Craft Talk – Making Sense of It All: Literary Response to Historic (& Personal) Events

Of her latest novel, The Sentence, novelist Louise Erdrich wrote, “By the end, I realized that although we might want to forget parts of 2020, we should not forget. Obviously, we can’t forget. We have to use what we learned.” (AP News, 8/22/2021)

In the recent past, we have endured historic tragedies. In The Sentence, Erdrich, a long-time resident of Minneapolis, weaves the pandemic, the murder of George Floyd, and the subsequent demonstrations against police brutality into the narrative.

How do we process, let alone curate to create art, a 24-hour media cycle, politics, a relentless virus, among other singularly personal issues? This craft talk will give you tools to identify what’s most forcefully taking your attention, and with a bit of good fortune, guide you to begin a new scene that acknowledges and connects your characters to the world they inhabit.

Optional craft talk open to all retreat participants and registered public.