Week-long Hemingway Creative Writers' Retreat to be held in Piggott

April 27, 2007 -- Ernest Hemingway wrote portions of A Farewell to Arms and several short stories in Piggott, Arkansas, between 1928 and 1938. Hearkening back to "Papa's" time in Piggott, the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center (HPMEC) will hold the Hemingway Creative Writers' Retreat June 18-22. The retreat invites participants to write in the Barn-Studio Hemingway used, and to walk the grounds and  spend time in the house where he found inspiration. The retreat meets Mon.-Friday, from 9 a.m.-3 p.m., with lunch provided each day.

This year, C.D. Mitchell, professor of fiction and creative nonfiction at the University of Alabama, will lead the group. Mitchell left the practice of law to study with Neil Connelly at McNeese State University. He completed his Master of Fine Arts in creative writing spring 2006 at the University of Memphis and is currently on faculty at the University of Alabama. He has taught fiction and creative nonfiction at the college, high school, and middle school levels. His work has appeared in Big Muddy, The North Dakota Quarterly, The Arkansas Review, The Julie Mango International Online Journal of Creative Expression, The Arkansas Literary Forum, The Unbound Press, & Bearcatz Connection. Mitchell currently serves on the editorial board of EAPSE online, as a contributing editor for The Pinch, published by the University of Memphis, and as a volunteer reader for The Black Warrior Review at the University of Alabama. In January 2006, he returned for his third year to the Lausanne Creative Writing Symposium in Memphis, where he taught fiction and creative nonfiction.

Donna James, of the Sloan-Hendrix School System, will assist Mitchell. James teaches high school art and English. She is a past co-editor of The Arkansas Anthology, is an instructor for the NEA Writing Project, and is an author in her own right. Dr. Tom Williams, professor of English at Arkansas State University and editor of The Arkansas Review, and Dr. Ruth Hawkins, director, Delta Heritage Initiatives at ASU and author of A Family Affair will be the featured guest speakers.

The fee for the week is $90 by May 28, and $125 thereafter. Spaces are limited, and early enrollment is encouraged. This retreat is also approved by the Arkansas Department of Education for 30 hours of continuing education credit for public school teachers.

The only requirement for attending the retreat is a desire to write and to have a good time. A mix of beginning writers and more experienced writers is encouraged. The retreat provides an informal, non-threatening opportunity to interact with others who share an interest in writing. 

For details, contact Deanna Dismukes, education coordinator, Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum & Educational Center, an Arkansas State University Delta Heritage Site, 1021 West Cherry Street, Piggott, Arkansas, at (870) 598-3487, or e-mail ddismukes@centurytel.net. Visit the museum’s website at http://hemingway.astate.edu. The Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum & Educational Center is an Arkansas State University Delta Heritage Site.