Celebrate spring and consider a workshop that may change your writing.
The Hobart Festival of Women Writers is once again offering writing workshops on June 6, 7 &8th. We’ve got an array of engaging two-hour workshops to inspire,
Witches Are People Too with Valerie Cole will explore stereotypes related to fantasy characters, including witches, demons, angels, vampires and other types of magical beings to examine successful character studies of magical beings and to develop characters that embody qualities that are realistic and appeal to the author and to readers. Part didactic, part creative the workshop participants will be presented with various characters from popular and successful novels and asked to determine how they affect the reader. Participants will be asked to write a brief character study of a magical being. Workshop participants will offer feedback to each other on believability, interest and novelty of the characters.
Dare To Begin: Writing Later in Life presented by Stephanie Cotsirilos. Many of us have lived through unconventional trajectories that propelled us toward writing later in life. We may sometimes wonder if we’re kidding ourselves, if our prior experiences matter, and if reinvention is possible. Time may feel like it’s poking us between the shoulder blades, reminding us to hurry up. Tjhe workshop will consider these questions and their realities and potential. After exploring accounts of how women artists have addressed similar challenges, participants will use an exercise to test the ways in which mature POVs can illuminate past events and will brainstorm options for moving forward. Digital bibliography is provided.
Better Writing Through Criticism with Ruth Franklin will incorporate strategies from literary criticism into creative writing (fiction or nonfiction). Participants will read together a piece of flash nonfiction centered on a photograph and dissect how it works. They then have the opportunity to create and share their own prose on a photograph or other image important to them.
HAIKU+ WORKSHOP: Sabi and Karumi —Basho’s aesthetics with Miho Kinnas. Based on the world-famous “frog” poem and a few other haiku by Basho, this workshop will discuss craft, aesthetics, editing, and translation. What made Basho new then, and why is it still important in haiku? Additional topics include: Abbreviated Overview of Japanese literary history, Kigo (season words) & Kireji (cutting words), Haiku in English — American poets in haiku, Rengay — American style linked verse, Modern / Contemporary Japanese haiku/tanka.
Texts of Betrayal: Secrets and Boundaries led by Irena Klepfisz. The truth and nothing but the truth…and yet… Our lives are inevitably intertwined with others–family members, friends, fellow workers, next-door neighbors with whom we share experiences and confidences. In the workshop participants will discuss the complex issues involving delicate information and experiences that bind us to others and to whom we have promised secrecy. Of course, we do not want to reveal confidences, and yet… We want to write without inhibitions and limitations and to publish, but in doing so, we run the risk of exposing others. To explore these issues the workshop will address such questions as: What is our obligation to others and their role in our experiences? How do we depict others in prose and/or poetry? How do we tell “my story” when “my story” touches upon “our/their story”?
Sally Simon will offer Writing Small: Writing Flash Fiction with a Big Punch. How many words does it take to make an impact? Flash fiction, writing from 6-1,000 words, has grown exponentially in the last decade. In this workshop, participants will read exemplary flash fiction from 100-300 words and discuss what makes them work. Participants will be given prompts to produce writing with emotional resonance. Time will be allotted for peer feedback, and participants will leave with 2-3 flash fiction drafts.This workshop will work with non-fiction as well.
All Those Others: An Exploration Of Animals presented by Margot Farrington, celebrating our animal kin, will focus on writing about other species through three avenues of approach: 1) the mythic 2) the scientific 3) the personal encounter, to write poetry or prose. The primary goal is to generate compelling ideas, lines, and first drafts allowing us entry into new works. Participants will examine these three areas separately, then be shown ways to blend them. Participants receive source materials for use, both in the written and visual realms. Takeaway at workshop’s end includes source list (written and visual) for further use, and a “surprise” to work from.
Creative NF: Alternative Ways of Telling Your Life Story with Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa Have you ever wanted to write memoir but felt constricted by the notion of adhering to absolute empirical data written in traditional narrative style? Have you ever tried to mine your own memories and wondered how the same act is remembered by others? Are you fascinated by the subjectivity of memory? Are you intrigued by how point of view alters the notion of reality? Is there ever only one reality? How can we use culturally diverse forms of storytelling to enhance our narrative? This is a workshop for those who explore, who consider bending the rules, stepping out of the box, to get to the core of their emotional truth.
