#Diana Norma Szokolyai

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Paris Retreat Scholarships Available

COME WRITE WITH US IN PARIS AS WE EXPLORE THE CITY OF LIGHT! Cambridge Writers’ Workshop is excited to announce our annual summer Paris Writing Retreat! The Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Paris Writing Retreat will be held from July 19-25, 2023 in the historic, literary Montparnasse neighborhood of Paris. Writers will reside at Hôtel du Midi Paris Montparnasse (4 Avenue René Coty, 14th Arr.,…

[diananorma]

Panelist: Exploring Romani Literature from Theory to Praxis, Critical Romani Studies

Panelist: Exploring Romani Literature from Theory to Praxis, Critical Romani Studies

Cover: Generational Trauma (2020). Image courtesy of Nicholas Alexander See Less I’m honored to announce that I’ll be a panelist for Central European University’s Critical Romani Studies journal, where two of my poems will be published in the forthcoming issue: Exploring Romani Literature from Theory to Praxis. It’s a public event, and all are welcome to come and learn about Romani literature.…

[staceyresnikoff]

“Writing in Paris” Resources for Writers (Boston Book Festival - BBF Unbound)

Voilà ! You’ve found the linkable resource list from the “Writing in Paris” BBF Unbound session at the 2017 Boston Book Festival. Explore your options to write in English in France:

Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Writing Retreats

https://cambridgewritersworkshop.org/summer-in-paris-writing-retreat-july-22-30-2015/

Based in Cambridge, CWW holds retreats in Paris and the French countryside, mixing classes, workshops, yoga, café writing, outings, and time with faculty. Artistic Director Diana Norma Szokolyai says the next Paris retreat will be July 25-30, 2018 with Rita Banerjee, Diana Norma, and two or three well-established authors as faculty. See the daily blog from the 2016 Barcelona and the South of France Retreat to get more background on their approach: https://cambridgewritersworkshop.org/2016/07/18/bienvenidos-a-barcelona-the-cww-barcelona-south-of-france-writing-retreat-day-1/ From the website: “The workshop is a forum for fostering communities of dedicated writers and encouraging creative expression in the literary arts.”

  L’ATELIER

http://www.latelierwriters.org/

Founded by three Emerson College MFA graduates, Laura McCune-Poplin, Michelle Bailat-Jones, and Sara Johnson Allen, L’ATELIER was designed to be an instructive and supportive writing community coming together for one week in the French countryside. The third annual retreat took place in early June 2017 at a former winemaking estate. From the website: “The space provides privacy for writing and also comfortable common areas with verandas, centuries-old stone staircases, gardens, hidden libraries, and a reserved meeting space for L'ATELIER craft sessions, meals, editing consultations, and seminars.” See the blog to understand the introspective and inspirational flavor of this annual retreat: http://www.latelierwriters.org/blog/

  WICE Paris

https://www.wice-paris.org/

From the WICE website: “WICE is one of the oldest Anglophone organizations in Paris. For more than 35 years, this non-profit association has been offering cultural and educational programs to the international and expat community in Paris. Day-to-day operations are supported by a dedicated group of volunteers, diverse in age and nationality.” WICE creative writing courses are offered year-round: www.wice-paris.org/creative-writing-literature with regular faculty including David Barnes (of SpokenWord) and Gretel Furner. Occasional CNF/memoir teacher Lise Funderburg http://www.lisefunderburg.com/ is highly recommended.

  Paris Writers Workshop (run by WICE)

http://www.wiceblog.org/2016/03/paris-writers-workshop-2016.html

Every other year, WICE holds its Paris Writers Workshop, which includes workshopping, manuscript consultations, panels, and sightseeing. There is no 2018 website yet, but see the link above and the write-up in Poets & Writers: https://www.pw.org/content/paris_writers_workshop

about 2016. More information from Dmitri at WICE: “I was on the organizing committee in 2016, and am head of the committee for PWW 2018. This is a week-long workshop typically in late June or early July. We run seminars in novel, short story, creative nonfiction and poetry. We've had some distinguished faculty, including Phillip Lopate, Lan Samantha Chang (who runs the Iowa Writing Workshop), and Ayana Mathis (author of The Twelve Tribes of Hattie).”

