From time to time over the last decade in my role as director and writer-in-residence of the Attic Writers' Workshop, I've used this newsletter to connect with you on a personal level -- one writer reaching out to other individual writers with a similar passion for the written word and a commitment to literary culture.
While the Attic community, and the workshops we host, provide Portland's writers with a degree of literary companionship, we are always trying to find new ways for the Attic to offer even more. That is why I'm so pleased to make an announcement that I hope will have a lasting impact on the literary life of this city -- the debut of the Attic Atheneum, a low-residency, 11-month master writing certificate program.
Whys & Wherefores
As you might imagine, each year a handful of Attic students ask for advice from instructors about attending a low-residency or traditional MFA program in creative writing. I remind you that I possess an MFA degree and also teach in a low-residency MFA program at Pacific Lutheran University. And so I think MFA study is just fine. At their best, such programs offer an opportunity to focus deeply on your work as a writer and artist (though, admittedly, at their worst they can feel a bit like a pyramid scheme).
But even for those who desire to make writing central to their creative lives, a graduate program within a university framework is not for everyone. A traditional MFA program often requires you to pack up your family and move to a new town or city. And, for many, the cost for a low-residency MFA program can be prohibitive (some programs can top $12,000 a year).
So, over the years, I've considered how the Attic might invent an alternative to the MFA that can provide the same depth of instruction while also helping to reinforce and catalyze new literary activity in Portland. I have long thought that such a program can't just duplicate the MFA model -- nor can it stray from the Attic experience of inspiration and motivation that our workshops have come to embody.
But now (to paraphrase Professor Henry Higgins) I think I've finally got it!
The Attic Atheneum--a new way to MFA
We call it the Attic Atheneum, and we hope you'll agree with us that it is an innovative and intimate alternative to the traditional low-residency MFA -- or even a regular MFA. We've named it in the spirit of the first Atheneum, founded in ancient Rome during the rule of Emperor Hadrian, and all of its heirs, Atheneums from Boston to Bucharest to Melbourne that have focused on the pursuit of learning, association, and community.
Our Atheneum includes a 2-to-1 ratio of students to faculty and 11 months of study as a writer and imaginative thinker. It's specifically designed as an experience for writers who want both quiet independence and ongoing community at the heart of their literary lives.
With no more than a dozen writers accepted into each year's Atheneum class (4 each in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry), writers work one-on-one with select faculty, as well as participate in quarterly Atheneum gatherings, meetings, and receptions created around good food and great conversation, dialogue, and literary engagement.
The Atheneum gatherings include students, faculty, and invited guests -- such as visiting writers, editors, agents, and creative thinkers from multiple disciplines. Each quarter brings a new theme -- with everyone in the Atheneum assigned the same books to read, music to listen to, philosophical question to ponder, art to consider, scientific inquiry to examine, political ideas to cogitate, or films to watch -- so that the Atheneum gatherings are an occasion for wide-ranging, multi-disciplinary, and cross-fertizlizing discussion and conversation. All of it meant to stimulate ideas and excitement about your writing projects and ambitions. Faculty signed up to lead the Atheneum class of 2011 include myself, Paulann Petersen, Karen Karbo, Merridawn Duckler, and G. Xavier Robillard. We'll be naming one more non-fiction faculty soon.
Our pledge to Atheneum students
Writers who participate in the Atheneum join a literary community and receive:
1) monthly one-on-one mentorship with an outstanding teacher and writer,
2) access to a team of fellow Atheneum writers in your genre,
3) ongoing association with that year's Atheneum class and future alumni,
4) the relationship of outstanding writers dedicated to individual excellence and engagement with the broader literary community.
Plus, the Atheneum costs a fraction of what most low-residency MFA programs charge.
We are now accepting applications for the Atheneum class of 2011.
The first Atheneum begins in July 2010 and concludes with a 3-day urban retreat in Portland in June 2011.
The deadline to apply is April 24
If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail us directly.
All best and good luck with your writing,
David Biespiel
Director & Writer-in-Residence