Crafting a Sense of Place

The cities and fields and oceans of our writing can be antagonists, love interests, M**der weapons, scorekeepers and heroes. In this generative 4-week course we’ll talk about the seven deadly sins of settings, shortcuts to spare background painting, how places are always *doing* and *becoming*, and how not to test your reader’s patience. We’ll learn how to activate place in our writing through a series of in-class prompts and critiques, and leave with a better sense of where we are now.

Open to writers of all levels and genres. This is a 4-week workshop, with a 1.5-hour session each week. Please prepare for approximately 1 hour of work between sessions.

This 4-week workshop meets on Wednesdays from 6:30-8:00pm at LitArts RI on the following dates:

Wed, Oct 2
Wed, Oct 9
Wed, Oct 16
Wed, Oct 23

About Your Teaching Artist

John Cotter (he/him) is the author of the memoir Losing Music (Milkweed, 2023) and the novel Under the Small Lights (Miami University Press, 2010). His essays and fiction have appeared in New England Review, Prairie Schooner, Epoch, Raritan, Guernica, The New York Times Magazine, The Georgia Review, and Electric Literature's Recommended Reading. He's been a resident fellow at SPACE gallery in Portland, ME, and the James Merrill House in Stonington, CT.

@thejohncotter, johncotter.net
Photo credit: Joanna Scott

H ealth Safety Guidelines

If you have tested positive for Covid-19 within a few days of attending an event at LitArts RI, please contact Staff so we can let others know of possible exposure. We ask that you wait 14 days or until testing negative to return to the Center.

Accessibility

LitArts RI is wheelchair accessible. The organization is actively committed to cultivating a community that values and reflects diversity, equity and inclusivity and to providing programming that is accessible to all attendees. Please let us know about any accommodations we can make to allow you to participate fully in this event.

Host or Publisher LitArts RI