Summer Writers Institute
Apply now for the 13th annual Washington University Summer Writers Institute or second annual Young Writers Institute, to be held in St. Louis June 16-27, 2008. Here's how to apply. The deadline has been extended....Choose from workshops in fiction, advanced fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The faculty are:
Creative Nonfiction: Kathleen Finneran, author of The Tender Land (Houghton-Mifflin, 2000; pictured at left), Guggenheim and Whiting Writers' awards recipient
Poetry: Adrian Matejka, author of poetry collectio
n The Devil's Garden, winner of the 2002 New York/New England Award from Alice James Books
Beginning Fiction: Dave Schuman, assistant director of the Washington University M.F.A. in Writing Program, and Pushcart Prize winner
Advanc
ed Fiction: Steve Lattimore, author of the short-story collection Circumnavigation (Houghton-Mifflin), PEN/Hemingway Award finalist
Young Writers Institute: Maud Kelly, published in Best New Poets and American Literary Review, adjunct professor at the Pierre
Laclede H
onors College
Keynote Speaker: Fiction writer Daniel Stolar, St. Louis-born author of the short-story collection The Middle of the Night (Picador, 2003; pictured at right) and professor at DePaul University. A Harvard University graduate, he completed two years at the Yale School of
Medicine before turning to writing. His work has appeared in Doubletake, Utne Reader, Press, Prism International, Bomb, and as an honorable mention in The Best American Short Stories 2000.
Publisher-in-Residence: Greg Michalson, Co-publisher of Unbridled Books, founding editor of BlueHen Books (Penguin/Putnam), former General Editor of fiction at MacMurray & Beck (now McAdam/Cage), and for nearly 20 years Managing Editor of The Missouri Review.
Click here for more about our Faculty.
Held each June, The Summer Writers Institute consists of two weeks of intensive writing workshops. Choose from fiction (beginner or advanced), poetry, or creative nonfiction. The two weeks include personal conferences, readings, craft talks, and panel discussions. You may choose to attend on a non-credit basis or to earn three college credits.
The Youn
g Writers Institute is a Writers' Institute workshop for St. Louis-area high-school
juniors and seniors. Students can study with working
writers, become acquainted with the St. Louis literary community, and
can choose an option to earn three college credits, as well
as receiving helpful guidance on their poetry or prose.
In the workshops that are held every morning at the Institute, teachers provide instruction and constructive criticism of participants' work. Participants give each other feedback within the workshop setting, and have the chance to talk with writers from other genres outside the workshop. In addition to group feedback, participants receive one-on-one instruction in individual conferences with their teachers.
In the afternoons, accomplished writers from Missouri and Illinois read from their work and discuss writing and publishing. Past faculty members include William Gass, Mary Troy, Gerald Early, Marjorie Stelmach, Wayne Fields, David Carkeet, Jane O. Wayne, Ruth Ellen Kocher, Glenn Savan, Jason Sommer, Catherine Rankovic, Rockwell Gray, Donald Finkel, Allison Joseph, Allison Funk, and Qiu Xiaolong, just to name a few.
Traditionally, Institute participants finish up the two weeks with an open mike reading of their own work.
Applications for adult participants must include a completed Summer Writers Institute application form, a $15 application fee, and a writing sample in the genre you want to work in (for adult participants, totaling 20-25 pages of prose, or, if you are a poet, 10 poems). Your writing sample should be work in progress (not published) in the genre of the workshop you are applying for. Young Writers Institute applicants must submit a Young Writers Institute application form, an application fee of $15, a writing sample, and a teacher's recommendation. Applications will be accepted on a space-available basis. The submitted writing sample will be discussed by your workshop group the first week of the Institute. Questions? Will you want on-campus housing? Telephone (314) 935-6759, or email the Summer Writers Institute.
Schedule of Events
Mornings, Mon.-Fri.: Workshops with Instructors, 9:30 – 12 noon
Afternoons:
Monday, June 16,
12:15 pm: Welcome Luncheon
2:00 – 3:00 pm: Daniel Stolar, Keynote Address
3:00 – 3:30 pm: Reception
Tuesday, June 17
1:30 – 2:30 pm: Poetry craft talk by David Clewell
2:45 – 3:45 pm: Fiction craft talk by Robert Earleywine
Wednesday, June 18
1:30 – 2:30 pm: Jane Wayne, "Awake and Dreaming: How Poems Often Start"
2:45 – 3:45 pm: Ice Cream Social
Thursday, June 19
1:30 – 2:30 pm: "So Our Story Begins: Elements of a Good First Chapter," fiction craft talk by John Dalton, novelist.
2:45 – 3:45 pm: "Electronic Publishing" talk by Catherine Rankovic.
Friday, June 20
1:30 – 3:00 pm: Faculty Reading: Adrian Matejka, Kathleen Finneran, Dave Schuman
Monday, June 23
1:30 – 2:15 pm: Mary Troy, fiction craft talk
2:30 – 3:15 pm: Faculty reading: Maud Kelly and Steve Lattimore
Tuesday, June 24
1:30 – 3:00 pm: Literary Panel: editors from River Styx, Land Grant College Review, Natural Bridge, and 52nd City
Wednesday, June 25
1:30 – 3:00 pm: Publisher-in-residence Greg Michalson and Timothy Scheffert, novelist
Thursday, June 26
1:30 – 3:00 pm: Greg Michalson and Timothy
Schaffert
Friday, June 27
12:30 – 2:00 pm: Farewell Luncheon
2:00 – 4:00 pm: Participants' Open-Mic Reading
Frequently Asked Questions About the Workshops
Summer Writers Institute Admissions, Tuition, and College Credit Option
Contact the Summer Writers Institute or Young Writers Institute
