Nonfiction Workshop
- Robert Finch
A writing workshop with Robert Finch, the author of seven books of essays and co-editor of The Norton Book of Nature Writing.
Widely regarded as one of America’s leading nature writers, Robert Finch has lived on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, since 1971. There on that fragile sandy peninsula “His gift is his clear and vivid, even poetic expression of that weave of the world.” (American Nature Writers, Scribner’s 1996).
He broadcasts a weekly commentary on NPR and serves on the faculty of the MFA in Writing Program at Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky.
First Impressions: How to Open an Essay
We’re sorry, but your parents were right: first impressions do matter. Unless you are a already a famous author, a writer needs to give readers, and editors, a reason to read beyond the first page, to persuade them that he or she is a person worth spending some time with.
Openings are where the style, voice, subject and direction of an essay or book are established. Even more important, they are where the non-fiction writer establishes his or her contract with the reader, that is, conveys what kind of truth is being presented and how that truth is meant to be received.
In this workshop, we will look at a selection of openings from personal essays and non-fiction books to illustrate strategies that writers have used to attract and hold a reader, and to see how a good opening in many ways prefigures the entire work. Participants may also bring to the workshop an opening they find particularly memorable for group discussion.
During the workshop you’ll write an essay opening designed to make the reader want to keep on reading, and and you’ll receive feedback from Robert Finch and the group on why it works (or doesn’t), how it might be improved, and what other participants can learn from this opening.
Space is Limited. Register Early!
When: Saturday, March 27, 2010 – 9:00 AM until 4:00 PM
Where: Community Clubhouse, Winter Park FL 32792. Location details and driving instructions.
Fee: $100. – Advance registration required.
Please note:The workshop starts promptly. Please come up to 30 minutes early to network and settle in. Refreshments will be served. There will be a one-hour break for lunch. You may brown bag it or opt to eat at one of many local restaurants.
Questions? Contact MAD about Words.
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Make your check payable to MAD about Words. (Sorry, we can only take credit card payments online.) Please include your full name, address, phone number and email address. Mail your information and payment to MAD about Words, P.O. Box 5057, Winter Park FL 32793-5057
Please note: Special offers and discounts cannot be combined. Refunds cannot be issued for cancellations unless we receive your written refund request one week before the workshop date. Fees for returned checks and cancellations apply. If, at our discretion, the workshop is canceled, refunds will be issued. Registrations are confirmed by e-mail.
Robert Finch
Widely regarded as one of America’s leading nature writers, Robert Finch has lived on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, since 1971. There on that fragile sandy peninsula “His gift is his clear and vivid, even poetic expression of that weave of the world.” (American Nature Writers, Scribner’s 1996).
He has published seven books of essays, most recently, The Iambics of Newfoundland: Notes from an Unknown Shore (Counterpoint Press, 2007). Others include Common Ground (nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction in 1982), The Primal Place (republished in 2007 by Countryman Press), Outlands, The Cape Itself (with photographer Ralph MacKenzie), Death of a Hornet and Other Cape Cod Essays, and Special Places on Cape Cod and the Islands. In addition he has edited A Place Apart: A Cape Cod Reader and co-edited (with John Elder) The Norton Book of Nature Writing. His work has appeared in numerous magazines and journals, has been widely anthologized, and has been translated into Japanese and 
Chinese. For his body of work he was named as one of the New England Literary Lights for 1999 by the Associates of the Boston Public Library, and in 2001 he received the Non-Fiction Award from the New England Booksellers Association.
Beginning in October 2005 Mr. Finch began producing weekly radio commentaries for WCAI, an NPR affiliate of Boston’s WGBH public radio station, and in 2005 received the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award for Radio Writing.
Mr. Finch has taught writing courses, workshops, seminars, programs and lectures in Cape Cod literature, nature writing, creative nonfiction and American literature at numerous colleges, institutions, and libraries, including: Williams College, Emerson College, Carleton College, Calvin College, Cape 
Cod Community College, Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, New England Aquarium Environmental Writers’ Festival, The Cape Cod Museum of Natural History, Cape Cod Writers Conference, Writers at Work Conference (Park City, Utah) and is currently on the nonfiction faculty of the MFA in Writing Program at Spalding University, Louisville, Kentucky.
From 1973-1982 he served as editor of The Cape Naturalist, the journal of the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History, and was the Museum’s Director of Publications from 1982-1986. During the 1980s he was co-chairman of the Brewster Conservation Commission and co-chairman of the Brewster Land Acquisition Committee and was instrumental in establishing the 800-acre Punkhorn Parklands Conservation Area in West Brewster. For his work on behalf of the local environment he received the Conservationist of the Year Award from the Brewster Conservation Trust in 1986 
and 1987, a Commendation from the APCC and U.S. EPA in 1987, an Environmental Service Award from the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions in 1989, the Thoreau Award from the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History in 1990, and an Environmental Champion Award from the Association for the Protection of Cape Cod in 2008.
