Community members interested in creative writing are invited to apply to participate in a three-day workshop led by author and editor Erin Keane this November. Offered through the Sena Jeter Naslund-Karen Mann Graduate School of Writing at Spalding University, the non-credit workshop takes place November 13-15 on Spalding’s campus in downtown Louisville. Applicants submit a writing sample in order to be considered for the workshop. Workshoppers study and write with Keane, who is a member of the School of Writing faculty, and are invited to attend other School curriculum events, including lectures and panel discussions normally reserved for Spalding low-residency MFA students.
Workshop participants receive feedback on their writing in their chosen genre (fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, scriptwriting, young adult, or middle grade) and complete new writing based on prompts given by the instructor. The workshop format allows aspiring writers to receive focused professional instruction in creative writing and experience a taste of the Spalding MFA in Writing program.
Interested writers should fill out the application form and email the following as Word document attachments to schoolofwriting@spalding.edu, using the subject line “Community Workshop”:
Personal statement outlining, briefly, the applicant’s writing experience and goals (maximum 300 words).
A writing sample consisting of one of the following:
5–7 pages of prose (fiction, creative nonfiction, young adult, or middle grade)
2–3 poems, no more than 5 pages total (submit poems in one document)
Up to 10 pages of a play or screenplay
Name and email address must be included at the top of each document. The application writing sample will be discussed during the workshop.
Space in the workshop is limited. Applications are due Wednesday, October 12. Participants will be notified of acceptance on or before October 18.
The workshop cost is $295.00. Members must present proof of vaccination against COVID-19.
For more information, email SchoolofWriting@spalding.edu.
Erin Keane is a critic, poet, essayist, and journalist. Her memoir in essays, Runaway: Notes on the Myths that Made Me, is forthcoming from Belt in September. She is Editor in Chief at Salon.com, where she has worked since 2014, and teaches in the Sena Jeter Naslund-Karen Mann Graduate School of Writing at Spalding University. She is the author of three collections of poetry and editor of The Louisville Anthology (Belt Publishing, 2020). Her work has appeared in many publications, anthologies, and public radio shows. She was co-producer and co-host of the limited audio series These Miracles Work: A Hold SteadyPodcast.