Cambridge Writers’ Workshop is excited to announced that Diana Norma Szokolyai will be serving as a panelist for the WNBA Award 2023. This award will be presented to GrubStreet founder Evie Bridburg on Friday June 2nd, 2023 at Porter Square Books located on 25 White Street, Cambridge, MA. The event will begin at 6:00 p.m. with a “networking hour.” The panel discussion and award presentation will begin at 7:00 p.m. This even is open to the public and refreshments will be served. For more information email boston@wnba-books.org or check out their website https://wnba-books.org/wnba-award/
Award Recipient:
Eve Bridburg, Founder and Executive Director of GrubStreet
Eve Bridburg is the Founder and Executive Director of GrubStreet. Under her leadership, the organization has grown into a national literary powerhouse known for artistic excellence, working to democratize the publishing pipeline and program innovation. An active partner to the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture, Eve was the driving force behind establishing the country’s first Literary Cultural District in downtown Boston.
Having graduated from its inaugural class, Eve remains active with the National Arts Strategies Chief Executive Program, a consortium of 200 of the world’s top cultural leaders. She has presented on the importance of literary arts centers and the intersection of arts and civics at numerous conferences. Her essays have appeared in The Boston Globe, Huffington Post, Cognoscenti, Writer’s Digest and TinHouse.
Eve serves on the Advisory Board of The Loop Lab, a Cambridge-based nonprofit dedicated to workforce development for underrepresented youth in the digital storytelling and media sectors. Eve worked as a literary agent at The Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary Agency for five happy years where she developed, edited, and sold a wide variety of books. Before starting GrubStreet, she attended Boston University’s Writing Program on a teaching fellowship, farmed in Oregon, and ran an international bookstore in Prague.
For nearly two decades Natalie Obando has worked in the world of books as a literary publicist. She is the founder of Do Good Public Relations Group, a literary PR firm that helps authors and publishers connect with their perfect reader through strategic and social good-based campaigns. Natalie is also the founder of the grassroots organization Women of Color Writers Podcast and Programming. As the current National President of the Women’s National Book Association (WNBA), she oversees all eleven chapters across the nation as well as the national board and national programs. She is the founder and chair of Authentic Voices—a four-month-long program that immerses people from marginalized communities in a writing, editing, marketing, and publishing masterclass. Natalie has been a speaker at literary conferences across the United States, helping authors and publishers promote their work and drive equity in publishing.
Serina Gousby is a writer, calligrapher, and Program Manager of the Boston Writers of Color program at GrubStreet. She oversees programming, engages with members through media outlets and monthly newsletters, and provides opportunities and guidance to self-identifying writers of color. As a poet, her work is published in Pangyrus, and she has performed at the Boston Poetry Marathon, HUBWeek, and Literary Death Match. Serina holds a BA in English with a concentration in Creative Writing and minor in Black Studies from Suffolk University. When she’s not writing poetry, she’s either writing on her blog, The Rina Collective, or creating artwork.
Namrata Patel, Panelist Author
Namrata Patel is an Indian American Amazon bestselling author of contemporary fiction. Her debut, The Candid Life of Meena Dave, was critically acclaimed, including being named on The Center for Fiction’s best novel long list. Her writing examines diaspora and dual-cultural identity among Indian Americans, multi-generational tensions tied to assimilation, and historical awareness of Indian American achievements. Her sophomore novel, Scent of a Garden, will be released in June 2023. Namrata has lived in India, New Jersey, Spokane, London, and New York City and currently calls Boston home. She has been writing most of her adult life.
Diana Norma Szokolyai is a writer and teacher. She is co-editor of CREDO: An Anthology of Manifestos & Sourcebook for Creative Writing and author of the poetry chapbooks Parallel Sparrows, and Roses in the Snow. Her poetry and essays appear in publications like Critical Romani Studies, The Poetry Miscellany, The Boston Globe, and MER VOX Quarterly. Her poetry has been anthologized in Other Countries: Contemporary Poets Rewiring History and Stone to Stone: Writing by Romani Women. She was awarded a 2021 Center for Arts and Social Justice Fellowship at Vermont College of Fine Arts for her work translating Romani poets into English. Together with Dr. Rita Banerjee, she founded The Cambridge Writers’ Workshop and serves as its Executive Artistic Director. Together with Dennis Shafer, she founded the Chagall PAC, an interdisciplinary arts organization that hosts performances, readings, and workshops with a gallery space on Artists’ Row in Salem, MA.
