Events for 2026
In addition to the following lectures and craft talks, participants can enjoy readings by our esteemed faculty, who will share their published and in-progress work throughout the week. A special mid-week Participant Reading also gives workshop participants an opportunity to share their own writing. See the schedule for details.
On Paying Attention
Randle Browning
In a world dominated by screens and short-form video, what is our attention worth? We’ll look at writing from some of nonfiction’s closest observers of their worlds, and end with a generative writing exercise to help us access the power of our own focus and attention.
How to Plot a Novel
Matt Burgess
As a group, over the course of an hour, with much second-guessing and argument, we will plot an original novel from start to finish.
Plotting (and Over-Plotting) in the Drafting Stages
Jerry Gabriel
Plot gives narratives momentum and force; what would drive the second half of Huckleberry Finn if Jim and Huck hadn’t missed Cairo in the fog? But plot is not always your ally in the early stages of a work. As we draft, probably feeling overly responsible to initial ideas of the story’s arc, we can ask too much of events to pull the narrative along. This impulse often results in predictable characters and stock situations—or worse, dead-ends. In this hour, we’ll talk about where the impulse comes from, as well as some ways it might be remedied.
Writing through the Canvas
Natalie J. Graham
Writing in response to visual art makes visible a conversation between past and present, writer and inspiration. Albeit often speculative, this writing enlivens authentic connections across time and space, bringing us nearer to past images, people, and ideas, nourishing an artistic ecosystem and creating a figurative third space for artistic communities. This talk explores strategies for prose and poetry writers to engage the joys of ekphrastic production through relationship, reflection, and research.
Making an Artful Life
Crystal Oliver
We’ll begin the week considering the artful commitment to a writer’s life, exploring the power of curiosity, trusting your voice and vision, and cultivating a personal “algorithm’ for creative fulfillment. Find and focus on what inspires you, keep a notebook, embrace your passions (even Stevie Nicks!), and prepare to make your time at this conference—and your writing—truly transformative.
The Fragrance of Cedars and Pines: Writing as Witness
Kaia Sand
This craft talk will explore how particular conceits — metaphor, metonymy, and allegory — are deployed by writers who confront war, economic migration, authoritarianism, and inequality. How does a writer connect a reader to something they may have never experienced? The late journalist and memoirist Anthony Shadid “noticed the fragrance of cedars and pines” only to learn “the actual trees had been destroyed hours before” by a bomb. Such familiar details can connect a reader; in other instances, writers isolate images for their singularity, or layer stories to create a literary event distant from dangerous immediacy. We’ll veer through poetry and memoir spanning 20th century to contemporary literature.