Springfed offers classes in poetry, prose, fiction, young adult fiction, creative writing and memoir. *Closed captioning option is available for Zoom workshops. Scroll down to view all of the classes.

Registration online here. Basic Membership here.

Fall 2024 Workshops

Natalie Tomlin

NEW! Mining Your Obsessions – Poetry with Natalie Tomlin: Zoom Workshops, Wednesdays, October 9, 16, 23, 30, November 6 & 13, 7pm-9pm. Discover the gold in your subconscious. Join a friendly and supportive group to explore what most preoccupies our minds and imaginations. Each session will include a fun generative exercise and time to share your work.
Natalie Tomlin‘s poetry and nonfiction about the Midwest and the natural world has appeared in many magazines, including Belt, Dunes Review, The Hopper, J Journal, Prose Poetry, Split Rock Review. Her chapbook of prose poems The Sound a Car Door Makes was published in 2023 by Michigan Cooperative Press and her work has been nominated for Best of Net, the Pushcart Prize, and was selected as notable in The Best American Essays. She has a passion for writing criticism and interviewing writers, and such work can be found at Diode, Grist: A Journal of the Literary Arts, New Pages, and Literary Mama. A former waitress, high school teacher, and college adjunct, she has taught writing at DePaul University and Eastern Michigan University. She is obsessed with sand after growing up on Lake Huron and now lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan with her family. (*Closed captioning option available.) REGISTER HERE

Julie Mariouw

NEW! Let Your Body Tell Your Story – with Julie Mariouw: Zoom Workshops, Wednesdays, October 9, 16, 23, 30, November 6 & 13, 10am – 12pm. “The body remembers, the bones remember, the joints remember, even the little finger remembers.”—Clarissa Pinkola Éstes. In this workshop we will create Mind & Body Memory Maps, matching memories with physical sensations, and then we will write, letting our bodies tell our stories. We will cluster—as described by Gabrielle Rico, PhD in “Writing the Natural Way”—to help open up our material. Then we will write with timed prompts. We will write together silently, then have the option to read our work aloud. We will comment on each other’s writing using the AWA method: noting what we reacted to, and what we will take with us from the work. In this way, we strengthen what the writer has done well, and encourage her/him to do more of that. As Pat Schneider, creator of the Amherst Writers & Artists method, states: “Traditional teaching of writing has too often emphasized what is wrong. If a child brings you a picture of a bird in flight, and you see that the left wing is hanging awkwardly down the page, but the right wing is soaring, you do not say, ‘By the way, that crooked left wing looks really stupid.’ You say, ‘Oh, look! Look how that right wing is lifted by the air! I can just feel it flying!’ The child looks at the picture, and what does she do? She goes immediately to her crayons and draws the left wing so it, too, soars.” At some point in the future, Julie will offer a Manuscript Workshop, in which members can focus on revision and editing. Julie Mariouw is an AWA affiliate and is certified to lead workshops in the AWA method. She leads workshops designed to help writers bypass their inner critics; go directly to images, feelings and memories; and tap into the healing power of writing. Julie has a BA in English from the University of Michigan, studied Teaching at Eastern Michigan University, and taught in the Ann Arbor Public Schools, Sylvan Learning Center, and Maxey Boys Training School. In 2016 Julie created Wellspring Writing Workshops https://www.wellspringwritingworkshops.com through which she facilitates online and in-person workshops. In 2022 Julie moved to a house on the edge of a wetlands in Chelsea, and now offers in-person workshops using the power of nature. Julie’s writing has been published in Recovering Self, The Brick Magazine, The Huron River Review, Crazy Wisdom Journal, Natural Awakenings Magazine, and Verdad Magazine. 6 – 8 people. (*Closed captioning option available.) REGISTER HERE