We are delighted to announce our 2023 Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Paris Writing Retreat Schedule. Check out the schedule above and our exciting class descriptions below:
Surrealism in Paris and Beyond (with Diana Norma Szokolyai)
In this class, we will look at the birth of the Surrealist Movement in Paris about 100 years ago and how it turned into an international artistic, intellectual and political movement. Sometimes, the best ideas come from conflict, and indeed, there were rival surrealist groups who both claimed to be continuing the revolutionary work initiated by the poet Guillaume Apollinaire. Why was this idea worth fighting over? What impact did it have on the world? We will explore the texts of the Surrealist Manifestos, as well as learn about key figures of the movement like André Breton, Yvan Goll, Dora Maar, Louis Aragon, Salvador Dalí, Tristan Tzara, René Magritte, Frida Kahlo, Pierre Reverdy, Méret Oppenheim and more. Since we will be staying in Montparnasse, where many writers and artists lived, we will have the unique opportunity to walk in their paths and visit cafés where they met and exchanged ideas. We’ll examine how surrealism is relevant today and read some contemporary writers who are inspired by surrealism, like Ada Limón and Adam McOmber. Writers will also try their hand at surrealist writing exercises meant to cross the bridges between dreams and reality and go beyond rational thought into the subconscious. Tip: I recommend reserving tickets for The Dalí Paris museum and the special 2023 immersive exhibition of Chagall at l’Atelier des Lumières if you want to continue to explore the world of surrealism during our stay in Paris.
Flâneurs, Essays, and Provocateurs (with Rita Banerjee)
An essay is an attempt. A trial. A test. In this class, we will explore how evocative essays are attempted and constructed. We will explore how being a flâneur and an essayist are intimately combined. And we will study how essayists from Montaigne to James Baldwin to Lauren Elkin to Edmund White to David Shields to Yoko Tawada redefine the environment they inhabit and create a space for electric art.
What Makes a Memoir? (with Rita Banerjee)
How do we write about the most significant moments of our lives with discernment, vulnerability, brevity, and style? What are the elements of a compelling, candid, and author-driven memoir? How can we make both the speakers and the characters introduced in a memoir more complex, human, and intriguing? In this class, we’ll explore how writers such as Richard Rodgriguez, Michelle Zauner, Mary Karr, Jo Ann Beard, Carmen Maria Machado, and others have created emotionally evocative, culturally specific, provocative, and accessible memoirs, and how we might find a way to map our lives and the characters who have formed them with honesty, nuance, and imagination on the page.
Writing the Moment through Food (with Diana Norma Szokolyai)
Paris is a feast for the senses, and it’s especially known for its cuisine and variety of food markets. In this class, we will explore how we write about food. We will practice the art of bringing the senses to the page. I will share my process of writing about food for my poetry manuscript Five Feasts, which explores the ways in which food connects the poet to culture, place, and family history. Food is a way to understand a partially forgotten past, providing a map to ancestors through the senses. Food can connect us to place and transform space by evoking our memories. Food can mend and heal silenced and oppressed histories through the boldness of spices and magic of sauces melding in particular ways that empower identities. We’ll discuss the weight of conversations in kitchens, the ritual of food as gift, the terrain of what is unsaid around the table, and how food triggers memory. We’ll also discuss the work of poetry duo Adobo Fish Sauce as well Grace M. Cho’s Tastes Like War and more!
The Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Paris Writing Retreat will be held from July 19-25, 2023 in the historic, literary Montparnasse neighborhood of Paris. Writers will reside at Hôtel du Midi Paris Montparnasse (4 Avenue René Coty, 14th Arr., 75014, Paris, France).
The retreat features multi-genre writing and publishing workshops, craft of writing seminars, and generative writing sessions in a warm, welcoming, and collaborative atmosphere. Modeled after the French literary salon, the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop is known for its thought-provoking, inspiring, inclusive, and generative multi-genre workshop format. Participating writers will hone their craft and expand their writing skills, while working on new or existing projects.
