Writers in New York 2012

Writers in New York (May 29–June 21, 2012) offers poets and fiction writers an opportunity to develop their craft while living the writer's life in Greenwich Village. Daily workshops and craft seminars are supplemented by readings and lectures by New York-based writers and publishing professionals. Field trips, cultural activities, readings, and guest lectures constitute an integral component of the program.

Classes and readings are held in the Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House, home of the NYU Creative Writing Program. Located on one of the most beautiful blocks in Greenwich Village, this historic townhouse has been a gathering spot for artists and intellectuals since the 1870s. It was in this building that members of the Tile Club, a group of notable painters, sculptors and architects, met and conducted their famous symposia. Today, the Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House allows students to learn and write in the same neighborhood where many writers—including Mark Twain, E. E. Cummings, James Baldwin, Willa Cather, Marianne Moore, Richard Wright, and Frank O’Hara—have lived and worked.

Classes meet in the afternoons (2:30pm-5:00pm), Tuesday-Friday during the program's first week, and then Monday-Thursday for the remaining three weeks. Evenings (6:00pm-8:00pm) after class feature readings, lectures, panel discussions, and special events. The schedule includes time for writing, reading, and exploring New York. The program culminates in a celebratory reading showcasing student work. This is a four-week program carrying eight points of undergraduate credit; a noncredit option is also available. Enrollment in the entire program is required.

VISITING WRITERS & EDITORS

Visiting writers and editors, who will be featured in the evening series of readings and panels, include Thomas Beller, Lydia Davis, Matthea Harvey, Adam Haslett, Amy Hempel, A.M. Homes, Sam Lipsyte, Joe Meno, Eileen Myles, Ed Park, Rachel Sherman, Matthew Specktor, Lynne Tillman, Wells Tower, Malerie Willens, Rebecca Wolff, John Yau, Mark Wisniewski, Leni Zumas, and more. Also visiting will be editors from The Believer, Conjunctions, Electric Literature, Fence, Harvard Review, The Paris Review, A Public Space, and Tin House.

FACULTY

John Murillo (Poetry Writing Workshop) is the author of the poetry collection Up Jump the Boogie, which was a finalist for both the 2011 Kate Tufts Discovery Award and the PEN Open Book Award, and was named by The Huffington Post as one of “Ten Recent Books of Poetry You Should Read Right Now.” A graduate of New York University's MFA program in creative writing, his other honors include a Pushcart Prize, two Larry Neal Writers Awards, and fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, Cave Canem Foundation, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts, the New York Times, and the Wisconsin Institute of Creative Writing. His work has appeared in such publications as Callaloo, Court Green, Ninth Letter, and Ploughshares, and is forthcoming in Angles of Ascent: A Norton Anthology of African-American Poetry. His choreo-play, Trigger, was commissioned by Edgeworks Dance Theater and premiered in spring 2011. A founding member of the poetry collective, The Symphony, he has taught at Cornell University, New York University, Columbia College Chicago, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Miami.

Matthew Rohrer (Poetry Craft Seminar) is the author of A Hummock in the Malookas, Satellite, A Green Light, Rise Up, A Plate of Chicken, and Destroyer and Preserver. With Joshua Beckman he wrote Nice Hat. Thanks. and recorded the audio CD Adventures While Preaching the Gospel of Beauty. Octopus Books published his action/adventure chapbook-length poem They All Seemed Asleep in 2008. His poems have been widely anthologized and have appeared in many journals. He’s received the Hopwood Award for poetry and a Pushcart prize, was selected as a National Poetry Series winner, and was shortlisted for the Griffin International Poetry Prize.

Saïd Sayrafiezadeh (Fiction Craft Seminar) is the author of the memoir When Skateboards Will Be Free, which was selected as one of the best books of 2009 by Dwight Garner of the New York Times. His short stories and essays have appeared in The Paris Review, The New Yorker, Granta, Open City, The New York Times, and other publications. He is the recipient of a 2010 Whiting Writers' Award.

Elissa Schappell (Fiction Writing Workshop) is the author of two books of fiction, Blueprints for Building Better Girls and Use Me, a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award, and co-editor with Jenny Offill of the anthologies The Friend Who Got Away and Money Changes Everything. She is a co-founder and editor at large of Tin House, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and a frequent contributor to the New York Times Book Review. Her essays, articles, and stories have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies such as The Bitch in the House, The KGB Bar Reader, and The Mrs. Dalloway Reader. She teaches in the low-residency MFA program at Queens in Charlotte, North Carolina, and at Brooklyn College.

