2011-02-14T19:01:00.000-08:00

WRITING IN THE WOODS

A Retreat for Writers of Children’s and Young Adult Literature

Come write with us in a beautiful log lodge on a ridge overlooking two deep valleys.

Sunday p.m., May 15 to Saturday a.m., May 21, 2011

Spring wildflower time

Good Earth Village

Spring Valley, Minnesota

Faculty: Marsha Wilson Chall, Phyllis Root,
and Jane Resh Thomas

Children, like animals, use all their senses

to discover the world. Then artists come along and

discover it the same way, all over again.

~ Eudora Welty

As teachers, readers, and creators of children’s literature, we invite you to live and write with us for a week in the woods. We provide a safe, supportive writing environment and promise to nurture you and treat your art kindly. Our energy and practices are drawn from a deep well: over sixty years of cumulative teaching and writing experience and more than sixty children’s books among us.

Participants: Enrollment limited to eight experienced writers by application (form below)

Housing: Seven private rooms on the lodge’s lower level and one on the main floor, each with a private bathroom and shower. Although the venue is a summer camp owned by a religious institution, our program is separate and secular.

Food: Good Earth Village provides evening dinners; we have arranged for a better menu than the kitchen staff ordinarily prepare, and they will accommodate our vegetarians. We make our own breakfasts and lunches with food provided by the faculty in the lodge.

Perks: Two graduate credits available through Hamline University by special arrangement with us.

Plan: Daily manuscript workshops (one hour-long group discussion of each participant's thirty-page fiction or non-fiction manuscript or one picture book). Individual one-hour manuscript conferences with one faculty member, and another private meeting at mid-week to talk about revision. Faculty presentations on elements of writing craft.

Come live and write with us. We promise you
Time to write alone and together
Time to discuss the writing life
Time for walks in the woods
Time to grow as a writer
Time to take your writing deeper

Marsha Wilson Chall is the author of a children’s chapter book and picture books, including Up North at the Cabin, Bonaparte, Prairie Train, and three forthcoming titles. Her books have received numerous awards: an International Reading Association Teacher’s Choice Award, American Booksellers Pick of the Lists, Parents Choice, CCBC Choices, and Smithsonian Notable recognition. When she’s not writing or sharing her love of good books at schools or conferences, she enjoys teaching in the MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Hamline University. She has two grown children and lives on a small farm west of Minneapolis with her husband, dog, and barn cats. www.marshachall.com

Phyllis Root has written more than forty children's picture books and two middle grade novels, including Lilly and the Pirates. Her picture books include One Duck Stuck, a Parents Best Book of the Year; Big Momma Makes the World, a Boston Globe Horn Book award winner; Oliver Finds His Way, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year; and Lucia and the Light, winner of a McKnight Fellowship. She has taught writing at the Loft, the University of Minnesota and Vermont College and currently teaches in the Hamline Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults. When not writing or teaching, she loves gardening, canoeing, sailing, wildflower watching, and getting lost in a good book. www.phyllisroot.com

Jane Resh Thomas Formerly a reviewer and children's book columnist for more than twenty-five years, is the author of fifteen books for children, including novels, novellas, a biography and two picture books. Among her awards are the ALA Best of the Best; Parents' Choice; two Minnesota Book Awards, for best children's non-fiction and best fiction of the year (Behind the Mask: The Life of Queen Elizabeth I and The Counterfeit Princess); and the Kerlan Award. She has taught writing for more than forty years, currently in the Hamline University MFA Program in Writing for Children and Young Adults, and conducts private workshops in her living room. Her entire front yard is a perennial flower garden. www.janereshthomas15@gmail.com

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WRITING IN THE WOODS

APPLICATION FORM

Name ______________________

Address ____________________

Phone ______________________

Email ______________________

Date of Application ___________

We want to know something about you and your writing background. Thank you for responding to the following questions:

1. What is your writing experience?

2. What are your goals and hopes for this retreat?

3. Please submit a writing sample of your choice.

4. Please describe dietary or other special needs.

Direct all materials and questions to writinginthewoods@gmail.com

Deadlines

* Application and writing sample March 20, 2011.

* Non-refundable down-payment due for accepted applicants (we will notify you of acceptance quickly): April 1, 2011: $350.

* Workshop manuscript April 15, up to forty pages of fiction or non-fiction for children or one picture book; faculty will read these entire manuscripts for personal conferences, but will restrict the workshop discussion to twenty-five pages or one picture book.

* Non-refundable additional tuition, room, and board April 15, 2011: $1300. This enterprise is privately provided by the faculty, while the university where we teach offers credits. Although enrollment is already partially filled before we even advertise, we need to be sure of our numbers, since facility management would charge most of the cost if we canceled later than one month prior to our starting date. If we had to cancel, we would return all checks, of course. We cash checks after our retreats are over.

PLEASE DO NOT WRITE TO GOOD EARTH VILLAGE