Summer Online
Workshops 2021

Narrative Journalism: Researching and Crafting Lively Narratives While Staying True with Valerie Boyd

Historical research, interviews and deep reporting are necessary for powerful true storytelling about the important issues of our time—whether what we write ends up being a reflective essay, a piece of investigative journalism, a memoir about growing up brown in the South, or an epic book excavating a hidden history. Such research helps us understand not only the who and what but also the so what—that is, why our stories matter. In this interactive seminar, we will explore creative ways to use archival research, interviews and other reporting tools. You’ll receive guidance on how to make your research and reporting come alive on the page while maintaining fidelity to the facts. You’ll also learn how to use some of the techniques of fiction to transform research into lively nonfiction that is resonant and impactful. You may focus on revising an existing nonfiction draft or generating new work.

Valerie Boyd is the Charlayne Hunter-Gault professor of journalism at the University of Georgia, where she founded and directs the low-residency MFA Program in Narrative Nonfiction. She is author of the award-winning Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston, which was hailed by the Boston Globe as “elegant and exhilarating” and by the Denver Post as “a rich, rich read.” Formerly arts editor at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Boyd has written articles, essays and reviews for The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Bon Appetit, The Oxford American and Essence, among other publications. Boyd has spent the past several years editing a collection of the personal journals of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker. Simon & Schuster will publish Gathering Blossoms Under Fire: The Journals of Alice Walker in 2022.

Poetry Residency: The Poets' Place with Adrian Castro

This poetry residency will focus on place.  Where is that place?  Is it physical, geographical, or mental? Is it nostalgic, dreamt, or existent?  We will examine poems both from workshop participants and other poets that exemplify the use of place. Feedback will begin from the artist place of inspiration and creative space, then from the reader’s/listener’s perspective—i.e. what the reader thought, felt, assimilated while reading the poem. Lastly poets will be encouraged to appropriately render their poems out aloud—from their voice, their perspective, their place.

Adrian Castro is a poet, performer, and interdisciplinary artist. Born in Miami from Caribbean heritage which has provided fertile ground for the rhythmic Afro-Caribbean style in which he writes and performs. He is the author of Cantos to Blood and Honey, Wise Fish, Handling Destiny (all Coffee House Press). He has been published in many literary anthologies. He is the recipient of many awards and fellowships including from the Academy of American Poets and USA Knight Fellowship for Writing. He is also a Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine practicing in Miami. 

Memoir: Expanding the Personal Narrative with Jaquira Díaz

This workshop examines how personal narrative can speak to something larger, more expansive; how personal stories are connected to the larger world; how personal narratives can engage with music and history and place and culture and science; how a news story becomes a vehicle for a personal story. We’ll read and examine excerpts of memoirs and essays that incorporate music, history, science, and pop culture, and then as we workshop your own memoirs and personal essays, we’ll discuss ways to expand the personal narrative.

Jaquira Díaz is the author of Ordinary Girls: A Memoir, a Summer/Fall 2019 Indies Introduce Selection, a Fall 2019 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection, a November 2019 Indie Next Pick, and a Library Reads October pick. Her work has been published in Rolling Stone, The Guardian, The Fader, The New York Times Style Magazine, and The Best American Essays 2016, among other publications. She is the recipient of two Pushcart Prizes, an Elizabeth George Foundation grant, and fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the Kenyon Review, and the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing. She has taught at University of South Florida, Miami Dade College, Kenyon College and University of Wisconsin.

Speculative Fiction with Tananarive Due

This workshop will explore the power of speculative fiction — science fiction, fantasy and horror — as a tool for marginalized writers to reclaim and redress the past, present and future and create alternate existences.

Tananarive Due is an author, screenwriter and educator who is a leading voice in black speculative fiction, or Afrofuturism. Her short fiction has appeared in best-of-the-year anthologies of science fiction and fantasy. She is the former Distinguished Visiting Lecturer at Spelman College (2012-2014) and teaches Afrofuturism and Black Horror in the Department of African-American Studies at UCLA. Awards: Lifetime Achievement Award in the Fine Arts from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, 2016 British Fantasy Award and has been named to the Grio 100 and the Ebony Power 100. Due also co-authored a civil rights memoir with her late mother, Patricia Stephens Due, and is an executive producer of Shudder’s black horror documentary, Horror Noire.

