February 6, 7PM
Hedgebrook Writers Showcase
Linda Clifton and Madeline Ostrander
plus Open Mic. Emcee Meredith Nelson.
Come spend a couple of days on Orcas Island in celebration of this remarkable center for women writers. Hedgebrook supports a growing global community of women writers from all over the world with residencies at their retreat, and programs to connect their work with readers and audiences of all ages. Two workshops are offered this weekend and both on a pay-what-you-can basis!
February 6 Workshops:
10A-12N: Linda Clifton facilitates A POETRY WALKABOUT.
2P-4P: Madeline Ostrander facilitates Writing the Radical Personal Essay.
Linda Clifton
Linda Clifton, Seattle, Washington, former K-12 Director of the Puget Sound Writing Project at the University of Washington, holds a Ph.D. in medieval literature. An experienced teacher and independent editor, Clifton founded Crab Creek Review and was a guest editor for Hedgebrook Journal. Her poetry has appeared in a number of little magazines including Drash and Calyx, and in Shadowmarks from award-winning Blue Begonia Press. Her chapbook, Painting the Face of G-d, explores the relationship between making art and connecting with the spiritual. Read samples of her work at www.clifton-consulting.com
A POETRY WALKABOUT – Linda Clifton Workshop:
Eagles, guitars, water and woods–Doe Bay gives us 33 waterfront acres for a walkabout and inspiration. In this two hour participatory workshop we will explore in our journals, walk about together to observe this moment, come back to share words and craft them into poems.
Madeline Ostrander
Madeline Ostrander is a writer and editor, who brings the sensibilities of an environmental activist and ecologist to bear on the stories she tells about people, landscape, and the possibility for change. She is the senior editor for YES! Magazine, a national, independent magazine offering solutions to critical challenges our world faces. She holds a Master’s degree in environmental science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She was a writer-in-residence at Hedgebrook writers center on Whidbey Island and has received an Outstanding Young Alumni Award from Illinois State University. Her writing has appeared in YES! Magazine, High Country News, The Sun Magazine, LINQ (Literature in North Queensland), and the anthology Thomas Pynchon: Reading from the Margins. Her activist work was cited in Bill McKibben’s book, Fight Global Warming Now.
Writing the Radical Personal Essay – Madeline Ostrander
When was the last time you read a story that made you want to change course, speak up, rethink your life, or take action? In this workshop, we’ll talk about how stories can function both as political pieces and as art. We discuss how writers like Terry Tempest Williams, Bill McKibben, Gloria Steinem, Sandra Steingraber, and Rebecca Solnit weave together story, experience, and conviction to move their readers to action or to challenge political ideas. We’ll practice mining our own personal stories and experiences in order to explain, reinforce, and humanize our convictions. We’ll talk about how to write about our feelings and opinions with authenticity. We’ll also draw on lessons from Louise Dunlap’s book, Undoing the Silence, which explores how to overcome the barriers that make us reluctant to speak out.