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The Sun in California
Into the Fire: The Sun Celebrates Personal Writing
Esalen Institute, Big Sur, California
October 26 – October 28, 2012
Program Description
Into the Fire
The Sun Celebrates Personal Writing
To write about ourselves in a way that touches others and reminds them of our fundamental connectedness we must be willing to take a leap — with all our passion, fear, and longing — into the fire.
Since 1974 The Sun has published the kind of brave, revealing writing that lives up to the magazine’s motto, a line from concentration-camp survivor Viktor Frankl: “What is to give light must endure burning.” We invite you to join Sun readers, authors, and staff — including editor and publisher Sy Safransky — for a weekend of investigating our lives through the written word. The Sun will come to life in a retreat that mirrors the magazine’s format. We’ll discuss essays, fiction, and poems with their authors, who will lead exercises geared to bring forth similar elements in your own writing. Readers Write–style writing sessions will help get your pen moving. (You don’t have to be a writer to attend. We create a space in which people can tell their stories from the heart.) The weekend will conclude with Sy Safransky reading from his Notebook.
Of course, the best part of a Sun gathering is getting to meet everyone: staff, writers, and other people who love the magazine and share its compassionate, unflinching view of the world. We hope you’ll join us.
Authors Scheduled To Appear
Doug Crandell is the author of four novels: The Flawless Skin of Ugly People, Hairdos of the Mildly Depressed, The Peculiar Boars of Malloy, and the forthcoming They’re Calling You Home, due out in May 2012. He has also published two memoirs, Pig Boy’s Wicked Bird and The All-American Industrial Motel, which detail his family’s struggles with mental illness and addiction. He works for the University of Georgia at the Institute on Human Development and Disability and lives on a small farm outside of Atlanta, where he and his wife host literary retreats.
Tony Hoagland has published four collections of poems, the most recent of which are Unincorporated Persons in the Late Honda Dynasty and What Narcissism Means to Me. His recognitions include the Jackson Poetry Prize, the O.B. Hardisson Award for teaching, the James Laughlin Award, the Brittingham Prize, and the Mark Twain Award for humor in American poetry. His essays about poets and poetry appear widely, and Graywolf Press has published a book of them titled Real Sofistakashun. He teaches in the writing program at the University of Houston.
Gillian Kendall has been an avid, not to say addicted, reader of The Sun since 1991. One of her first short stories was published in the magazine, and she now considers The Sun her closest intellectual companion and literary home. She has no identifiable geographic home but divides her time between the U.S. and the UK, while 99 percent of her possessions and a sizable chunk of her heart remain in Melbourne, Australia. She’s co-author, with Mark O’Brien, of How I Became a Human Being, author of the memoir Mr. Ding’s Chicken Feet, and editor of the anthology Something to Declare. Her business cards say, “Writer and adventurer for hire,” and her rates are reasonable.
Frances Lefkowitz is the author of To Have Not, a memoir of growing up poor in San Francisco in the 1970s. Former Senior Editor of Body+Soul magazine (now Whole Living), she’s currently the book reviewer for Good Housekeeping and a freelance writer and editor. Her articles, essays, and stories have appeared in Health, Utne Reader, Glimmer Train Stories, Poets & Writers, and elsewhere. She has received two honorable mentions for the Pushcart Prize and one for Best American Essays. She lives in Northern California and enjoys surfing, speaking Spanish, and teaching writing workshops.
Alison Luterman is a poet, essayist, and playwright who grew up outside of Boston but has lived in California for more than twenty years. She has published two volumes of poetry, The Largest Possible Life and See How We Almost Fly, and her personal essays have appeared in The New York Times, More, and the L.A. Review. She also teaches creative writing through the Writing Salon and performs with the improvisational group Wing It! She claims no special talent other than dogged persistence.
Sy Safransky is editor and publisher of The Sun.
Sparrow lives in a doublewide trailer in Phoenicia, New York, with his wife, Violet Snow. Their daughter Sylvia is at Bard College, becoming a philosopher. Sparrow has numerous obsessive daily exercises, such as leg lifts and reading the Book of Ecclesiastes in Hebrew. He is also teaching himself to be a master chef, specializing in South Asian fusion cuisine. When cornered at a party, Sparrow gives his occupation as “small-time journalist.” He also composes bumper stickers, his most successful being the rural classic: “I’ve Been Fishing So Long, My Worm Gets Social Security.”
