts at 1:30 P.M.
photos by: the writer’s center (mcardle); Yvette Neisser Moreno
(moreno); Katherine Michaud (baker); Dean Evangelista (peabody);
Lei Liao (Changxin Fang); courtesy of liliana hernandez (hernandez);
Marion Ettlinger (parkhurst); James Calder (stolls); Mike Deslauriers
(Brodeur); Chris Tanseer (Deulen); Jackie Ogg (ogg); Louis Staudt (Staudt);
Peter Dressel (mali); Kettering personal collection (Kettering);
Rachel Eliza Griffiths (Horton); Rachel Eliza Griffiths (herd);
Lynn Thomas (kronenberg); Lois Mcbride (mcbride); Stephen Walker
(brafman); reggie chalonas (nicholas); Charlene Smith (smith)
EVENTS AT THE WRITER'S CENTER
Sun, May 20, 2:00 P.M.
SUN, JUN 24, 2:00 P.M.
This Open Door Reading is to be announced.
Sun, May 27, 2:00 P.M.
Randall Horton
Brendan Ogg
Kathleen Henderson Staudt
Poetry reading featuring authors published by
Finishing Line Press. Friends of Brendan Ogg will
read from Summer Becomes Absurd, his posthumously published collection of poems. They
will be joined by v Henderson Staudt, who reads
from Waving Back: Poems of Mothering Life,
and Margaret Ingraham, author of Proper
Words for Birds.
Niki Herd
Reading by four local poets. Melanie Henderson
(Elegies for New York Avenue); Niki Herd (The
Language of Shedding Skin); Randall Horton
(The Definition of Place); and Joseph Ross
(Meeting Bone Man).
SUN, JUL 1, 2:00 P.M.
SUN, JUL 15, 2:00 P.M.
Multi-award winning
journalist and author
Charlene Smith is
best known as Nelson
Mandela’s biographer.
South-African born
and an American
citizen, Smith has a
Charlene Smith
close and respectful
friendship with Mandela and gives you a unique
insight into a great man and what we can
learn from him. She reads from her new book,
Mandela and America.
SUN, JUL 22, 2:00 P.M.
The Goethe Institut presents Time Shadows, a
program featuring poems inspired by music by
German, Chinese, and American poets.
SUN, JUL 29, 2:00 P.M.
Sun, Jun 3, 5:00 P.M.
Reading by MarieElizabeth Mali, author
of Steady My Gaze,
and poets published
in Villanelles, an
anthology edited by
Mali and Annie Finch.
Readers from the
Marie-Elizabeth Mali
anthology include
Mali, Ned Balbo, Charles Fort, Claudia Gary, Tad
Richards, Barbara J. Orton, and Davi Walders.
Poetry and Prose Open Mic.
Sign-up for readers begins at 1:30 p.m.
Judith Kronenberg
Greg McBride
Poetry reading featuring Judith Kronenberg,
who reads from Shimmer, and Greg McBride,
author of Porthole.
SUN, JUL 8, 2:00 P.M.
Sun, Jun 17, 2:00 P.M.
Gimbiya Kettering
Father’s Day Poetry and
Prose Open Mic, including a reading by featured reader,Gimbiya
Kettering, winner of
The Undiscovered
Voices competition.
Sign-up for readers
starts at 1:30 P.M.
Michelle Brafman
George Nicholas
Reading by authors published in Confessions:
Truth or Fiction? an anthology of fiction and
creative nonfiction. Readers include: Michelle
Brafman, Herta B. Feely, Susan McCallum-Smith,
George Nicholas, Jyotsna Sreenivasan, and
Tim Wendel.
33
EVENTS AT THE WRITER'S CENTER
SPECIAL EVENTS
ANGLES OF ASCENT
TUES, APR 10, 7:30 P.M.
The Writer’s Center
and Politics & Prose
launch a poetry series
at TWC with a reading
by poets Kyle Dargan,
Gregory Pardlo, and
A.B. Spellman. This is
the first in what will
Gregory Pardlo
become a series of
special poetry programs presented in partnership by The Writer’s Center and Politics & Prose.
General Admission: $5.
(Free for Members and students).
first novel prize
winner reading
THURS,
April 12,
7:00 p.m.
Heidi Durrow reads
from The Girl Who Fell
from the Sky, which
has been selected as
the first winner of
Heidi Durrow
The Writer’s Center’s
McLaughlin-Esstman-Stearns First Novel Prize.
Read a profile of Heidi on page 6.
Landon HIGH
SCHOOL READING
THURS, APR 19, 6:30 P.M.
Meet the next generation of writers as we host a
reading and award ceremony featuring winners
of Landon School’s writing competitions.
34
Dancing at Lughnasa
Apr 20–May 20
This moving tale of five unmarried sisters eking
out their lives in a small village in Ireland in
1936 has been called the most elegant and
rueful memory play since The Glass Menagerie.
For reservations or additional details please visit
quotidiantheatre.org or call 301-816-1023.
Sandra Beasley/
Glen Finland
FRI, APR 20, 7:30 P.M.
Glen Finland
We’re pleased to host
a reading as part of
the Bethesda Literary
Festival. Glen Finland
reads from Next Stop
and Sandra Beasley
reads from Don’t Kill
the Birthday Girl: Tales
from an Allergic Life.
ANNAPOLIS
BOOK FESTIVAL
SAT, APR 21
The Writer’s Center will host two panels: one
on the current landscape of publishing, and the
other addressing the question “Can Creative
Writing Be Taught?”
For additional details please visit keyschool.org/
community/annapolis-book-festival
Poet Lore
Birthday Reading
SAT, APR 21, 2:00 P.M.
Join us to celebrate
Poet Lore’s 123rd birthday—and National
Poetry Month—with
readings by John
Bargowski and
Mary-Sherman
Willis, featured in the
Spring/Summer 2012
issue, as well as champagne and cake!
Read a profile on one of Poet Lore’s editors, Jody
Bolz, on page 7.
THE FUTURE OF
THE BOOK REVIEW
SUN, APR 22, 2:00 P.M.
Author and president of the Washington
Independent Review of Books, David Stewart,
joins award-winning Washington Post book
reviewer Dennis Drabelle and National Book
Critics Circle board member Mark Athitakis
to discuss the past, present, and future of
the book review. Moderated by Mia Cortez
of the Montgomery Gazette.
TWC Open House
SAT, MAY 19, 12:00–3:00 P.M.
Join Writer’s Center staff, workshop leaders,
and board members at our open house. We’ll
have a light reception, an opportunity to learn
about upcoming workshops and events, and
a raffle drawing.
Publish now!
SAT, JUNE 23
10:00 A.M.–5:00 P.M.