Paris Writing Workshop at the Paris American Academy

http://pariswritingworkshop.com

This is an intensive month-long workshop held each July in the Latin Quarter on the historic Rue Saint Jacques, close to Luxembourg Gardens. The program combines fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry through craft classes and workshops, as well as special sessions in screenwriting, travel writing, and reading one’s work to an audience. Rolf Potts runs the program. His 2018 co-instructors are: Major Jackson, Dinah Lenney, and Robin Wasserman. There can be guest lectures and soirées. Writers in the Fellows Program focus on specific writing projects while also leading peer workshops and literary walking tours. Applications and acceptances are rolling.

  Paris Writers Retreat

http://www.pariswritersretreat.com/

Wendy Goldman Rohm of Rohm Literary created this twice-yearly program with best-selling authors and literary agents to empower writers in both writing and publishing. The next retreat is May 28 - June 1, 2018. From the website: “Story and manuscript development come alive at this acclaimed, professional workshop for authors of fiction and nonfiction. We hold the Paris Writers Retreat twice a year at our private loft in the heart of Paris, in May and September. Develop your book, fine tune your manuscript, and perfect your writing in progress. Writers of all levels attend to generate new material, develop ideas, or shape their stories.” The schedule is posted here: http://www.pariswritersretreat.com/schedule.html

  Left Bank Writers Retreat

http://www.leftbankwritersworkshop.com/

This one-week program, June 10-15, 2018, offers daily morning workshops and afternoon literary-minded outings. Founder Darla Worden aims to steep participants in the methods and influences of iconic expat writers. Quote from Darla on the website: “I want to offer this experience to other writers who would like to write in the morning and see the sights of Paris in the afternoon — using their Parisian experiences as writing prompts in their work. We will explore Paris’s Left Bank where iconic writers like Hemingway, Joyce, and Fitzgerald lived and worked, as well as the great museums, parks and restaurants that inspired them.” (Details on 2017: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2017/01/prweb13985873.htm )

 American University of Paris (AUP)

https://www.aup.edu/academics/summer/creative-arts/creative-writing-institute

https://www.aup.edu/academics/summer/creative-arts

The AUP hosts both a Summer Creative Writing Institute and summer classes in Creative Arts, including Writing. Coursework is transferrable for credit at U.S. universities. Founded 55 years ago, the AUP describes itself as an “American-style university education” set in Paris. It’s located on the Left Bank in the 7th arrondissement along with icons such as the Eiffel Tower and Musée D’Orsay.

  Shakespeare & Company

https://shakespeareandcompany.com/

This bookstore/café/literary mecca close to Notre-Dame cathedral delivers the pulse of what’s happening in the Anglophone writing/reading community in Paris. Shakespeare & Company provides its library room free-of-charge to several writing programs and teachers (upcoming events listed here:  https://shakespeareandcompany.com/51/shakespeare-and-company/389/workshops ) and hosts not-to-be-missed, high-profile author readings. One of its most prestigious partners is the NYU low-residency MFA Writers Workshop in Paris (see next blurb). If you’re lucky, you might become a Tumbleweed, which is a guest of the bookstore, encouraged to write and read, and given a spot to sleep, in exchange for volunteer work at the shop: https://shakespeareandcompany.com/35/history/38/about-tumbleweeds

  NYU MFA Writers Workshop in Paris

http://as.nyu.edu/cwp/low-residency-mfa.html

Whether you are ready to pursue a rigorous MFA in creative writing or not, the presence of this NYU graduate program is a boon to English-speaking writers and readers in Paris. It hosts twice-yearly residencies with stellar faculty during January and July — faculty who often do public readings and discussions — providing a tremendous surge of energy for students of other Paris writing programs running concurrently. NYU MFA students meet in Paris for five intensive ten-day residences over two years and then work remotely under close faculty mentor supervision. Check out a sample calendar of the residency period: https://as.nyu.edu/content/dam/nyu-as/cwp/documents/Low-ResidencyMFAJuly2015Calendar.pdf