Schedule of Events
Note: Schedule is subject to change.
Friday
Dinner, 6 pm
Orientation for first-time Esalen visitors, 7:45 pm
Opening Session, Leonard Pavilion, 8:30–10:30 pm
Welcome and Orientation
Contributors’ Notes (introductions, please see what to bring)
Author Reading
Breakfast, 8:30–9:45 am
Workshop Session I, 10 am–noon
(Choose one of the following)
The Power of “I” |
In personal essays and memoir, point of view is critical. Writing in an engaged first-person voice assures the reader that the narrative arc is happening to the author and not just to some interested bystander. Doug will use his essay “Not Suitable for Children” [July 2011] to illustrate the difference, and participants will craft pieces that focus on strong first-person narrators. |
The Complicitous Speaker |
The question in writing poems is always “How can I do justice to the complexity of life and not oversimplify human nature?” One answer is to include a less controlled, and less flattering, report from the frontier of the psyche. Tony will use his poems “Adam and Eve” [May 2000] and “Wasp” [December 2009] to exemplify this aspect of craft. In exercises, participants will experiment with writing out of a voice (their own) that admits or betrays fault as part of the poem’s “plot.” |
Secret Writers’ Business |
Some stories result from hard work and planning, but others, like “Sleepwalking to My Sister” [February 1995], appear organically, even mystically. This workshop offers a chance for willing writers to sacrifice control, ego, and organization and enter a hot creative foundry. Warning: you may get burnt, or at least ashy. |
Taming the Big Moment |
A major epiphany can be daunting to write about. Drawing from her essay “Go Fly a Kite” [February 2010], Frances will discuss ways to approach, understand, and convey the momentous, even mythological, events of our lives. Writing exercises will help us break these experiences down into manageable pieces and palpable details. |
What about God? |
This workshop will look at how poets approach the ineffable. How do you speak of God, or whatever you call it, without sounding overly earnest, preachy, or abstract? What if you don't know what you believe and yet you feel something that you would describe as holy? Using her poem “What About God” [June 2010] and the sacred poetry of others, Alison will help participants find authentic ways to talk about the mystery at the center of their lives. |
How to Write a Letter |
Everyone loves to receive letters. They are paper gifts, and also potential essays. Sparrow has written several Sun pieces in the form of letters, including “Letters to My Friends” [March 1998], and will show how to employ this intimate technique. |
Lunch, 12:30–1:45 pm
Readers Write, 2:00–3:30 pm
(or time on your own)
Workshop Session II, 4–6 pm
(Choose one of the following)
Bringing Time to Life |
A sense of chronology, whether it’s moment by moment or spanning weeks, months, or even years, is essential to narration. Doug will focus on his memoir “Foreclosure” [July 2008] to highlight how to slow or speed the passing of time. Participants will work on how to reflect the movement of time in their own writing. |
The Erratic, Mercurial Voice |
A poetic voice makes itself convincing, credible, and “reliable” through changing its mind on the page. As the human mind is constantly changing direction, breaking its own continuity and contradicting itself, so the poem exemplifies this “nervousness” and ambivalence. Tony will use his poems “A History of High Heels” [December 2009] and “Lost Keys” [June 2010] to show how a poem simulates the changing mind. In writing exercises, participants will work from models of poems that demonstrate indecision and unstable perception. |
The Crack in Everything |
After being told by a great teacher that she’d written plenty from the point of view of middle-class, well-educated young women, Gillian ventured into a foreign perspective — that of a good father — for “The Value of Trees” [April 1992]. She will explain the leap into the unknown that sparked this story and help participants discover their own unexplored territory. |
What’s Your Story about Money? |
Whether we consider ourselves haves or have-nots, money affects who we are and how we see and interact with the world. In “The Gifted Classes” [January 2003] Frances describes how poverty nestles in her bones, giving her a chill that she cannot shake and filling her with shame, anger, and a sense of impossibility. She will lead discussions and exercises designed to help us each discover the money story nestled in our bones and how it has colored our lives. |
Who’s Talking? Using Dialogue in Poems |
