Teaching
LESLEY UNIVERSITY
MFA IN CREATIVE WRITING PROGRAM
I have been on the Creative Nonfiction Faculty of Lesley University’s Low Residency MFA in Creative Writing Program since January, 2011. In 2019 I launched the Graphic Novel and Comics Genre–the newest on Lesley’s MFA Program–along with graphic novelist Sophie Goldstein.
In addition to mentoring individual students I also teach residency seminars such as:
• Indoor/Outdoor Writing: The Inspiration and Imperative of Place
• Escape from Chronology! Narrative Structures in Creative Nonfiction
• The Self-Made Book
• Word and Image Beyond the Box
SMITH COLLEGE
I am a Lecturer in the Department of English at Smith, where I have taught one creative nonfiction course each spring semester since 2012. My writing seminars include:
• Writing About Sports
• Writing About Place and Travel
• Creative Nonfiction in Words and Pictures
In 2016 I was the Lucille Geier Lakes Writer in Residence at Smith, and taught a writing workshop on words and images called Picturing the Text. I am also the faculty liaison to Smith’s fabulous varsity Field Hockey Team!
DYLAN THOMAS SUMMER SCHOOL
THE UNIVERSITY OF WALES, TRINITY ST DAVID
In 2014 I joined internationally acclaimed Welsh poet, Menna Elfyn, in founding the Dylan Thomas International Summer School. The school runs for 10 days every year in late May / early June, and is anchored at the beautiful campus of The University of Wales, Trinity St David, in the small town of Lampeter, in West Wales. I now co-direct the program with the Welsh poet and literary impresario, Dominic Williams.
The course focuses on A Sense of Place, and includes morning workshops on campus; on-site workshops at locations such as 13th century Carreg Cennan Castle, Aberglasney Gardens, and Big Pit Coal Mine; travels to Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty like the Gower Peninsula and the Pembrokeshire Coast; individual student tutorials; and evening readings by Wales’ finest authors, poets, and playwrights. Writers of all genres and ages are welcome. Students may do the course for credit or just for fun.