Sundress Academy for the Arts is excited to present poets Jen Tynes, Michael Sikkema, and Kristi Maxwell for the second installment of Holler Salon, an extension of the award winning SAFTA reading series. The event will be held at Firefly Farms (114 Tobby Hollow Ln / Knoxville TN 37830) from 6PM to 10PM Friday, October 24th. Free food will be provided on a first come first served basis.
Jen Tynes edits Horse Less Press. Her third book, Trick Rider, was just released by Trembling Pillow Press. Her fourth book, Hunter Monies, will be published by Black Radish Books 2016.
Michael Sikkema’s third full length collection, May Apple Deep, is forthcoming from Trembling Pillow Press, and his ninth or tenth chapbook, 3003 Houses for Nikki Wallschlaeger, is forthcoming from Little Red Leaves Textile Series.
Kristi Maxwell is the author of four books and two chapbooks, including That Our Eyes Be Rigged (Saturnalia Books, 2014) and To Insist on the ‘Someness’ of Every Assemblage (horse less press, 2014). She teaches at the University of Tennessee.
Holler Salon is a salon series featuring local and national writers and artists. Hosted at the Sundress Academy for the Arts at Firefly Farms in Knoxville, each salon will provide an intimate setting conducive to discussing and developing the ideas and inspirations of creative individuals from a variety of disciplines.
Sundress Academy for the Arts is pleased to announce its science fiction workshop “My Other Car is Another World: Writing Fiction in the Genres,” which will be held on October 11, 2014 from 12pm – 5pm. The workshop is $50 or $35 for students and open to the public.
This workshop will be held on SAFTA’s own Firefly Farms in Knoxville, Tennessee and will focus on simple, practical methods for generating genre story ideas, planning and plotting, drafting and perfecting your stories. Workshop participants will learn tips for negotiating the cutthroat world of genre fiction publishing.
This workshop offers the opportunity to work with published author and science fiction writer, Gary Charles Wilkens. Every participant in the workshop will leave with a 20+ page book written by Dr. Wilkens full of instruction and advice for writing genre fiction, as well as, of course, a complete draft of a genre fiction story
Gary Charles Wilkens, Assistant Professor of English at Norfolk State University, was the winner of the 2006 Texas Review Breakthrough Poetry Prize for his first book, The Red Light Was My Mind. His poems have appeared in more than 60 online and print venues, and he is also the author of (the yet unpublished) science fiction novel The Crying Road, as well as more than a dozen sci-fi stories and flash fictions. He earned his Ph.D. in Creative Writing in 2010 from The University of Southern Mississippi. A second sci-fi novel is in the works.
Sundress Academy for the Arts is excited to host visiting poet Darren C. Demaree to lead the workshop “Ugh: Writing a Love Poem Worth Reading,” an exploration of the successful traits of a contemporary love poem. The event will be held at Firefly Farms in Knoxville from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, September 17th. Tickets are only $25 and can be purchased at www.sundresspublications.com.
This workshop will provide an informal setting to discus and develop the ideas and inspirations of creative romantic poetry. Subjects covered to include: the history and common mistakes of the genre, new ways of conceptualizing the love poem, and new approaches to crafting one. Participants are encouraged to bring their own work, and come prepared to write some new things as well.
Dannen C. Demaree is the author of three poetry collections, As We Refer to Our Bodies (2013, 8th House), Temporary Champions (2014, Main Street Rag), and Not For Art Nor Prayer (2015, 8th House). He is the recipient of three Pushcart Prize nominations and a Best of the Net nomination. Beyond his own work, Demaree is the founding editor of AltOhio and Ovenbird Poetry, as well as a member of the Sundress Publications editorial board.
Introducing a creative extension to our award-winning reading series!
The Sundress Academy for the Arts is excited to present poet Laura Madeline Wiseman and local artist Chris Johnson in “Art, Myth, and Martians,” the first installment of Holler Salon, an extension of the award winning SAFTA reading series. The event will be held at Firefly Farms in Knoxville at 4 p.m. on Sunday, August 17th. Holler Salon is an occasional salon series featuring local and national writers and artists. Hosted at Firefly Farms in Knoxville, each salon will provide an intimate setting conducive to discussing and developing the ideas and inspirations of creative individuals from a variety of disciplines.
