Thursday, May 27, 2010
RopeWalk Writers Retreat: Inspiring writers for over 20 years
|
Contact for more information:
Brandi Schwartz Marketing Coordinator Outreach & Engagement 812/464-1854 Addonizio hopes to inspire writers at the retreat and help them see their creative work more clearly so they can take it to the next step. This is her first time at the retreat. "I love the idea that RopeWalk is not simply a writer's conference, but a retreat in a beautiful setting," said Addonizio. "Writers will have time to connect with their creative selves, which are so often undernourished due to the demands of daily life. The week will be a literary feast!" Creative nonfiction writer Kim Barnes and poetry writer Robert Wrigley are serving on the RopeWalk faculty for a second time. The husband and wife team made their first RopeWalk appearance in 2000. Barnes will lead a creative nonfiction workshop and will focus on the art and craft of nonfiction writing. She believes teaching others is an act of teaching the self and the enthusiasm and intelligence of the writers at RopeWalk supports and enlivens her own writing process. "Short conferences, such as RopeWalk, are able to offer focused exercises that can inspire and direct participants in their writing lives," said Barnes. "I think of it as a kind of aerobics. The faculty's goal is to help the participants work one muscle, often a muscle that has been neglected. Our job is to strengthen the 'core' of the writing practice." Looking to have a good "poetry time," Wrigley is excited to meet new people and discuss the things poets do. He said his goal is to get participants to stop thinking about writing and to just write. "Most of what you learn in a workshop you don't realize you learned until a good while later," said Wrigley. "Writing is one of the easiest things in the world not to do. It's very hard work. Most failures in writing are caused by lack of nerve. I hope to instill the idea of being poetically fearless. Go anywhere. Write anything." One of the most memorable moments Barnes and Wrigley recalled from their last RopeWalk experience was an intense thunderstorm the final night of the retreat. Wrigley described the storm as amazing with lots of lightning, thunder, and rain. "It was dramatic and invigorating. I was moved, interested, and dazzled," said Wrigley. Barnes recalled the "knock-out writing" a number of participants completed in response to an in-class writing assignment and the storm which had caused a power outage. "I remember a number of us trying to find a flashlight, feeling our way through the dark, and calling out to each other for guidance an appropriate metaphor for the act of writing," said Barnes. Other writers serving on this year's RopeWalk faculty include fiction writer Joe Meno and special guest reader Holly Goddard Jones. All five faculty participants will offer a free public reading and/or craft lecture. RopeWalk Writers Retreat is a program of the University of Southern Indiana and has been assisted by grants from Mrs. Ruth Lilly, Susan R. Enlow, the Indiana Arts Commission, Mrs. Jane Blaffer Owen and the Robert Lee Blaffer Foundation, the Witter-Bynner Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the USI Society for Arts and Humanities. For more information, visit the RopeWalk web site at www.usi.edu/ropewalk/ or call USI Extended Services at 812/464-1989. |
Copyright © 2013 University of Southern Indiana. All rights reserved.