There will also be time to explore the city of Paris in all of its historical, literary, and romantic charm. Situated in heart of Paris’ Montparnasse neighborhood, amongst the fresh and popular open air markets and charming boutiques, the hotel neighborhood is full of Parisian charm. Our classes will take place in the hotel meeting room, as well as a range of classes in the spirit of “flâneur” culture, set in the rich environment of literary cafés, museums, and other famous Parisian locations.
The faculty includes award-winning multi-genre authors Rita Banerjee and Diana Norma Szokolyai, who are known for their engaging and supportive teaching style.
The cost of the retreat is $4,500, which includes tuition for all workshops and classes in Paris, lodging, daily breakfast, special meals, and a trip to Versailles.
Using the online submission system, submit 5 to 10 pages of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, drama, or literary translation with a $5 application fee by June 1, 2023. Early applications are encouraged as seats are limited and some scholarships are available. Submit to the scholarship applicationon our Submittable if seeking a scholarship in one of the following categories: diversity, parenthood, or student/educator.
If you’re serious about writing and want to soak in some exquisite French culture this summer, join our retreat in Paris!
Visit cww.submittable.com for an application and complete guidelines. All genres welcome. Please email info@cambridgewritersworkshop.org or call 617-800-9901 for more information.
If you’d like to join us in Paris, please apply online by June 1, 2023, and include a $5 application screening fee and a 5-10 page writing sample of poetry, prose, drama, illustrated, or hybrid work. Please also include the following in your cover letter:
7. Contact of Two Personal References (Name, Email, Address, Phone, Relationship to Applicant)
8. What would you bring to a writing workshop community? (communication skills, patience, listening skills, etc.)
Due to limited seats, early applications are encouraged!
Faculty:
Rita Banerjee is the Executive Creative Director of the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop and editor of CREDO: An Anthology of Manifestos and Sourcebook for Creative Writing. She is the author of the poetry collection Echo in Four Beats , which was named one of Book Riot’s“Must-Read Poetic Voices of Split This Rock 2018”, the novella “A Night with Kali” in Approaching Footsteps, and the poetry chapbook Cracklers at Night. She is the co-writer and co-director of Burning Down the Louvre (2023), a documentary film about race, intimacy, and tribalism in the United States and in France. She received her doctorate in Comparative Literature from Harvard and her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Washington, and she she is a recipient of a Vermont Studio Center Artist’s Grant, the Tom and Laurel Nebel Fellowship, and South Asia Initiative and Tata Grants among other awards. Her writing appears in the Academy of American Poets, Poets & Writers,PANK, Tupelo Quarterly, Nat. Brut., Vermont Public Radio, Hunger Mountain, Kweli Journal, The Scofield, The Rumpus, Painted Bride Quarterly, Mass Poetry, Hyphen Magazine, Los Angeles Review of Books, Electric Literature, VIDA: Women in Literary Arts, Queen Mob’s Tea House, Objet d’Art, and elsewhere. She is currently working on a novel, a book on South Asian literary modernisms, and a memoir and manifesto on female cool. She is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing and Director of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. Her writing is represented by agent Jamie Chambliss of Folio Literary Management.
Diana Norma Szokolyai is a writer and Executive Artistic Director of Cambridge Writers’ Workshop. Her edited volume, CREDO: An Anthology of Manifestos and Sourcebook for Creative Writing, will be released by C&R Press on March 7, 2018. She is author of the poetry collections Parallel Sparrows (honorable mention for Best Poetry Book in the 2014 Paris Book Festival) and Roses in the Snow (first runner-up Best Poetry Book at the 2009 DIY Book Festival). She also records her poetry with musicians and has collaborated with several composers including David Krebs (US), Robert Lemay (Canada), Claudio Gabriele (Italy), Peter James (UK), Jason Haye (UK), and Sebastian Wesman (Estonia). Diana Norma is a founding member of the performing arts groups Sounds in Bloom, ChagallPAC, and The Brooklyn Soundpainting Ensemble. Her poetry-music collaboration with Flux Without Pause, “Space Mothlight,” hit #16 on the Creative Commons Hot 100 list in 2015, and can be found in the curated WFMU Free Music Archive. Her work has been recently reviewed by The London Grip and published in VIDA: Reports from the Field, The Fiction Project, Quail Bell Magazine, Lyre Lyre, The Boston Globe, Dr. Hurley’s Snake Oil Cure,The Dudley Review and Up the Staircase Quarterly, The Million Line Poem, The Cambridge Community Poem, and elsewhere, as well as anthologized in Our Last Walk, The Highwaymen NYC #2, Other Countries: Contemporary Poets Rewiring History, Always Wondering, and Teachers as Writers. She is currently at work on her next book and an album of poetry & music. Diana Norma holds a M.A. in French (UCONN, La Sorbonne) and an Ed.M in Arts in Education (Harvard).
