| Women & Creativity Event 2010
In partnership with the National Hispanic Cultural Center's Women & Creativity Conference, A Room of Her Own presents events for writers in Albuquerque, New Mexico, March 6-7, 2010. Faculty will include Kate Gale, poet, librettist and managing editor of LA’s literary gem, Red Hen Press; Meredith Hall, $50,000 Gift of Freedom winner and New York Times bestselling author of Without a Map; Mary Johnson, inspiration for AROHO and author of the long-awaited memoir An Unquenchable Thirst; Dana Levin, internationally acclaimed poet and master teacher; Ellen McLaughlin, celebrated actress and playwright best known for originating the role of the Angel in Tony Kushner’s "Angels in America;" and Summer Wood, $50,000 Gift of Freedom winner, author of two novels, and editor of Language and the Land, a chapbook collection of writing on place by New Mexico authors. |
©Jamie Clifford |
Conference Schedule and Fee Information |
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Saturday, March 6 |
9 to Noon—“Morning Masters”. Forty-five minute one-on-one master sessions with a playwright, librettist, or memoirist to gain wisdom and strategies for refining your specific writing project. Work to be discussed must be sent in advance. Space is limited.
- The Libretto, with Kate Gale
- The Memoir, with Meredith Hall
- The Play, with Ellen McLaughlin
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Fee |
$150 per consultation |
1 to 4:00—“Afternoon Class”. Choose from a variety of classes designed to inform and inspire your writing across genres:
- “Editing your Manuscript, and The Yellow Brick Road to Publication,” with Kate Gale. Learn essential strategies for whipping a manuscript into shape and an insider’s secrets about the process of getting your work into the hands of a publisher.
- “If We Can’t Love Our Characters, Who Will?” with Meredith Hall. We have certain obligations to our readers. One of those is that no one wants to read about irredeemable characters—real or fictive—that we ourselves can’t care about. Our characters may behave very badly, and cause great harm. But they must live on the page in their full humanity. They must, in fact, break our hearts. How do we help our characters have that effect on our readers? Memoirists take note: This is the hard work!
- “Wild Nights,”with Mary Johnson. Writing about experiences that transcend the five senses—spirituality, the artistic process, really good sex, birth, drugs, love, death—requires a special set of tools. Acquire new strategies for writing about experiences for which there are no words.
- “Subtext: Lies and Secrets,” with Ellen McLaughlin. Playwrights, fiction, and creative nonfiction writers are fascinated by what their characters aren’t saying. In this class, explore this fundamental principle of dialogue and practice creating vivid scenes with the subtext lurking beneath the surface.
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| Fee |
$50 per class |
9 to 3:00—“Poetry Manuscript Consultations & Workshop,” with Dana Levin. Spend forty-five minutes of your morning in a one-to-one book-length poetry manuscript consultation. Return in the afternoon for a small-group, strategic workshop of your manuscript with two other participants. Manuscript must be sent in advance (no more than 64 pages). Space is limited. |
| Fee |
$250 |
| 7 to 8:00—Evening workshop performance of Ellen McLaughlin’s “Penelope”. A woman’s ex-husband appears at her door after an absence of 20 years, suffering from brain damage. She reads him The Odyssey, and finds a way into his memory and the terror and trauma of war. This music-theater piece features McLaughlin and original music by Sarah Kirkland Snider. Performance followed by Q&A. |
| Fee |
Admission is free and open to the public |
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Sunday, March 7 |
| 9 to Noon—“Writing it Bare: Shedding Fear in A Room of Your Own,” with Mary Johnson. Whatever your genre, one of your greatest challenges as a writer is finding the courage to tell your story with honesty and panache. In this class for all writers, you will face your unique writing fears and learn tactics to strengthen your courage to write. Includes some in-class writing. |
| Fee |
$50 |
9 to 4:00—“Workshop: Finding Funding for your Creative Projects,” with Summer Wood. Implement proven strategies for using the grant application process to refine your goals, present your ideas and yourself, and get the help you need to accomplish your creative aims. Work to be discussed must be sent in advance. Space is limited. |
| Fee |
$100 |
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