NEW! Expand Your Writing Through Metaphor – with Julie Mariouw: Zoom Workshops, Wednesdays, October 9, 16, 23, 30, November 6 & 13, 3pm – 5pm. Metaphor connects right and left brain, amplifying language and inviting creativity. In this workshop we will create Mind & Body Memory Maps, matching memories with physical sensations. Then we will create metaphors from this raw material, wedding images to something totally unexpected and creating provocative new patterns. These metaphors will energize our writing with fresh, new material. We will cluster—as described by Gabrielle Rico, PhD in “Writing the Natural Way”— to help open up our material. Then we will write with timed prompts. We will write together silently, then have the option to read our work aloud. We will comment on each other’s work using the AWA method: noting what we reacted to, and what we will take with us from the work. In this way we strengthen what the writer has done well, and encourage her/him to do more of that. As Pat Schneider, creator of the Amherst Writers & Artists method, states: “Traditional teaching of writing has too often emphasized what is wrong. If a child brings you a picture of a bird in flight, and you see that the left wing is hanging awkwardly down the page, but the right wing is soaring, you do not say, ‘By the way, that crooked left wing looks really stupid.’ You say, ‘Oh, look! Look how that right wing is lifted by the air! I can just feel it flying!’ The child looks at the picture, and what does she do? She goes immediately to her crayons and draws the left wing so it, too, soars.” At some point in the future, Julie will offer a Manuscript Workshop, in which members can focus on revision and editing. Julie Mariouw is an AWA affiliate and is certified to lead workshops in the AWA method. She leads workshops designed to help writers bypass their inner critics; go directly to images, feelings and memories; and tap into the healing power of writing. Julie has a BA in English from the University of Michigan, studied Teaching at Eastern Michigan University, and has taught in the Ann Arbor Public Schools, Sylvan Learning Center, and Maxey Boys Training School. In 2016 Julie created Wellspring Writing Workshops https://www.wellspringwritingworkshops.com through which she facilitates online and in-person workshops. In 2022 Julie moved to a wetlands in Chelsea, and now offers in-person workshops using the power of nature. Julie’s writing has been published in Recovering Self, The Brick Magazine, The Huron River Review, Crazy Wisdom Journal, Natural Awakenings Magazine, and Verdad Magazine. 6 – 8 people. (*Closed captioning option available.) REGISTER HERE

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Maureen Dunphy

Prose with Maureen Dunphy: Maureen is on a sabbatical. Her Great Lakes Island Escapes: Ferries and Bridges to Adventure is a 2017 Michigan Notable Book (Wayne State University Press). Her juvenile nonfiction book is All About the Great Lakes (Blue River Press, 2020). She has also been published in Peninsula: Essays and Memoirs from Michigan (Michigan State University Press, 2000) and in Between the Lines: Writing What You Couldn’t Say (Plain View Press, 2000). Dunphy earned her MFA in fiction writing from Goddard College and has taught creative writing courses at Oakland University, Oakland Community College-Orchard Ridge, and the University of Windsor. Through Dunphy Consulting Services, LLC, she can help you translate your writing dreams into achievable goals, and offers coaching services, writing workshops and retreats, and assistance with manuscripts, book proposals, and the querying process. Write your way into your future! Limited to 6 participants with instructor’s permission. (*Closed captioning option available.)

Kelly Fordon

Poetry Workshop with Kelly Fordon: Kelly is on a sabbatical. Kelly Fordon’s latest short story collection I Have the Answer (Wayne State University Press, 2020) was chosen as a Midwest Book Award Finalist and an Eric Hoffer Finalist. Her 2016 Michigan Notable Book, Garden for the Blind, (WSUP), was an INDIEFAB Finalist, a Midwest Book Award Finalist, Eric Hoffer Finalist, and an IPPY Awards Bronze Medalist. Her first full-length poetry collection, Goodbye Toothless House, (Kattywompus Press, 2019) was an Eyelands International Prize Finalist and an Eric Hoffer Finalist and was adapted into a play, written by Robin Martin, which was published in The Kenyon Review Online. She is the author of three award-winning poetry chapbooks and has received a Best of the Net Award and Pushcart Prize nominations in three different genres. She teaches at Springfed Arts and The InsideOut Literary Arts Project in Detroit, as well as online, where she also runs a monthly poetry and fiction blog. www.kellyfordon.com (*Closed captioning option available

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Carolyn Walker

ONLINE COURSE! Personal Essay and Memoir (online class) with Carolyn Walker. *REGISTER ANYTIME. Six consultations during the 3 months after you register. Send in up to 10 pages of work for in-depth review. Writing prompts given upon request, as well as recommendations of books, memoirs, and essays to learn from. Phone consultations can be arranged. Carolyn Walker has been awarded the 2013 Kresge Arts Fellowship in Literary Arts. She has an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She has been published in The Southern Review, Crazyhorse, The Writer’s Chronicle, among others. One of Walker’s essays has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Walker won 1st place in Springfed Arts 2010 fiction contest. She spent a month in 2014 as a writing resident at the Vermont Studio Center, and another month in 2016 as a writing resident on Martha’s Vineyard. Her memoir Every Least Sparrow(available through Amazon and Barnes & Noble) came out in January of 2017. (*Closed captioning option available.) $150 for members. $200 for nonmembers (join as a member for one year). REGISTER HERE

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