Fiction Workshop with M. Evelina Galang

If you are tired of explaining your stories.  If you want to write in context.  Or, if you want to write in language that is your own to your own without a glossary of terms, this is your workshop.  Writers are invited to submit a short story or novel chapter in progress (no more than 20 pages double-spaced), one that is built on craft elements like, but not limited to, character, scene, conflict, setting, and visceral imagery.  Now is the hour for your stories of witness. Enough wasting time translating your work in workshop.  Let’s talk about the narrative and how to best achieve the story you envision.  

M. Evelina Galang is the author of Her Wild American Self (Coffee House Press), One Tribe (New Issues Press), Angel De La Luna and the Fifth Glorious Mystery (Coffee House Press) Lolas’ House: Filipino Women Living With War (Curbstone Books), and is editor of Screaming Monkeys: Critiques of Asian American Images (Coffee House Press). Among her awards are the 2004 AWP Prize for the Novel, the 2004 Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Awards Advancing Human Rights, and a 2002 Fulbright Senior Research Award. Galang teaches at the University of Miami and is core faculty and President of the Board of Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation.

Writing Trauma with Roxane Gay

Trauma is widely explored in contemporary writing but all too often, writers are careless in how they depict trauma. In such depictions, trauma serves as pornography—a way of titillating the reader, a lazy way of creating narrative tension. We see trauma as it unfolds but are rarely given a broader understanding of that trauma or its aftermath. In this course, we will explore what it means to write trauma ethically and effectively in fiction and creative nonfiction. How do we convey the realities of trauma and its aftermath without being exploitative? How do we write trauma without traumatizing the reader? How do we write trauma without re-traumatizing ourselves when we write from personal experience? How do we write trauma without cannibalizing ourselves or the experiences of others? How do we tell stories of trauma without allowing the trauma to become the whole of our narratives? Finally, what does it mean to write trauma? This multi-genre workshop invites writers to submit manuscripts of trauma.

Roxane Gay’s writing appears in Best American Mystery Stories 2014, Best American Short Stories 2012, Best Sex Writing 2012, A Public Space, McSweeney’s, Tin House, Oxford American, American Short Fiction, Virginia Quarterly Review, and many others. She is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. She is the author of the books Ayiti, An Untamed State, the New York Times bestselling Bad Feminist, the nationally bestselling Difficult Women and the New York Times bestselling Hunger. She is also the author of World of Wakanda for Marvel. She has several books forthcoming and is also at work on television and film projects.

Political Content with Kiese Laymon

Happysad: Writing Through the Personal Politics of Joy and Trauma. In this workshop we will rigorously and responsibly read, workshop and create pieces of art rooted in explorations of memories and contexts that equally cradle the joyful and the traumatic.

Kiese Laymon is a Black southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi. In his observant, often hilarious work, Laymon does battle with the personal and the political: race and family, body and shame, poverty and place. His savage humor and clear-eyed perceptiveness have earned him comparisons to Ta-Nehisi Coates, Alice Walker, and Mark Twain. He is the author of the award-winning memoir Heavy, the groundbreaking essay collection How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, and the genre-defying novel Long Division.

Laymon’s powerful bestselling memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir, won the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, and the 2018 Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose, and was named one of the 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years by the New York Times.

Prose Residency with David Mura

The instructor will conduct two substantial individual conferences with the student on their work (fiction or nonfiction). There will also be a two-hour lecture-discussion class on craft and race and identity. This isn’t a workshop where student work is discussed in class. Students will be given extensive readings before the class.

David Mura is the author of two memoirs, Turning Japanese, which won the Oakland PEN Josephine Miles Book Award and was a New York Times Notable Book, and Where the Body Meets Memory. His novel, Famous Suicides of the Japanese Empire, was a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award, the John Gardner Fiction Prize, and Virginia Commonwealth University Cabell First Novelist Award. His four books of poetry include the National Poetry Contest winner After We Lost Our Way, The Colors of Desire, which won a Carl Sandburg Literary Award, Angels for the Burning, and The Last Incantations. His newest book is A Stranger’s Journey: Race, Identity & Narrative Craft in Writing. He has taught at VONA for fifteen years and at the Stonecoast MFA, U. of Minnesota, U. of Oregon, Macalester College, and Hamline University.

