Writers’ Workshop with Helen Humphreys

July 4 – 8, 2011

(Monday noon through Friday afternoon)

Are you ready to spend a week exploring prose and poetry with other writers, under the guidance of acclaimed writer and teacher, Helen Humphreys? Then this extended writers’ workshop is for you. You will try new writing techniques and exercises, and learn how the land can inspire new work and new ways of seeing.

Your workshop will begin with lunch at Wintergreen on Monday afternoon. Following your first meal together, Helen will spend the afternoon getting to know the interests of the group and leading you through some initial writing exercises. By the end of the first evening, she will draw up a schedule of one-on-one sessions to take place sometime during the workshop. You will be creating new work during your time at Wintergreen, and there will be opportunities to share earlier work as well. Helen will read up to 10 pages from each participant in advance of the workshop for those of you who wish to have her advise you on some of your earlier work.

Each morning will be devoted to writing exercises. The afternoons will be spent exploring the landscape and writing. The landscape explorations will involve identifying a place on the land that calls to you in some way, and documenting what happens in that place over each afternoon.

On Wednesday evening, July 6, we will invite members of the public to join us at Wintergreen for dinner. After dinner, Helen will give a reading of her work for participants and our guests.

The workshop will conclude on Friday morning with a reading session where you will be able to share some of the work you have produced at Wintergreen. You will have lunch together and a chance to take one last walk along the trails before leaving Wintergreen on Thursday afternoon.

About the Instructor

Helen Humphreys is the author of four books of poetry, five novels, and one work of creative non-fiction. She was born in Kingston-on-Thames, England, and now lives in Kingston, Ontario.

Her first novel, Leaving Earth (1997), won the 1998 City of Toronto Book Award and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Her second novel, Afterimage (2000), won the 2000 Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, was nominated for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Her third novel, The Lost Garden (2002), was a 2003 Canada Reads selection, a national bestseller, and was also a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Wild Dogs (2004) won the 2005 Lambda Prize for fiction, has been optioned for film, and was produced as a stage play at CanStage in Toronto in the fall of 2008. Coventry (2008) was a #1 national bestseller, was chosen as one of the top 100 books of the year by the Globe & Mail, and was chosen one of the top ten books of the year by both the Ottawa Citizen and NOW Magazine.

Humphreys’ work of creative non-fiction, The Frozen Thames (2007), was a #1 national bestseller. Her collections of poetry include Gods and Other Mortals (1986); Nuns Looking Anxious, Listening to Radios (1990); and The Perils of Geography (1995). Her latest collection, Anthem (1999), won the 2000 Canadian Authors Association Award for Poetry.

Helen Humphreys’ fiction is published in Canada by HarperCollins, and in the U.S. by W.W. Norton. The Frozen Thames was published by McClelland & Stewart in Canada, and by Bantam in the U.S. Her work has been translated into many languages.

Tuition: $395.

Accommodation and meals for the duration of the workshop: $380 (tenting p.p.), $420 (bunks p.p.), $490 (shared rooms or cabins, p.p.), $570 (double bed, single occupancy), $895 (double bed, shared). Facilities and meals only (for registrants staying off-site): $225. HST extra.

Register for this workshop