Poems have characters in them, just like memoirs, stories, and novels, but the poet has only a few brushstrokes with which to create a memorable impression. Some poems are like novels compressed into one page. Alison will discuss her poem “White Lady of Once a Week” [March 2012], as well as other poets’ works, to demonstrate how different poets incorporate character and dialogue into their work. She will guide participants in writing compressed dialogues that tell a whole scene. (This workshop is suitable for fiction and nonfiction writers as well as poets.) |
When Disaster Strikes |
Often, while we are minding our own business, disaster strikes. Sparrow has been the victim of two floods, resulting in two Sun essays: “The Flood” [February 2006] and “The Hurricane” [May 2012]. He will demonstrate how to transform personal hardship into an appealing story. |
Dinner, 6:30–7:45 pm
Workshop Session III, 8–10 pm
(Choose one of the following)
Researching Yourself |
Conducting research can be a powerful way to begin crafting a personal narrative. Doug will discuss the specific investigative techniques he used in writing “(Un)Happy Meals” [March 2009], which included reverse interviews, questionnaires, and photos. Participants will create their own questionnaires to use with family and loved ones before sitting down to write. |
The Dialectical Poem: Imported Voices |
A poem can enrich and enlarge its stock of available tones by importing other voices and language into its monologues. Our speech itself is full of imitations of how other people in our lives talk — whether a boss or a two-year-old. Tony will show how this can be done using his poems “Summer Dusk” [December 2010] and “Please Don’t” [September 2011] as well as other poems. In writing exercises, he’ll demonstrate how to make a poem larger, more dialectical, and more complex by inventing or transplanting other voices into the narrative. |
Readers Rewrite |
The best writing comes from loose living and tight editing. Even stories with an apparently spontaneous, informal tone have benefited from revision. Gillian will discuss word choices and line edits in her story “In Loco Parentis” [October 1999] and in her contribution to “Sugar” [Readers Write, May 2010], then guide participants through exacting rewriting techniques. Bring work in any stage of development, or use the handouts provided. |
What’s Bothering You? Writing from Annoyance |
Rage, grief, and other powerful emotional states have long inspired great writing. But what about the less-than-noble negative emotions? In “Saturn is the Biggest Planet on Earth” [September 2007] Frances follows mundane irritations as they lead to a deeper awareness of what’s really bothering her and why. She’ll lead discussions and exercises for finding the profound in the petty. |
The Poetics of Place |
The city where Alison lives, Oakland, California, often becomes a character in her poems. Over and over she returns to the squawking pigeons, the overheard snatches of conversation, the diversity and despair and urban energy that make up the place. Whether you live in the city, the country, or the suburbs, grounding your poems in your environment will give them the space to put down deep roots. Alison will read her poem “Citizens of a Broken City” [February 2012] and work from other poets to spark writing about participants’ own locales. |
The Art of the Love Poem |
Love poems are a necessity, like food, laughter, and shoes, but most of us are too cool to attempt to write them. Sparrow will discuss his “Eight Love Poems” [June 2007] and, at the end of this workshop, participants will have a poem to offer a spouse, lover, or horrified Methodist neighbor. |
Sunday
Breakfast, 8:30–9:15 am
A Room of Your Own, Leonard Pavilion, 9:30–10:15 am
Michael Ventura said that writing is something you do alone in a room. This “room” can be anywhere — a cafe table, a bedroom corner, a bench in your garden, or your seat on the morning bus. You can furnish it any way you like, but once the room is ready, says Ventura, you have to sit in it for a very long time. The authors will talk about rooms they’ve created for themselves, and they’ll discuss ideas for creating one of your own. How do you fashion a long-term writing practice? What work habits, personal rituals, or inspirational methods might be helpful? How can you get started and stay the course?
Sy Safransky’s Notebook, Leonard Pavilion, 10:30–11:15 am
Sy will read from his Notebook and answer questions.
Closing Session, Leonard Pavilion, 11:15 am–noon
Brunch, 12:15–1:30 pm
Departure
Location
Esalen Institute
55000 Highway One
Big Sur, CA 93920
(888) 837-2536
info@esalen.org
Esalen is situated on twenty-seven acres of spectacular Big Sur coastline with the Santa Lucia Mountains rising sharply behind. The institute is known for its blend of Eastern and Western philosophies, and it offers access to natural hot springs, a massage area, and a swimming pool. (Swimsuits are optional and nudity is common in these areas.)
