Creative Writing Workshops

This course focuses on anthropomorphism as both a literary format and creative inspiration. Through careful analysis of both ancient and modern stories, students will learn how to deconstruct and construct fables. An appreciation of the trope will be used to generate new, student written fables as a creative writing experience.

• The overall goal of this course is to play and to experiment with language and storytelling focusing on the symbology of anthropomorphism in fables.
• We’ll learn by reading, by analyzing, and by emulating fables from Aesop and the Panchatantra (amongst others). We’ll learn what it takes to be a writer, both spontaneous and disciplined, toward something worth saying: who we are at the core / and how we each view the world through our own personal experiences and cultural orientations / what are the lessons we want to teach.
• We’ll focus on the importance of considered symbology within fiction, as both the complement to elements like plot, character, setting and theme, as well as one possible way for authors to convey complex ideas in a digestible way.
• Through guided exercises that build from one week to another, students will hone their own writing abilities, consciously looking for a moral lesson that they feel needs to be told.
• Constructive feedback, both peer led, and instructor led, will illustrate both the importance and drudgery of the revision process. At the end of the course, students will have learned to welcome the revision process, seeing it both as a polishing tool and an organic development tool that lets their characters play an active role in the story’s genesis.

Talbot Logan spent over 25 years building and growing retail and luxury brands, and was fortunate to have worked with some of the world’s most iconic companies. COVID was the catalyst for him to start to reconsider his career choice, and in 2023 Logan left the corporate world to pursue an MFA in Creative Writing at Wilkes University, graduating in 2026.  Lighting the Way Home, his debut novel, is currently being shopped for publication.

Logan graduated from Princeton University and has remained very active in various alumni roles including Annual Giving and Co-Chair of his Class’s Reunions.  In addition to his work with Princeton, he has been very involved in both St James Church in Manhattan and the Siasconset Chapel on Nantucket, serving in a variety of lay minister roles.  He is also very involved in several genealogical societies in NY and Florida and keenly interested in family history.

Logan is an accomplished horseman, having competed as a showjumper before taking up polo.  In addition, he enjoys tennis, skiing and boxing.  During the winters, Logan volunteers with Vinceremos Equine Therapy in Wellington Florida.  Logan splits his time between Nantucket, New York City and West Palm Beach along with his husband Bill Miller and their havapoo Archer.  Archer definitely is the alpha in that family structure.

As readers, we are like fish – a story must yank us into its waters in order for us to continue reading. But how are we hooked, exactly?

This exploration is critical for us as fiction writers.

In this six-week workshop, we will take a deep dive into the art of crafting compelling hooks. We will implement our discoveries into writing brand-new opening scenes – prompts will be provided to help spark ideas and encourage the flow of creativity. As a participant, you are free to share as much as you’d like, or simply attend to write. In addition to this, there will be an opportunity (possibly opportunities, depending on the demand) for those interested to submit an opening scene for kind and constructive feedback. By the end of this workshop, participants will walk away with at least one scene that is as sharp and gripping as a hook.

Chlorissa Prothro is a Creative Writing MFA student at Wilkes University. She holds a BA in Theatre Arts Acting from Fresno State and an MA in Creative Writing from Wilkes University. Currently, Chlorissa is revising her full-length manuscript alongside her mentor, memoirist and novelist, Kaylie Jones.

This six-week generative poetry workshop invites you to step outside your usual point of view so you can see language, thoughts, nature, emotion, and even yourself with fresh eyes. Using concepts from ethnography, we’ll practice looking at our lives from the “outside,” then write back in, turning close observation into word-play.

We'll also cover some literary devices and forms as part of our exploration. You’ll write during class, share if you wish, and have optional out-of-class prompts and activities to expand your writing world into your everyday life. The workshop welcomes poets of all levels, from beginners to advanced. Participants also get a personal critique of one poem of their choice at the end of the course.

Amanda Rabaduex is a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net-nominated writer whose work has won contests with Sand Hills Literary Magazine, The American Writers Review, and Causeway Lit and has appeared in Raleigh Review, december magazine, and Barren Magazine. She served in the Air Force and taught yoga prior to earning a BA and an MA in English and an MFA in Creative Writing.

She is the author of the chapbook Resin in the Milky Way (Cathexis Northwest Press, 2024.) Originally from Ohio, she lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, where she teaches college writing and works as the managing editor of Etruscan Press.