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​First two weekends of October:
October 5, 6 and October 12, 13
9am to 1pm Pacific Time
​Questions? Please email either scottrussellduncan@gmail.com or somosenescrito@gmail.com
Midweek Presentation Open to Public
Wednesday October 9, 2024 7pm PST
Internationally renowned poet Matt Sedillo will present on Writer Hustle,: how to promote your work and survive as a writer.
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Fall Workshop Presentations
Presentations will happen for one hour before each class and will be addressed and engage all workshop participants. Fall presentations will be given by Scott Russell Duncan (on addressing our community), Dr. Ernesto Mireles (on writing the Chicanx condition), Dr. Juan G. Berumen (on Indigenous Identity), and E.G. Conde (Indigenous Futurisms).
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Fall 2024 Instructors
Lorna Dee Cervantes, Rios de la Luz, Juan G. Berumen, Ernesto Mireles, Diosa Xochiquetzalcóatl, Pedro Iniguez, Estella Gonzalez, & Sonia Gutiérrez.
Fall 2024 Classes Offered
October 5, 6 and October 12, 13
This generative writing workshop will primarily focus on creative nonfiction to create mythos based on your lived experiences. Prompts will focus on writing from body memories and exploring liminal spaces that sit in the portals of your imagination. We will build from there.
This workshop focuses on YOU.
Your origin story.
Your roots.
The characters you bring to life.
Your call to be a storyteller.
This intensive poetry workshop presents the whole enchilada of writing like the "best" Chicana poets, according to Indigenous New Mexican Chicana poet & literary critic, Prof. Cordelia Candelaria. Divided into the 4 phases of the Creative/Critical Process (GENeration/ SELection/ RE-Vision/ CRITical Evaluation) each session will introduce and explore Candelaria's four "I/ eye/ ¡ay!/ hay"s of a "good" Chicana poem. Focus will be on our work. All levels. Simon que sí es bilingual. (You need not be.) Be prepared to write. Be Brave. Be Real. Be Critical. Be There. Anywhere. ¿Y qué?
If you were to journey through the borderlands, what stories would you encounter? Would they be of curanderas driving lowriding hovercrafts exorcising those possessed by The Curse of El Mal Ojo?
For our gente, speculative fiction allows us the freedom to tell similar stories unfiltered without fearing the straitjacket while also envisioning wildly new worlds and possibilities
Insurgent Aztlan and Resistance Writing
with Dr. Ernesto Mireles
Join me for an immersive writing workshop where you'll delve into the politically pertinent realm of Resistance Writing. Over the course of these sessions, you'll have the opportunity to enhance your writing skills, gain insights into resistance literature, and explore the profound impact of your words in opposing settler colonialism.
The workshop is designed for writers aiming to refine their craft through a fusion of theory and practice. To kick-start the journey, participants are invited to submit a short piece of writing, ranging from 500 to 1000 words, which will serve as the foundation for collaborative peer reviews and targeted improvement.
As a special treat, each participant will receive a pdf copy of my book "Insurgent AZTLAN" , which will serve as a guide and a source of inspiration throughout the workshop.
Comunicaciones Ancestrales: Escritores Multidimensionales
Ancestral Communications: Multidimensional Writers
(Class is conducted in Spanish)
with Diosa Xochiquetzalcóatl
Comunicación Celestial:
Escritores Multidimensionales
Por medio de una serie de meditaciones, participantes aprenderán a abrir y a limpiar sus chakras o "totonalcayos" en el mundo de Nahualísmo. Ya alineados los totonalcayos, participantes aprenderán a conectarse con sus ancestros: revelando sabiduría ancestral, al femenino divino: desbloqueando la energía fundamental de la creación y la creatividad, y al masculino divino: descubriendo fuerza interior y aumentando auto-confianza. Al abrir las mentes y los corazones, participantes podrán viajar por una sin fin de mundos llenos de colores y visiones con el fin de capturar estas experiencias, iniciando nuevas escrituras - escrituras multidimensionales.
Celestial Communication:
Multidimensional Writers
Through a series of guided meditations, participants will learn how to open up and clear their chakras, or "totonalcayos" in the school of Nahualísmo. Once the totonalcayos have been aligned, attendees will learn how to connect with their ancestors: revealing ancestral wisdom, the divine feminine: unlocking the fundamental energy of creation and creativity, and the divine masculine: unveiling one's inner-strength and building our self-confidence. By opening the heart and clearing the mind, participants will be able to travel through an array of worlds filled with visions and vibrant colors all with the underlying purpose of documenting these experiences - the starting point for creating unique and personalized, multidimensional writings.
Description: This generative workshop will delve into Horror Fiction as a vehicle for social and political critique from a Chicanx perspective. Within the scope of dark fiction and its subgenres as allegory, we will explore the terrors and injustices that haunt us as a society and a people. We will utilize writing prompts, brainstorming, and a myriad of tools to kickstart our writing journey with the intention of creating a new short horror story by the end of the workshop. Q&A/Discussion at the end of every class.
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Goals:
1) Understanding how horror fiction can speak to social issues through metaphor and allegory.
2) Short Story from conception to completion. 2-3k Words.
3) Finding resources and markets to help you on your publishing endeavors.
This workshop will focus on helping Chicanx writers immerse themselves in their fiction and use their life experiences and cultural touchstones to find their voices. Through journal entries, generative prompts, and presentations on effective fiction technique such as robust points of view for strong storytelling, Chicanx writers will explore the literary possibilities for their prose. The final session will focus on constructive peer/group review, finding supportive publishers and sustaining a Chicanx writing community to “voice” (publish and peer-review) their fiction.
Gonzo Science Fiction, Chicano Style
With Ernest Hogan
Ernest Hogan was born in East L.A. during the Atomic Age and his mother’s maiden name is Garcia. His 40 years of writing and publishing science fiction and other strange things have caused some call him the Father of Chicano Science Fiction, though there has not yet been a DNA test.
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Come, learn his gonzo techniques to use the weirdness of the Latinoid Continuum in your writing, and how to market yourself to the Anglo-centric publishing industry, use the social media for self-promotion, as well as hear outrageous--sometimes hair-raising--firsthand anecdotes of living a professional writer’s life.
His will also answer your questions, wants this to be an interactive experience, hopes to learn a few things himself, and maybe even get his mind blown.
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During the course of the workshop, he will start and write a story, sharing how he does it (it will get gonzo), and help the students do the same.
Then we will all set our creations loose on an unsuspecting world . . .
In this workshop, you will be learning the essential components of writing an effective vignette, a cuentito, similar to the award-winning literary texts, such as Tomás Rivera’s . . . y no se lo tragó la tierra / . . . And the Earth Did Not Devour Him, Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street, and Sonia Gutiérrez’s Dreaming with Mariposas. Your linguistic heritage—an Indigenous language, English, español, and/or Spanglish—is welcomed in this workshop. Be ready to write passionately and a la brava, by sharing your literary gems at the end of Sonia Gutiérrez’s workshop.