Laura Madeline Wiseman is the author of more than a dozen books and chapbooks and the editor of Women Write Resistance: Poets Resist Gender Violence (Hyacinth Girl Press, 2013). She holds a doctorate from the University of Nebraska and has received an Academy of American Poets award and the Wurlitzer Foundation Fellowship. Her work is imaginative and provocative and has appeared in Prairie Schooner, Mid-American Review, Margie, and Feminist Studies.
For Holler Salon, Wiseman will discuss her playful sci-fi book, American Galactic, as well as selections from Some Fatal Effects of Curiosity and Disobedience, her unique, romantic take on the classic Bluebeard myth.
Chris Johnson is a local, self-taught visual artist with Gallery 133. His work is edgy and engaging and hangs in both public galleries and private collections. For Holler Salon, Johnson will feature his paintings “A Study on Berserk”—an homage to his favorite graffiti artist, Berserk—and “The Madness Vase”—based on the Andrea Gibson chapbook The Nutritionist.
In May, I had decided to quit writing poetry; told both my wife and Erin Elizabeth Smith that I was “out of the game.” Over the last two years, my focus was on pedagogy, a tenure portfolio and an endless stream of freshman comp papers. My creative energies were centered on finding new ways to scribble “thesis,” “I’m not sure what you mean here” and “citation needed” into the margins of student essays. At the end of the workday, there was nothing in the tank to make me sit down and think about drafting new work, let alone sending out any submissions.
And yet, because I would be in Knoxville on vacation anyway, I found myself going to SAFTA’s first undergraduate poetry retreat and camping trip. At the very least, I could offer an extra pair of arms to tote food, gear and supplies up from the farmhouse to the mountain-top campground. I could make runs to the nearby Ingles grocery store. That sort of stuff. My participation was going to be limited, and I liked that.
Then, two nights before it began, Erin sent out a copy of the weekend’s schedule; the 9:30am Saturday slot read “Writing Exercise with Dr. Scott Fynboe.” I protested the next day, as we worked on straightening up the farmhouse. “I told you, I’m out. I quit writing.” Her response was a one-note laugh, followed by “Tough. You’re doing it.”
So I sketched out an exercise that night and promptly turned my efforts to lending a hand at every turn. I met our guests on Friday evening, worked to make them feel welcome, helped give tours of the farm, and drove my SUV into the hills loaded down with three people’s camping gear – all the things I’d promised. But when the group settled in with their first writing prompts, just before dinner, I sat away from the campfire, not participating.
When the sun came out Saturday morning, I did my thing and led the group in a discussion of narrative poetry. Then I gave them two sets of prompts, and, for appearances sake more than anything else, drafted poems alongside them. My first piece was just okay. It felt stilted and dull. The second one was better. Its ending was more punchline than gut punch, but the rust was beginning to break off. I looked down at the legal pad, thinking “okay, this can be reworked. It has potential.”
Something snapped after lunch, though and as the day progressed, I felt invigorated. Prompted by Dr. Darren Jackson to write about “your mother’s tits” (taking after Robert Haas), I filled two pages, exploring deep fears about my parents’ advancing ages. Later, while I did not actively write during Dr. T.A. Noonan’s exercise that evening, I made a note on my phone of ways to crack open a piece I first drafted fifteen months prior. And come sundown, I found myself longing by the fire with a bottle of Mexican Coke, offering submissions advice and giving one-on-one thoughts about how to streamline a sci-fi novel. I was a part, not apart.
* * *
Before camp broke the next morning, Erin gathered all of us around the fire one last time to write about our weekend experience. “What is one thing you learned from this?” she asked and I set to compose my own “Ashokan Farewell.”* Last to read, I wrote that all of us – the SAFTA staff and the guests – should learn the words of John Denver’s “Poems, Prayers and Promises”** as he described, in four minutes, everything that had occurred over the weekend. Campfires, personal reflection, deep thoughts, gathering with friends (old or new), it’s all in there.
