July 1st - 11th, 2008
About the Workshops
The Paris Writers Workshop, France’s oldest continuing creative writing event, is proud to present its twentieth season, with an expanded ten-day program of Master Classes, Workshops, readings, signings, and face-to-face consultations with major agents and publishers.
We are looking forward to welcoming this year’s faculty which includes Nahid Rachlin, Vijay Seshadri, Cole Swensen, Catherine Texier, Susan Tiberghien, Ann Snodgrass, Patrick McGilligan, Kevin Jackson and Karen Weir-Jimerson. We're also excited to have Jonathan Lloyd, CEO of the world-wide Curtis Brown Literary Agency, Elizabeth Sheinkman, also of Curtis Brown, and Patrick Janson-Smith, London-based former publisher of Doubleday/Transworld and now head of the newly-formed Blue Door, an imprint of HarperCollins, as our special guests. Sidebar events will include daily readings and performances, Literary Walks, and a Surrealist Dinner at which we will announce the winner of our inaugural $5000 Paris Prize for First Fiction.
Master Classes, each of five days, will be devoted to The Novel, Creative Non-Fiction, Screenplay Writing. Limited to nine members each, early enrolment is essential.
5-day workshops include: The Spirit of Place, Awakening Creativity, Memoir, Poetry, Personal Essay or Life on the Page, Fiction, and Writing on Art.
Three-day courses will be offered in the art and craft of Crime, Fantasy, and Romance Fiction, Writing in the Workplace, Travel Writing, How to Get Published, and Recipe Writing.
A 2-day Workshop on travel writing with special reference to Africa. Entitled Literature on Foot: The Art and Discipline of Travel Writing, it will be taught by Jeff Koehler.
With its 20th session, the Workshop also inaugurates an annual $5000 prize for a work of fiction by a writer who has not previously had book publication.
The Paris Writers Workshop offers a unique opportunity to develop or perfect your literary skills in the very steps of Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Edith Wharton and James Joyce, and to meet other writers in the spirit of creative collaboration which has always been an integral part of the Paris literary experience.
Twentieth Annual Paris Writers Workshop
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A NIGHT IN GORMENGHAST. The Life and Work of Mervyn Peake. No fantasy writer of the post-World War II era has proved quite so influential as the British author Mervyn Peake. His trilogy of novels Titus Groan, Gormenghast and Titus Alone are unsurpassed, but he is no less famous as an illustrator for his own books and such revered classics as Treasure Island, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Alice in Wonderland.
On the evening of 4th July, PWW, in association with New York University in Paris, will host A Night in Gormenghast, a celebration in words, images and films of his life and work, presented by his son Sebastian Peake.
Additional Agent Joins PWW consultation team. We are pleased to welcome Elizabeth Sheinkman of Curtis Brown to our team of agents available for individual consultation on 6th July. American-born, Elizabeth specialises in non-fiction and more literary fiction. See Agent Consultations to book a face-to-face meeting with Elizabeth and our other agent guests.
Travel Writing Workshop added. PWW is happy to announce the addition of a 2-day Workshop on travel writing with special reference to Africa. Entitled Literature on Foot: The Art and Discipline of Travel Writing, it will be taught by Jeff Koehler.
Nuala O’Faolain Withdraws.Nuala O’Faolain has been forced to withdraw from the Paris Writers Workshop for reasons of health. All involved in PWW extend their good wishes and hopes for a speedy recovery. Her workshop on Memoir will now be taught by Ann Snodgrass.
Our Location and the Paris Literary Tradition
The Paris Writers Workshop takes place in the heart of Montparnasse, the city’s traditional artistic and bohemian quarter.
Workshops and Courses are conducted in the relaxing atmosphere of a 19th century building built around a secluded walled garden. We’re in walking distance of the great cafes – La Coupole, Le Dome, Le Rotonde, Le Select – where Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Man Ray, Henry Miller, Kiki of Montparnasse, Lee Miller and Salvador Dali met and socialised during the 1920s and 1930s, and which, closer to our time, were patronised by Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs and the other writers of the Beat Generation.