T-minus 8 days until scholarships are due for the 2023 Cambridge Writer’s Workshop Paris Retreat! Please submit your materials through our Submittable. . . .
The Cambridge Writers’ Workshop is delighted to announce that partial scholarships based on need and merit for the Paris Writing Retreat (July 19-25, 2023) are now available. Students can apply for scholarships of $250-$500, and further financial assistance may be available for students in need. Scholarships for BIPOC, LGBTQ+, writers who are students, writers who are parents, writers who are educators, and Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Alumnx are available. To apply for a scholarship for our 2023 Paris Writing Retreat (July 19-25, 2023), please complete this two-step process:
1. Submit a 2023 Paris Writing Retreat Application 2. Submit a Scholarship Application and include a 1-2 page over letter that indicates which scholarship you are applying for, your reasons for applying, and how this scholarship will help you with your writing goals.
While there is no application fee, all scholarship applications are due by May 15, 2023. And early scholarship applications are encouraged.
Scholarship Categories If you identify with one of the following identities and have a financial need, we offer partial scholarships. When you apply, please state which scholarship category you are applying to from the list below: * BIPOC * LGBTQ+ * Student * Parent (of a child 0-22) * Educator * Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Alumnx If you have any questions, please email info@cambridgewritersworkshop.org. .
The Cambridge Writers’ Workshop is delighted to announce that partial scholarships based on need and merit for the Paris Writing Retreat (July 19-25, 2023) are now available. Students can apply for scholarships of $250-$500, and further financial assistance may be available for students in need. Scholarships for BIPOC, LGBTQ+, writers who are students, writers who are parents, writers who are educators, and Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Alumnx are available.
To apply for a scholarship for our 2023 Paris Writing Retreat (July 19-25, 2023), please complete this two-step process:
Submit a Scholarship Application and include a 1-2 page over letter that indicates which scholarship you are applying for, your reasons for applying, and how this scholarship will help you with your writing goals.
While there is no application fee, all scholarship applications are due by May 15, 2023. And early scholarship applications are encouraged.
Scholarship Categories
If you identify with one of the following identities and have a financial need, we offer partial scholarships. When you apply, please state which scholarship category you are applying to from the list below:
BIPOC
LGBTQ+
Student
Parent (of a child 0-22)
Educator
Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Alumnx
If you have any questions, please email info@cambridgewritersworkshop.org.
Cambridge Writers’ Workshop is delighted to announce the return of our Summer in Paris Writing Retreat (July 19-25, 2023) after at three-year hiatus due to the pandemic.
The Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Paris Writing Retreat will be held from July 19-25, 2023 in the historic, literary Montparnasse neighborhood of Paris. Writers will reside at Hôtel du Midi Paris Montparnasse (4 Avenue René Coty, 14th Arr., 75014, Paris, France).
The retreat features multi-genre writing and publishing workshops, craft of writing seminars, and generative writing sessions in a warm, welcoming, and collaborative atmosphere. Modeled after the French literary salon, the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop is known for its thought-provoking, inspiring, inclusive, and generative multi-genre workshop format. Participating writers will hone their craft and expand their writing skills, while working on new or existing projects.
There will also be time to explore the city of Paris in all of its historical, literary, and romantic charm. Situated in heart of Paris’ Montparnasse neighborhood, amongst the fresh and popular open air markets and charming boutiques, the hotel neighborhood is full of Parisian charm. Our classes will take place in the hotel meeting room, as well as a range of classes in the spirit of “flâneur” culture, set in the rich environment of literary cafés, museums, and other famous Parisian locations.
The faculty includes award-winning multi-genre authors Rita Banerjee and Diana Norma Szokolyai, who are known for their engaging and supportive teaching style.
The cost of the retreat is $4,500, which includes tuition for all workshops and classes in Paris, lodging, daily breakfast, special meals, and a trip to Versailles.
