2023 Conference Overview Saturday Breakouts Friday Workshops Presenters Schedule Register Print a Poster
Our Saturday, September 23 conference features three 90-minute breakout sessions where we can explore various aspects of various arts. But for those who want to dig deeper into a specific art and get to know others who also share your that passion, we offer three all-day sessions the day before our main conference. These three sessions run at the same time, so you can only sign up for one of them.
Songwriting Poetry Memoir Writing
Fall 2023 Pre-conference Intensives
Songwriting Intensive with Ben Keyes (Fri Sept 22, 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM)
Gotta be a Song Left to Sing
Do you long to write songs, but struggle to know what to write about? Do you feel like your songwriting has plateaued and needs new life breathed into it? If so, you’re certainly not alone.
In this day-long workshop, we will:
explore some of the challenges and joys of crafting music and lyrics. Ben will offer reflections based on his experiences writing in a number of different genres, including folk-Americana, blues, old-time, and gospel.
listen to songs of renowned songwriters, analyzing what we think “works” in their songs and why.
work together on writing exercises designed to help us generate fresh ideas.
share our own music with each other, reflect on our process of writing, and offer and receive productive feedback.
You’re encouraged to bring a favorite instrument, a finished song, and a song that’s still a “work in progress.”
Poetry Writing Intensive Sarah Chestnut (Fri Sept 22, 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM)
“Like a Tree Planted by Streams of Water”: Poetry, Soul-care, Craft-care and the Lives of Trees
When the Psalmist describes what a happy person looks like, he uses the metaphor "like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season." Gerard Manly Hopkins begs God to, “send my roots rain.” Though "incurable and unbelieving in any truth by the truth of grieving," Christian Wiman sees “a tree inside a tree rise kaleidoscopically. ” Mary Oliver “would almost say that [trees] save me, and daily.”
Each session in this day-long poetry retreat-workshop is informed by trees: trees in the Bible, trees in poems, trees in our own stories. We'll generate new poems (possibly but not necessarily about trees!), revise old poems, and share both rough and polished work.
Participants are asked to bring:
one poem you love that was written by someone else
one poem (or more) that you've written that you'd like feedback on
one poem (or more) that you've written and feel is polished
All levels of experience are welcome.
Memoir Writing Intensive with Daniel Taylor (Fri Sept 22, 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM)
Creating a Legacy of Life Stories: Passing on Wisdom and Blessing Through Memoir
The novelist Ignazio Silone says, “Everyone has a right to tell their own story in their own words.” This might not only be a right, but a responsibility. You’ve been shaped and blessed by the stories of others—lived and written—and it is incumbent on you to share with those you care about the stories of your own life experience. This is the basis of what we might call a “spiritual legacy.”
This one-day workshop uses exercises and examples to explain this particular kind of memoir and to hone craft skills that apply to any kind of storytelling. Participants will identify specific life stories they want to explore and to begin writing one.
