IOWA WRITERS’ WORKSHOPS

From International Institute of Modern Letters


The deadline for our two summer workshops with outstanding Creative Writing graduates from the University of Iowa is almost here: applications are due by midnight tomorrow, 9 November. A detailed description of the fiction and poetry workshops appear at the foot of this message.

We have been contacted by a few people who have experienced difficulties with the online enrolment procedures. If you are having problems, we suggest that you email your application direct to us at modernletters@vuw.ac.nz. We may extend the deadline to accommodate late applicants, so if you make a last-minute decision to apply, it would be helpful if you were to email us to let us know your application is pending. Please also be aware these workshops are part of the 2010 academic year.

These workshops in poetry and prose offer an opportunity for emerging writers to reinvigorate their writing practice, and for new writers to explore their potential. They are taught by different writers each year, and the approach and theme of each workshop varies accordingly. A detailed description of the 2010 workshops appears at the foot of this email.

The Iowa Writers’ Workshop is America’s oldest and most prestigious creative writing programme, and numbers among its graduates a dozen winners of the Pulitzer Prize. Raymond Carver, John Irving and Flannery O’Connor are among the most distinguished fiction writers to have come through Iowa. Poets include Robert Bly, Jorie Graham, and US poet laureates Rita Dove and Mark Strand. The writers who teach our workshops are among the top graduates from their year.

Each course is assessed by a folio of writing submitted immediately after the final workshop.

IOWA WORKSHOPS 2010

CREW 258 - PROSE STREAM:
Courage and Tenderness

This short fiction workshop invites you to write in the company of writers who demonstrate courage and tenderness in language, story, and meaning. Along the way, we’ll explore the challenges they took on, the mysteries they delved into, and the strength and quality of the feelings they drew from themselves – so that you can advance your own work as a writer. Authors will likely include Alice Munro, Dylan Thomas, Italo Calvino, Jorge Luis Borges, Roberto Bolano, and Anne Michaels.

Course dates: 6 January – 11 February Timetable: Tuesdays and Thursdays 10am – 1pm **

Final workshop: Thursday 10 February
Final portfolio due: Friday 18 February

The convenor of this workshop is Thomas Fox Parry who holds an MFA in Fiction from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His fiction deals with love, both awkward and grand, heroism, both big and small, as well as strangeness and awe in the midst of adventure. He has a novel and a collection of interlinked stories in the works. Aside from writing, he has worked as a mover, donut maker, prison tour guide and coat-check boy.


CREW 259 - POETRY STREAM:

According to the poet Robert Creeley, ‘we make with what we have, and in this way anything is worth looking at.’ And according to Louis Zukofsky, ‘poetry is derived obviously from everyday existence (real or ideal).’

Through reading many modern poets and their statements of poetics, we will attempt to figure out where meaning is found – and made – in poetry. Through writing experiments and workshops, we will focus on ways to work within constraints of the poem. All that is required is willingness, and inquisitiveness, and a sense of humour.

Course dates: 6 January – 11 February
Timetable: Tuesdays and Thursdays 2-5pm **
Final workshop: Thursday 10 February
Final portfolio due: Friday 18 February

The convenor of this workshop is Alan Felsenthal who holds an MFA in Poetry from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He was the Associate Editor for Poetry at The Iowa Review, and has taught Creative Writing at the University of Iowa. He co-edits a chapbook press known as The Song Cave. His work has appeared in Microfilme Magazine, Hannah, improbable object, and The Iowa Review.

**Note that the first two workshops will take place on Thursday 6 January and Friday 7 January. Thereafter, all workshops will take place on the following Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Application and enrolment: can be lodged online by going to the Victoria University homepage at: http://www.victoria.ac.nz/ and following the links to Online Enrolment. Prospective applicants are recommended to visit the How to Apply page of our website (http://www.victoria.ac.nz/modernletters) for more details.

International Institute of Modern Letters
Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington 6140, New Zealand

ENQUIRIES: Tel (04) 463 6854
Email modernletters@vuw.ac.nz

Website http://www.victoria.ac.nz/modernletters