Using the online submission system, submit 5 to 10 pages of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, drama, or literary translation with a $5 application fee by June 1, 2023. Early applications are encouraged as seats are limited and some scholarships are available. Submit to the scholarship applicationon our Submittable if seeking a scholarship in one of the following categories: diversity, parenthood, or student/educator.
If you’re serious about writing and want to soak in some exquisite French culture this summer, join our retreat in Paris!
Visit cww.submittable.com for an application and complete guidelines. All genres welcome. Please email info@cambridgewritersworkshop.org or call 617-800-9901 for more information.
If you’d like to join us in Paris, please apply online by June 1, 2023, and include a $5 application screening fee and a 5-10 page writing sample of poetry, prose, drama, illustrated, or hybrid work. Please also include the following in your cover letter:
This year has been quite the year, we have been busy at work editing our upcoming anthology: Disobedient Futures which is set to be released in 2023. It is filled with speculative fiction and poetry from new and returning writers in the CWW community. Stay tuned! We are also excited to announce that we have been also busy at work organizing a retreat to Paris! After a three year hiatus, we are excited to bring back one of our best-selling retreats: Paris. This retreat will take place from July 19th-25th featuring award-winning multi-genre faculty Diana Norma Szokolyai and Rita Banerjee, who are known for their engaging and supportive teaching style. The application is due June 1st, link is below. More details to follow.
Overall, we are looking forward to this upcoming year and wouldn’t be where we are today without all of you! Thank you for your continuous love and support. See you all in 2023!
We are excited to announce that the authors for our forthcoming anthology Disobedient Futures have been selected. We are delighted to celebrate the following authors in our anthology:
Rasha Abdulhadi | Paul Daniel Ash | Madeleine Barnes | Rita Banerjee | Emma Bolden | Alex Carrigan | Kholoud Charaf | Marlena Chertock | Charlene Elsby | Ayokunle Falomo | Robin Hemley | Helen Hofling | Candace Jensen | Shirley Jones-Luke | Liz Kellebrew | Brian Leung | Krysia Wazny McClain | Adam McOmber | Diana Norma Szokolyai| Megan Otto | Martin Ott | Corrine Previte | Thaddeus Rutkowski | Mark Salzwedel | Kyle Scott | David Shields | Margo Taft Stever | Bianca Stone | Ella Voss | Maya Williams | Cecilia Woloch
Stay tuned for more details about Disobedient Futures!
With all the best, The Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Editors
Holiday Greetings from the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop. We wanted to wish you a safe, happy, and holiday season. We know this year hasn’t been easy but through grit, determination, and positivity, let’s finish this year strong! Thank you for your continuous support and we are looking forward to working with you in 2021!
Join us for the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop’s Virtual Summer Writing Retreat each Saturday from July 11 – August 1, 2020. Our featured faculty includes David Shields, Tim Horvath, Rita Banerjee, and Diana Norma Szokolyai. All of our classes will be held online, and students are encouraged to register for each class by 11 am EDT on the Friday before each class meeting.
How to Register:
Students can sign-up individually for each class for $100 per class, or join a course series for $200 or $300 per class unit. To register for class, please send in a short 1-5 page writing sample, 2 professional references, and a cover letter conveying your interest and a short bio of who you are as an author and where you are with you creative writing. This information will help our writing faculty get to know you as a writer and your writing goals. Writers of all genres (poetry, fiction, nonfiction, screenwriting, and film) are welcome to participate in our virtual summer writing retreat.
To join our Virtual Summer Writing Retreat, you will need access to broadband internet and a working video-camera and microphone on your computer. All classes will be taught on either Google Hangouts or Zoom. Invitations to class URLS will be sent out to all registered users before our classes begin, and instructors may share reading materials for class with registered students via Dropbox or Google Drive. All classes are first-come first-serve for registration, and in case a class fills to capacity, we will refund you in full.
More information regarding our faculty, scheduling, and how to register for classes follows below. Sign up now for each class individually or as a package at cww.submittable.com!
