Writers in Florence | CWP

Writers in Florence 2012

A Tuscan retreat for emerging writers

For more information about the Writers in Florence Program, including details on academics, housing, costs, and the application process, please visit the NYU Summer Study Abroad webpage. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.

In this Tuscan retreat for undergraduates, students work intensively to generate new writing while finding literary inspiration in the enchanting, historically rich setting of Florence and Villa La Pietra. The program features nightly readings and lectures on writing and the writer’s life. On weekends, students have the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of their literary predecessors: they might walk along the Arno River, view the sunset from Piazzale Michelangelo, or visit Tuscan gardens and vineyards.

Classes and events are held at Villa La Pietra (pictured). Bequeathed to NYU in 1994 by Sir Harold Acton, the Florentine campus consists of 5 historic villas and 57 acres of gardens and olive groves.

Faculty Members:

YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA (Poetry Workshop) is the author of many poetry collections including Chameleon Couch, a finalist for the 2011 National Book Award; Pleasure Dome: New & Collected Poems, 1975-1999; Talking Dirty to the Gods; Thieves of Paradise, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; Neon Vernacular: New & Selected Poems 1977-1989, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award; Magic City; Dien Cai Dau, which won The Dark Room Poetry Prize; I Apologize for the Eyes in My Head, winner of the San Francisco Poetry Center Award; and Copacetic. His honors include the Wallace Stevens Poetry Award, the William Faulkner Prize from the Universite Rennes, the Thomas Forcade Award, the Hanes Poetry Prize, and the Bronze Star for his service in Vietnam, where he served as a correspondent and managing editor of the Southern Cross. Yusef Komunyakaa is a senior faculty member in the NYU Creative Writing Program. View course syllabus

DOROTHEA LASKY (Director; The Craft of Poetry) is the author of two full-length collections of poetry: AWE (Wave Books, 2007) and Black Life (Wave Books, 2010). She is also the author of numerous chapbooks, including Poetry is Not a Project (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2010), Tourmaline (Transmission Press, 2008), The Hatmaker's Wife (2006), Art (H_NGM_N Press, 2005), and Alphabets and Portraits (Anchorite Press, 2004). Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Crowd, 6x6, and Boston Review, among others. She has taught poetry, writing, and visual art and has done educational research at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, the Philadelphia Zoo, and Project Zero. View course syllabus

BEN OKRI (Fiction Workshop) was born in 1959 in Minna, northern Nigeria, to an Igbo mother and Urhobo father. His first two novels, Flowers and Shadows (1980) and The Landscapes Within (1981), are both set in Nigeria. The two collections of stories that followed, Incidents at the Shrine (1986) and Stars of the New Curfew (1988), are set in Lagos and London. In 1991 Okri was awarded the Man Booker Prize for Fiction for his novel The Famished Road (1991). Set in a Nigerian village, this is the first in a trilogy of novels which tell the story of Azaro, a spirit child. Azaro's narrative is continued in Songs of Enchantment (1993) and Infinite Riches (1998). His latest novels are In Arcadia (2002) and Starbook (2007). In his latest book, Tales of Freedom (2009), Okri brings together poetry and story. Ben Okri is a Vice-President of the English Centre of International PEN, a member of the board of the Royal National Theatre, and was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in 2001. He lives in London. View course syllabus

FRANCINE PROSE (Guest Faculty; The Craft of Fiction) is the author of many bestselling books of fiction, including Goldengrove, A Changed Man, and Blue Angel, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, and the nonfiction New York Times bestseller Reading Like a Writer. Her novel, Household Saints, was adapted for a movie by Nancy Savoca. Another novel, The Glorious Ones, has been adapted into a musical of the same name by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, which ran at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre at Lincoln Center in New York City in the Fall of 2007. Her latest novel, My New American Life, was published in 2011 by Harper. She lives in New York City. (Photo © by Marion Ettlinger) View course syllabus

PROGRAM INFORMATION

Program Dates
June 18-July 14

Program Schedule
Tuesday-Friday
3:00-5:30pm: Daily workshops and craft classes in either fiction or poetry
7:00/7:30pm: Nightly cultural events including readings and talks by acclaimed guest writers

8 Points of Undergraduate Credit

Open to eligible NYU and Non-NYU Students

CONTACT INFORMATION

NYU Summer Study Abroad
Phone: 212-998-4433

NYU Creative Writing Program
Phone: 212-998-8816

Email: writers.in.florence@nyu.edu

	YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA (Poetry Workshop) is the author of many poetry collections including Chameleon Couch, a finalist for the 2011 National Book Award; Pleasure Dome: New & Collected Poems, 1975-1999; Talking Dirty to the Gods; Thieves of Paradise, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; Neon Vernacular: New & Selected Poems 1977-1989, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award; Magic City; Dien Cai Dau, which won The Dark Room Poetry Prize; I Apologize for the Eyes in My Head, winner of the San Francisco Poetry Center Award; and Copacetic. His honors include the Wallace Stevens Poetry Award, the William Faulkner Prize from the Universite Rennes, the Thomas Forcade Award, the Hanes Poetry Prize, and the Bronze Star for his service in Vietnam, where he served as a correspondent and managing editor of the Southern Cross. Yusef Komunyakaa is a senior faculty member in the NYU Creative Writing Program. View course syllabus
	DOROTHEA LASKY (Director; The Craft of Poetry) is the author of two full-length collections of poetry: AWE (Wave Books, 2007) and Black Life (Wave Books, 2010). She is also the author of numerous chapbooks, including Poetry is Not a Project (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2010), Tourmaline (Transmission Press, 2008), The Hatmaker's Wife (2006), Art (H_NGM_N Press, 2005), and Alphabets and Portraits (Anchorite Press, 2004). Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Crowd, 6x6, and Boston Review, among others. She has taught poetry, writing, and visual art and has done educational research at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, the Philadelphia Zoo, and Project Zero. View course syllabus
	BEN OKRI (Fiction Workshop) was born in 1959 in Minna, northern Nigeria, to an Igbo mother and Urhobo father. His first two novels, Flowers and Shadows (1980) and The Landscapes Within (1981), are both set in Nigeria. The two collections of stories that followed, Incidents at the Shrine (1986) and Stars of the New Curfew (1988), are set in Lagos and London. In 1991 Okri was awarded the Man Booker Prize for Fiction for his novel The Famished Road (1991). Set in a Nigerian village, this is the first in a trilogy of novels which tell the story of Azaro, a spirit child. Azaro's narrative is continued in Songs of Enchantment (1993) and Infinite Riches (1998). His latest novels are In Arcadia (2002) and Starbook (2007). In his latest book, Tales of Freedom (2009), Okri brings together poetry and story. Ben Okri is a Vice-President of the English Centre of International PEN, a member of the board of the Royal National Theatre, and was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in 2001. He lives in London. View course syllabus
	FRANCINE PROSE (Guest Faculty; The Craft of Fiction) is the author of many bestselling books of fiction, including Goldengrove, A Changed Man, and Blue Angel, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, and the nonfiction New York Times bestseller Reading Like a Writer. Her novel, Household Saints, was adapted for a movie by Nancy Savoca. Another novel, The Glorious Ones, has been adapted into a musical of the same name by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, which ran at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre at Lincoln Center in New York City in the Fall of 2007. Her latest novel, My New American Life, was published in 2011 by Harper. She lives in New York City. (Photo © by Marion Ettlinger) View course syllabus