Workshops and Classes

As a writer, how do you sift through all of the noise to find feedback that resonates? As a reader, how do you provide feedback that matters? Authors and writing partners for fifteen years, Bren McClain (author of One Good Mama Bone) and J.C. Sasser (author of Gradle Bird) will discuss the give and take of a successful critiquing partnership, what makes it work, and what makes it sustainable and helpful over time. They'll share their own story and offer you ways to attract and [...]

We are each born with unique gifts. As a result, we have individual opportunities and responsibilities to share our gifts with others in meaningful ways. Learning to recognize and nurture one’s idiosyncratic talents can lead to a lifetime of inspiration and focused creativity in writing or other arts. Join River Journey Life Guide Susan Madison in this engaging workshop that will explore the inherent connectivity between creativity and purpose to help you tap your inner creative genius and give you the tools you’ve been searching [...]

“Well, if I’m Athena, you’re my Apollo—the god of poetry, truth, and music. Your natural language is poetry. You write sentences that are like an incantation. You observe every nuance of human behavior and dig deep down to the truth, presenting it in all its glorious and stubborn complexity.”—Barbra Streisand, letter to Pat Conroy (2015) According to Pat Conroy, “the most powerful words in English are ‘Tell me a story.’” But to tell a story most powerfully, most memorably, he well understood that we need [...]

Have you ever thought about writing a children’s book? Or illustrating one? How hard can it be to create a successful 32-page picture book? Let’s find out. Join children’s book author and artist (and Pat Conroy’s daughter) Melissa Conroy as she shares instructive stories from her own paths to publication and discusses the children’s book market as she was experienced as both the author and artist of Poppy’s Pants and also the author of Grandma Is an Author. Open to interested creators at any level [...]

Finding time for writing is a challenge for many, so let’s learn to make the most of limited time through being better organized for creativity. This class offers productivity advice and tools on how to get started and keep going for maximum creative flow and minimum technical frustration. Novelist and writing teacher and consultant Stephanie Austin Edwards will guide participants through making and maintaining a writing schedule; organizing documents and files for consistent easy access; formatting work for submission to editors, agents, and publishers; discussing [...]

You’ve written a book! Now what? Rockelle Henderson, a New York publishing insider and founder of the Bluffton Book Festival will outline the steps toward publishing successfully among today’s many options. This workshop will teach writers how to position their books for the appropriate target audience by first understanding and committing to that audience. The class offers insight into what it really means to be published in a market in which publication can take an increasing number of forms, and how marketing and distribution play [...]

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a globetrotting travel journalist—or what it takes to become one? Travel journalists Lynn and Cele Seldon (www.seldonink.com) have the answers. With more than 45 years of experience between them, the Seldons travel the globe and average more than 100 feature articles annually for a wide variety of publications

You already have all the answers to the questions that arise on your life’s path. Does hearing this make your eyes roll…especially when you’re trying to answer one of those seemingly unsolvable questions on the road to emotional, mental and spiritual growth?

Finding time for writing is a challenge for many, so let’s learn to make the most of limited time through being better organized for creativity. This class offers productivity advice and tools on how to get started and keep going for maximum creative flow and minimum technical frustration.

Innovative changes in publishing options available to authors and would-be authors make this an exciting time to be a writer and a reader. The self-publishing industry offers independent writers the opportunity to retain creative control and rights to their work.

Join caterer and cookbook author Debbi Covington for a gourmet boxed luncheon and cooking demonstration featuring some of her favorite lowcountry recipes. You’ll get to sample some southern oldies-but-goodies with new twists, be privy to easy shortcut secrets...

"The strands are all there: to the memory nothing is ever really lost," Eudora Welty says, and memoir writing is a great way to discover and explore some of the strands in the rich tapestry of memory we all carry. These two sessions will introduce you to the process of writing memoir by focusing on an important person or moment in your life.

Chris Offutt has written screenplays for the award-winning cable TV series True Blood, Treme, and Weeds. Offutt’s Screenwriting Basics workshop offers participants an overview of the skills necessary to write a successful screenplay for TV or film. Topics will include (but are not limited to): software and formatting, techniques for using...

Here’s the deal: Any one thing contains its opposite. It’s true of characters, too. No one is all good or all bad. All weak or all strong. I got this expression from Pulitzer-Prize winning author Rick Bragg, who used it in an interview about his biography of rock n’ roller...

Learn how Pat Conroy became a book collector and what you need to know to become one too. Immortalized in Conroy’s My Reading Life, Cliff Graubart of the Old New York Book Shop treats you to the ins and outs of collecting, how to spot a first edition, and the pitfalls to avoid when...

"The strands are all there: to the memory nothing is ever really lost," Eudora Welty says, and memoir writing is a great way to discover and explore some of the strands in the rich tapestry of memory we all carry. These two sessions will introduce you to the process of writing memoir by focusing on an important person or moment in your life.

Thursday, 10/31, to Sunday, 11/3, Old Bay Marketplace (917 Bay St., Beaufort). Workshops led by Amber Wheeler Bacon, Megan Mayhew Bergman, Stephanie Austin Edwards, Jon Pineda, Dana Ridenour, Jason Ryan, and Cassie Primo Steele. Pre-registration required...