Bridging: A One-Day Writing Retreat

Hedgebrook and the SMC MFA in Creative Writing program at Saint Mary's College are collaborating to offer a one-day writing retreat for woman-identified, non-binary and genderqueer writers.

Date: Saturday, June 15, 2019

Time: 9:00 am - 9:00 pm 
Retreat Schedule

Location:
Saint Mary's College of California
1928 Saint Mary's Road
Moraga, CA 94575

Keynote Speaker

Elizabeth Rosner is a bestselling novelist, poet, and essayist living in Berkeley, California. Her first book of non-fiction, SURVIVOR CAFÉ: The Legacy of Trauma and the Labyrinth of Memory, published in September 2017, was featured on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” and in The New York Times. It was a finalist for a National Jewish Book Award and named one of the best books of 2017 by the San Francisco Chronicle. Her third novel, ELECTRIC CITY, was included among the best books of 2014 by National Public Radio. Her poetry collection, GRAVITY, was also published in 2014.THE SPEED OF LIGHT, Rosner's acclaimed debut novel in 2001, was translated into nine languages. Short-listed for the prestigious Prix Femina, the book won several literary prizes in both the US and Europe, including the Prix France Bleu Gironde; the Great Lakes Colleges Award for New Fiction; and Hadassah Magazine's Ribalow Prize, judged by Elie Wiesel. BLUE NUDE, her second novel, was selected as one of the best books of 2006 by the SF Chronicle. Rosner’s essays and poems have appeared in the NY Times Magazine, Elle, the Forward, and numerous anthologies. Her book reviews appear frequently in the SF Chronicle. A graduate of Stanford University, UC Irvine, and the University of Queensland in Australia, she teaches writing workshops internationally and also coaches writers privately. More about her work as writer and teacher can be found on her website:www.elizabethrosner.com

Workshops

Building Worlds When We Write

Christine Hyung-Oak Lee is the author of the memoir Tell Me Everything You Don’t Remember, which was featured in The New York Times, Self Magazine, Time Magazine, and NPR’s Weekend Edition with Scott Simon. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in The New York Times, Zyzzyva, Guernica, and BuzzFeed, among other publications. She is a Senior Features Editor at the Rumpus and her novel is forthcoming from Ecco / Harper Collins.

 

Yoga for Desk-Dwellers: A Movement Class 

Janine Kovac is a former professional ballet dancer and software engineer. Her memoir SPINNING: Choreography for Coming Home, chronicles the death of a career but the birth of miracle twins and was a semifinalist for Publisher Weekly's BookLife Prize. Janine is a talent wrangler for Litquake and a founding member of the 501(c)(3) writing group Write on Mamas. In 2016 she was awarded the Elizabeth George Foundation Fellowship from Hedgebrook in addition to the gift of residency. The following year she co-founded Moxie Road Productions, a consulting firm that helps writers bring their ideas into the world. Janine lives in Oakland with her husband and three children.  

 

Bridging Character and Plot: Finding Connection

Elizabeth Stark is the host of Story Makers Podcast (StoryMakersShow.com), author of the novel Shy Girl (FSG, Seal Press), finalist for the Ferro-Grumely and Lambda Literary Awards. She co-directed and co-wrote several several films, including FtF: Female to Femme, a creative documentary and Little Mutinies, a short (both distributed by Frameline). She earned an M.F.A. from Columbia University in Creative Writing and has taught at the Pratt Institute, UCSC, St. Mary’s, where she was the visiting distinguished writer, and elsewhere. She currently co-directs and teaches at BookWritingWorld.com and SonomaCountyWritersCamp.com, is producing a feature film called Lost in the Middle, and finishing a novel, Optical Illusions.

 

Poets and Writers: How We Collaborate

Maw Shein Win is a writer, editor, and educator who lives and works in the Bay Area. Her poetry has appeared in many journals and several anthologies including MARY: A Journal of New Writing, Talking Writing, Poetry International, Cimarron Review, and others. She was an Artist in Residence at Headlands Center for the Arts and is a member of the San Francisco Writers Grotto. Her collaborative book with paintings by artist Mark Dutcher, Ruins of a glittering palace, was published by SPA/Commonwealth Projects. Her poetry chapbook Score and Bone is on Nomadic Press. Her full-length collection Invisible Gifts: Poems was published by Manic D Press in 2018. Win is the first poet laureate of El Cerrito (2016 - 2018) and her forthcoming second full-length collection of poetry will be published by Omnidawn in Fall 2020. 

 

Publishing Panel

Brooke Warner is publisher of She Writes Press and SparkPress, president of Warner Coaching Inc., and author of Green-light Your Book, What's Your Book?, and three books on memoir. Brooke is a TEDx speaker, weekly podcaster (Write-minded with co-host Grant Faulkner of NaNoWriMo), and the former Executive Editor of Seal Press. She currently sits on the boards of the Independent Book Publishers Association, the Bay Area Book Festival, and the National Association of Memoir Writers.  She writes a monthly column for Publishers Weekly.

