What I love about the Durham Writers Salon

I was trained in a very specific workshop technique in my MFA program at The New School. The standard MFA workshop model was created at the University of Iowa, home of the first creative writing workshop, when classes were primarily attended by men returning from WW2. Craft is emphasized --  they learned how to dissect each sentence like a scientist to find out what made it effective. There was a hierarchy - the instructor was at the top with all of his knowledge and the students were there to listen and learn. Critical feedback was the only way to learn how to be a better writer, and was doled out liberally.

In those first workshops, and mine too, progress wasn't being made unless we were making our art "better" ... and “better” was defined by the standards set by, let’s be honest, mostly the white able bodied men who taught these workshops and held positions of authority at publishing houses and literary magazines. 

When I graduated from that MFA program it took me a long time to remember what I used to enjoy about writing, and I started to wonder if the workshop model that was created for able bodied white men didn’t empower a disabled woman in the same way. Maybe it didn't even empower those men who first created it. 

While the training I’d learned in my MFA about what made a “good” workshop set a solid foundation, I began to think that maybe one size didn’t fit all when it came to the creative writing workshop. Slowly, I became empowered to craft the workshop I’d like to be a part of, that would help me learn the best. It helped that I had a body that didn’t look like everyone else’s — I had already been creative in other spaces that didn’t fit me. 

This is why I love the Durham Writers Salon. Breaking away from the usual workshop format, the Salon asks questions that I didn't learn to ask in a workshop, such as …

How can the use of a writing prompt generate new ways of thinking? 

What does it mean to simply listen to and enjoy a first draft? 

What can a writer learn if we don’t try to change their work, and instead we bear witness to it? 

What if writing becomes collaborative instead of competitive? 

Can hearing a beautiful piece of writing, without offering critical feedback, make you think differently about your current work in progress? 

If this sounds like something you want to be a part of, you can purchase one session or a 5 session package.

I hope to see you there,

Allison

Writer | Educator | Writing Coach