The Writer's Center presents Publish Now! From
Manuscript to Book and eBook in the New World
of Publishing. Visit our writer.org, for updates.
Afterplay and
A Little Trick
Jul 20–Aug 19, 2012
Brian Friel imagines a small cafe in 1920s
Moscow where Sonya, Uncle Vanya’s niece, is
the only customer until the arrival of Andrey,
brother of the Three Sisters. Afterplay provides a
touching coda for two of Chekhov’s most enduring characters. (Directed by Jack Sbarbori)
Chekhov’s short story A Little Trick is transformed
into a succinct memory play where the narrator
tells of the young lady who might have been the
love of his life. (Directed by Stephanie Mumford)
For reservations or additional details please visit
quotidiantheatre.org or call 301-816-1023.
photos by: Thomas Sayers Ellis (pardlo); Timothi Jane Graham
(Durrow); mary noble ours (Finland); Emma Norman (plumly);
Tara Laskowski (taylor)
EVENTS AT TWC / LEESBURG FIRST FRIDAY
35 th anniversary reading series
Each event: Members/Students (with a valid ID) $10; Non-members $15
BookTalk: Members/Students/Round House Subscribers $10; Non-members $15
Poets Stanley Plumly
and Joshua Weiner
BOOKTALK:
DOUBLE INDEMNITY
FRI, MAY 25, 7:30 P.M.
SUN, JUN 10, 12:30 P.M.
Maryland’s Poet Laureate and long-time Writer’s
Center workshop leader Stanley Plumly reads
with Joshua Weiner. Plumly will read from his
new collection, Orphan Hours. He is author of
several collections of poetry and prose, including
Posthumous Keats, Old Heart, and Argument
& Song: Sources & Silences in Poetry. Weiner is
author of the poetry collections The World’s
Stanley Plumly
Room and From the Book of Giants and is editor
of At The Barriers: On the Poetry of Thom Gunn.
First published in serial form in 1936, James
Cain’s Double Indemnity is the inspiration for
Billy Wilder’s classic 1944 film of the same name.
In this special panel presentation moderated
by fiction writer and critic Art Taylor, mystery
novelists Megan Abbott and Con Lehane join
National Public Radio book reviewer Maureen
Corrigan and Round House Theatre’s Producing
Art Taylor
Artistic Director Blake Robison to discuss why
the book remains one of the defining classics of the hardboiled genre.
Participants are encouraged to attend Round House’s production of the
play May 30–June 24.
Read Art Taylor’s article on BookTalk on page 10.
Read Joshua Weiner’s interview with Stanley Plumly at:
tinyurl.com/plumlyinterview
leesburg
first friday
Leesburg Town Hall (Lower
Level Meeting Room)
25 W. Market Street
Leesburg, VA 20176
$4 TWC members and residents of Leesburg
$6 General admission
To read more about
these events visit
www.writer.org/leesburg
Elizabeth Letts:
Craft-related
Topic TBD
May 4, 7:30-9:30 P.M.
Elizabeth Letts is the author of The New York
Times bestseller, The Eighty-Dollar Champion:
Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation,
the true story of a plowhorse bound for the
slaughteryard who went on to become one of
the top show horses in the world. She’s also the
award-winning author of two novels for adults,
Family Planning and Quality of Care, and one
children’s book, The Butter Man.
Laura Oliver: Setting
June 1, 7:30-9:30 P.M.
Laura Oliver, M.F.A., is the author of The Story
Within: New Insights and Inspiration for Writers.
Her essays and short stories appear in numerous
regional and national periodicals such as The
Washington Post, Country Living, and Glimmer
Train. She has taught creative writing at the
University of Maryland and currently teaches
writing at St. John’s College. Nominated for a
Pushcart Prize, her work has won numerous
awards, including a Maryland State Arts Council
Individual Artist Award in Fiction. Her M.F.A. is
in creative writing and literature from Bennington College, and she has completed nonfiction
workshops at The University of Iowa.
35
WORKSHOP LEADERS
Naomi Ayala is the author of two books of
poetry; Wild Animals on the Moon (1997) and This
Side of Early (2009). Distinguishing herself as a poet
who writes in two languages, her most recent work
in Spanish appears in Al Pie de la Casa Blanca: Poetas
Hispanos de Washington, D.C. (2010).
Khris Baxter is a screenwriter, producer,
and script consultant. He teaches screenwriting, at
Gettysburg College and at the low-residency M.F.A.
at Queens University of Charlotte, NC. His body of
work includes many optioned screenplays and one
produced film. He is a member of the Virginia Film
Office where he is a judge for the annual screenwriting competition. He is also the founder of Baxter
Baker & Associates (baxterbaker.com).
Sandra Beasley is the author of I Was
the Jukebox, winner of the Barnard Women Poets
Prize (2010). Her first collection, Theories of Falling,
won the New Issues Poetry Prize. Her poetry has
been featured on Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, and in
The Best American Poetry 2010. Her memoir, Don’t
Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales from an Allergic Life, was
published in 2011.
Arthur Besner has more than 30 years
experience at the U.S. Department of Education,
where, among other things, he wrote speeches—
delivered by the assistant secretary for Civil Rights
and the Department Secretary—that were given to
national education, civil rights, and legal organizations.
He also designed and delivered an ongoing training
course, “Writing Memoranda and Reports,” for Department employees. He teaches at Montgomery College.
Martin Blank has written 10 plays that have
been produced in the U.S. and abroad. He has directed
dozens of readings and workshops to develop new
plays in Washington, D.C. and New York City, as well
as written, produced, or directed, over 100 professional productions. He has served as artistic associate
for the American Jewish Theatre and American Place
Theatre, New York City, as well as literary manager,
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, and founding
artistic director, Theater J. He attended the University
of Maryland and the Yale School of Drama.
36
Adele Steiner Brown B.A. and
M.F.A. in English Literature and Creative Writing
(Poetry) (University of Maryland); an instructor
with Montgomery College and Maryland State Arts
Council; host of Café Muse; and author of Refracted
Love, Freshwater Pearls, The Moon Lighting, and Look
Ma, “Hands” on Poetry. Her work has appeared in
WordWrights!, Maryland Poetry Review, Gargoyle,
Lucid Stone, Smartish Pace, and So to Speak.
Dana Cann, M.A., has stories appearing in The
Sun, The Gettysburg Review, Bethesda Magazine, Fifth
Wednesday Journal, The Florida Review, and Blackbird,
among other journals. He’s received a Pushcart nomination and fellowships from the Virginia Center for the
Creative Arts and the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation.