  Paris Lit Up

http://parislitup.com/

An independent, non-profit community arts organization, Paris Lit Up organizes a series of writing workshops, including the Paris Writers’ Group meetup hosted by Helen Cusack O’Keeffe (https://www.meetup.com/pariswriters/members/9573183/ ) and an application-based mini-residency (http://parislitup.com/writing-workshops/plu-mini-writing-residency/ ). PLU is also known for its Thursday open mic nights with featured writers at Culture Rapide bar in the 20th arrondissement of Paris (http://parislitup.com/paris-lit-up-open-mic/ ) and Paris Lit Up Magazine.

  Ivy Writers Paris

http://ivywritersparis.blogspot.com/

Ivy Writers Paris was founded by American writers Michelle Noteboom and Jennifer K. Dick. They offer bilingual poetry readings and literary lectures on the Left Bank. From the website: “Before the reading starts, we gather for a drink and chat with new friends and old alongside invited authors. After the reading, books can be purchased and signed and then everyone who wants to comes along for dinner. The reading is thus sandwiched between social space, allowing listeners to really get to know guest authors. Ivy gives you the opportunity to talk to the writers you love and to their publishers, as well as other authors, translators and aficionados of poetry in attendance.”

  SpokenWord Paris

https://spokenwordparis.org/author/db1066/

Directed by David Barnes, SpokenWord Paris hosts events for Anglophone writers. The Writers’ Group, organized and run by Bruce Sherfield, is its Sunday evening writing workshop, open to all, held at Shakespeare & Company. From the website: a “very down-to-earth, unpretentious feedback workshop running on a drop-in basis almost every weekend since February 2005.” (https://spokenwordparis.org/the-other-writers-group/ ). SpokenWord Paris also hosts a Monday night open mic in the 11th arrondissement at Au Chat Noir https://spokenwordparis.org/practical-info/ and publishes the literary magazine The Bastille.

 La Muse

http://lamuseretreat.com/

La Muse is just one of several pure retreats available to writers in the French countryside (just Google “French writing retreat” and you’ll find them). This one is in Labastide-Esparbairenque in the Occitanie region in southern France. It is run by writers Kelly Eielson and John Fanning, who left careers in publishing in NYC 15 years ago to found their enclave. In addition to a quiet room, here’s what guests can expect: http://lamuseretreat.com/retreats/what-we-do-each-retreat/.

  The Write Bank Children’s Book Workshop

http://www.maxineroseschur.com/about-the-write-bank.html  http://www.maxineroseschur.com/WriteBankFlyer.pdf

Maxine Rose Schur will host an intimate autumn 2018 writing course on children’s book writing for four to six participants, set in a rented Right Bank apartment. From the website: “Appropriate for both beginning and intermediate writers, The Write Bank Children’s Book workshop is a combination of lecture, discussion, readings, in-depth critiques and hands-on exercises. The focus is deeply personal: on your specific work and your current writing goal.”

  Erin Byrne

http://www.e-byrne.com/workshop.html

Travelers’ Tales author and Solas Awards-winner, Erin Byrne, plans to resume her eclectic writing workshop in April 2018 at Shakespeare & Company. From the website: “Our writing can be brightened with techniques, styles, and flourishes of other genres. During this two-session workshop, taught by author Erin Byrne, we will dip our pens into fiction, nonfiction, travel, memoir, film, poetry, and journalism to add vivid hues to our writing styles.”

