Come join us for our second annual writing retreat in France. This year, we will stay at the Château de Verderonne (45 min from Paris), in a lovely and spacious 17th century manor house. A French chef will prepare all of our meals on site, and we will dine together in the large kitchen or on the terrace. Enjoy walks through the château at your leisure, take refuge writing in the drawing rooms, or relax in the sprawling gardens. The ancient discipline of yoga directly benefits the creative process. Yoga heals and strengthens posture and chronic tensions common to writers, making writing time more productive. Calm the nervous system through meditation and breathing exercises. Writers & Co-Directors of Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Diana Norma Szokolyai and Rita Banerjee will be your guides and help you create the space you need to nurture your writing projects. Certified yoga instructor/visual artist Elissa Lewis will guide participants in daily yoga and meditation exercises.
Digital Americana: The Missing Atomic Scientist
The Cambridge Writers’ Workshop and Armchair/Shotgun, an excellent literary magazine from New York, were recently featured in the Summer 2013 “Consume” issue of Digital Americana for their radio-play performance of “Roy Rogers: The Missing Atomic Scientist”:
This double issue of includes much more content than 99¢ should allow—moving from the intimacy of boiling bones to a mother’s honey, to a series of visual poems from the prolifically avant-garde Richard Kostelanetz, and much more. Included in this is also the second installment of our author self-interview series (made possible by the lovely and gracious novelist, Ashley Warlick), as a well as a Consumed series of original illustrations from contemporary Seattle artist, Levi Hastings. And we’re also proud to have published a new piece of multimedia: the audio to a full-length radio drama featuring American icon, Roy Rogers (which was performed brilliantly by a full ensemble cast). We also continue our investigation into the convergence of literature and media with an interview with the winner of the 2013 Transmedia Project of the Year. And after seeing what this type of multimedia future holds, we can assure you that there will definitely be no shortage of things to consume or create—only the further blurring of the lines that separate the things we consume from the things that consume us. Radio Drama Credits: Gregory Crosby, John Cusick, Cayla Buettner, Diana Norma Szokolyai, Jonah Kruvant, Max March Steinman, J.E. Reich, Dennis Shafer, Eck Sierra, Jake Rudin, Cambridge Writers’ Workshop, Armchair/Shotgun
Roy Rogers & The Missing Atomic Scientist Radio Play
Join the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop & Armchair/Shotgun on Sunday June 16, 2013 for our radio-play Roy Rogers: The Missing Atomic Scientist @61Local #Brooklyn!!
Translation & the Art of Writing Workshop (June 9 – July 14, 2013)
“Translation, often a matter of taste, involves factors such as accuracy to the original word and translation of an author’s, even a text’s, style. The cultural literacy needed to understand and translate a joke or a folk saying makes translation a more complex task than plugging words into a translator. In this course students will delve into the art of translation by comparing and contrasting two different versions of five classic works and using translation to inspire and motivate new craft techniques and writing practices within their own work.” – Ian Singleton
Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Literary Circus (Brooklyn Lit Crawl 2013)
Ladies and Gentlemen, step right up to the most end-defying literary event of the decade. Ringleaders Max March-Steinman and Diana Norma Szokolyai host a night of high-flying writing acrobatics drawing from literary treasure boxes of prompts, dialogue, and other surprises. See the incredible syllable juggling poet, whose tongue spits out sounds so quickly that they fly beyond the walls of the tent. Witness the amazing paragraph masquerade; you don’t know which character from which century will make the next appearance. Gasp at the sideshow of special guest story contortionists like the famed Gregory Crosby and more! This event is interactive and volunteer readers/performers will be called up for interludes of poetry, rants, and character sketches about the circus throughout the ages.
CWW Brooklyn Literary Salon, Spring 2013
Come enjoy a cup of tea, some fine vegan cuisine, and literary talk. Meet other writers and people from the publishing & editing world. Discussion topics, writing prompts, literary games, and suggested reading lists will be provided by the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop facilitator. Participants will also be encouraged to share resources and writing with each other. Special guests will share their expertise from various sectors of the writing/publishing field. The salon is meant to be discussion-driven and is not meant to be ‘taught’ in the traditional sense. Participants in the literary salon will be encouraged to share their views, engage in lively debates, and contribute their own ideas on topics.
CWW Directors Featured in VIDA: Women in Literary Arts
On March 4, 2013, VIDA: Women in Literary Arts published the 2012 VIDA COUNT which cataloged the number of women writers being published in the nation’s top literary, journalistic, and academic periodicals. You can read more about their findings and assessments by Amy King here: http://www.vidaweb.org/vida-count-2012-mic-check-redux
Also in VIDA news this week, writers Rita Banerjee and Diana Norma Szokolyai are featured guests on HER KIND, a blog powered by VIDA: Women in Literary Arts. Check out their interview, “Community as Cathartic: A Conversation with Rita Banerjee and Diana Norma Szokolyai,” which was moderated by Rosebud Ben-Oni.
The Art of Fiction Workshop (March 17 – May 26, 2013)
Creating and developing a character, no matter how autobiographical, is difficult. Though writing down one’s experience may seem easier, in the end a writer has to look closely and objectively at her character. A writer has to treat a character as an “other,” although there may be pieces of the writer in each character. This class will introduce various aspects of character development. Students will use contrasting environments and unfamiliar situations, as well as “other” voices and perspectives to understand the deep desires and fears of their characters. Any of the exercises may develop into a longer, well-developed story for the latter half of the class. Alongside workshopping each participant’s stories, we will read and discuss the work of well-known writers, developing and using our descriptive commentary skills for constructive critique and using the class community to give each participant vital feedback about her work.
Boston Conservatory Performance
Boston Conservatory Performance
Featuring Diana Norma Szokolyai, Rita Banerjee, & Dennis Shafer
Judson Evans and the Garden hosts the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop & Chagall Performance Arts Collaborative for an evening of poetry reading with interdisciplinary performance of poetry, music, and movement. Poetry performance intertwined with the live composing art of Soundpainting will feature poets Diana Norma Szokolyai and Rita Banerjee (CWW directors), and Soundpainter Dennis Shafer as well as Boston Conservatory students.
Cambridge Writers’ Workshop AWP 2013 Reading
Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Off-site AWP Reading
Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Off-site AWP Reading featuring writers Rita Banerjee, Diana Norma Szokolyai, Gregory Crosby, Leah Umansky, Ian Singleton, Pattabi Seshadri, Jane Chakravarty, Arto Vaun, & more!
Cambridge Writers' Workshop 