Back to All Events

Stealing from the Poet's Toolbox: A Workshop for Fiction Writers and Any Writer

  • USM Glickman Library 314 Forest Avenue Portland, ME, 04101 United States (map)

An In-Person Poetry-Prose Workshop

You want to have as many tools as possible, when you start to write that story/novel!

During the first part of this intensive, we will read variant short fiction or portions of short fiction and a one-act play that successfully use many tools of the poet, from writers Grace Paley, Jamaica Kincaid, Tim O'Brien, Harold Pinter, James Joyce, Gabriel García Márquez, Amy Hempel, and Kathy Fish. We'll then discuss what poetry tools these writers are using.

The second part will be to begin a first draft of your short story, utilizing the poetry tools, as well as, of course, tools of fiction. You'll have the chance to read your drafts out loud, and we'll have the chance to respond. New rich work for all!


Estha Weiner's newest poetry collection, This Insubstantial Pageant, (Broadstone Books, 2022). She is also author of at the last minute (Salmon Poetry); In the Weather of the World (Salmon Poetry); Transfiguration Begins at Home  (Tiger Bark Press);  The Mistress Manuscript (Asheville Book Works); and  co-editor /contributor  to Blues for Bill: A Tribute to William Matthews (University of Akron Press, Akron Poetry Series). Her poems have appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines, including The New Republic and Barrow Street. Winner of a Paterson Poetry Prize, Speaker on Shakespeare for NY Council for the Humanities, and Visiting Scholar at Shakespeare Institute, Stratford, England, Estha is founding director of Sarah Lawrence College NY Alumni Writers Nights. She is a professor at City College of N.Y. Dept. of English and Sarah Lawrence Writing Institute, and serves or has served on the Poetry/Writing faculties of The Frost Place, Hudson Valley Writers Center, Stone Coast Writers Conference, Poets and Writers, Poets House, and The Writers Voice. She also serves on the Advisory Committee of Slapering Hol Press, Hudson Valley Writers Center. In her previous life she was an actor and worked for BBC Radio.


ADVANCE REGISTRATION REQUIRED
All MWPA workshops require advanced registration. We accept registration by phone, mail, and online via our website. We cannot guarantee registration in the final 24-hours before a workshop, and can rarely accommodate day-of registration.

PAYMENT & CANCELLATION POLICIES
If you need to withdraw from a class after registering for any reason, please email or call the MWPA immediately. You may be eligible for a partial refund or credit, depending on how far in advance you cancel. → MORE INFORMATION

QUESTIONS
For any questions regarding this workshop, please contact programs@mainewriters.org.

REGISTER BY PHONE
Call 207-228-8263 and register with your VISA or MasterCard.

REGISTER BY MAIL
If you prefer to pay by mail, please print this registration form (downloadable PDF) and mail it to the MWPA with a check or credit card information.


$90 Members/$145 Nonmembers


SCHOLARSHIP
The MWPA is proud to offer one partial scholarship to this workshop for members-only. Scholarships are awarded on a combination of need and merit. Email programs@mainewriters.org to see if the scholarship is still available. Application Due by July 13 at 9:00 a.m.
→ MORE INFORMATION

MWPA WORKSHOP POLICIES
Registration in any MWPA workshop, program, or event constitutes your agreement to our terms and conditions. → MORE INFORMATION

Later Event: August 1
Adventure Writing