Helen Schulman (Fiction Writing Workshop) is the author of the novels This Beautiful Life, a New York Times Notable Book of 2011, A Day At The Beach, P.S., The Revisionist and Out Of Time, and the short story collection Not A Free Show. P.S. was also made into a feature film starring Laura Linney and was written by Helen Schulman & Dylan Kidd. She co-edited, along with Jill Bialosky, the anthology Wanting A Child. Her fiction and non-fiction have appeared in such places as Vanity Fair, Time, Vogue, GQ, The New York Times Book Review and The Paris Review. She is presently the Fiction Coordinator at The Writing Program at The New School where she is a tenured Associate Professor.

Irini Spanidou (Fiction Writing Workshop) is the author of three highly acclaimed novels: Fear, God’s Snake, and, most recently, Before. She has taught creative writing at New York University, Sarah Lawrence College and Brooklyn College. Her work has been translated into several languages, including her native Greek.

Darin Strauss (Fiction Craft Seminar) is the author of the international bestseller Chang and Eng, and the New York Times Notable Book The Real McCoy, one of the New York Public Library's "25 Books to Remember of 2002," the novel More Than it Hurts You and most recently the memoir Half a Life, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award. His work has been translated into fourteen languages, and he teaches writing at New York University, for which he won a 2005 "Outstanding Dozen" teaching award. Also a screenwriter, Darin sold the rights to Chang and Eng to Disney, and is currently adapting the novel for the screen with the actor Gary Oldman. Another screenplay on which he collaborated is in pre-production at Paramount Studios. Darin was awarded a 2006 Guggenheim Fellowship in fiction writing.

Chuck Wachtel (Fiction Craft Seminar) is the author of the novels Joe The Engineer, winner of the Pen/Ernest Hemingway Citation, The Gates, and 3/03, as well as a collection of stories and novellas: Because We Are Here. He has also published five collections of poems and short prose including The Coriolis Effect, and, most recently, What happens to Me. He has received grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts in both poetry and fiction, and in spring, 2011, 3/03 received the Mary Shelley Award for Outstanding Fictional Work. He has written the screenplay for Joe The Engineer, currently in development as a film. His short fiction, poems, essays and translations have appeared in numerous anthologies and periodicals both here and abroad. He lives in New York and teaches in the Creative Writing Program at NYU.

Joanna Yas (Director; Fiction Craft Seminar) has been the editor of Open City Books since 1999. Previously, she held positions at Ploughshares, Grand Street, and Zoetrope, and is a co-founder of Editrixie, an editorial services company. She has conducted panels, workshops, and seminars on publishing at a variety of universities, including The New School, Sarah Lawrence, Columbia, and is the Readings and Special Programs Manager at NYU.

Rachel Zucker (Poetry Writing Workshop) is the author of four books of poetry, most recently, Museum of Accidents, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Along with poet Arielle Greenberg, Zucker co-wrote Home/Birth: a poemic and co-edited two anthologies: Starting Today: 100 Poems for Obama’s First 100 Days and Women Poets on Mentorship: Efforts and Affections. She lives in New York with her husband and their three sons. In addition to teaching at NYU and the 92nd Street Y she is a certified labor doula and is studying to become a childbirth educator.