Ron Capps is the founder and director of The
Veterans Writing Project. His writing and commentary appear regularly in Time and Foreign Policy,
and have been featured in The American Interest,
Monday Developments, and Health Affairs, on Pacifica
Radio, the BBC World Service, and NPR’s All Things
Considered. As a soldier and foreign service officer,
Ron served in Rwanda, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq,
and Darfur. He is a graduate of The Johns Hopkins
University’s M.A. in Writing Program.
Nancy Naomi Carlson, Ph.D., is an
associate editor for Tupelo Press. She has published
two award-winning chapbooks, one collection of poetry, and a book of translations. Awarded a Maryland
Arts Council grant for poetry, her work has appeared
in print over 225 times, including AGNI, Poetry, Prairie
Schooner, and is forthcoming in The Georgia Review.
Kenneth Carroll is a native Washingtonian. His writings appear in numerous publications,
including, Stanford University Education Journal,
Penguin’s African American Textbook, and Turn the
Page: Sharing Successful Chapters in Our Lives with
Youth. He has worked as an educator in the D.C. public schools for the past 20 years, where he has used
literature and writing to reach youth and to engage
students in learning and leadership opportunities.
As the former director of DC WritersCorps, he created
the country’s first Youth Poetry Slam League, which
was honored by the President’s Commission for the
Arts and the Humanities in 1999.
Carolyn Clark is a teacher-scholar with a
lifelong passion for classics, archaeology and writing.
Having earned two degrees in the “Ivies” and a Ph.D.
in Classics at The Johns Hopkins University, she now
teaches Latin, French, and some ancient Greek.
Her muse is currently helping her to complete a
chapbook of mythical poems.
Brenda W. Clough is a novelist, short
story, and nonfiction writer. Her recent e-books are
Revise the World and Speak to Our Desires. Her novels
include How Like a God, The Doors of Death and Life,
and Revise the World. She has been a finalist for
both the Hugo and the Nebula awards. She has been
teaching science fiction & fantasy workshops at The
Writer’s Center for over 10 years.
Matthew Davis’ first book, When Things
Get Dark: A Mongolian Winter’s Tale, was published
in 2010. His work has won several awards, including
ones from the Atlantic and The Best American Travel
Writing series. He received an M.F.A. in Nonfiction
from The University of Iowa and was a Fulbright
Scholar to Syria and Jordan in 2010–2011.
Tim Denevi has recently published creative
nonfiction in Arts & Letters, Hawai’i Review, and
Hobart. He currently teaches in the Professional
Writing Program at the University of Maryland.
He received his M.F.A. from the nonfiction
workshop at The University of Iowa.
Toby Devens is the author of a novel, My
Favorite Midlife Crisis (Yet) and a book of poetry,
Mercy, Lord, My Husband’s in the Kitchen. Her short
fiction, articles, and poetry have appeared in New
York Magazine, Parents, Reader’s Digest, Family
Circle, and McCall’s, among numerous publications.
A former senior editor at Harcourt Brace publishers
and New York Editor for Where magazine, she has a
B.A. and an M.A. in Literature.
Graham Dunstan is a fiction and memoir
writer who has won numerous awards for his writing,
including a Larry Neal Fiction Award for the District of
Columbia, and fiction awards from Anchorage Daily
News and Lullwater Review. He earned an M.F.A. in
Creative Writing from the University of Alaska Anchorage, where he also taught composition. Graham has
been published in The Phoenix, The Signal, Lullwater
Review, We Alaskans, Creative Loafing, Anchorage
Weekly, and on PlanetOut.
WORKSHOP LEADERS
SOLVEIG EGGERZ is the author of the
award-winning novel Seal Woman. Her writing has
appeared in The Northern Virginia Review, Palo Alto
Review, Lincoln Review, Midstream, Issues, The Journal
of the Baltimore Writers’ Alliance, The Christian Century,
and Open Windows: An Anthology. She holds a Ph.D.
in Comparative Literature with a focus on medieval
English, German, and Scandinavian works.
Pamela Ehrenberg is the author of two
novels for young people, Tillmon County Fire (2009)
and Ethan, Suspended (2007). A former junior high
teacher and an AmeriCorps alumna, she is currently
a higher education consultant and mom to two
small children, as well as a member of the Children’s
Book Guild of Washington, D.C., and the Society of
Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
JONATHAN EIG has been teaching screenwriting workshops in the Washington, D.C., area for
the past 20 years. He is a winner of The Austin Film
Festival Heart of Film Screenplay Competition and a
CINE Golden Eagle. He currently teaches screenwriting
and film history at Montgomery College, Takoma Park,
and leads a film series at the AFI Silver Theatre.
Sue Eisenfeld’s essays and articles have
appeared in The New York Times, The Gettysburg
Review, Potomac Review, The Washington Post, The
Washingtonian, Under the Sun, Ars Medica, Virginia
Living, Blue Ridge Country, Frederick Magazine, and
other publications. Her essays have been twice listed
as notable essays of the year in The Best American
Essays (2009 and 2010). She was awarded the 2010
Goldfarb Family Fellowship at the Virginia Center for
the Creative Arts, and she holds an M.A. in writing
from The Johns Hopkins University, where she also
serves as a student advisor.
Barbara Esstman, M.F.A., is a National
Endowment for the Arts, Virginia Center for the Creative
Arts, Virginia Commission for the Arts fellow, and a
Redbook fiction award winner, among other distinctions. Her novels, The Other Anna and Night Ride Home,
are in numerous foreign editions. Both were adapted
for television by Hallmark Productions. She co-edited
an anthology, A More Perfect Union: Poems and Stories
About the Modern Wedding, and has taught extensively
in universities.
Laura Fargas has published both fiction
and poetry, most recently An Animal of the Sixth
Day. She has taught at American University and
in the Goddard College M.F.A. Program.
Debra Farkas began classroom teaching in
1991 with Teach for America, and has since worked
as an elementary bilingual/bicultural teacher, with
two of those years as an art specialist. She has
shown her own art over the years; has co-written
and produced the play, L’an: Four Jewish Perspectives
on Israel and Palestine; and led numerous workshops.
Her specialty is putting children at ease, and helping
them connect their own experiences to a larger,
complex world.
Cathy Fink is a prolific songwriter with two
GRAMMY awards, 11 GRAMMY nominations, and 50
awards from the Washington Area Music Association
in bluegrass, folk, and children’s music. She shares
all her awards and recordings with Marcy Marxer.
Cathy and Marcy maintain an active tour schedule
as children’s/family performers and folk/roots/country/ swing artists. Cathy’s song “Names,” about the
AIDS Memorial Quilt, was recorded by over 20 artists
in several countries. For more about Cathy, visit
cathymarcy.com.
Lee Fleming has been writing, editing, and
teaching for more than two decades. Her articles
have appeared in The Washington Post, City Paper,
The Washingtonian, as well as other national
newspapers, magazines, and websites. A former
senior editor at Museum & Arts and Garden Design
magazines, and managing editor/editor-in-chief
of Landscape Architecture, Fleming has received a
number of fellowships and awards for journalism
and fiction.