Poetry: The Empty Spaces with Willie Perdomo

Who or what is the voice on your shoulders telling you that you can't write about? (fill in the blank). The approach to fresh language is usually accompanied by distancing yourself from what you think might be correct or "right." Using the "separate language" of poetry, where do we begin filling the empty spaces? In this workshop, you will be required to read Gwendolyn Brooks' YOUNG POETS PRIMER, remix a poem by Harlem Renaissance poet, document your vernacular, learn to deliver your poems aloud, and interview your fellow workshop poet. The workshop cycle is as follows: two old poems followed by three new poems, the last poem being what Toi Derrecotte would call the "hard poem." This will be a week-long immersion in the practice of writing, the art of reading, and building a sustainable writing community.

Willie Perdomo is the author of The Crazy Bunch, winner of the 2019-2020 New York City Book Award for poetry, The Essential Hits of Shorty Bon Bon, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and winner of the International Latino Book Award; Smoking Lovely, winner of the PEN Open Book Award, and Where a Nickel Costs a Dime, a finalist for the Poetry Society of America Norma Farber First Book Award.  He is currently a Lucas Arts Literary Fellow, a core member of VONA/Voices of Our Nations workshop, and teaches English at Phillips Exeter Academy.

Fiction Workshop with Chris Abani

In this session we generate short pieces with supplied prompts and with several structural constraints. We will be able to learn craft and generate several short pieces and come deeper into our craft. A fun and challenging workshop. Come prepared to participate.  

Chris Abani, PhD, is a novelist, poet, essayist, screenwriter and playwright. Born in Nigeria to an Igbo father and English mother, he grew up in Afikpo, Nigeria. He has resided in the United States since 2001. He is the recipient of numerous literary accolades including a Guggenheim Award. His fiction includes The Secret History of Las Vegas (Penguin 2014), Song For Night *(Akashic, 2007), *The Virgin of Flames (Penguin, 2007), Becoming Abigail (Akashic, 2006), GraceLand (FSG, 2004), and Masters of the Board (Delta, 1985). Through his TED Talks, public speaking and essays Abani is known as an international voice on humanitarianism, art, ethics, and our shared political responsibility. He is a returning VONA faculty. 

Traveling While BIPOC: Life & Other Journeys with Faith Adiele

Whether it’s memoir about family culture, letters to essential workers, or Instagramming food obsessions, we’re writing travel. From roots returns and road trips, to spiritual quests and im/migrant journeys, no one travels culturally more than us. We will break down travel elements (people, place, senses, research, visuals), discuss examples of de-colonial writing in multiple genres, and workshop participant work. Now in its seventh year, the nation’s first writing workshop for BIPOC travelers has resulted in one PBS series, two books, and 75+ magazine publications. 

Faith Adiele
Named as one of Marie Claire Magazine‘s “Five Women to Learn From,” Faith has been Core Faculty since 2010 and founder of the VONA Publishing Partnerships Initiative. She is writer for A World of Calm (HBO Max), My Journey Home, a PBS documentary about her search to find her Nigerian family, and Sleep Stories for the meditation app CALM. Her books include Meeting Faith, an account of becoming Thailand’s first Black Buddhist nun that won the PEN Open Book Award, The Nigerian-Nordic Girl’s Guide to Lady Problems, and Coming of Age Around the World: A Multicultural Anthology. Visit her at www.adiele.com and @meetingfaith.

Political Content in Fiction, Poetry and Memoir with Staceyann Chin

We'll exchange, read, and evaluate each other’s work, share strategies for producing emotionally true stories through prose or poetry with a political perspective.

Staceyann Chin is a poet, writer, performing artist, and political activist. Known as a co-writer and original performer in Russell Simmons’ Tony Award-winning Def Poetry Jam on Broadway, for which she received a Drama Desk Award, she is also the author of the memoir The Other Side of Paradise and the one-woman shows Hands Afire, Unspeakable Things, Border/Clash, and MotherStruck, the Off-Broadway performance directed by Cynthia Nixon. Her 2019 book, Crossfire: Litany for Survival is a career-spanning collection of her remarkable poetry. Staceyann has taught workshop worldwide and is returning to VONA after a five-year hiatus.

Poetry Workshop: Elevating Language with Rigoberto González

In this poetry workshop, we will be examining each poem's linguistic landscape and amplifying its strengths through the use of diction, syntax, rhythm, imagery, and other key elements of craft. Participants will also be expected to attempt a series of writing exercises that highlight the linguistic pleasures of poetry.