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PROGRAM DATES & COSTS

ON-CAMPUS HOUSING

CURRICULUM & SYLLABI

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

	John Murillo (Poetry Writing Workshop) is the author of the poetry collection Up Jump the Boogie, which was a finalist for both the 2011 Kate Tufts Discovery Award and the PEN Open Book Award, and was named by The Huffington Post as one of “Ten Recent Books of Poetry You Should Read Right Now.” A graduate of New York University's MFA program in creative writing, his other honors include a Pushcart Prize, two Larry Neal Writers Awards, and fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, Cave Canem Foundation, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts, the New York Times, and the Wisconsin Institute of Creative Writing. His work has appeared in such publications as Callaloo, Court Green, Ninth Letter, and Ploughshares, and is forthcoming in Angles of Ascent: A Norton Anthology of African-American Poetry. His choreo-play, Trigger, was commissioned by Edgeworks Dance Theater and premiered in spring 2011. A founding member of the poetry collective, The Symphony, he has taught at Cornell University, New York University, Columbia College Chicago, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Miami.
	Matthew Rohrer (Poetry Craft Seminar) is the author of A Hummock in the Malookas, Satellite, A Green Light, Rise Up, A Plate of Chicken, and Destroyer and Preserver. With Joshua Beckman he wrote Nice Hat. Thanks. and recorded the audio CD Adventures While Preaching the Gospel of Beauty. Octopus Books published his action/adventure chapbook-length poem They All Seemed Asleep in 2008. His poems have been widely anthologized and have appeared in many journals. He’s received the Hopwood Award for poetry and a Pushcart prize, was selected as a National Poetry Series winner, and was shortlisted for the Griffin International Poetry Prize.
	Saïd Sayrafiezadeh (Fiction Craft Seminar) is the author of the memoir When Skateboards Will Be Free, which was selected as one of the best books of 2009 by Dwight Garner of the New York Times. His short stories and essays have appeared in The Paris Review, The New Yorker, Granta, Open City, The New York Times, and other publications. He is the recipient of a 2010 Whiting Writers' Award.
	Elissa Schappell (Fiction Writing Workshop) is the author of two books of fiction, Blueprints for Building Better Girls and Use Me, a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award, and co-editor with Jenny Offill of the anthologies The Friend Who Got Away and Money Changes Everything. She is a co-founder and editor at large of Tin House, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and a frequent contributor to the New York Times Book Review. Her essays, articles, and stories have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies such as The Bitch in the House, The KGB Bar Reader, and The Mrs. Dalloway Reader. She teaches in the low-residency MFA program at Queens in Charlotte, North Carolina, and at Brooklyn College.
	Helen Schulman (Fiction Writing Workshop) is the author of the novels This Beautiful Life, a New York Times Notable Book of 2011, A Day At The Beach, P.S., The Revisionist and Out Of Time, and the short story collection Not A Free Show. P.S. was also made into a feature film starring Laura Linney and was written by Helen Schulman & Dylan Kidd. She co-edited, along with Jill Bialosky, the anthology Wanting A Child. Her fiction and non-fiction have appeared in such places as Vanity Fair, Time, Vogue, GQ, The New York Times Book Review and The Paris Review. She is presently the Fiction Coordinator at The Writing Program at The New School where she is a tenured Associate Professor.
	Irini Spanidou (Fiction Writing Workshop) is the author of three highly acclaimed novels: Fear, God’s Snake, and, most recently, Before. She has taught creative writing at New York University, Sarah Lawrence College and Brooklyn College. Her work has been translated into several languages, including her native Greek.
	Darin Strauss (Fiction Craft Seminar) is the author of the international bestseller Chang and Eng, and the New York Times Notable Book The Real McCoy, one of the New York Public Library's "25 Books to Remember of 2002," the novel More Than it Hurts You and most recently the memoir Half a Life, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award. His work has been translated into fourteen languages, and he teaches writing at New York University, for which he won a 2005 "Outstanding Dozen" teaching award. Also a screenwriter, Darin sold the rights to Chang and Eng to Disney, and is currently adapting the novel for the screen with the actor Gary Oldman. Another screenplay on which he collaborated is in pre-production at Paramount Studios. Darin was awarded a 2006 Guggenheim Fellowship in fiction writing.
	Chuck Wachtel (Fiction Craft Seminar) is the author of the novels Joe The Engineer, winner of the Pen/Ernest Hemingway Citation, The Gates, and 3/03, as well as a collection of stories and novellas: Because We Are Here. He has also published five collections of poems and short prose including The Coriolis Effect, and, most recently, What happens to Me. He has received grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts in both poetry and fiction, and in spring, 2011, 3/03 received the Mary Shelley Award for Outstanding Fictional Work. He has written the screenplay for Joe The Engineer, currently in development as a film. His short fiction, poems, essays and translations have appeared in numerous anthologies and periodicals both here and abroad. He lives in New York and teaches in the Creative Writing Program at NYU.
	Joanna Yas (Director; Fiction Craft Seminar) has been the editor of Open City Books since 1999. Previously, she held positions at Ploughshares, Grand Street, and Zoetrope, and is a co-founder of Editrixie, an editorial services company. She has conducted panels, workshops, and seminars on publishing at a variety of universities, including The New School, Sarah Lawrence, Columbia, and is the Readings and Special Programs Manager at NYU.
	Rachel Zucker (Poetry Writing Workshop) is the author of four books of poetry, most recently, Museum of Accidents, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Along with poet Arielle Greenberg, Zucker co-wrote Home/Birth: a poemic and co-edited two anthologies: Starting Today: 100 Poems for Obama’s First 100 Days and Women Poets on Mentorship: Efforts and Affections. She lives in New York with her husband and their three sons. In addition to teaching at NYU and the 92nd Street Y she is a certified labor doula and is studying to become a childbirth educator.