Creative Writing Retreat to be offered in Lewisburg
Writers of all levels with interest in any genre of writing are invited to register for Sustenance from Constraint: a writing retreat in Lewisburg, WV Friday, March 8 – Sunday, March 10. The three-day intensive will take place at Lee Street Listening Room located in Lee Street Studios Centre for the Arts (232 N. Lee Street, Lewisburg).
Participants will enjoy a spacious weekend to write without interruption while challenging themselves to explore what can be born from constraint: both the constraint we experience in our lives-the tight spots that restrict flow-but also the constraint created through close attention to craft.
New Hampshire-based writer Leaf Seligman will lead the workshop alongside local writer Sarah Elkins. Seligman is a professor at Keene State College in Keene, NH who has been writing since childhood, across genres: fiction, memoir, creative nonfiction, poetry and plays. She has taught writing since 1985 to college students, community members, people in jails and prisons and served as a writing guide and workshop leader for the last several years. She holds a Master of Arts in English & Writing from the University of New Hampshire and a Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School.
“I’m thrilled to be invited to Lewisburg to lead this retreat,” Seligman says. “For some time, I have been wrestling with a question. Can we expand creatively in all the areas of constraint in our lives? At the end of three days, I hope each participant will be closer to answering the question of how to find sustenance within constraint.”
Watch Leaf's TED Talk: How Stories Help Us Choose Connection
Lewisburg resident Sarah Elkins has taught writing in various settings including ESL, community college, middle school, and federal prison classrooms. Today, she is a fulltime writer whose work appears in trade journals, regional magazines, and industry blogs. But poetry is where language is most alive for her.
“I met Leaf in 2013 and attended a writing retreat she led on Star Island, off the coast of New Hampshire. In the years since, we have designed our own personal writing retreat and shared our creative projects with each other. I am so proud to introduce Lewisburg to Leaf and be able to offer this retreat.”
Seligman and Elkins will hold a public reading of story excerpts and poetry at Lee Street Studios on Saturday, March 9 at 7:30pm. Retreat participants will be invited to join in the reading and share their own writing.
The writing retreat will include meals prepared by Blackwell’s Catering. Cost for the Friday – Sunday event is $300 and food is $50. For more information visit SarahElkins.com/Workshop or call 304-646-5508.