Events
Each session, MTSU Write hosts events that nurture the writing community and celebrate literary life. Check here for updates as events change from season to season.
Throughout the year, MTSU co-sponsors Poetry in the Boro, a monthly reading and open mic event. Follow the schedule and learn more about featured writers here: https://www.facebook.com/PoetryInTheBoro/
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Fall Session
SAVE THE DATE! Our 2021 Fall Creative Writing Conference will be held October 22 (virtual) and 23 (on campus).
In Process Workshop Series: In partnership with the MTSU English Department's In Process Reading Series and with generous support from the Virginia Peck Trust Fund, MTSU Write is excited to offer classes with three of this semester's In Process readers. Each workshop will take place from 2-4pm in the MT Center in the Ingram Building, directly preceding the reading:
- Thursday, September 9: Pleasure & Pain with Ciona Rouse
In poetry, we may find ourselves leaning heavily into our pains or leaning heavily into our delights. My favorite poems, however, are when our pleasures coexist next to our pains and pushes us to produce something more complex and, perhaps, even more true. Join me as we explore poets who allow these oppositions to court one another, and we'll see what we can create from the union of our pleasures and pains.
Poet Ciona Rouse is the author of Vantablack, the first chapbook of Third Man Books (2017). Her poetry has also appeared in Oxford American, wildness, Booth, The Account, NPR’s Turning the Tables and other publications. She is currently a visiting writer-in-residence at Vanderbilt University and co-curator of the Kara Walker: Cut to the Quick exhibition at Frist Art Museum and forthcoming at Cincinnati Art Museum. Find Rouse’s work at www.cionarousepoetry.com. - Thursday, October 14: Use Your Illusion: Building Worlds in Speculative Fiction with Alexander Lumans. Fiction writer Lincoln Michel says, “Worldconjuring uses hints and literary magic
to create the illusion of a world, with the reader working to fill in the gaps.” In
this class, we’ll focus on how to build worlds in your reader’s mind. We’ll read examples
of contemporary writers’ work and then experiment with different worldbuilding strategies
in guided prompts.
Alexander Lumans was awarded a 2018 NEA Grant in Prose. He attended the 2015 Arctic Circle Residency in Svalbard, Norway, and he was the Spring 2014 Philip Roth Resident at Bucknell University. His prose has appeared in The Paris Review, Guernica, The Walrus, Off Assignment, Electric Literature, Gulf Coast, among others. - Thursday, November 4: See. Feel. Write: Finding Your Sweet Spot in an Uncertain World with Mary Donnet Johnson.
Blast through barriers, tap the rich vein of your own experience, curiosity, humor,
and rage. Discover how to create vivid worlds and compelling characters that are uniquely
yours to reveal. Learn practical ways to identify and employ the tools you already
possess and maximize artistic collaboration with passion and care. This fast-paced,
highly interactive, two-hour workshop is intended for playwrights but open to all.
Materials provided and light snacks served.
Mary’s play Shanktown was a recent winner of Memphis’ Playhouse on the Square New Works Competition and is scheduled for full production in their 2022-2023 season. She wrote the screenplay for Nashville Rep’s 2021 online holiday show ‘Twas the Night and continues to workshop new plays at the Nashville Greenhouse Story Garden and Pipeline-Collective’s Salon. Her plays have been recognized by the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference (semi-finalist), American Shakespeare Center’s Shakespeare’s New Contemporaries contest (semi-finalist), and the Kentucky Women Writers’ Conference (finalist). Mary has had plays produced at Darkhorse Theater, Tennessee Women’s Theater Project, and the Cordelle in Nashville.
Cost is $15 per session and registration is limited to 15 people per session. FREE to all MTSU Write and MTSU Students.