Class Schedule:
Featured Courses:
About David Shields:
David Shields is the internationally bestselling author of twenty-two books, including Reality Hunger (recently named one of the 100 most important books of the last decade by LitHub), The Thing About Life Is That One Day You’ll Be Dead (New York Times bestseller), Black Planet (finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award), and Other People: Takes & Mistakes (NYTBR Editors’ Choice). Nobody Hates Trump More Than Trump: An Intervention was published in 2018, The Trouble With Men: Reflections on Sex, Love, Marriage, Porn, and Power appeared in 2019. James Franco’s adaptation of I Think You’re Totally Wrong: A Quarrel, which Shields co-wrote and co-stars in, was released in 2017 (available now on Amazon, iTunes/Apple TV, Vudu, Vimeo, Kanopy, and Google Play); Shields wrote, produced, and directed Lynch: A History, a 2019 documentary film about Marshawn Lynch’s use of silence, echo, and mimicry as key tools of resistance (rave reviews in the New Yorker, the Nation, and dozens of other publications; film festival awards all over the world; available now on all of the same platforms listed above). A recipient of Guggenheim and NEA fellowships and a senior contributing editor of Conjunctions, Shields has published fiction and nonfiction in the New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, Esquire, Yale Review, Salon, Slate, Tin House, A Public Space, McSweeney’s, Believer, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Review of Books, and Best American Essays. His books have been translated into two dozen languages.
Join us from 1-3 pm EDT on Saturday July 11, 18, and 25 for David Shields’s Summer Writing Retreat series “Six Prison Breaks (Beyond Traditional Narrative),or How to make your work reflect what it feels like to be alive now rather than what it felt like to be alive in 1920.”
In this class we’ll investigate the following topics through a combination of brief videotaped lecture, live lecture, handouts, and class discussion, exploring the myriad ways in which you might deploy similar strategies in your own work.
Brevity and Journal. We’ll read and discuss flash nonfiction, mini-essays, prose-poems, poeticized journals, thematized diaries. All these forms are a way to try to lean in to the velocity and interconnectedness of contemporary existence without, in any way, sacrificing depth, rigor, complexity, nuance, sophistication.
Collage, Remix, Appropriation. In our second class, we’ll build off our first class and think about how to take these fragments, these crystallized moments, and build them into an entire book. We’ll also explore how these fragments might be yours, but they might also—when transformed—come from the culture at large.
Film, and Collaboration. The fractal elements need not be written. They might still image or cinematic montage. And they might arise from your collaboration with someone else. The point of all these gestures is to free yourself up from seeing a book or essay or story or novel as a dutifully linear operation. Maybe it could be a liberatingly open-ended text.
About Diana Norma Szokolyai:
Diana Norma Szokolyaiis a writer and yoga teacher. Her books are CREDO: An Anthology of Manifestos & Sourcebook for Creative Writing,Parallel Sparrows, and Roses in the Snow. Her poetry manuscript Milk & Water, was a finalist for Hunger Mountain’s 2020 May Day Mountain chapbook series. Her poetry was also shortlisted for the 2018 Bridport Prize and received honorable mention in the 87th Annual Writer’s Digest Competition. Her work has been published in MER VOX Quarterly, VIDA, Quail Bell Magazine, The Boston Globe, Luna Luna Magazineand has been anthologized in Other Countries: Contemporary Poets Rewiring History, Teachers As Writers, and Die Morgendämmerung der Worte Moderner Poesie- Atlas der Roma und Sinti.Her poetry – music collaborations have hit the Creative Commons Hot 100 list and been featured on WFMU-FM. She is co-founder and Artistic Director ofChagall Performance Art Collaborative and the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop. She first learned yoga and meditation at the age of fourteen and continued to practice and learn a variety of styles of yoga over the next 24 years, until deciding to pursue her yoga teacher certification to deepen her practice. Diana Norma Szokolyai specializes in Hatha flow, Yin and meditation. Her teaching style focuses on supporting students to set intentions, find proper alignment, and engage not only with the physical, but also the philosophical and spiritual aspects of yoga. She teaches at Green Tea Yoga in Salem, MA.
10 a.m.- 10:45 a.m. Chakra Flow YogaIn Sanskrit, “chakra” means wheel or disk, and in yoga, we refer to seven chakras, or spiritual energy centers in the body. When the chakras are in balance, we feel vibrant, joyful, and serene. Chakra flow will incorporate a hatha flow, focusing on alignment and energizing asanas, as well as a calming yin flow. All Levels Welcome!
