Wilkes University announces community writing workshops

WILKES-BARRE — Wilkes University announced community writing workshops that will be open to adults of all ages weekly through April, under the auspices of the university’s Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative writing.

No prior writing experience is needed for the workshops, which are held online or in hybrid form. Cost is $100 per series.

• “Writing Pandemic Stories: A Narrative Medicine Workshop for Healthcare Professionals,” taught by Vicki Mayk online from 6:30 p.m. 8:30 p.m. on Tuesdays from March 22 to April 26. The workshop “encourages nurses, doctors, pharmacists and other health care workers to write their pandemic stories using the tools of narrative medicine, a field which values storytelling and listening as a means to promote healing, improve care and develop empathy for both caregivers and patients.”

• “The Writers’ Block: Writing in Community,” taught by Monique Franz, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays from Feb. 9 to March 16 or March 16 to April 27. “Participants will create a six-week writing goal for new work or work-in-progress and meet their goals with the support of peers and the instructor.”

• “Nonfiction Craft Essentials,” taught by Sara Pisak 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursdays from Feb. 10 to March 17. “Basic nonfiction craft elements will be addressed during this workshop that includes participants sharing their work and critiquing each other’s writings.”

• “Underrepresented: Expanding Cultural Schema Through Fiction,” taught by Monique Franz, 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturdays Feb. 19 and 26 or March 19 and 26. “Participants will use writing exercises to communicate diversity through fiction that captivates universal audiences and broadens cultural schema.”

• “Headlines of Your Life,” taught by Fran Reilly, 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesdays from March 1 to April 5. “Using tools from the journalist’s toolbox, participants will investigate and write their own life stories.”

• “Types of Nonfiction,” taught by Sara Pisak, 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursdays from March 24 to April 28. “Various types of nonfiction will be explored during this workshop including literary journalism, memoir and personal essay.”

• “Plot Twists (and How to Write Them),” taught by Megan Tidwell, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Saturdays from March 26 to April 30. “Participants will explore what makes a plot twist effective through the examination of their own work and through films that are famous for their twists.”

• “Playwriting: Finding Inspiration Through Improv,” taught by Juliette Dunn, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 2. “This workshop emphasizes the creative process by addressing basic improv skills and practicing improv to help generate ideas and write about those characters and ideas.”

• “Setting as Character: Craft a Setting Where Readers Get Lost in Story,” taught by Monique Franz, 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturdays April 2 and 9. “This course will provide new and intermediate writers with tools to enrich their writing through focus on setting with exercises that craft captivating landscapes to support tone, character and plot.”

Interested participants can get more information and register online at wilkes.edu/writingworkshops. Questions can be directed to patricia.naumann@wilkes.edu.