Genre: Poetry

Shannaghe Residency Program

The Shannaghe Residency Program offers two- and four-week residencies from April through November to poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers at the Shannaghe residence, a renovated house barn in Belfast, Maine. Residents are provided with private accommodations, which include a room, a work space, a kitchen, and two bathrooms. The cost of the residency is $100 per week.

Type: 
RESIDENCY
Ignore Event Date Field?: 
no
Event Date: 
April 1, 2026
Rolling Admissions: 
ignore
Application Deadline: 
April 19, 2026
Financial Aid?: 
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline: 
April 19, 2026
Free Admission: 
no
Contact Information: 

Shannaghe Residency Program, 121 City Point Road, Belfast, ME 04915. (312) 802-2989. Lee Reilly, Director.

Lee Reilly
Director
Contact City: 
Belfast
Contact State: 
ME
Contact Zip / Postal Code: 
04915
Country: 
US

Writeaways: Weymouth Writeaway

Writeaways will offer a weeklong retreat from July 6 to July 13 to poets, fiction writers, and nonfiction writers (including creative nonfiction writers) in the house of the late novelist James Boyd at Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, a 26-acre estate in Southern Pines, North Carolina. Residents are provided with time and space to write, writing workshops, and private writing consultations. The faculty includes poet and fiction writer Mimi Herman and fiction and nonfiction writer John Yewell.

Type: 
RESIDENCY
Ignore Event Date Field?: 
no
Event Date: 
July 6, 2026
Rolling Admissions: 
no
Application Deadline: 
May 1, 2026
Financial Aid?: 
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline: 
April 19, 2026
Free Admission: 
no
Contact Information: 

Writeaways, Weymouth Writeaway, P.O. Box 62012, Durham, NC 27715. Mimi Herman and John Yewell, Codirectors. 

Mimi Herman and John Yewell
Codirectors
Contact City: 
Southern Pines
Contact State: 
NC
Contact Zip / Postal Code: 
28388
Country: 
US

The Writer’s Hotel Maine All-Genre “Mini MFA” Writers Conference

The 2026 Writer’s Hotel Maine All-Genre “Mini MFA” Writers Conference will be held from June 10 to June 16 at the Sebasco Harbor Resort in Phippsburg, Maine. The conference features a full-manuscript pre-conference reading with two sets of editorial comments, workshops, and attendee and faculty readings. One-on-one agent pitching as well as pitching practice sessions will take place post-conference via Zoom on June 27.

Type: 
CONFERENCE
Ignore Event Date Field?: 
no
Event Date: 
June 10, 2026
Rolling Admissions: 
ignore
Application Deadline: 
April 19, 2026
Financial Aid?: 
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline: 
April 19, 2026
Free Admission: 
no
Contact Information: 

The Writer’s Hotel Maine All-Genre “Mini MFA” Writers Conference, P.O. Box 472, Brunswick, ME 04011. Shanna McNair, Founding Director.

Shanna McNair
Founding Director
Contact City: 
Phippsburg
Contact State: 
ME
Contact Zip / Postal Code: 
04562
Country: 
US

Creekside Arts Artist-Residency Program

Creekside Arts offers three-week residencies from mid-May to early June to poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers among the coastal redwoods of Freshwater, California. Residents are provided with a private room, kitchen, and bathroom in a cottage, cabin, tiny house, or Airstream trailer, a studio, and access to collaborative work spaces where gatherings are held with other residents, permanent members of the Creekside Arts community, and artists from the larger Humboldt County. Residents are responsible for most meals and for transportation to and from the residency.

Type: 
RESIDENCY
Ignore Event Date Field?: 
no
Event Date: 
May 15, 2026
Rolling Admissions: 
ignore
Application Deadline: 
April 19, 2026
Financial Aid?: 
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline: 
April 19, 2026
Free Admission: 
no
Contact Information: 

Creekside Arts Artist-Residency Program, 475 Howard Heights Road, Eureka, CA 95503. (707) 502-4801. John Heckel, Creekside Arts Residency Coordinator. 

John Heckel
Creekside Arts Residency Coordinator
Contact City: 
Freshwater
Contact State: 
CA
Country: 
US

On a Winter’s Night

12.3.24

“You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino’s new novel, If on a winter’s night a traveler. Relax. Concentrate. Dispel every other thought. Let the world around you fade,” wrote Italo Calvino on the first page of his 1979 novel, translated from the Italian by William Weaver. Calvino’s postmodern structure comprises twenty-two sections, with each odd-numbered passage narrated by a second-person “you” (you, the reader; you, a character). Each even-numbered passage, in turn, is the start of a new work, a fictional book that the “you” character discovers and reads, only to find that it ends abruptly and picks up in the next even-numbered passage as an entirely different work. Taking a cue from this puzzle of an approach, compose a poem that alternates between two narratives united by a winter’s night. How might a second-person “you” character be utilized in your poem? Is there an emotional progression connected to the accumulation of images and themes?

After: Poetry Destroys Silence

Caption: 

Watch the trailer for After: Poetry Destroys Silence, a cinematic performance film directed by Richard Kroehling and starring Cornelius Eady, Edward Hirsch, Melissa Leo, Géza Röhrig, and a cast of celebrated award-winning poets who respond to the Holocaust and talk about the importance and necessity for poetry in a world that still grapples with genocide.

Genre: 

In the Life

11.26.24

Anne Sexton’s 1962 ekphrastic poem “The Starry Night,” inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s 1889 painting of the same name, begins with a snippet from a letter written by the painter to his brother: “That does not keep me from having a terrible need of—shall I say the word—religion. Then I go out at night to paint the stars.” Choose a favorite work of visual art by an artist for whom you can find a bit of personal information, whether it’s something they’ve written or details about their daily life, philosophies, thematic interests, or relationships with close ones. How can you connect what you learn about the artist with the artwork itself? Write an ekphrastic poem exploring the emotions and thoughts that come to the surface when you look at the artwork, allowing yourself to incorporate a creative synthesis of their biographical details.

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