-break to refresh and change –
11:00 a.m.- 12 noon Craft of Writing Seminar: ALL GENRES (poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction)
After having practiced yoga for the first hour, in the second hour, we will discuss how the root chakra relates to our writing practice and rituals. The root chakra governs our feelings of security, and on the flip side, fear. We will discuss how these feelings influence our writing rituals and share practical information and best practices. We will also discuss how the root chakra can be used as a metaphor to dig deeper into the roots of our narratives. Looking at character backstories, etymology, and history, we will discover what is under the earth of our narratives and what grounds our storytelling craft. This second part will be part lecture, part discussion forum, and will also include writing exercises.
10 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. Chakra Flow Yoga In Sanskrit, “chakra” means wheel or disk, and in yoga, we refer to seven chakras, or spiritual energy centers in the body. When the chakras are in balance, we feel vibrant, joyful, and serene. Chakra flow will incorporate a hatha flow, focusing on alignment and energizing asanas, as well as a calming yin flow. All Levels Welcome!
-break to refresh and change –
11:00 a.m.- 12 noon Craft of Writing Seminar: ALL GENRES (poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction) After having practiced yoga for the first hour, in the second hour, we will discuss how the heart chakra governs our feelings of compassion, empathy, gratitude, but also on the flip side, jealousy and envy. We will talk about how these vulnerable feelings enter into our poems, narratives and stories through the speaker or characters. We will also discuss the question: “What is at the heart of a poem or narrative?” Sometimes, it takes a little opening up, or peeling back of our first draft to get to the heart moments of our writing. We will discuss revision strategies that can help us think more deeply about this sort of question.
Come play Surrealist and OULIPO Literary Games with Diana Norma Szokolyai and Writers from the CWW Virtual Summer Retreat. After playing some fun and generative literary games, participants will be invited to read (5 min max) from any piece written during the games or over the course of the CWW Virtual Summer Writing Workshop. It is optional to read– feel free to just come for the literary games!
About Rita Banerjee:
Rita Banerjee is the Director of the MFA in Writing & Publishing program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts, and Creative Executive Director of the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop. She’s the author of several books including CREDO: An Anthology of Manifestos and Sourcebook for Creative Writing (C&R Press, 2018), the poetry collection Echo in Four Beats (FLP, 2018), which was nominated for the 2019 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize at the Academy of American Poets, the novella “A Night with Kali” in Approaching Footsteps (SPR, 2016), and the poetry chapbook Cracklers at Night (FLP, 2010). She is the co-writer of Burning Down the Louvre (2021), a documentary film about race, intimacy, and tribalism in the United States and in France. Her work also appears in PANK, Nat. Brut., Poets & Writers, Academy of American Poets, Vermont Public Radio, and elsewhere.
Plato argues that human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge. And before staging Kalidasa’s The Recognition of Śākuntalā, the director challenges his actress-lover: “As though in a painting, the entire audience has had their emotion colored through your melody. So now—what shall we perform to sustain the mood?” In this class, we will explore how creating vivid emotional worlds between characters and within storylines can build suspense, sustain drama, and lure the reader deeper in. Whether you’re currently working on a short story, novel, screenplay, theatrical play, lyrical essay, memoir, or narrative poem this class will help you craft a unique emotional landscape
Tim Horvath is the author of Understories (Bellevue Literary Press), which won the New Hampshire Literary Award for Outstanding Work of Fiction, and Circulation (sunnyoutside). His fiction has appeared in Conjunctions, AGNI, Harvard Review, and many other journals, and his book reviews appear in Georgia Review, The Brooklyn Rail, and American Book Review. His novel-in-progress focuses on the lives of contemporary classical composers and musicians. He has taught Creative Writing in the Granada, Spain, program for the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop, and in the BFA and MFA programs at New England College, including the Institute of Art and Design.
Join us from 3:30-5:30 pm EDT on Saturday July 11, 18, 25 and August 1 for Tim Horvath’s Summer Writing Retreat series:
We rely on our senses all the time, as humans to navigate the world, and as writers to draw readers into our characters’ lives and worlds. But what happens to writing in a time of social distancing, when we find ourselves in isolation, wary of touch, breathing into masks, longing for restaurants, and watching history unfold on screens? I’d suggest that it’s all the more important that we reconnect with our senses, both for our well-being and our creativity. In this class, we’ll aim to do so.