Nan Fry, Ph.D. (Yale University), is the author
of two books of poetry: Relearning the Dark and
Say What I Am Called. Her work has appeared in
numerous journals, anthologies, and textbooks. She
received an EdPress Award for excellence in educational journalism and taught at the Corcoran College
of Art + Design for over 20 years.
Bernadette Geyer is a freelance writer
and copy editor with more than 15 years of experience in business marketing and public relations. Her
articles, book reviews, and poems have appeared in
WRITER’S Journal, Freelance Writer’s Report, World Energy Review, The Montserrat Review, The Los Angeles
Review, and elsewhere. She received a 2010 Strauss
Fellowship from the Arts Council of Fairfax County
and published a chapbook of poetry, What Remains.
Christopher Goodrich teaches
English and play directing at the Academy of Musical
Theatre, Northwood High School, in Silver Spring.
He has also taught at New York University and
Frostburg State University. His poems have appeared
in Margie, Hotel Amerika, Rattle, The New York Quarterly, Sycamore Review, Cimarron Review, Cider Press
Review, and The Worcester Review, among others.
He has been featured on Verse Daily and NPR. He is
the recipient of a Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry
Prize and holds an M.F.A. from New England College.
A chapbook, By Reaching, was published in 2007. His
first book, Nevertheless, Hello, was published in 2009.
T. Greenwood is the author of six novels.
She has received grants from the Sherwood Anderson
Foundation, the Christopher Isherwood Foundation,
the National Endowment for the Arts, and, most
recently, the Maryland State Arts Council. Two Rivers
was named Best General Fiction Book at the San
Diego Book Awards last year. Four of her novels have
been BookSense76/IndieBound picks; This Glittering
World is a January 2011 selection. She teaches creative
writing at both the Univeristy of California, San Diego’s
Extension Program and at The Ink Spot. She and her
husband, Patrick, live in San Diego, CA, with their
two daughters. She is also an aspiring photographer.
Zahara Heckscher, M.A., is the co-author
of the book How to Live Your Dream of Volunteering
Overseas. She has also written numerous articles
that have appeared in books and the online travel
magazine TransitionsAbroad.com, where she serves
as contributing editor. Heckscher teaches professional writing at University of Maryland at College
Park. She is a breast cancer survivor who prefers to
be known as a “cancer thriver.” She blogs at cancerthriver.blogspot.com.
Dave Housley’s second collection of short
fiction, If I Knew the Way, I Would Take You Home,
will be published in 2012. His first collection, Ryan
Seacrest is Famous, was published in 2007. His work
has appeared or is coming soon in The Collagist,
Hobart, Mid-American Review, Nerve, Quarterly West,
the anthology Best of the Web 2010, and some other
places. He’s one of the editors at Barrelhouse magazine. He keeps his virtual stuff at davehousley.com.
37
WORKSHOP LEADERS
Charles Jensen is the author of The
Nanopedia Quick-Reference Pocket Lexicon of
Contemporary American Culture and The First Risk,
which was a finalist for the 2010 Lambda Literary
Award. His previous chapbooks include Living Things,
which won the 2006 Frank O’Hara Chapbook Award, and
The Strange Case of Maribel Dixon. A past recipient of
an Artist’s Project Grant from the Arizona Commission
on the Arts, his poetry has appeared in Columbia Poetry
Review, Copper Nickel, Field, The Journal, New England
Review, and Prairie Schooner. He holds an M.F.A. in
Poetry from Arizona State University and is the founding editor of the online poetry magazine LOCUSPOINT.
Kathryn Johnson has published 41 novels
with major U.S. and international publishers. She is an
inspiring speaker at national writers’ conferences and
the founder of Write by You, Writebyyou.com, a professional mentoring service for fiction writers who seek
support in reaching their publication goals. Her most
recent critically-acclaimed novel is The Gentleman
Poet: A Novel of Love, Danger, and Shakespeare’s
“The Tempest.”
Michael Kang is an independent filmmaker currently recovering from a three-year stint in
Hollywood. He has taught screenwriting workshops
through The Asian American Writers’ Workshop, The
Poet’s Theater, and InDuLoop. He is currently teaching
Broadcast & Film Writing at Towson University. His
film The Motel premiered at the Sundance Film Festival
and is currently available on DVD through Palm
Pictures. Michael has received numerous awards for
his work, including the Humanitas Prize, NEA Artist’s
Residency Grant at The MacDowell Colony, and the
Geri Ashur Award in screenwriting through the New
York Foundation for the Arts.
Susan Land, M.A. (The Johns Hopkins
University Writing Seminars), Wallace Stegner Fellow
in Fiction (Stanford University), has received three
Maryland Council on the Arts Fellowships and a
Woman in the Arts award from Montgomery County.
She has taught for The Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, Passion for Learning, Spidersmart and
for many schools and colleges. Her work has recently
appeared in Bethesda Magazine, Enhanced Gravity:
Fiction by Washington Area Women, Like Whatever:
The Insider’s Guide to Raising Teens, Potomac Review,
Niche Magazine, and is forthcoming in The Roanoke
Review and the anthology He Said, She Wrote.
38
Thomas Larson is the author of The Saddest Music Ever Written: The Story of Samuel Barber’s
“Adagio for Strings” as well as The Memoir and the
Memoirist: Reading and Writing Personal Narrative,
which is in its third printing. He holds workshops on
memoir writing and delivers multimedia presentations on music, the craft of writing, and the “author”
in the digital age throughout the United States.
Con Lehane, a former bartender, union organizer, college professor, and labor journalist, holds
an M.F.A. in Fiction Writing from Columbia University.
He is the author of the forthcoming Murder at the
42nd Street Library, as well as three detective novels
featuring New York City bartender Brian McNulty:
Beware the Solitary Drinker, What Goes Around Comes
Around, and Death at the Old Hotel. You can find out
more about him on his website conlehane.com.
SARAH MAHONEY has been teaching in
Montgomery County Public Schools for over 10 years.
She has spent most of that time teaching creative
writing, and is currently at Bethesda-Chevy Chase
High School. She is also working on her M.F.A. in
Creative Writing at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
DIANA M. MARTIN has an M.F.A. in creative
nonfiction and is currently an adjunct professor at
Montgomery College. Martin also has an extensive background in association, nonprofit, and
corporation marketing. As a freelance writer for
over 20 years, she has contributed to national and
international publications. She shares a new business, Alex’s Art Loft, with her son which promotes
creativity, independence, and support for people
with disabilities.
