News

Portland State University's Center for Excellence in Writing is now accepting applications for its February and March workshops "Handling Your Obsessions and Getting Them Into Print" and "Memoir Writing." The workshops are conducted by local authors and professionals in the field of publishing. The workshops are open to the public and preregistration is required. For more information or to register for the workshops contact Sydney Thompson at 503-725-9422 or sydney@pdx.edu or visit www.english.pdx.edu/cew.

Saturday, February 26, 2005, 12 - 4 p.m. (PSU Neuberger Hall, Room 407, 724 S.W. Harrison)
"Handling Your Obsessions and Getting Them Into Print," taught by Dan Kaplan, addresses the topic "How can you, as a poet, revisit the same subject effectively." Participants will study examples of contemporary poets' handling of recurring subjects in their work-considering both individual poems and the cumulative impact of a group of related poems. The participants will also learn how to submit a group of poems to literary magazines, what should and should not be included in a cover letter and how to present their work. Dan Kaplan is the former editor-in-chief of Black Warrior Review and the current editor of Del Sol Review. His poetry manuscript Bill's Formal Complaint was recently a finalist for the Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry from Sarabande Books. Kaplan's poems have appeared in Barrow Street, Third Coast, Indiana Review, Quarterly West, and many other publications. Cost for the workshop is $50.

Saturday, March 12, 2005, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. (PSU Neuberger Hall, Room 407, 724 S.W. Harrison)
"Memoir Writing," taught by Cornelia Becker Seigneur, is designed to inspire the participants to write their life stories through journal writing exercises. Participants will read passages from published memoirs and creative non-fiction and use numerous mind exercises, memory joggers and writing prompts to write parts of their life stories. The workshop will also explore the basics of freelance writing and the ways participants can get their work published. Seigneur has a background in English and German literature, journalism and teaching, and has been a freelance journalist for The Oregonian since 1996. Her work has appeared in Twins Magazine, Portland Magazine, Metro Parent Magazine and Family Circle, among other publications. She has also written a family column for six years where Seigneur tells the tale of her life as a Mom. Cost for the workshop is $50.