Back to All Events

5 Weeks, 5 Flashes: Versatility in the Short-Short

A 5 Week Fiction, Nonfiction and Poetry Workshop

Tuesdays, May 16th-June 13th

ALL LEVELS

Flash has impressive range. It’s able to provide a deep drop or span broad narrative— or to spiral outward in inquiry. In this workshop we’ll examine work by Ana María Shua, Roxane Gay, George Saunders, Brenda Miller, Gregory Pardlo, and Anton Chekhov, among others, to see how they maximize the strengths of the short-short form. Each session will contain instructional and generative elements. Participants will create five prompt-based flashes, experimenting with voice, breadth, and structure (including fractured narrative and the braid). The group will have the chance to share work and to receive feedback from the instructor. We’ll talk too about markets— what’s hot now and where to submit. Fiction writers and memoirists, poets, journalists: all welcome. Prior experience in short-short forms is helpful but not required. 

 + PLEASE NOTE This workshop will occur online via Zoom. Students do not need to create an account to participate, but should test out Zoom before their class if they are first-time users. On Thursday, May 11th from 5:30pm to 6:00pm, MWPA staff will offer a tech help session on Zoom. Students are encouraged to attend the tech help session, which usually takes only 5-10 minutes, if they have any tech concerns, use Zoom infrequently, or simply would like to test their connection, and those who do not are responsible for ensuring that they are able to use Zoom on their own. The week of the workshop, students will be emailed a link that they may click to enter the test session and the class.

+ REQUIRED EQUIPMENT A reliable, fast internet connection (broadband wired or wireless (3G or 4G/LTE), speakers & a microphone (built-in or USB plug-in), and a webcam (built-in or USB plug-in).

If you would like to quickly and easily test your internet connection and your computer’s compatibility with Zoom, click HERE. Full details on supported Operating Systems, internet browsers, and more can be found HERE. To download and familiarize yourself with Zoom, click HERE.


CB Anderson is a cross-genre writer whose work has appeared in The Iowa Review, Flash Fiction Forward (W.W. Norton), Pleiades, Boston Magazine, Fourth Genre, Brevity, North American Review, and elsewhere. Her story collection River Talk was a Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2014, and her nonfiction Home Now was included in The New Yorker’s “Briefly Noted” (Dec 2019). Anderson is winner of the Crazyhorse Fiction Prize and the New Millennium Award, and her work has twice been named as Notable in The Best American Essays (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). She lives with her family in Maine and Massachusetts, teaches writing at Boston University, and offers workshops across the U.S.

 


ADVANCE REGISTRATION REQUIRED
All MWPA workshops require advanced registration. We accept registration by phone, mail, and online via our website. We cannot guarantee registration in the final 24-hours before a workshop, and can rarely accommodate day-of registration.

PAYMENT & CANCELLATION POLICIES
If you need to withdraw from a class after registering for any reason, please email or call the MWPA immediately. You may be eligible for a partial refund or credit, depending on how far in advance you cancel. → MORE INFORMATION

QUESTIONS
For any questions regarding this workshop, please contact Meghan Sterling at programs@mainewriters.org.

REGISTER BY PHONE
Call 207-228-8263 and register with your VISA or MasterCard.


$245 members / $450 Nonmembers


REGISTER BY MAIL
If you prefer to pay by mail, please print this registration form (downloadable PDF) and mail it to the MWPA with a check or credit card information.

SCHOLARSHIP
The MWPA is proud to offer one partial scholarship to this workshop for members-only. Scholarships are awarded on a combination of need and merit. The scholarship spot has been filled.
→ MORE INFORMATION

MWPA WORKSHOP POLICIES
Registration in any MWPA workshop, program, or event constitutes your agreement to our terms and conditions. → MORE INFORMATION