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Writing Disaster: Creative Responses to a World Plagued by Fire, Famine, and Flood

  • Mechanics' Hall 519 Congress Street Portland, ME (map)

A 1-Day Writing Workshop

Saturday, March 29, 1 - 4 PM

How can we use our stories, poems, and essays to engage with and reflect upon the disasters of our time? How can we write through the grief and find hope? How do we ethically bare witness to the troubles of our world? This generative multigenre workshop will ask participants to write their way through these challenges and build stories that connect, illuminate, and deepen our understanding of disasters and the human response to them.

$90 Members/$135 Nonmembers


Shana Youngdahl is a poet, professor, and fiction writer. An award-winning educator, Shana loves helping people of all ages embrace the stories they need to tell and is lucky enough to do this for her work as Associate Professor of Writing in the MFA program at Lindenwood University. The author of two full-length poetry collections and several chapbooks, her debut novel for teens As Many Nows As I Can Get, was a 2020 ALA RISE title, a Kirkus Best Book of 2019, and a New York Public Library top-ten book of 2019 (Dial/Penguin Teen). Her second novel A Catalog of Burnt Objects (Dial/PenguinTeen) is due out March 18, 2025 and was inspired by the destruction of her hometown, Paradise, California in 2018’s Camp Fire. Connect with her online at  www.shanayoungdahl.com, Instagram and Substack @shanayoungdahl 


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 programs@mainewriters.org.

REGISTER BY PHONE
Call 207-200-7180 and register with your VISA or MasterCard.

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. Application Due by October 1 at 9:00 a.m.
→ MORE INFORMATION

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

Earlier Event: March 8
The Pulse of the Story