Weekly Events

Workshops and Print Shop Classes

Workshops and print shop classes run in four consecutive sessions on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Print shop classes run slightly longer than workshops. Workshops have fewer than twenty students in them, most have about ten to fifteen students. We always suggest that you read the creative and critical work of the faculty members with whom you are most interested in studying, in order to make informed decisions about which workshop would suit you best. While you take one workshop per week, the workshop is only a small part of that week’s activities.

SWP Community Events: Lectures, Panels, Meditation and More

In addition to workshops, the entire SWP community meets for the following highlighted classes and events, all of which will be further detailed on the SWP master schedule, available once the program begins. SWP community events are not open to the public. There is no need for registered students to register for these events individually. BA and MFA credit students must sign an attendance sheet at many of these events. For more information, please contact the SWP office at 303-245-4600.

Lectures, Talks and Presentations with Core and Guest Faculty

At least four lectures, talks or presentations are held each week as part of the community program. All titles of lectures will be listed in the master schedule. Faculty members will reserve the last fifteen minutes of their allotted time to take questions from the audience.

Monday Opening Panel with Core and Guest Faculty

An opening panel is held on Monday of each week. Four to six faculty members are asked to participate and will generate discussion on the weekly theme. The last part of each panel is reserved for student questions and dialogue. A core or visiting faculty member will moderate each panel.

Monday Noncredit Orientation Meeting

This meeting is for noncredit students who are here for the week. SWP staff will review the schedule and answer questions.

Monday Master’s Level Class

The master’s-level class for poetry, prose, creative writing and translation concentration students will be held in four sections, each led by a core SWP faculty member. The class meets once each Monday and is required of all master’s-level students. The class is a writing and discussion workshop focused on concepts of prose, poetry and cross-genre writing. Faculty will assign weekly readings as well as writing experiments. A required MFA sourcebook of reading and writing assignments will be available in the SWP office by the end of April 2007. Students will need to attend the same section, with the same instructor, throughout the duration of the SWP.

Tuesday Panel with Core and Guest Faculty

A panel is held on Tuesday each week. Four to six faculty members are asked to participate and will generate discussion on topics related to prose fiction, narrative text and other writing-related topics. The exact topics will be listed in the master schedule. The last part of each panel is reserved for student questions and dialogue. A core or visiting faculty member will moderate each panel.

Tuesday Low-Residency MFA Student Meeting

This weekly meeting is required for all MFA low-residency students. Faculty and SWP administrators will check in with low-residency MFA folks, answer questions, give event and schedule updates, and engage in conversation about the content and structure of the SWP.

Tuesday Socratic Rap with Anne Waldman: Colotomic Poetics

Colotomic = the arrangement/structure of gongs within a melody. We will move in and around the provocative themes of SWP 2007, drawing on the Naropa University Audio Archive as a “listening” resource with the view that poets and writers and artists ARE the unacknowledged legislators and indeed the “rival government.” The accentuated “gongs” are moments of recognition and insight. Required: Civil Disobediences: Poetics and Politics in Action, edited by Anne Waldman and Lisa Birman. Students should acquire this tome and become familiar with it before the SWP begins.

Conversation on Craft

Each week one of our MFA students will interview a visiting or core faculty member. Discussions will cover writing, writing practices and other relevant topics.

Wednesday BA Discussion Class

In addition to their weekly workshops, BA credit students also meet with Max Regan and MFA instructors on Wednesdays in small reading/writing/discussion groups. This is required for all BA students taking the program for credit. Students will hand in weekly writing assignments and a final manuscript.

These discussion groups are open only to BA credit students.

Wednesday Student/Faculty Interviews

Student/faculty interviews are held each Wednesday. This is an opportunity for students to meet with faculty one-on-one to discuss the student’s own work. Each interview is about 25 minutes long. Students who sign up for interviews will be asked to submit a few pages of their work to the faculty member’s mailbox in the SWP office on the Monday before the interview, so that the faculty member has a chance to read it. Locations for interviews will be posted outside the SWP office on Wednesday morning of each week.

Interviews are required for all MFA credit students and will be open to other students on a space-available basis. BA and noncredit students should see SWP Finance and Registration Manager Corrina Lesser when they arrive on campus to sign up for any available interviews.

Wednesday and Thursday Prose & Poetry Chats

These are casual events that serve as opportunities for our students to chat with one of our faculty, usually about writing techniques and practices, in an informal atmosphere.

Friday Colloquium

A wrap-up Colloquium is held each Friday. All faculty members who taught classes during the week will share workshop highlights and comment on some relevant aspect of their classes. After initial comments from the faculty, students will be invited to comment and ask questions.

Meditation Instruction at Naropa University

Since its inception in 1974, Naropa University has offered instruction in basic sitting meditation to any student, staff or faculty member who requests it. Persons who come for all or part of the SWP may want to begin meditating or rejuvenate their practice.

Meditation and the Practice of Dharma Art

Once per week (the exact dates for 2007 are not yet scheduled), students will have the option to attend.

See Also:

Courses
Interviews
Required Readings
When you arrive