And that’s one way to think about the retreat. Campfires, tents and sleeping bags mixed with conversations, talk and s’mores. Another way is to think of it as meeting new people, learning new skills. Still another is the more traditional idea of the “writer’s getaway” – a chance to change surroundings and find some privacy to write.
The weekend with SAFTA was all of these things, sure, but for me, the “retreat” was a return. A return to something I had forgotten in the stacks of 500 to 750 word, double-spaced, MLA formatted pages and I deal with in sixteen-week bursts twice a year – that feeling of being back in grad school, drinking and smoking unhealthy amounts with a group of writing friends, sharing our work in dank bars and discussing how each of us would set the literary world ablaze.
Suffice to say, I’ve stopped telling people that I’ve quit.
* Best known as the theme music to Ken Bruns’ The Civil War, “Ashokan Farewell” was originally composed as a musical “goodbye” to campers at the annual Ashokan Fiddle and Dance camp in New Paltz, New York.
** And here’s the song:
—
Scott Fynboe is the Host and Coordinator of the weekly SAFTAcast.
Things Scott C has done:
– DJed at WHRW-Binghamton for seven years, hosting a variety of music, game, and talk shows – Mobile DJed weddings, proms, reunions, karaoke nights, and at least one bar mitzvah – Performed improv comedy as a member of The Pappy Parker Players – Acted in both musical and not-musical theater – Written and published some poems– Shopped for a futon – Taught English at a Florida college
Things Scott C has not done:
– Visited Europe – Worn denim to a black-tie event – Owned a hammock or a gazebo – Studied dentistry – Vomited on a retired postal worker – Woken up before he go-go’d – Some other stuff
KNOXVILLE, TN – Sundress Academy for the Arts, a branch of Sundress Publications, will be hosting an event devoted to Writing and Cooking the South, which will take place on Saturday, May 31, 2014 from 1:00PM – 7:00PM. A multi-genre workshop, the event will focus on the elements of what is considered “Southern” writing. Participants will discover how to incorporate elements of Southern mythos and history into their own storytelling. The workshop will be followed by a cooking demo that includes a number of traditional dishes from various regions of the American South. Participants will then enjoy a three-course dinner where they can sample the prepared recipes. The cost for this day-long workshop is $75.00.
Novice and advanced cooks and writers are welcome. The event is an opportunity for writers to integrate the rich mythologies and histories of the American South into their work and share a meal of traditional and re-imagined food. Participants will have the chance to learn from experienced and talented writers, including Dr. Erin Elizabeth Smith and Dr. Rhonda Lott.
Erin Elizabeth Smith is the Creative Director at the Sundress Academy for the Arts and the author of two full-length collections, The Fear of Being Found (Three Candles Press, 2008) and The Naming of Strays (Gold Wake Press, 2011). Her poems have appeared in numerous journals, including Mid-American, 32 Poems, Zone 3, Gargoyle, Tusculum Review, and Crab Orchard Review. She earned her PhD in Creative Writing at the Center for Writers at the University of Southern Mississippi and teaches a bit of everything in the English Department at the University of Tennessee. She also serves as the managing editor of Sundress Publications and Stirring.
Rhonda Lott, an alumna of the Center for Writers at the University of Southern Mississippi, recently earned her doctorate in creative writing with an emphasis in poetry from Texas Tech University. She has worked with Sundress Publications since 2008 as both an editor and artist-in-residence with contributions of poetry broadsides and book covers. Her writing has appeared internationally and locally in a variety of venues, including Hayden’s Ferry Review, cream city review, and The Los Angeles Review, as well as the Knoxville Film Festival 7-Day Shootout.
Sundress Academy for the Arts, a branch of Sundress Publications, is pleased to announce its inaugural Undergraduate Writers Retreat, which will be held from Friday, June 13th to Sunday, June 15th, 2014. The three-day, two-night camping retreat will be held on SAFTA’s own Firefly Farms in Knoxville, Tennessee and focus on poetry writing, particularly with an eye towards creating, editing, and finalizing a graduate school application portfolio.
