Fiction workshops July - August at La Porte Peinte Centre Pour les Arts in Noyers sur Serein

August 6 -10, 2012 American writer Ann Tachi Slater will be in France this August teaching a fiction workshop focusing on the short story, in Noyers sur Serein. The cost is 750 €

For more information, please see  A Few Well-Chosen Words: Writing Flash Fiction, Ann Tashi Slater

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This personal recommendation just in from Paris writer/teacher Jeffrey Greene! 

Dear Writers & Friends,

Here's a wonderful opportunity!  See below.

Jon Lee Anderson is one of the very best and most intrepid journalists I know.  Anyone who gets The New Yorker will see his work.  His book on Che Guevera is iconic.  For anyone interested in important journalism, here is an amazing, rare opportunity to work with the master.  There are only a few spots left.

Ann Tashi Slater, lovely writer and teacher, is providing a special workshop on the "flash fiction."  It's something I've been working with and it fascinates me.  This is going to an excellent course.  

La Porte Peinte is a beautiful art center, gallery, and residency in gorgeous village in north Burgundy, not far from Paris.  I was there recently and love Michelle.  The center is starting its writing workshops with to very special writers.  

Please pass this information on to anyone whom it might benefit.

Thank you, Jeff

THERE ARE STILL SOME PLACES LEFT! SEE WWW.LAPORTEPEINTE.COM FOR HOW TO APPLY. LIMITED FINANCIAL AID AVAILABLE.

WRITING WORKSHOPS & MASTERCLASSES AT LA PORTE PEINTE CENTRE POUR LES ARTS IN BURGUNDY, FRANCE

30 July – 3 August
Capturing the Story
Jon Lee Anderson
What do Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez have in common? What was Saddam Hussein afraid of? What lies in the heart of a dictator? What does a dictator keep on his nightstand? Does a terrorist feel guilt? How does one tell the story of a war? Every good story begins by asking the right questions. In  bearing witness, do you offer a forensic examination of what fills your senses or do you just recount the plain truth of what you see, hear and smell? These are some of the issues we will address in this intensive masterclass. Whether you write on war, travel, or in some other genre, long-form journalism relies on knowing how to perceive a moment and convey its truth in an honest and deliberate way, just as a photographer does in a snapshot. We’ll look at how to locate the telling detail and how to construct a story structure, dissecting some of my own pieces to see how they are built, discerning the details selected and the structural decisions taken to reach the final form. During the workshop you will be asked to go out, locate a single moment, and report it, situating it in space and time and conveying its significance. In addition to the group work, in the course of the five days each participant will have a private session with me. You should come away from the week with new tools at your command, a strengthened sense of your aims and abilities, increased confidence in your ability to tell a story, and a sense of shared purpose and enduring friendship with your fellow participants. Fee: 750 €.

Jon Lee Anderson is an investigative journalist who writes for The New Yorker.  He has also written forThe New York Times, The Financial Times, The Guardian, El País, Harper’s and Time. His books include Guerrillas: Journeys In the Insurgent World, Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life, The Lion’s Grave: Dispatches from Afghanistan, The Fall of Baghdad, and the recent El dictador, los demonios y otras crónicas, a collection of articles on Latin American and Spanish politics. 

 

6-10 August
A Few Well-Chosen Words: Writing Flash Fiction
Ann Tashi Slater
This five-day workshop focuses on the short story, with special attention paid to flash fiction, or stories about 300-1000 words long. How to tell a complete, compelling story in so few words? In addition to reading short shorts by well-known authors, we will experiment with different techniques and approaches through a range of writing exercises. Participants may bring a story with them for critique and revision; we will also make use of prompts inspired by the village of Noyers sur Serein, with the aim of producing a finished flash by the end of the workshop. The group will meet in the mornings, with the afternoons free for writing. Each writer will also be offered one private session with the tutor. Participants should come away from this intensive week with renewed inspiration and some freshly honed writing skills. Fee: 750 €

Ann Tashi Slater’s work has appeared in Shenandoah, Gulf Coast, and Painted Bride Quarterly, as well as in the YA anthologies American Dragons and Tomo. Her translation of a novella by Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas was published in Old Rosa: A Novel in Two Stories. She is Tibetan American, was born in Spain, grew up in California, and has lived and worked in France, Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela, Bali, India, and Tibet. A resident of Tokyo, she teaches American literature at a Japanese university.  www.anntashislater.com