Program Information
If you would like to participate in continuing the legacy of Summer Writing Program, please consider making a charitable donation to SWP the Summer Writing Program Gift Fund today!
History of the Summer Writing Program
3
Weeks of Writing
And Community
7
Summer Writing Program Scholarships, Awarded to 20+ Participants Each Year
50
Transformative
Summers
Creative Writing in Community Since 1974
Each year, the three weeks of Naropa’s Summer Writing Program are inspired by a central concept. All courses — whether fiction, experimental prose, poetry, or performance — tie into that overarching theme.
Past Summer Writing Programs have included 2019’s Against Atrocity, which included courses such as Poetics of Political Change with Solmaz Sharif or Stress Compositions, a multi-media workshop with artist Ronaldo Wilson. 2018’s theme, The Capital-Ocene, included workshops with Hoa Nguyen (Matrix Mix: Archetypes and Myth) and Tonya Foster (Activating the Afterlife).
The Summer Writing Program offers three distinct forums for learning:
- Writing Workshops with Guest and Resident Faculty
- Readings, Lectures, and Panels
- 1:1 Conferences
Bare Knuckle Warrior Poetics
With a lineage rooted in poets of the Beat Generation, the Summer Writing Program holds at its center ideals of social justice and social change. Guest faculty member Janine Pommy Vega reminds us that Jack Kerouac School co-founder Allen Ginsberg “was a major proponent of ‘bare knuckle warrior poetics.’ That means you hit the ground running, you see [what’s happening], and you do something about it. What is going to be your role here?”
The Summer Writing Program asks poets and writers to recognize that they’re writing not in a vacuum, but in the larger context of social issues. In the words of co-founder Anne Waldman, the program “is here to help wake you up.”
A Welcoming Community
In college creative writing programs, a sense of community is essential. Few creative writing programs foster writing communities as supportive and welcoming as Naropa’s. The Summer Writing Program, like the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, values presence over prestige and collaboration over competition.
Here, poetry writing classes and fiction workshops are opportunities to exchange ideas and learn from your peers. Literary readings are opportunities to celebrate and share in the growth of our fellow writers. This isn’t just a creative writing program. It’s a meeting place.
We’ll see you there.
Student Transformed
Student Transformed
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