The Writer in the World: literary activism and literary citizenship led by Ellen Meeropol. This workshop will explore writing fiction that engages with social/political issues and controversies. Participants will talk about—and practice—strategies to help the writer dramatize potentially provocative material without being didactic or preachy. We will also look at examples of using storytelling skills to make a positive impact on the world and brainstorm ways we can each be a better literary citizen.
Stephanie Nikolopoulos presents Making & Breaking Writing Rules. Do you have a writing mantra? Ernest Hemingway said to stop writing each day when you know what will happen next; Susan Sontag said to observe the world around you; Zadie Smith said to read your work the way your enemy would. In this workshop, you’ll discover the rules famous writers have made for themselves and assess whether they’re worth adding to your own creative practice. Through guided prompts you’ll write to uncover the sometimes subconscious rules that may be holding you back. You’ll come away with your own personal list of mantras to inspire, nurture, and hone your literary craft.
Unlock Untold Stories and Poetry: Use the Jobs You’ve Worked to Generate Writing with Margaret Saraco. We learn about ourselves through the jobs we’ve worked. Current and former careers, monotonous or the oddest of odd jobs, can be fantastic prompts to use in your writing. We will mine our memories for occupations and careers from our past and present lives, incorporate workplace vocabulary into the writing, while exploring our workplace histories together. Shake some memories loose and see what emerges. Everyone has a story about where they worked.
Sophfronia Scott presents Almost Straight to the Heart: Using the Self-Discovery Process as a Craft Tool in Creative Writing. Joan Didion famously noted, “I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking…” That kind of writing can mean a precarious process. After all, what you’re thinking may be unsettling! And writing has been compared to opening a vein and bleeding onto the page. But the journey of self-discovery need not be so dramatic or traumatic. Unpacking your interiority as you put words on the page may solve writing blocks, present new ideas, and result in deeper and more meaningful and authentic work. We will play with a writing exercise and think about how to observe your thoughts as you write. We will also discuss what to do with what you find in the marginalia of your brain.
Esther Cohen returns with her popular Intensive Workshop, Good Stories! Everyone has a good story to tell and this FIVE-HOUR INTENSIVE WORKSHOP will focus on how to tell your story. Participants will work closely with Cohen to look at masterful good stories, will tell stories, will discuss good writing, techniques, and will examine what makes a story good. Each participant will write a story of their own. Writers of all levels can participate in this immersive workshop. Your writing life will be forever changed.
A very special workshop will be offered for Festival 2025
Riddles & Rhymes by and for Kids, Age 8-12
Bertha Rogers, Master Teaching Artist, received the Teaching Artist Distinguished Service to the AIE Field Award from Partners for Arts Education. She has led workshops for kids in more than 100 schools and organizations throughout New York State. In this two-hour session, Rogers will lead the students in writing funny riddles and poems, using made-up words, rhymes, limericks, and other poetic techniques. Participants will complete a riddle or poem about living in or visiting the Catskills and will share it in a special reading for all Festival participants.
Lisa Wujnovich
Presents a special Book Art Presentation & Poetry Reading of I Know How to be Helpful with Open Panel Discussion
Join the creators of I Know How to be Helpful, a letterpress book of a poem of the same name, by Lisa Wujnovich. The book speaks in the inside and outside voice of a 12-year-old girl who is coerced into a dangerous car ride by a stranger. I Know How to be Helpful, Z’roah Press, 2024, limited edition of 24 copies, was created by the book artists, Roni Gross and Peter Schell, and is a Minnesota Center for Book Art Prize Semi-finalist 2024. A film of the unfolding of the art book by filmmaker, David Dawkins, will be shown overlaid with a live reading, followed by a panel discussion about the making of the book and the importance of voice in empowering and protecting girls’ and women’s bodies in today’s political climate.
Hobart Festival of Women Writers 2025 
Good work, Breena!
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