 

She Writes Press is an independent publishing company founded to serve members of SheWrites.com, the largest global community of women writers online, and women writers everywhere. She Writes Press is both mission-driven and community-oriented, aiming to serve writers who wish to maintain greater ownership and control of their projects while still getting the highest quality editorial help possible for their work. In 2014, SheWrites.com and She Writes Press became part of SparkPoint Studio, LLC, creating a powerful combination that no other hybrid publisher brings to the table, including a strong editorial vision; traditional distribution; two award-winning hybrid imprints (She Writes Press and SparkPress), and an in-house marketing and publicity team through its publicity division, BookSparks.

 

 

Peg Alford Pursell is the author of A Girl Goes into the Forest, coming from Dzanc Books, July 16, 2019, and of Show Her A Flower, A Bird, A Shadow, the 2017 Indie Book of the Year for Literary Fiction, and featured by Poets & Writers magazine’s second annual 5 over 50, December 2017. Her work has appeared in Permafrost, the Los Angeles Review, Joyland Magazine, and many other journals and anthologies. She is the founder and director of WTAW Press, an independent publisher of exceptional literary books, and of Why There Are Words, the national reading series she established first in Sausalito in 2010. She has been spotlighted by AWP for her literary community building, and earned her MFA in Creative Writing from the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers.

WTAW Press is an independent publisher of exceptional literary books of prose (novels, memoirs, creative nonfiction, collections of stories and essays, hybrids etc.) We welcome submissions from writers of all backgrounds and encourage submissions by women, minorities, LGBTQ or non-binary gender people, persons with disabilities, and other traditionally-underrepresented groups. To date, a third of its titles have included authors’ debuts and story collections. WTAW has its own national reading series, built on the Bay Area series based in Sausalito and established in 2010. The 2019 reading period is April 15 through July 15.

 

Brenda Knight began her career at HarperCollins, working with luminaries Paolo Coelho, Marianne Williamson and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.  Knight was awarded IndieFab's Publisher of the Year in 2014 at the ALA, American Library Association. Knight is the author of Wild Women and Books, The Grateful Table, Be a Good in the World, and Women of the Beat Generation, which won an American Book Award. Knight is Editorial Director at Mango Publishing and acquires for all genres in fiction and nonfiction as well as children’s and photography books.   She also serves as President of the Women’s’ National Book Association, San Francisco Chapter and is an instructor at the annual San Francisco Writers Conference.

 

Tarja Parssinen is a writer, performer, and co-founder of Moxie Road Productions. Her written work has appeared in places like The Washington Post and Salon.com, and anthologized in You Have Lipstick On Your Teeth, Scary Mommy’s Guide To Surviving the Holidays from Simon & Schuster, and She's Got This!: Stories of Standing Strong & Moving On. With a background in sales at Random House, Tarja uses her marketing and social media experience to create collaborations for Moxie Road and help other writers grow their communities and position their books. She lives in Marin with her husband and children, and is currently writing children's picture books.

Janine Kovac is a former professional ballet dancer and software engineer. Her memoir SPINNING: Choreography for Coming Home, chronicles the death of a career but the birth of miracle twins and was a semifinalist for Publisher Weekly's BookLife Prize. Janine is a talent wrangler for Litquake and a founding member of the 501(c)(3) writing group Write on Mamas. In 2016 she was awarded the Elizabeth George Foundation Fellowship from Hedgebrook in addition to the gift of residency. The following year she co-founded Moxie Road Productions, a consulting firm that helps writers bring their ideas into the world. Janine lives in Oakland with her husband and three children.  

Moxie Road Productions is a literary consulting company founded by writers Janine Kovac and Tarja Parssinen. From creative writing classes to live storytelling events to publishing books, Janine and Tarja are passionate about helping people bring their stories into the world. Find out how they can bring your writing project to life at moxieroad.com.

 

Cost*

Attendee Early Bird until April 25 - $150
Attendee after April 25 - $180
Attendee with overnight accommodations** Early Bird until April 25 - $210

Attendee with overnight accommodations** after April 25 to May 15th - $240

Consider becoming a BridgeBuilder! Sponsor another writer who might otherwise not be able to attend and get early-bird pricing all the way until May 10th - $250 overnight -$310

Limited partial scholarships available. Email Ani Tascian for an application.   
Special accommodations available. Email Ani Tascian.

* Refunds are not available. Proceeds will benefit Hedgebrook and the Hedgebrook Scholarship at St. Mary's. 
**Single room, shared bath; 15 available 

Cost includes:

• Food (three meals, happy hour, and evening cake and coffee)
  Vegan and gluten-free options available
• Networking opportunities with Bay Area women writers' groups
• An evening keynote by Elizabeth Rosner, author of the novels The Speed of Light, Electric City and Blue Nude, poetry collection, Gravity and nonfiction book, SURVIVOR CAFÉ: The Legacy of Trauma and the Labyrinth of Memory 
• Your choice of two out of four afternoon workshops 

Funds raised from the retreat benefit Hedgebrook and the newly established Hedgebrook scholarship for a St. Mary's MFA student.

Register Now