Techniques workshops in the writing of literary nonfiction will be a major component of the 2010 literary programming at Centrum. Judith Kitchen starts the year February 4-7 with a sold-out workshop for which a waiting list has been started.

During the 2010 Port Townsend Writers' Conference, three separate workshops in creative nonfiction are being offered for the first time ever. Denise Chávez, travel writer Tom Miller, and Bich Minh Nguyen (leading a master class) will offer workshops the week of July 18-25.

Denise Chávez is widely regarded as one of the leading playwrights and novelists of the southwestern United States. She is also the Artistic Director of the Crossing Borders Festival in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Her novels include “The Last of the Menu Girls,” “Face of an Angel,” and “Loving Pedro Infante.”

Denise Chávez’s Class Description
Chávez will lead participants in an exploration of the meaning of family. Who is your tribe? What contracts do we have with them? And how do these contracts—implicit, unspoken, spoken—impact our lives? In a word, this workshop is about truth.  Who is your least favorite relative? What are your family mythologies? What are the major events in your family’s life? Who gave you birth? And where have you gone from there? As Novalis, the French writer and philospher said, “Where are we going…always home…” Bring: a dictionary, a thesaurus, a piece of writing to share, a natural object that has significance to you, a family memento, an unlined artists’ sketch pad or notebook, and your journal. 

Registration is available here, as well as by calling 360.385.3102, x117.