We will use some of our experiences in the most fabled region of Italy as the basis for assignments in this travel writing course. Tuscany will stimulate all of our senses while we create articles, mini-memoirs, and diaries which will forever record your own time under the Tuscan sun and share it with friends, family, and perhaps travel editors. Our 6 day itinerary also includes a one day trip into nearby Siena, where students will directly watch and learn Michael’s techniques for experiencing a city as a travel writer rather than just a vacationer from gathering information, interviewing and note taking, and other components of creating a travel article.
In this class we will:
* Discuss our personal reasons for taking class
* Look at different types of travel writing/travel memoirs
* Explore memory conjuring techniques for the writing “zone” – use of photos, senses, souvenirs
* Have specific writing assignments based on materials brought to class
* Consider Tuscany as an inspiration experience for travel writing (Under the Tuscan Sun)
* Specific in-class writing assignments based on readings of other’s work
* Discuss travel photography (for enhancing sales and for memory conjuring)
* Note taking and interviewing, historical research
* Read and constructively critique each other’s work in class
* Look at the business aspects of travel writing from press trips to pitching article ideas and angles
Note: There will be a Travel Photography workshop held concurrently with this Travel Writing workshop. We look forward to plenty of meaningful interaction with the students and instructor. There will be opportunities to collaborate to create our own articles, stories or reviews.
Faculty Information:
Instructor:
Michael Luongo is a New York based freelance travel writer and photographer with experience in over 80 countries and all 7 continents. He has written for the New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, National Geographic Traveler, the Advocate, Out Traveler, Bloomberg News, Gay City News and many other publications. He has written or edited several books, including Frommer’s Buenos Aires guidebook, the best selling U.S published guidebook on the Argentine capital, and he was the editor of Haworth Press's Out in the World series on gay and lesbian travel literature, where he released the collection Gay Travels in the Muslim World, and he also published a novel The Voyeur with Alyson Books. Michael’s travel writing has taken him from the glamorous bikini-studded beaches of South America, to the historical centers of Europe, to the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition to Il Chiostro, he teaches travel writing at Gotham Writers Workshop in New York City, and at New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies. Of Italian heritage, Michael’s grandfather comes from the Avellino region in southern Italy, near Naples.
Other Activities:
There will be several organized outings including:
* Full day excursion to Florence
* A walking exploration of Siena
* A visit to a local outdoor market
* An afternoon at a local Chianti vineyard sampling both ambiance and wine
* Other excursions to intimate Tuscan hill towns
* A nature walk through the valley.
Facility Information:
For our workshops taking place at Le Lodoline, accommodations in the farmhouses consist of shared double rooms with shared bathrooms. There are a limited number of single rooms and some doubles with en suite bathrooms, which are available for a small supplement. There are also limited double room accommodations with private bathrooms available next door in a bed and breakfast in what was once the principle villa of the property.
Notes:
Price Includes:
* Shared double room in country villa
* Daily traditional breakfast and dinner, including wine
* Transportation for daily excursions
* Exploration days in Siena and Florence
* Half day excursion to nearby hill towns (Monteriggioni, Radda, Volpaia)
* Transfers by bus from Florence on first day
* Transfer to bus/train station in Siena on final day
Price Excludes:
* Airfare
* Lunch
* Local bus transportation
* Independent meals and sight-seeing.
Also see Vacation Schools in:
Writers Workshops
Europe
Italy
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