Registration and Cost
Cost: Esalen’s weekend cost is based on the type of lodging you select; it includes tuition, meals, and accommodations. For details, visit Esalen’s Reservation Information page.
Registration: Call Esalen at (888) 837-2536 or register online.
A large enrollment is expected, and spaces are limited. We recommend registering soon.
The Sun is offering two full scholarships to aspiring or established writers who can make a strong case that they would benefit from this retreat but are unable to afford it. Scholarships cover lodging, meals, and tuition for the weekend.
Scholarship-application forms are available here. To apply please e-mail your completed form, along with your CV and a statement of intent, to scholarships@thesunmagazine.org. If you prefer you may mail your application materials to:
The Sun
Attn: Esalen Scholarships
107 North Roberson Street
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
Application materials must be received by August 17, 2012.
We will notify applicants of our decision by September 7.
What To Bring
Please bring the following items with you to Esalen:
- A notebook or journal in which to write.
- Your favorite pen or pencil.
- Your bio written in the form of a contributor’s note — thirty words maximum. See The Sun’s inside front cover for examples. We’re all contributors for the weekend, and we’ll read our notes aloud as introductions on Friday night.
To help you get started, here’s what we ask Sun contributors to consider as they write their notes:
In addition to the usual information — where you live, your occupation, any previous publications — tell us something unique about you. What are your hobbies, pet projects, bad habits? What are you most proud of, or most embarrassed by? Is there something special about where you live, or with whom you live? Think of one or two things about yourself that are not true of anyone else you know, and tell us what they are.Please note: The thirty-word limit is strict.
- Copies of the workshop handouts. Click here to download. Please read the handouts prior to the retreat, and bring copies with you.
- Esalen recommends that you bring a flashlight, ear plugs, comfortable shoes, an alarm clock, and casual, layered clothes for 40–70 degree weather.
Praise from Past Participants
“The Into the Fire retreat opened a door to honest writing for me.”
J.C.
“The opening night created such a wonderful feeling of shared humanity, of courage, of diversity, which loosened any anxiety or tension I had about attending.”
V.K.
“The workshop was so inspiring and gave me such a renewed sense of confidence in my work that I went home and finished an essay I’d been working on and submitted it this week.”
J.R.
“Others’ eagerness to listen, the humility of both staff and attendees, and the generosity all contributed to the overall high spirit of the weekend.”
S.S.
“Going to workshops didn’t feel like a task but something to look forward to: What questions would prompt our writing this time? What would I write? I went with no plan to read my work aloud and ended up doing so three times!”
B.C.
“All of the workshops I attended were presented with a little humor, lots of heart, and some excellent take-aways to practice. The most difficult thing was choosing which workshops to attend.”
S.C.
“The Sun’s writing retreat at Rowe was a delectable treat. The organizers, teachers, and participants made me feel comfortable from the moment I walked into the main house. I went hoping that I would leave somewhat refreshed and inspired. I left with those expectations met and more.”
L.W.
“I walked away with more respect for the power of good writing and a commitment to do regular writing of my own. So far I’ve awakened every morning since the retreat and written something. Sometimes a few lines, sometimes pages, but something.”
M.H.
“I have long been seeking ‘my’ people, and I think I found them this weekend: openhearted, smart, funny, loving.”
P.S.
“The weekend offered that unique combination — at which other writing retreats often fail — of respite, inspiration, awakening, and craft-tuning. I learned more than I'd thought possible and had such a rich experience in one short weekend that I left astounded and grateful.”
K.C.
“The most impressive thing was the way your staff gathered writers of all ability levels and brought them onto the same page. It was such a rich-minded group of people — testament to the magazine itself.”
A.T.
“I was not intimidated when it came time to share my writing. The workshop leaders were very down-to-earth and gave practical advice that would help any writer trying to connect with the muse.”
N.H.
“I think your magazine wins a prize for the most eclectic readership, a wide swath of whom were represented at the retreat.”
D.B.
“I expected the weekend to be transformational, and it was.”
J.Y.
