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The Summer Writers’ Retreat at the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum will offer writers the opportunity to work under the direction of a professional mentor. Registration is $200 by May 15 or $225 thereafter; lunch and breaks are included. Teachers interested in in-service opportunities associated with the retreat should contact the museum.

Garry Craig Powell of Conway, AR, will serve as mentor for the retreat. Powell grew up in England and attended the universities of Cambridge and Durham, and later, the University of Arizona. He has lived in Spain and Portugal, Poland and the United Arab Emirates, which is the setting for his novel-in-stories, Stoning the Devil (Skylight Press, 2012), which was long-listed for the Frank O’ Connor Short Story Award and the Edge Hill Short Story Prize. The book has been described as “mesmerizing” by both George Singleton and Naomi Shihab Nye. His short stories have appeared in Best American Mystery Stories 2009, McSweeney’s, Nimrod, New Orleans Review and other literary magazines, and he has been awarded fellowships by the Writers Colony at Dairy Hollow, the Hambidge Foundation, and the Arkansas Arts Council. Garry Craig Powell is an Associate Professor in the Writing Department at the University of Central Arkansas, where he teaches creative writing to undergraduates and graduate students, and he is completing a historical novel about the life of Gabriel D’ Annunzio, Italy’s greatest poet, playwright, playboy, and war hero in the early twentieth century–and also, arguably, the “John the Baptist” of the Fascist movement. For more information, see his website, garrycraigpowell.com.

Writers’ retreats are structured to be interactive with group activities and private writing time and mentoring. Writers contribute stories, poems, and essays to be published on-site in a spiral-bound souvenir anthology for each participant.

In 1928, Ernest Hemingway penned portions of one of the most enduring war novels in American literature, A Farewell to Arms, at the home of his second wife Pauline Pfeiffer in Piggott, Arkansas. Hemingway’s studio is now the site of an all-expense paid weekend writing retreat for veterans. The retreat offers military veterans from or living in Arkansas the opportunity to work on personal creative writing, share their work, receive feedback, and interact with others interested in writing. Not all writers come with something in mind to write, but many do. The retreat is structured to be interactive, a time when friendships are formed, craft is honed, and creativity is enhanced.

Dr. Rob Lamm, of Jonesboro, AR, will serve as mentor for the retreat. Rob serves as Director of English Education at Arkansas State University. Highlights of his career include serving as a visiting professor at the University of Notre Dame, directing the NEA Writing Project, editing the literary magazine Arkansas Anthology, and mentoring writers’ retreats at the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Educational Center. He presents on many subjects, including “Visual Arguments,” “Humor Writing,” “Writing Poetry,” and other forms of creative writing. The second edition of his college-level textbook Dynamic Argument was published by Wadsworth Publishers, Cengage Learning.

Writers’ retreats are structured to be interactive with group activities and private writing time and mentoring. Writers contribute stories, poems, and essays to be published on-site in a spiral-bound souvenir anthology for each participant. For more information or to receive an application, contact us.

This event is held in partnership with the Arkansas Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities.