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Spring 2023 Workshops Begin in April!
NOW ENROLLING
Register: https://tinyurl.com/Spring2023CWW
Inlandia Institute is offering new and ongoing writing workshops for spring quarter – plus one for summer! Explore prose, memoir, and more. Celebrate the vernal equinox with a springtime workshop – and watch your writing grow. The Inlandia community of writers awaits!
All workshops are free. Registration may be limited, enroll today.
No One Else Can Write Your Memoir! with Alaina Bixon
Zoom • Weekly: Wednesdays, 2:00-4:00 PM PT
Dates: 4/12, 4/19, 4/26, 5/3, and 5/10/23
To register: https://tinyurl.com/Spring2023CW
Participants will read excerpts from famous memoirs, which we will examine for structure, tone and craft. Each workshop session will include time for writing from prompts, and writers will share their work for feedback if they wish. We will practice editing and revision in the last two sessions.
Writers of all levels are welcome to join the workshops.
Alaina Bixon is a freelance writer, editor, and publisher based in Palm Springs, CA. Her MFA from UC Riverside is in Creative Nonfiction, and she writes personal essays. Alaina has led Inlandia Institute workshops on creative writing, food writing, and memoir. Her company, Tilton Bass Publishing, helps clients launch their books into the world. She has written and lectured on pseudoscience, women at MIT, food history, and New Age San Francisco gurus.
Writing for Children with José Chávez
Zoom (All Levels) • Alternating Mondays, 6:00-8:00 PM PT
Dates: 4/10, 4/24, 5/8, 5/22, and 6/5/23
To register: https://tinyurl.com/Spring2023CW
This workshop is designed to meet the needs of those who wish to write or are writing for children. We’ll explore the writing voice for children, define a “picture book,” story arc, story introductions, appropriate vocabulary, children’s poetry, and more. There will be time to flex our writing muscles and develop the beauty and strength of our “voice” for children.
José Chávez is a retired bilingual teacher and dedicates his life to writing. He’s had poetry published in the Multilingual Educator Journal, Acentos Review, Inlandia Anthology and has written two award-winning bilingual poetry books for children. He lives in Riverside, CA, is married, and has three grown children.
All Genres Workshop with Victoria Waddle
Zoom (Intermediate-Advanced) • Alternating Wednesdays, 6:00-9:00 PM PT
Dates: 4/12, 4/26, 5/10, 5/24, and 6/7/23
To register: https://tinyurl.com/Spring2023CWW
In this multi-genre workshop, participants submit poetry and prose for biweekly critiques and receive feedback from other group members. Discussions include the craft of writing and the challenges writers face. The workshop leader provides biweekly articles and links related to participants’ work, particularly to problems that were discussed in the previous session.
Victoria Waddle is a Pushcart Prize-nominated writer, with fiction and nonfiction published in literary journals and anthologies, including in Best Short Stories from The Saturday Evening Post Great American Fiction Contest. A collection of her short fiction, Acts of Contrition, was published by Los Nietos Press. Her chapbook The Mortality of Dogs and Humans is upcoming from Bamboo Dart Press in February 2023. Previously the managing editor of Inlandia: A Literary Journey, she helped to establish a yearly teen issue. In a previous life, she was a high school English teacher and librarian.
How to Get Started Writing When You Don’t Know Where to Start with Renee Gurley
Zoom (Beginners Only) • Alternating Saturdays, 10:00 AM-12:00 PM PT
Dates: 4/15, 4/29, 5/13, 5/27, and 6/10/23
To register: https://tinyurl.com/Spring2023CWW
Do you want to start writing, but don’t know how to get started? In this course, Renee Gurley shows you how to get your thoughts down on paper — and then grow from there. Learn the basics of:
- Creating Structure
- Language Use
- Point of View
- Journaling, memoir, stories, and more
“How to Get Started Writing When You Don’t Know Where to Start” gives you concrete tools to help you become the writer you’ve always wanted to be. It’s a fun and exciting class for all aspiring writers!
Renee Gurley, MA, MFA, is a writer and English teacher with over 20 years of experience with words, whose works have appeared in Coping Magazine, Lehigh Valley Woman’ s Journal, and Budget Press.
Poetry for Young Adults with Cait Johnson
Zoom (18 +, College Students, Graduates, Young Adults)
Alternating Wednesdays, 6:30-8:30 PM PT
Dates: 4/19, 5/3, 5/17, 5/31, and 6/14/23
To register: https://tinyurl.com/Spring2023CWW
This poetry workshop is aimed to support young writers in refining their poetry for publication through a feedback-based workshop setting. Community care and trusted feedback will be fostered in a welcoming environment. Each session will create a space in which participants can relate to each other’s unique experiences as young writers. The authenticity of the writers’ work will be emphasized in a free, non-competitive setting.
