With
Luís Alberto Urrea
When
October 20 - 25, 2019
Category
Writers Lab
Package Price
2295.00
$2,295 (USD) includes tuition, breakfast Monday through Saturday, lunch Monday through Friday, final dinner on Friday, and location/materials fees if applicable to the class. Hotel accommodations are not included in the package price; see details above.
Registration Info
Misery is easy – joy takes discipline.
As haiku master Issa pointed out, writing is a product of trust. You cannot trust what does not bring you joy. We must celebrate every sense we have when we put words on paper. That is the discipline.
But this is also a dance. You need your eyes, your ears, your nose, your touch. And you need your sixth sense as well. The wonder of being in a beautiful place with beautiful people doing a beautiful thing is that every sense can be drenched and satisfied. Our task now is to collaborate with our experience and make words of light and shadow. Forget audience, forget career, forget fame or fortune. Let us celebrate.
And “joy” doesn’t mean writing hilarity. It means the process (even talking about painful things) should be triumphant. When you look at the Jardin in San Miguel, you might find shadows of your own relatives and family. Are the indigenous children selling little pieces of art on the street a reflection or a contrast to children you have known? Are any of them you? When you step into the cathedral, do you feel the hopes and despair? If you are lucky, you might go outside of town to watch the murmuration (that magical shifting cloud of nesting birds at sunset that looks like a special effect) – that same murmuration in a different language happens in Nebraska.
This is a generative workshop. It is a combination of experience, lecture, and writing time. Luis gives you as many examples and writing prompts as can fit into your time, leaving ample time for writing. We complete writing exercises and share them with each other. Sometimes it might just be an exercise in seeing, but it all to goes into your notebooks. This workshop requires your acceptance of the many gifts of the day. Once you see them, they never stop coming. In some ways, Luis sees writing like a hummingbird that must be welcomed into your garden. Bring lots of pens and pencils. (Luis recommends reading The Hummingbird's Daughter if you want to understand his underlying thoughts on gifts, grace and trust).
Additional Information
WHO SHOULD ATTEND:
This program is open to writers of all levels.
SPECIAL NOTES:
Enrollment for this San Miguel workshop is limited to 14 participants. Visit the San Miguel General Information on our website for details on accommodations, meals, transportation, and more.
ACCOMMODATIONS:
For participants wanting to stay at Hotel Posada de la Aldea, double accommodations are $415 per person for 6 nights, Wednesday through Monday, (for couples taking workshops and friends traveling together) or $830 per person, single accommodations for 6 nights, Wednesday through Monday. Additional nights at the hotel can be arranged for participants; please discuss needs with the Administration Office in Santa Fe.
PACKAGE PRICE INFO:
$2,295 (USD) includes tuition, breakfast Monday through Saturday, lunch Monday through Friday, final dinner on Friday, and location/materials fees if applicable to the class. Hotel accommodations are not included in the package price; see details above.
Luís Alberto Urrea is the best-selling author of 18 books, including The Devil's Highway and The Hummingbird's Daughter. His latest novel, The House of Broken Angels, was a national bestseller and New York Times Notable Book for 2017. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Urrea has won the Lannan Literary Award, the Pacific Rim Kiriyama Prize, an American Book Award, the Christopher Award and an Edgar Award, among other honors. His 2015 collection of short stories, The Water Museum, was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and won an Academy of Arts and Letters award. His novel Into the Beautiful North is a current selection of the NEA's Big Read program. Urrea’s books have been selected by more than 100 different cities and colleges for community reads programs and he is much in demand as a speaker, lecturer, and teacher. Born in Tijuana to a Mexican father and American mother, Urrea is most recognized as a border writer, though he says, "I am more interested in bridges, not borders." He lives outside of Chicago and is a distinguished professor of creative writing at the University of Illinois-Chicago.
Website: www.luisurrea.com