  A few à la carte links:

https://www.meetup.com/topics/writing-workshops/fr/paris/

This list on Meetup.com features many writers and artists organizing their own Anglophone writing groups, literary communities, and readings in Paris.

  http://parisreadingsmonthlylisting.blogspot.fr/

A blog sharing writing and literary events by month, posted by Jennifer K. Dick of Ivy Writers.

 https://www.ceastudyabroad.com/#go-with-cea

About CEA from the website: “Since 1997, CEA has maintained one simple philosophy: To provide high-quality international academic programs and services.”

  This petite guide was created for the “Writing in Paris” BBF Unbound session at the Boston Book Festival, October 28, 2017, with panelists Marcia DeSanctis, Lauren Grodstein, and Stacey Resnikoff, and moderator Kelly MacFarland. Set at the French Cultural Center of Boston, it’s one of four events co-presented by the BBF, FCC, and Consulate General of France in Boston. For any future “Writing in Paris” updates, follow @staceyresnikoff on Twitter.

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Diana Norma Szokolyai Announced as Poet Laureate Finalist

Cambridge Writers’ Workshop co-Founder co-Director Diana Norma Szokolyai is a finalist for the Salem Poet Laureate. Diana Norma Szokolyai began her poetry journey while living in Paris, France and frequenting the Other Writers Workshop at Shakespeare & Co. Bookshop and Spoken Word Paris. She is an experienced educator, poet, editor, and community builder. Her works include Credo: An Anthology of…

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Disobedient Futures Anthology (ed. Rita Banerjee, Diana Norma Szokolyai, and Corrine Previte) Acquired by University Press of Kentucky

Editors Rita Banerjee, Diana Norma Szokolyai, and Corrine Previte are delighted to share that their new speculative literature anthology Disobedient Futures has been acquired by University Press of Kentucky! Banerjee, Szokolyai, and Previte are delighted to be working with Editor Abby Freeland and her team including Alice Fugate Brown at University Press of Kentucky. Here’s a bit more…

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Paris Day 1

Brainstorming our Credos. Dear Reader, Welcome back to our Paris Writing Retreat blog! Today, we began our classwork and attended two great classes. We began our day with a class titled “CREDO & Literary Salon” led by Rita Banerjee and Diana Norma Szokolyai. This class is based on Cambridge Writers’ Workshop first anthology CREDO which presents different types of “Credos” or “I believe”…

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Diana Norma Szokolyai Serving as a Panelist for 2023 WNBA Award

Cambridge Writers’ Workshop is excited to announced that Diana Norma Szokolyai will be serving as a panelist for the WNBA Award 2023. This award will be presented to GrubStreet founder Evie Bridburg on Friday June 2nd, 2023 at Porter Square Books located on 25 White Street, Cambridge, MA. The event will begin at 6:00 p.m. with a “networking hour.” The panel discussion and award presentation will…

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Cambridge Writers' Workshop Paris Writing Retreat Schedule and Class Descriptions

We are excited to announce our Paris Writing Retreat Schedule. Here are the course descriptions below: Surrealism in Paris and Beyond (with Diana Norma Szokolyai) In this class, we will look at the birth of the Surrealist Movement in Paris about 100 years ago and how it turned into an international artistic, intellectual and political movement. Sometimes, the best ideas come from conflict, and…

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CWW Cofounder/Artistic Director named Center for Art + Social Justice Fellow at Vermont College of Fine Arts

CWW Cofounder/Artistic Director named Center for Art + Social Justice Fellow at Vermont College of Fine Arts

https://vcfa.edu/center-for-arts…/center-fellowships/. About the fellowship, our Artistic Director says: “I am honored to accept the Center for Arts + Social Justice Fellowship from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, which will support my book of Romani poetry in translation. I am a first-generation American of Romani Hungarian heritage, and I am translating the work of Romani poets such as…

[diananorma]

CNF Piece "Walnuts, Dío" Published in Unlimited Literature about the magic of ritual gifting, traditions and gratitude.

CNF Piece “Walnuts, Dío” Published in Unlimited Literature about the magic of ritual gifting, traditions and gratitude.