C.M. Mayo is the author of the novel The Last
Prince of the Mexican Empire, which was named a
Library Journal Best Book of 2009. She is also the
author of Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles
Through Baja California, the Other Mexico, a travel
memoir of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula; and
Sky over El Nido, which won the Flannery O’Connor
Award for short fiction. She is the editor of a collection of Mexican literature in translation, Mexico:
A Traveler’s Literary Companion. For more about
C.M. Mayo and her work, visit cmmayo.com.
Judith McCombs, M.A. The University of
Chicago; three poetry books, Against Nature: Wilderness Poems, Sisters and Other Selves, and The Habit
of Fire: Poems Selected & New; two chapbooks, one
of visual/verbal art. She has received Nimrod’s Pablo
Neruda Prize, Potomac Review, and MD and MI Arts
Council awards. Her poems appear in CALYX, Hunger
Mountain, Innisfree Poetry Journal, Poet Lore, Poetry,
Prairie Schooner; short fictions in Kansas Quarterly,
Nimrod. She is a Word Works editor, arranges the
Kensington Row Bookshop poetry readings, and is
writing a family history sequence that in 2009 was
given the Maryland State Arts Council’s major award.
Ann McLaughlin, Ph.D., has given workshops in the novel, short story, and journal writing at
The Writer’s Center for the past 25 years and is on the
board. She has published six novels: Lightning in July,
The Balancing Pole, Sunset at Rosalie, Maiden Voyage,
The House on Q Street, and Leaving Bayberry House.
She has had 11 fellowships at the Virginia Center
for the Creative Arts, one at Yaddo, and one at
Laverny, Switzerland.
Jenny Moore is a novelist whose writing has
appeared in literary journals, online, and in Boston
City Hall. She’s now writing her second novel and was
recently awarded an artist residency at the Helene
Wurlitzer Foundation. Jenny has taught writing and
provided manuscript consulting at Grub Street, Inc.,
as well as other venues. She works as an editor for
literary, cultural, and financial publications, and has
an M.F.A. in Fiction Writing from The New School.
Kirk Nesset is author of four books, including
Alphabet of the World (translations), and has received
the Drue Heinz Prize and a Pushcart. He teaches at
Allegheny College, and serves as writer-in-residence
at Black Forest Writing Seminars (Germany).
Jean Nordhaus’ books of poetry include
INNOCENCE, The Porcelain Apes of Moses Mendelssohn, My Life in Hiding, and Bracelet of Lies. Her
work has appeared in The American Poetry Review,
The New Republic, Poetry, The Best American Poetry
2000, and many other journals and anthologies. She
has served as coordinator of the Folger Shakespeare
Library’s poetry programs and as president of Washington Writers’ Publishing House.
L. Peat O’Neil wrote for The Washington
Post for 17 years. Her freelance writing has been
published in newspapers, magazines, websites,
trade journals, and literary reviews. She has taught
writing at numerous educational centers, including
The George Washington University, Smithsonian
WORKSHOP LEADERS
Resident Associates, Georgetown University, and the
USDA Graduate School. She currently teaches writing
online for University of California, Los Angeles. O’Neil
is also an advisor on social media content management. She is the author of Travel Writing: See the
World-Sell the Story, published in five languages,
and Pyrenees Pilgrimage, about her solo walk across
France.
Blog: peatoneil.wordpress.com
Laura Oliver, M.F.A., is the author of The
Story Within. Her essays and short stories appear in
numerous regional and national periodicals such as
The Washington Post, Country Living, and Glimmer
Train. She has taught creative writing at the University
of Maryland and currently teaches writing at St. John’s
College. Nominated for a Pushcart Prize, her work has
won numerous distinctions, including a Maryland
State Arts Council Individual Artist Award in Fiction.
Her M.F.A. is from Bennington College. More information is available at thestorywithin.com.
Alicia Oltuski’s first book, Precious Objects,
was named a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New
Writers selection. Her work has appeared or is
forthcoming on NPR’s Berlin Stories, in the Financial
Times, W magazine, The Faster Times, The Bulletin in
Philadelphia, and other publications. She holds an
M.F.A. from Columbia University, where she received
a David Berg Foundation Fellowship, and an M.A.
and B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania. She
has taught writing at the University of the Arts, and
was a reader at The Paris Review. Interviews with her
have appeared on Marketplace, Ireland’s Newstalk
Radio, Vox Tablet, and elsewhere.
Alan Orloff is the author of Diamonds for
the Dead (2010), an Agatha Award finalist for Best
First Novel. He also writes the Last Laff Mystery series
(Killer Routine (2011) and Deadly Campaign (2012)).
He has served as treasurer for the Mid-Atlantic
Chapter of Mystery Writers of America (M.W.A.)
and is a member of International Thriller Writers
(I.T.W.). For more info, visit alanorloff.com.
Alison Palmer received an M.F.A. from
Washington University in St. Louis where she was
nominated for the 2007 and 2008 AWP Journals
Project. A graduate of Oberlin College with a B.A.
in Creative Writing, she was awarded the Emma
Howell Memorial Poetry Prize. Palmer has a poem
forthcoming in Used Cat, and was recently published
in The Laurel Review, Cannibal, and FIELD. She has
been selected as one of the top 50 poets for Best
New Poets 2010.
Elizabeth Poliner (M.F.A., J.D.), fiction
writer and poet, is the author of Mutual Life & Casualty,
a novel-in-stories and Sudden Fog, a poetry chapbook.
Her stories have appeared in The Kenyon Review, Other
Voices, Ascent, and others, with several Pushcart
nominations. Her poetry has appeared in The Southern Review, Prairie Schooner, Seneca Review, and others. A recipient of seven individual artist grants from
the D.C. Commission on the Arts, she has also been
awarded scholarships to the Bread Loaf and Sewanee
conferences and fellowships to Yaddo and VCCA. She
teaches in the M.F.A. program at Hollins University.
Elizabeth Rees, M.A., has taught at several
leading colleges, including Harvard University, the
U.S. Naval Academy, Howard University, and in The
Johns Hopkins University’s graduate program. She
works as a “poet-in-the-schools” for the Maryland
State Arts Council. She has published over 250 poems
in journals such as Partisan Review, The Kenyon
Review, Agni, and North American Review, among
others. She has four award-winning chapbooks,
most recently, Tilting Gravity, winner of Codhill Press’
2009 contest.
Angela Render has designed and maintained websites since 1994 and is the founder and
owner of Thunderpaw Internet Presence Management
(Thunderpaw.com). Her published work includes:
Forged By Lightning: A Novel of Hannibal and Scipio,
Marketing for Writers: A Practical Workbook, a column
for WRITERS’ Journal, and ghost blogging. In addition
to her classes at The Writer’s Center, she teaches
at-risk middle-school girls and has been a guest
speaker at numerous local conferences.
