Write On! Workshop

Stephens College, Helis Communication Center
1405 E. Broadway, Columbia, MO

SUNDAY, APRIL 20, 2025

OPENING PRESENTATION 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.

The First Page Rodeo: Submissions are closed.

Writers are invited to submit the first page (only the first page) of their unpublished novel for consideration. A panel of judges will choose five winning entries. These will be posted to the festival website ahead of the event, and then will be discussed and evaluated in public by a panel of industry experts during Write On’s opening presentation.

BLOCK ONE WORKSHOPS 11:15 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.

Form as Genre: A Prose Workshop Instructor: Kathleen Buckley 

Writing fills vessels, seeps into the corners of shapes it is given, and spills over the sides of what tries to contain it like light. The space writing takes up becomes the story it tells us. What is form in writing? How can we use it to access meaning, reach through genre, and say something new? And how might we use forms that we come across in our day-to-day lives to structure our writing? Through multimedia exercises and writing prompts that explore strange forms and genres, we will experiment with the way formal limits we put on our prose can open new possibilities. Both fiction and creative nonfiction writing is welcome!  

Play On: Introduction to 10-Minute Playwriting Instructor: Nancy White

This workshop will guide you through the process of creating the structure of your own play--including selecting a theme, drawing up character ideas, and designing a basic storyline. This workshop will allow you, through guided writing exercises, to see into the past and present of a main character and, in doing so, you will create a monologue from that character’s voice; you will envision the place and time where this character is; and you will discover the basic framework of your 10-minute storyline. There will be specific time set aside in this workshop to share your work with fellow writers.

BLOCK TWO WORKSHOPS 1:15 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.

Slow Poetry: A Walk-and-Write Workshop Instructor: Traci Brimhall

Traci will lead a book arts workshop and teach everyone how to make a small back pocket journal they can have with them for the poetry walk (or for any occasion where they want a journal in their pocket). Traci will lead a walk and write session around the Stephens College campus, where participants will walk trails and pause to read poems and write lines. When we return to the beginning of the trail, there will be time to share writing from the event.

Investigating Different Points of View Instructor: Annie Trinh

When writing prose, it is easy to default to a point of view that we are comfortable with. In this two-hour workshop, we will explore and write to different points of view such a first, second, third, and the fun—fourth person point of view. We will read and discuss fiction and nonfiction pieces that uses these forms such as Carmen Maria Machado, Jamacia Kincaid, and more. At the end of the workshop, you will produce generative pieces (also you have a chance to write in point of view from objects and animals too) and share along with other writers! 

CONCLUSION 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Publishing (Or Writing) But Were Afraid to Ask

Moderated by author and festival director Alex George, this panel of experts will convene for a free-form general Q & A session to answer your questions on both the craft and the business of writing. Come with your questions! This event is free and open to the public and does not require pre-registration.

Full Schedule

Here’s what you can expect: 

• 9:15-9:50 a.m. — Registration begins at Stephens College Helis Communication Center (building 9 on this map)

• 10-11 a.m. — The day will begin with an opening session of our First Page Rodeo, where you can submit the first page of an unpublished novel for review/critique by a panel of experts ahead of MARCH 3, 2025. Check out additional rules here. Workshop participants only.

• 11:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m. — In the first workshop block, participants will attend one of two available workshops, held in classrooms near Windsor Auditorium. Workshop participants only.

• 12:45-1:15 p.m. — The group will break for lunch, and you are free to enjoy the on-site Starbucks called Stars Cafe’s limited menu, or bring your own lunch.

• 1:15-2:45 p.m. — In the second workshop block, participants will attend one of two available workshops, held in classrooms near Windsor Auditorium.. Workshop participants only.

• 3-4 p.m. — The day will conclude with a panel discussion, where professional writers will answer all of your questions about publishing in Windsor Auditorium. This session is open to the public! 

The Workshop Leaders

Kathleen Buckley is a writer from Rochester, New York, getting her PhD at the University of Missouri where she is also a graduate instructor.

Nancy Bailey White taught Creative Writing at Hickman High School. Her plays Still As Rain, Birds of a Feather, and Severed Strings have been produced in university and professional theater settings across the country. In 2019, Hickman’s poetry team was selected to perform at the National Brave New Voices in Las Vegas.

Traci Brimhall earned a BA at Florida State University, an MFA at Sarah Lawrence College, and a PhD at Western Michigan University. In her lyric poems, she often merges the everyday with surreal imagery to meditate on themes of sacrifice and transformation. She is the author of the poetry collections Come the Slumberless to the Land of Nod (2020), Saudade (2017), Our Lady of the Ruins (2012), selected by Carolyn Forché for the Barnard Women Poets Prize, and Rookery (2010), winner of a Crab Orchard Series in Poetry First Book Award and a finalist for the ForeWord Book of the Year Award.

Annie Trinh is a PhD candidate and graduate instructor at the University of Missouri.