Walnuts, Dió By Diana Norma Szokolyai Creative Nonfiction My grandmother, Mamuska, lives by the seasons. At the end of summer, she said over the phone that she would soon leave the River Körös, but that she would return in October, in time for the harvest. She harvests walnuts, dió. The walnut tree, diófa, that my grandfather, Papuska, planted. The source of the very dió stored in my pantry.…

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CWW Spring in New Orleans Writing Retreat (March 14-17) Classes Announced! Apply by February 28, 2019

CWW Spring in New Orleans Writing Retreat (March 14-17) Classes Announced! Apply by February 28, 2019

Apply to the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Spring in New Orleans (March 14-17, 2019) Writing Retreat by February 28, 2019 on cww.submmittable.com! Known for its Spanish and French architecture, live jazz, Cajun food, and street festivals, New Orleans offers an inspirational and one-of-a-kind experience for writers. Our retreat features multi-genre workshops, as well as craft seminars and…

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Disobedient Futures – Call for Speculative Lit. Submissions! The Cambridge Writers’ Workshop welcomes submissions of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, mixed-genre work, plays, and screenplays on the topic of…

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The morning of Thursday, July 26 began with a workshop led by CWW directors Rita Banerjee and Diana Norma Szokolyai. The workshop focused on CREDO: An Anthology Of Manifestos and Sourcebook for Creative Writing, which CWW released in May. The anthology creates a bridge from the philosophical to the practical, presenting a triad of creative writing manifestos, essays on the craft of writing, and creative writing exercises.

Following the workshop, instructors and participants had some writing time to work on their personal projects and gather inspiration while exploring the city.

That evening, Rita was the featured Reader at Paris Lit Up at Culture Rapide. Paris Lit Up is a non-profit community organization that aims to intensify collaborative artistic practices through community events, performance and publication. Rita read from her new poetry collection Echo in Four Beats (Finishing Line Press, March 2018) and CREDO (C&R Press, May 2018). She also shared excerpts from her new collection of essays on race, sex, politics, and everything cool, and her novel-in-progress about a Tamil-Jewish family in crisis during a post-authoritarian regime. 

Norma and several CWW participants also shared their work during the event as part of the open-mic portion of the event. The CWW has loved going to open-mic events in Paris in the past, and this evening was no exception.

With that, the second day came to a close, with everyone continuing to work on their projects and preparing for tomorrow’s workshops, where our guest faculty member Kathleen Spivack will start the day with her workshop, “Memory & Memoir.”

Summer in Paris 2018 Writing Retreat: Day Two The morning of Thursday, July 26 began with a workshop led by CWW directors Rita Banerjee…

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Livestream Event: CWW Institute of International Education Benefit Reading

Livestream Event: CWW Institute of International Education Benefit Reading

July 24, 2020 8:00pm—9:00pm on Facebook Live

ChagallPAC’s Fourth Friday Literary Salon Series & the Cambridge Writers Workshop present a livestream reading event to benefit the Institute of International Education (IIE) on July 24, 2020 at 8:00-9:00 p.m. In light of recent pressures against allowing international students to stay in the United States during COVID-19, we would like to…

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Juneteenth: A Statement in Support of Black Lives Matter

Juneteenth: A Statement in Support of Black Lives Matter

  Dear Writers and Readers, 

Today, is Juneteenth which marks the end of slavery in the United States. However we realize that systemic racism and inequality continue in the United States. We, at the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop, reject racism, prejudice and violence in all forms. We are heartbroken at the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many other…

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Cambridge Writers' Workshop Summer in Paris Retreat Schedule Announced

Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Summer in Paris Retreat Schedule Announced

The Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Summer in Paris Writing Retreat will take place from July 17-22, 2019.  Situated in heart of Paris’ Montparnasse neighborhood, amongst the fresh and popular open air markets and charming boutiques, the hotel stay is full of Parisian charm and our classes will take place in a beautiful Moroccan themed room that opens to a courtyard that can also be used by our…