In Part One, we’ll explore the senses of sight and sound, looking at how writers use imagery and the sounds and rhythms of language to make scenes, stories, narrative essays, and poems come alive. We’ll read authors whose writing is so vivid we feel as though we can enter it, and writers whose voice is so powerful that it feels like music.
In Part Two, we’ll explore the senses of touch, smell, and taste, again delving into how they can enhance writing across genres. Again, we’ll read authors whose writing makes you feel the rush of a rodeo ride, or who transport you through scent and food into entire realms of association and memory.In each case, we’ll use these as springboards for our own writing, whether you’re starting from scratch or working on an ongoing project. It isn’t necessary to take both of these, as they will stand alone, although they will also fit together well.
It is a given that writers must learn to read closely, with attention to nuance and craft, to unravel the methods by which other writers have managed to tell stories effectively and adapt them for their own purposes. In this class, we’ll focus on contemporary writers in Spanish.
In Part One, we’ll look at some canonical writers from the last century such as Borges, Valenzuela, Puig, Uhart, and Cortázar, and explore how social and political conditions shaped the so-called “Latin American Boom.” Apart from an appreciation of their work on the page, what can we take away from their work? We’ll do some exercises that take the playful spirit of these writers and welcome it into our own writing.
In Part Two, we’ll look at how today’s Spanish language writers are both continuing and radically transforming that tradition today. In particular, we’ll examine writers such as Ariana Harwicz, Andrés Neuman, Cristina Rivera Garza, and Samanta Schweblin, each of whom bends narrative and language, and thus our understanding of reality itself. We’ll also explore the fraught, infinitely rich topic of translation, discussing its complexities and even comparing a passage or two in English and Spanish. What language choices did the translator have to make? What was lost and gained? As we look at translation, we’ll pose the further question of what we can learn from it as we seek to “translate” any event, image, idea, or experience into language. In this case, too, we will do some exercises that use these writers and concepts as points of departure. It isn’t necessary to take both of these, as they will stand alone, although they will also fit together well.
Today, is Juneteenth which marks the end of slavery in the United States. However we realize that systemic racism and inequality continue in the United States. We, at the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop, reject racism, prejudice and violence in all forms. We are heartbroken at the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many other Black Americans who have lost their lives unjustly. This country is built on racist systems like slavery, disenfranchisement, redlining, and mass incarceration. We are living in a moment when systemic racism is coming to a head with the eruption of police brutality. Right now, we take a stand and say Black Lives Matter.
As an arts organization centered around creative writing, we want to also say Black imagination matters and Black voices matter. The Cambridge Writers’ Workshop community would not be complete without the richness that our Black writers and writing retreat participants have brought. To meet this moment, we want to announce a reading we have coming up in support of Black Visions Collective and Black Lives Matter.
The CWW’s Reading for Black Visions Collective is in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Our featured authors for our June 26 reading are Devynity Wray, Rita Banerjee, Alex Marzano-Lesnevich , Frederick-Douglass Knowles II, Maggie Downs, Tim Horvath, and Diana Norma Szokolyai. The writers featured in our reading were part of the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Summer in Granada Writing Retreat. Granada is known as a multicultural city, where Roma, Catholics, Jews, and Muslims have all been a part of creating a culture in conversation. It is also the city of Frederico García Lorca, who was a queer poet and part of the anti-facist movement in Spain. He was assassinated by fascist dictator Franco’s firing squads for his antifascist beliefs. As a literary organization, we, the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop, are a community of writers who stand unwaveringly against fascism globally and in support of ending systemic racism in the United States. #BlackLivesMatter
“Since 2017, Black Visions Collective, has been putting into practice the lessons learned from organizations before us in order to shape a political home for Black people across Minnesota. We aim to center our work in healing and transformative justice principles, intentionally develop our organizations core “DNA” to ensure sustainability, and develop Minnesota’s emerging Black leadership to lead powerful campaigns. By building movements from the ground up with an integrated model, we are creating the conditions for long term success and transformation.
Black Visions Collective envisions a world in which ALL Black Lives Matter. We use the guidance and brilliance of our ancestors as well as the teachings of our own experiences to pursue our commitment to dismantling systems of oppression and violence. We are determined in our pursuit of dignity and equity for all.”
Cambridge Writers' Workshop 