Patrick Ross has won awards as a journalist, creative writer, and blogger. He has been a
professional writer for nearly 25 years, and has been
published in newspapers and magazines such as
The New York Times, San Jose Mercury News, The New
Republic, U.S. News & World Report, and literary journals including Barely South Review and Shaking Like
a Mountain. His blog The Artist’s Road was named
a Top Ten Blog for Writing for 2011–2012, and he
first began blogging in 1994, before the label “blog”
existed. He is pursuing an M.F.A. in Writing with
the Vermont College of Fine Arts. His website
is patrick-ross.com.
Jenny Rough is a lawyer-turned-writer.
She’s written articles and essays for The Washington
Post, Los Angeles Times, AARP The Magazine, USA
WEEKEND, More, Yoga Journal, and Writer’s Digest,
among other publications. She blogs about fertility
for Mothering. com, and she’s the Green Scene
columnist for the Washington Examiner. Her
radio commentaries have appeared on WAMU
in Washington, D.C.
Jeffrey Rubin is a Virginia-based screenwriter/producer who has won top prizes at the Vail
Film Festival, Worldfest Houston, and elsewhere. He
is a graduate of Harvard University and the Juilliard
Drama Division, and holds an M.A. in Film and
Theatre from NYC’s Hunter College.
Lynn Schwartz’s plays have been performed
in Atlanta and NYC, including the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center. Her stories have appeared
in literary journals, and she has authored numerous
lifestyle features. She founded the Temple Bar Literary Reading Series in NYC and received an Individual
Artist Award in Fiction from the Maryland State Arts
Council. She is a graduate of The City College of New
York, Columbia University, and The Neighborhood
Playhouse School of the Theater. She teaches fiction
at St. John’s College.
Jordan Michael Smith is a contributing editor at Salon. He has written for dozens
of publications, including The New York Times,
The Washington Post, and Boston Globe.
Seamus Sullivan is a playwright who
has written for the Capital Fringe Festival twice and
acted in it twice, too. His plays have appeared as
part of the Source Festival, Rorschach Theatre’s Myth
Appropriation Series, Bethesda Play-in-a-Day, and
Arena Stage’s downstairs series.
Judith Tabler writes books on animals and
has received awards from the Dog Writer’s Association
of America. She has written for DOG FANCY, Bark,
Kennel Review, AKC Gazette, Middleburg Life, and the
National Geographic Society’s education department. Judith holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing and
teaches at a local university.
39
WORKSHOP LEADERS
David Taylor is an award-winning author
and filmmaker. His book about the Federal Writers’
Project, titled Soul of a People, was named among
Best Books of 2009. He wrote and co-produced the
companion Smithsonian documentary Soul of a
People: Writing America’s Story, which received
a CINE Golden Eagle, Best of D.C. Peer awards,
and a Writer’s Guild Award nomination.
Sue Ellen Thompson is the author
of four books of poetry, most recently The Golden
Hour (2006), and the editor of The Autumn House
Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry. Her
work has been included in the Best American Poetry
series, read on NPR by Garrison Keillor, and featured
in U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser’s nationally-syndicated newspaper column. She taught at Wesleyan
University, Middlebury College, State University of
New York at Binghamton, and Central Connecticut
State University before moving to the Eastern Shore
in 2006. She was awarded the 2010 Maryland Author
Prize from the Maryland Library Association.
Susan Tiberghien, an American-born
writer living in Switzerland, has published three
memoirs, Looking for Gold, Circling to the Center, and
Footsteps, A European Album, and most recently a
best selling writing book, One Year to A Writing Life,
along with numerous narrative essays in journals
and anthologies on both sides of the Atlantic. She
teaches and lectures at graduate programs, C.G.
Jung Centers, and at writers’ conferences both in the
United States and in Europe, where she directs the
Geneva Writers’ Group and Conferences. Her website
is susantiberghien.com.
Edward Ugel is an author, sales and
marketing expert, freelance writer, and speaker. His
first critically acclaimed book, Money for Nothing:
One Man’s Journey Through the Dark Side of Lottery
Millions, was released in the fall of 2007. Warner
Brothers and Tobey Maguire optioned the rights and
a TV project is currently under development. Edward’s
second critically acclaimed book, I’m With Fatty:
Losing Fifty Pounds in Fifty Miserable Weeks, was
released in the fall of 2010. A feature film based upon
Fatty and a half-hour sitcom based upon his writing
are under development.
Lyn Vaus, a longtime screenwriter and industry
professional, is best known for his award-winning
Miramax romantic comedy Next Stop Wonderland.
He began his career as a story editor for a production
company in Hollywood, where he oversaw the script
for New Line’s hit science fiction film The Lawnmower
Man. He has had numerous screenplays of his own
optioned, and in some cases produced by, among
others, Imax, Fineline, SenArt, and Miramax.
Michele Wolf is the author of Immersion
(selected by Denise Duhamel, Hilary Tham Capital
Collection), Conversations During Sleep (Anhinga Prize
for Poetry), and The Keeper of Light (Painted Bride
Quarterly Poetry Chapbook Series). Her poems have
also appeared in Poetry, The Hudson Review, North
American Review, Antioch Review, Boulevard, and
numerous other literary journals and anthologies.
She is a contributing editor for Poet Lore. ¶
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40
TWC INSIDER
TWC INSIDER—Published work & Awards
Daniel Gutstein’s book, Bloodcoal & Honey, was
published by Washington Writers Publishing House
in November 2011.
Charles Jensen’s book, The Nanopedia Quick-Reference
Pocket Lexicon of Contemporary American Culture, was
published by CreateSpace in January.
James Mathew’s short story, “Blondes to the Rescue,”
was published in the online journal FreightTrain in
January.
Alice McDermott’s short story, “Someone,” was in the
January 30 issue of The New Yorker.
Laura Oliver’s book, The Story Within, was published
in November 2011 by Penguin. The Writer named the
book as one of “Ten of This Year’s Terrific Writing Books”
in the December 2011 issue.
Work by Ken Ackerman, Kate Blackwell, Nan Fry, E.
Ethelbert Miller, Richard Peabody, and Sue Ellen
Thompson was published in the most recent issue of
The Delmarva Review.
Fiction by Caitlin Cushman, Jennifer L. Napolitano,
and Kim Roberts is in Amazing Graces: Yet Another
Collection of Fiction by Washington Area Women
published by Paycock Press in January.
Share your news with The Writer’s Center community!
To be included in TWC Insider, e-mail your news along with a high-resolution image of your book cover
or author photo and photo credit to theguide@writer.org. The deadline for the fall issue is June 25.