A weekend pass includes instruction, writing supplies, food, drink, transportation to and from the airport, and all on-site amenities for $200, with tents, sleeping bags, and other camping equipment available to rent. Payment plans are available!
The event will be open to all undergraduate and recently graduated college students and provides an opportunity to work with many talented and published authors from around the country, including Erin Elizabeth Smith, T.A. Noonan, and Rhonda Lott.
Erin Elizabeth Smith is the Creative Director at the Sundress Academy for the Arts and the author of two full-length collections, The Fear of Being Found (Three Candles Press, 2008) and The Naming of Strays (Gold Wake Press, 2011). Her poems have appeared in numerous journals, including Mid-American, 32 Poems, Zone 3, Gargoyle, Tusculum Review, and Crab Orchard Review. She earned her PhD in Creative Writing at the Center for Writers at the University of Southern Mississippi and teaches a bit of everything in the English Department at the University of Tennessee. She also serves as the managing editor of Sundress Publications and Stirring.
T.A. Noonan is the author of several books and chapbooks, most recently four sparks fall: a novella (Chicago Center for Literature and Photography, 2013) and, with Erin Elizabeth Smith, Skate or Die (Dusie Kollektiv, 2014). Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Reunion: The Dallas Review, West Wind Review, Hobart, Ninth Letter, and Phoebe, among others. A weightlifter, crafter, priestess, and all-around woman of action, she serves as the Associate Editor of Sundress Publications, Founding Editor of Flaming Giblet Press, and Literary Arts Director for the Sundress Academy of the Arts.
Rhonda Lott, an alumna of the Center for Writers at the University of Southern Mississippi, recently earned her doctorate in creative writing with an emphasis in poetry from Texas Tech University. She has worked with Sundress Publications since 2008 as both an editor and artist-in-residence with contributions of poetry broadsides and book covers. Her writing has appeared internationally and locally in a variety of venues, including Hayden’s Ferry Review, cream city review, and The Los Angeles Review, as well as the Knoxville Film Festival 7-Day Shootout.
The brainchild of Sundress Publications, a registered non-profit, The Sundress Academy for the Arts (SAFTA) was founded in February 2013 at Firefly Farms in Karns, Tennessee. Nestled in an old-fashioned “holler” just twenty minutes from downtown Knoxville, this picturesque 29-acre farm is the perfect artists’ getaway; visitors can hone their creative crafts as they escape the routine of modern life. Whether you’re hiking, camping, foraging, or hunting, you will reconnect with nature and be inspired by a part of the Appalachia landscape that is often forgotten. SAFTA attendees can also expect to learn a host of new skills from the staff to enrich their work.
In order to help fund this enormous project, we plan to host livestock, including self-pastured horses, a small herd of goats and sheep to “mow” the pastures and control wild growth, and chickens to produce eggs for egg dishes galore! To get started, we must finish mending the fences along the property, buy and install gates, build shelter for the horses, and acquire the animals themselves.
Join us for our first workshop at our new home, Firefly Farms! At this multi-genre overnight workshop you will get the opportunity not only work with top-tier local writers, including poet Erin Elizabeth Smith, you will also get to explore the new 29-acre location of the weekend workshops!
This workshop will focus on writing nature and will feature instruction on incorporating local flora, fauna, etc. into your work. With instructional workshops on tree identification, foraging, and campfire cookery, you will have the opportunity to learn a number of new woodsy traits to examine in your writing.
All food and drink (including alcohol) is included in the workshop fee, which also includes workshop instruction, camp sites, and printing. Camping gear will also be available for rent for a minimal extra cost.
In May, I had decided to quit writing poetry; told both my wife and Erin Elizabeth Smith that I was “out of the game.” Over the last two years, my focus was on pedagogy, a tenure portfolio and an endless stream of freshman comp papers. My creative energies were centered on finding new ways to scribble “thesis,” “I’m not sure what you mean here” and “citation needed” into the margins of student essays. At the end of the workday, there was nothing in the tank to make me sit down and think about drafting new work, let alone sending out any submissions.
