30th Annual Writers’ Workshop Festival and Celebration – June 26th – June 30th 2017
Applications are still open for the 2017 William Joiner Institute’s 30th Annual Writers’ Workshop Festival. Study with award winning poets and writers and participate in a writer’s community like no other! Writers with diverse interests and backgrounds are encouraged to apply. Space is limited, apply today!
This year’s Writers’ Workshop Festival will celebrate 30 years of community and creative responses to war and continue our tradition of focusing on the intersections of writing, war, social justice, and peace making. Workshop faculty include Vietnam and Iraq veterans and others whose works have addressed the experience of war and peace making.
The 2017 Writers’ Workship Festival features:
- Master Classes taught by distinguished faculty in Poetry, Nonfiction, Fiction and Drama.
- Readings by acclaimed writers, veterans, and students.
- Roundtable discussions on the legacies of the Vietnam War; Race, Refugees, Immigration, and War; and Modern Wars in the Middle East.
- 30th Joiner Institute Writers’ Workshop Poetry and Music Celebration – Tuesday, June 27 6:00-8:00 p.m. at the Boston Public Library’s Rabb Hall. Free and open to the public. With Yusef Komunyakaa, Carolyn Forche, Bruce Weigl, Kevin Bowen, and Vietnamese Poetry in Translation. Music by Iraqi musician Layth Sidiq, the UMB Jazz Trio, and more.
- Warrior Writers, who facilitate writing as a creative outlet for young veterans, primarily of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, will hold workshops and events and be celebrating their 10 year anniversary as an organization.
- Participants will be able to choose one of three Master Classes to attend each day (M-F) in the genre of their choice and are invited to attend all faculty and student readings, roundtable discussions and our
- Poetry and Music Celebration at the Boston Public Library on June 27.
2017 Faculty and Visiting Writers:
- Brian Turner, Danielle Legros Georges, Bruce Weigl, Amir al-Azraki, Fred Marchant, Martha Collins, Sean Davis, Lady Borton, Anne Loyer, Lovella Calica, Michael Patrick MacDonald and Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa.
- Visiting Writers: Carolyn Forché, Yusef Komunyakaa, Nguyen Ba Chung, and visiting writers from Vietnam Nguyễn Quang Thieu, Nguyễn Thuy Kha, Nguyễn Ngọc Mộc.
Program Information:
- Tuition: $300 for one week workshop, $150 for post-9/11 veterans and refugees.
- Location: University of Massachusetts Boston
- Dates: June 26-June 30, 2017
- Contact: Please direct any questions to Mitch Manning at mitch.manning@umb.edu or 617-287-5863.
- Writers’ Workshop Application: Click here for application. In a separate email, please send a writing sample in your genre, up to 10 pages, to joinerinstitute@umb.edu with the subject line: “WJI 2017 Writing Sample – Your Name”. If you work in two genres, it is okay to include both in your writing sample. Please send writing samples in .doc or .pdf files.
High School Teachers Initiative:
“Humanizing How We Teach and Learn about Violent Conflicts”
Based on overwhelming response to the groundbreaking pilot program in 2015, the Joiner Institute has launched an innovative project for the 2016-17 academic year titled “Humanizing How We Teach and Learn About Violent Conflict: Teacher Initiative Program.” For additional resources for high school teachers, please check out our Teacher Initiative Program website
In partnership with interdisciplinary teams of teachers from four Boston area high schools, the initiative seeks to foster critical awareness among students about the human and social consequences to violent conflicts as well as help teachers to empower their students to explore varied approaches to peaceful conflict resolution. The Joiner Institute will provide resource speakers, scholars, artists and ongoing curriculum development assistance to these teacher teams as well as make available its archival materials for teacher use.
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The William Joiner Institute for the Study of War and Social Consequences promotes research, curriculum development, events, and educational, cultural, and humanitarian exchanges which foster conversations about addressing the consequences of war. By serving veterans, family members of veterans, war refugees and all victims of war, we aim to create a public space where the issues of war and their human, social, political, and environmental consequences can be openly discussed, debated, and analyzed.
Staffed by veterans and others affected by wars from Vietnam through Iraq, the Institute is uniquely equipped to lead the work of promoting healing and reconciliation. We are located at the University of Massachusetts Boston on the 10th floor of the Joseph P. Healey Library.
For more information visit: https://www.umb.edu/joinerinstitute