Cait Johnson is a poetry and nonfiction writer with a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing from CSULB. She credits much of her writing growth to leading and participating in writing workshops over the last 5 years. Workshops helped Cait build the confidence to share her work with the public. Cait’s poetry has been published by Picture Show Press, Left Coast Review, and Literary Alchemy Press. She has also created two zines of original poetry and serves as a co-founder and editor of Art of Nothing, an annual zine that showcases up-and-coming young artists.
Does it Make Cents? The Business of Writing with James Coats
Zoom (All Levels) • Alternating Mondays, 6:30-8:30 PM PT
Dates: 4/17, 5/1, 5/15, 5/29, and 6/12/23
To register: https://tinyurl.com/Spring2023CWW
In partnership with Inlandia Institute & Lift Our Voices Education
In this 5-session professional development workshop for writers, attendees will learn about the business of being a writer, the professional expectations, how to create their own opportunities, where to find funding or events, brand development, community resources and much more. If you are a writer interested in turning your words into more dollars this workshop is for you.
James Coats is an author, poet, and educator born in Los Angeles and raised in the Inland Empire. He received his BFA from Cal Poly Pomona and his MBA from Cal State San Bernardino. As a creative change agent, he believes the arts can inspire youth and influence positive change in the world. His first poetry collection, If I had Lived,was published in 2018. In 2021, he founded Lift Our Voices Education, which hosts the monthly “Be The Change: Social Justice Writing Workshop.” His newest poetry collection, Midnight & Mad Dreams, is published by World Stage Press. Follow him on Instagram @MrLovingWords.
All Genres Workshop with Allyson Jeffredo
Zoom: (All Levels) • Alternating Fridays, 4:00-6:00 PM PT
Dates: 5/12, 5/26, 6/9, 6/23, and 7/7/23
Registration is limited to 12 participants.
To register: https://tinyurl.com/Spring2023CWW
In this multi-genre workshop, participants receive bi-weekly inspiration in the form of both poetry and prose. Prompts inspire writing in the genre of your choice. Class discussions include the craft of writing and the challenges writers face in generating poetry, memoir, and short and long fiction.
Allyson Jeffredo is a poet, writer, and educator from the Coachella Valley. Learn more about her and her work at www.allysonjeffredo.com.
Celena’s Scribes with Wil Clarke
Zoom: (All Levels) • Weekly: Tuesdays, 11:30 AM-1:00 PM PT
Workshops resume Tuesday, April 11, 2023.
To register: https://tinyurl.com/Spring2023CWW
Named in honor of beloved workshop leader CelenaDiana Bumpus, participants are encouraged to write from a prompt and share their work, with friendly critiques offered by workshop members. All genres are welcome to be explored. Enrollment is limited.
Wil Clarke tolerates writing, but loves having written. He was born and spent 27 years of his life in Africa. He misses the guidance and wisdom of Celena Bumpus and is attempting to keep her legacy alive in her former students through Celena’s Scribes.
All Genres Workshop with Mae Wagner Marinello
Weekly: Thursdays, 11:00 AM-1:00 PM
In Person (All Levels)
Redlands Community Center
111 W. Lugonia Ave, Redlands, Ongoing.
(A Zoom option may be available; contact Inlandia for details.)
To register: https://tinyurl.com/Spring2023CWW
This ongoing writing workshop meets weekly at Redlands Community Center. Memoir writing, poetry, fiction, and nonfiction writing are all encouraged and welcome. Discover the pure joy of writing and creating with others in a supportive environment.
Mae Wagner Marinello has been a part of Inlandia since a 2008 writing workshop with Ruth Nolan. In 2014, she began facilitating a weekly writing workshop called Joslyn Joy Writers, at the Joslyn Senior Center in Redlands. During the pandemic lockdown, the weekly workshop continued on Zoom; it is now a hybrid class averaging between 10-20 combined participants on Zoom and in-person.
Summer Memoir Workshop: Writing Your Life Story with Rose Y. Monge
Weekly: Mondays, 1:00-3:00 PM
In Person (All levels) • Class size limited
Janet Goeske Center (Art Room)
5257 Sierra Street, Riverside
Dates: 6/12, 6/19, 6/26, 7/10, 7/17, and 7/24/23 (No meeting July 3.)
To register: https://tinyurl.com/Spring2023CWW
Writers are encouraged to respond to prompts about universal themes related to the human condition: key relationships, physical places, historic events, personal hardships/recovery, love and loss, and personal achievement and development. It is these ties that bind us all in different stages of our lives. Each of us brings a unique perspective to every story. Maybe it’s time to write yours. Space is limited.
