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craig holden craigholden.com |
| Hi all: I just received an invitation I wanted to share with you. My good friend, the writer and essayist, Joyce Maynard, has invited me to teach this summer at the week-long writers' workshop and retreat she holds in San Marcos La Laguna, Guatemala, and has also invited me to recruit some students as well. I've posted links below to Joyce's website and also to a recent New York Times article about Joyce's fabulous house there on Lake Atitlan. Joyce has worked in a number of areas and forms, beginning with her ground-breaking essay in 1972, An Eighteen Year Old Looks Back at Life, which got the cover of the New York Times Magazine. The piece not only launched her career, it piqued the interest of J.D. Salinger, with whom she began a relationship that lasted nearly a year -- and which was later detailed in her wonderful memoir At Home In The World (1999). Joyce has published 5 novels, including To Die For, which became the classic 1995 Nicole Kidman film (Joyce plays the part of the defense lawyer near the end). Joyce has also worked as a NY Times reporter, a syndicated columnist and a storyteller. And most importantly in this regard she is a talented and deeply generous teacher of writers. I had the privilege of teaching with Joyce at the Walloon Writers Retreat in northern Michigan for several years running, and never failed to be mesmerized by her enthusiasm and insight. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyce_Maynard) I hear too that her pies are to die for, though I've yet to have the pleasure. Also teaching at the retreat will be the novelist and essayist Ann Hood (http://joycemaynard.com/writing-workshops/bio-hood.html). The workshop runs from July 6 - 13, with the possibility of some extra days thrown in. But rather than me going on about it, take a look at the links below describing the course, the area, etc. Beyond being a great retreat and workshop, I think it just sounds like a fabulous trip -- swimming in the volcanic lake, hiking, cheap massages, great food. And, Joyce tells me, the tantalizing prospect of buying real Cuban cigars. I know from the retreats I've done in northern Michigan what effect a week in a beautiful isolated environment with other writers can have. Doors seem to open. Time is already getting short so please let me know if you're at all interested. I'll send you a PDF of much more detailed (almost 3o page) description of the course, and answer any other questions you might have. And of course I will appreciate it if you would mention this to anyone else you know who might be interested. Craig http://joycemaynard.com/writing-workshops/lake-atitlan.shtml http://joycemaynard.com/home.shtml http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/03/28/travel/escapes/28Away.html?scp=2&sq=joyce+maynard&st=nyt Email Craig Holden |