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41
THANK YOU
July 1, 2011–February 28, 2012
 TWC Endowment Fund 
 anton chekov circle—$500 + 
Eagle Bank
John Freeman & Sally Mott Freeman
John Hill
Anonymous
The Michael &
Eleanor A. Pinkert
Family Foundation
Valentine Craig
Timothy Crawford
Patricia M. Davis
Anthony Dobranski
 THE NEXT CHAPTER SOCIETY 
Lisa Lipinski
Ann McLaughlin
Virginia M. Grandison
Erika Horton
Kathryn Kolar
William Reynolds &
Nancy M. Lincoln
Linda S. Sullivan
Clinton A. Vince
 Walt Whitman Circle—$10,000 + 
PDP Foundation
John Freeman & Mrs. Sally Mott Freeman
Neal Gillen
 langston hughes circle—$2,500 + 
Christian Mixter & Linna Barnes
Ann McLaughlin

zora neale hurston circle­—$1,000 + 
Anonymous
The Bydale Foundation
Kenneth Ackerman
Margot Backas
Mark Cymrot
Sandor Slager
& Patricia Harris
John Hill
Jeffrey Smith
Ed Torrero
Marcia Wagner
Wilson W. Wyatt
 emily dickinson circle—$250 + 
Anonymous
Fannie Mae
Stone Soup Foundation
Robert Blair
Sandra Bracken
Phillip J. Budahn
Nathan Cardon
Robert A. Carpenter
Deborah Darr
John J. Gaudet
Phil D. Harvey
Judith L. Jones
Lizbeth B. Kulick
James & Kate Lehrer
Gloria Logan
Perry Maiden
David Metz
Phillip G. Nelson
Jean Nordhaus
Heddy Reid
Shelly Rockwell
Elizabeth Stein
Jonathan Stillerman
Trudy Todd
Craig Tregillus
Ernst Volgenau
Robert Wise
 founder’s circle—$100 + 
Christine Abi Najm • Kaya Adams • Dr. Sami AlBanna • Karren Alenier • Willie Alexander • Thomas Alfano • Leslie Allen • Susan Cooke Anastasi • Frederick R. Andeerson • Beth
Anderson • Susan Angell • Gabriel M. Antuna • Laura Aram • Nancy P. Arbuthnot • Barri Armitage • Cherie E. Ashcroft • B. K. Atrostic • Naomi Ayala • Judith Babbitts • John
Babcock • Lynn Bailets • Kenneth Bailey • Paige Baldwin • James Ball • Michael Ballard • Ann Barnet • Robin Baron • Melanie Batchelor • S. M. Bates • Robert Bausch • Sarah W.
Beacom • James Beane • Catherine C. Beckley • Edward Belfar • Barbara Belmont • Thomas Benjey • Michelle M Berberet • Stephen Berer • Bruce Berger • Martin Bernstein • Edward
Berry • Emily Best • Anita Bigger • Julia Bilek • Sanford L. Billet • Sarah Birnbach • Rimantas J. Blekaitis • Larry Blossom • Dillard Boland • Kathy Borrus • Lauren Boston • Sharlie
W. Bouic • Dale Hanson Bourke • Jean Bower • L. Bowles • Ellen R. Braaf • Mark Bradley • Dr. Elaine Brent • Shirley J. Brewer • David Bristol • Tiffani Brock • Vikki Brooks • Betsy
Broughton • Dr. Laura Brown • Jamie Brown • Barbara B. Brown • Judith Bryant • Ralph Bryant • Laura Brylawski-Miller • Julie Buchanan • Elizabeth Burke • Tom Burke • Harold
Burman • Malve S. Burns • Florence D. Burt • John Butler • Dorothy Butler-Landes • Jo A. Buxton • Chris X. Byrd • Susan Byrnes • Dr. Evelyn Caballero • Dr. Ilhan Cagri • Dr. June
Cai • Edward Calhoon • Carolyn Calix • Karen Callwood • Alina E. Camacho • Teresa Camacho-Hull • Douglas Canter • Alicia Carbaugh • Nancy N. Carlson • Mary Carpenter • Jay
Carr • William Carrington • Anne C. Carson • Wanda Cartwright • Margaret Cary • Ruth A. Castillo • Brandon Caudill • Grace Cavalieri • Randy Cepuch • Frank Cervarich • Ira
Chaleff • Patricia E. Chapla • Christine B. Clardy • David P. Clarke • Charles Clement • Alexandra Coburn • Jennifer Cockburn • John Coker • Gary Coley • Dr. Naomi F. Collins • Winston
Colon-Moran • Mary Compton • Thomas Connelly • Denise Conner • William Cook • Sarah Cosgrove Gaumond • John R. Countryman • Donna Lewis Cowan • Mildred R. Crary • Henry
Crawford • Carol Creed • Eleanor Crose • Nicole Crowley • Elizabeth Crowley • Sylvia Csiffary • Caitlin Cushman • Richard Cys • Henrietta Dahlstrom • Kerry Dale • Karla Daly • Carla
Danziger • Kimberly Davidson • Lucille Lang Day • Dr. Andrew Dayton • Jenet L. Dechary • Dimple Dhabalia • Justine Diamond • Debra Diamond • Elizabeth Dickinson • Dr. John
42
THANK YOU
 founder’s circle—$100 + CONTINUED 
Dluhy • Gina Dolin • Anne Dougherty • Theresa Dowling • Candace Drew • Marc Drexler • Dianne Driessen • Charles Dubois • Phillip Dyson • Robert Eccles • Amy
Echeverria • Charlotte Edwards • Dr. Solveig Eggerz • Dan Ehrenfeld • Laura Eilers • Howard Eisner • Mehmet Elbirlik • Neil Ellis • Laura Elsey • Kathleen Emmet • Allyn
Enderlyn • Elaine English • Perry Epes • Bea Epstein • William Erwin • Barbara Esstman • Danielle Estrada • Gary Faigen • Maureen Fannin • Julie Farnam • John Farrell • Katie
Fawcett • Jay Fellows • Mychelline Fiadhiglas • Glen Finland • Lisa J. Finstrom • Patricia Fisher • Denise Fite • Lynne Fitzhugh • Diego Fonseca • Judy Ford • Jim Foy • Nicole
Fradette • Donald A. N. Franck • Candida M. Fraze • Elisha Freedman • Allan S. Freedman • Sunil K. Freeman • Flora Freeman • Diana Friedman • Nan Fry • Clay Fulghum • Harald
Fuller-Bennett • Robin Galbraith • Allan Gall • Carol Gallant • Martin Galvin • Regina Galvin • Thomas Gannon • Patricia Garfinkel • Julie K. Garrett • Karen Garvin • John
Gaudet • Raymond Gavert • George Gazarek • Harriet Getzels • Marissa Ghez • Robert Gibson • Judyth Gibson • Pat Gill • Lisa Gilley • Jared Gillins • Mary E. Gilroy • Mary Ellen
Gilroy • Garvan Giltinan • Maria Gimenez • Howard Glassroth • Alison Glick • Patricia Glowacki • Dr. Clare Gnecco • Lois J. Godel • E. Laura L. Golberg • Ronald Goldberg • Jorge
