Program Description:
"You cannot force inspiration to come … not with muscular effort.
There are ways, however, to create in yourself a state of receptivity, a hospitable environment." by Madison Smartt Bell.
Explore and refine the craft and self-expression inherent in your writing in a place that has been inspirational to all types of artists and craftsmen for centuries.
Tuscany-in its tranquility, beauty and stillness-will create within you an environment where inspiration can thrive. This week-long workshop will focus on inviting inspiration as well as exploring and refining your skills as a fiction writer. This adventure will be a hands on experience: we will actively make, investigate, explore, create and share. As a community of writers, we will work together to help all participants realize their intentions on the page in a nurturing, honest and productive environment. Writers of all levels are welcome. The workshop will include:
* Investigative discussions about readings and the craft, tailored specifically to the group's needs
* Instructive writing exercises that draw on the lush setting and unique experiences of Tuscany as well as the dynamic creativity of the group
* One-on-one conferences to explore your individual needs as a writer in more depth
* Opportunity to share your writing and receive constructive group feedback
* An encouraging, challenging, supportive environment in which to take risks in your work and, as a result, grow as a writer
The week-long workshop will leave plenty of time for participants to devote to their own creative pursuits and personal writing projects, be it a journal, prose descriptions, memoir, short stories or a novel. We will also explore the area with optional excursions to villages, Etruscan tombs, markets, vineyards, historic towns like Siena and Radda with the goal of using those experiences as inspiration to create and express ourselves using the written word. One afternoon might be devoted to completing a short story you've been working on, another might be spent exploring a hilltown and recording the sights and sounds. Open your writerly self to what awaits you-and only you-in Tuscany and share those discoveries and observations over dinner or a glass of wine with a community of writers eager to hear them.
Faculty Information:
Instructor:
Brandi Reissenweber
Brandi is a writer and a teacher. Her fiction has received several awards, including grants from Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs, and has appeared in journals like the North Dakota Quarterly, Rattapallax and Elixir. Her writing on the craft of fiction has appeared in Writing Fiction, and she edits Letterpress, an e-newsletter for fiction writers. She is currently the James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow at the University of Wisconsin and will be a writer-in-residence for the Kerouac Project of Orlando and teaches fiction workshops for Gotham Writers Workshop. Brandi holds an MFA from New York University.
Other Activities:
Our spring programs take place on a vineyard estate in the Chianti area of Tuscany. Le Lodoline is the name of a fattoria, or working vineyard and olive orchard, set in the Chianti hills of Tuscany overlooking the medieval city of Siena. This is an authentic Tuscan country setting filled with rustic charm. The property, owned by a Contessa (who still lives here) is designated an agriturismo . It is composed of a series of traditional stone farm houses with terra cotta roofs. You can almost imagine yourself in another century as you walk down the dirt lanes and through the gates that connect the houses.
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:
Art and craft workshop
Europe
Italy
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