Rigoberto González is the author of 17 books of poetry and prose. His awards include the PEN/Voelcker Award in Poetry, the Lenore Marshall Prize from the Academy of American Poets, the Shelley Memorial Prize from the Poetry Society of America, a Lambda Literary Award, The Poetry Center Book Award, Lannan, Guggenheim, NEA, NYFA, and USA Rolón fellowships. He is currently distinguished professor of English and director of the MFA program in Creative Writing at Rutgers-Newark, the State University of New Jersey.

Memoir with Reyna Grande

Memoir begins with memory, but it isn’t a collection of memories. A memoir is a work of art filled with deep meaning and truths that resonate with and illuminate the lives of your readers. Where to start and where to end, what to put in and what to leave out are crucial elements in the crafting and shaping of your story. In this workshop, we will discuss what memoir is and what it isn’t, the different approaches to structure, and determining what, exactly, your memoir is about. Through concrete exercises, studies in craft, manuscript critiques, and using successful memoirs as models, you will also obtain the knowledge and confidence on how best to tell your story.

Reyna Grande is the author of the bestselling memoir, The Distance Between Us, (2012) and the sequel, A Dream Called Home (2018). Reyna has received an American Book award, the El Premio Aztlán Literary Award, and the International Latino Book Award. She was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Awards, and honored with a Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature. Reyna entered the U.S. as an undocumented child immigrant from Mexico and came of age in California. She has written about immigration, family separation, language trauma, and the American Dream for publications such as The New York Times and CNN, among others. 

Flash Fiction and Nonfiction with Nathalie Handal

In this innovative workshop, writers will explore and write flash fiction, flash reportage, flash memoir, flash travel, and hybrid flash. This thought-provoking journey of brevity, depth and precision will allow writers to find different ways to navigate themes of identity, borders, migrations, home, and so forth. Discussions and critiques will revolve around flash pieces submitted as well as those students will produce.

Nathalie Handal was raised in Latin America, France and the Middle East, and educated in Asia, the US, and UK. Her recent poetry books include Life in a Country Album, winner of the Palestine Book Award; the flash collection The Republics, about Haiti and the Dominican Republic, lauded as “one of the most inventive books by one of today’s most diverse writers,” and winner the Arab American Book Award; and the critically acclaimed Poet in Andalucía. Her work has appeared in Vanity Fair, Guernica Magazine, The Guardian, The New York Times, The Nation, The Irish Times, among others.

Prose Residency with Maurice Carlos Ruffin

The Prose Residency is designed to allow for intense one-on-one discussion of student work and writing goals. Each student will participate in two lengthy conferences with the instructor. The class will also gather each day for 90-minute craft lectures, including a group Q & A session. This is not a workshop where students critique each other's work. Rather we will focus on review of writing resources and discuss the publishing process. Students will be required to read assigned material prior to class as well as produce a limited amount of writing.

Maurice Carlos Ruffin is the author of We Cast a Shadow, which was published by One World Random House. The novel was a finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, the PEN/Faulkner Award, and the PEN America Open Book Prize. His next book The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You will be published in 2021. Ruffin is the winner of several literary prizes, including the Iowa Review Award in fiction. A New Orleans native, Ruffin is a professor of Creative Writing at Louisiana State University, and the 2020-2021 John and Renee Grisham Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi.

Writing for Stage and Screen with Lisa Marie Rollins

In this session participants will explore the craft of playwriting and screenwriting. Manuscripts will be workshopped in the full group and in peer to peer discussions.  We will discuss elements of craft, excerpts from contemporary plays and screenplays and create short scenes using timed exercises.  

Lisa Marie Rollins is a freelance theater director, writer and new play developer.  She is a Sundance Institute Theatre Lab Fellow (Directing) and an Associate Member of Stage Directors and Choreographers.  Regional directing /dramaturg work include Hedgebrook Women’s Play Festival, Crowded Fire Theater, American Conservatory Theatre, Playwrights Foundation, TheatreFirst, Berkeley Repertory Theater, Shotgun Players, Custom Made Theatre, Magic Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse, TheaterWorks (CO).  She has been a playwriting fellow with Hedgebrook, Djerassi, SF Writers Grotto, CALLALOO London, VONA, Just Theater Play Lab and Joshua Tree Highlands Artist Residency.  She was honored with a “Bay Brilliant” artist award from San Francisco’s KQED and received a Gerbode Special Award in the Arts for playwriting in 2020. She  is currently the Artistic Associate for Intiman Theater in Seattle, WA,  a Community Arts Panelist for Zellerbach Family Foundation and a Resident Artist with Crowded Fire Theater in San Francisco.