Goldstein • Ambassador Christopher Goldthwait • Martha Goodwin • Darilyn Gould • John Grady • Karen Gray • Elaine Gray • Peter Gray • Michael O. Gray • Dr. Grace Gray • Grace
E. Gray • Annette Greene • Cynthia Greer • Melanie Griffin • Gail Griffith • Alexander Grigolia Jr. • Theodore Groll • Dr. Herbert Guggenheim • Susan Hadler • Betty Hafner • Janet
Hahn • Rahemoon Halfmann • Ann Haman • Randy Hamas • Cynthia Hamilton • Gregory Hammond • Jennifer L. Handford • Christine M. Hanson • Mary Haragan • Brigid
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Harvey • Diane Hastings • Melanie Hatter • Jennifer Haupt • Stacy Hayashi • Eileen Hayden • Caroline Heald • Linda Heaney • Dr. Toby T. Hecht • Deborah Hefferon • Emily
Heil • Lisa Helfert • Ellen Herbert • Jay Herson • Carol Lee Hilewick • John Hitchcock • Andrew Holdeman • Jamie Holland • Helen Hooper • Daniel Horner • Murray Horwitz • Peirce
Howard • Joanna Howard • Sascha Hughes-Caley • Tim Hussion • Carollyne Hutter • IBM Corp • Donald Illich • Robin L. Ingle • Lorna Irvine • Bronwyn Irwin • Sandra
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Keith • Evelyn Kelley • John Kelley • Elaine Kessler • Amy Kessler Pastan • Eugenia Kim • Dianne H. King • Michael Kirkland • Susan Kirkvold • Peter Kissel • James Klimaski • Barry
Klinger • Akio Konoshima • Harry Kopp • Starr Kopper • Susan Korytkowski • Christine W. Koubek • Christina Kovac • Diane Kramer • Patricia E. Kreutzer • Mollee C.
Kruger • Elizabeth Kuhn • Margarita Kullick • Nandini Lal • Dr. Rollie Lal • Susan Land • Alison Landry • Kenneth Langer • Phyllis A. Langton • Jeffrey LaPointe • Linda
LaPrade • Elaine Laube • Kara Laughlin • Robert Lavine • Atoundra Lawson • Rodney Lay • Cat Lazaroff • Eulonda Lea • Nicole Lee • Dr. David Lees • Cecilia Leger • Angela
Leone • Prof. Lisa Lerman • Dee Leroy • Laurie Lesser • Keith Leu • Jonathan Levin • Michael Levitsky • E. J. Lieberman • Carole Lindstrom • Earl Lindveit • Richard Lintermans • Lisa
Lipinski • Jamie Loftis • Paul London • Tarpley Long • Sara Lotfi • Lisa LoVullo • Dr. Mary Lozano • John Lubetkin • Prof. Robert Lubic • Deborah H. Lucas • John Luke • Judith
Mack • Kathy MacLeod • Patrick Madden • Kristen-Paige Madonia • Desiree Magney • Johanna A. Mahon • Nancy Malin • Jerry Malitz • Kelly Malloy • Frank Malone • Fernando
Manibog • Steven R. Marcom • Gerard Marconi • Caroline Marshall • Linda M. Marshall • Lucinda Marshall • Ronald C. Martin • Louise Martin • David L. Martin • Ruben
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Moss • Cantwell Muckenfuss III • Ilse Munro • Elisabeth Murawski • Christine Muth • Bonnie Naradzay • Sabrina Neptune • Judith Neri • C. W. Neuhauser • William Newlin • Mary
Neznek • Xuan- Nguyen • Elizabeth North • Dr. Terry Northcutt • Patrick Nugent • Matthew O’Brien • Terrance O’Connor • John Odonnell • Susan Okie • LP O’Neil • Alan
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Pietrzyk • Gary Pittenger • Judith Podell • Patricia Polak • Emil Polak • Riggin Waugh • Meredith Pond • Teresa Pool • Frances F. Porter • Arun Potdar • Renee Poussaint • Tamiko
Power • Julie Preis • Melanie Price • Adriane Price Brown • Christine Pulfrey • Rick Pullen • Carol M. Purcell • Sri Purwati • Eleanor Quigley • Rosalia R. de Williams • Stephen
Rabin • Andrea Rakhmanov • Manorama Andrea Rakhmanov • Kathy B. Ramsperger • Venkatesan Rangarajan • Donna Rathbone • Ann W. Rayburn • Barbara Reck • Carolyn ReeceTomlin • Dr. Darrel Regier and Dr. Marilyn Regier • Laura Rehrmann • Tammy Reynolds • Margaret J. Reynolds • Roxanne Rhodes • Frank Richards • Melissa Richardson • Nana
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Rodenberg • Prof. Rosalia Rodriguez-Garcia • Carol Rosen • Patrick Ross • Lee Rossi • Laura Roulier • Carolyn Rowland • Arthur Rowse • Elissandra Roy • Phyllis Rozman • Ludwig
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Elizabeth Yoon • Anna-Marie York • Katherine Young • Sara Yu • Mara Zimmerman
43
Where Do You Write?
A small team of local writers plans to
create an ideal space for writing, right
here in DC—with a launch date in the
spring of 2012.
Many cities now have writing rooms of
the kind we envision—quiet spaces
equipped with Wi-Fi, well-designed
workstations, and ergonomic desk chairs
(and a little comfortable furniture for
sitting and contemplating). Among the
benefits:
•
The absence of ringing phones and
doorbells.
•
The presence of other writers. Even
writers with great writing space at home
are discovering that motivation is highly
contagious. (Isn’t that why so many of us
prefer to do our sit-ups at the gym?)
Advertise in
•
Locked storage for laptops, books,
The Workshop
& Event
Guide
and papers between
work
sessions. You
don’t get that at coffee shops or libraries.
•
No extra charge for printing, pens,
paper, or coffee.
tes
g/adra
r
o
.
r
e
t
i
ww.wr
visit w o learn more
t
Please go to
www.writersroomdc.com if this
idea appeals to you. We need your
feedback, and we’re offering a free
week in exchange.
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Inside this issue:
TWC Member Profile Series page 4
The Career of a Book Author page 8
The Career of a Book Designer page 9
BookTalk Interviews page 10
Readings and Performances page 32
And the summer
schedule of workshops page 16
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