Only four-week students may receive academic credit.  All workshops meet Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 1 to 4 p.m.

How to Select a Workshop:

Applicants are encouraged to select the workshop which seems most appropriate and attractive to them, but the Director and Assistant Director of the program will make the final determinations about placement based upon review of the required writing sample and other relevant factors, including previous workshop experience.   

F1    INTERMEDIATE FICTION WRITING
Two-Week Options:  June 30-July 11, 2008: Elizabeth Benedict & Kathryn Harrison (one week each)
OR July 14-25, 2008: Julia Slavin & Alex Ohlin (one week each)         
Four-Week Option: June 30-July 25, 2008: Benedict, Harrison, Slavin, Ohlin       

F2   ADVANCED FICTION WRITING
Two-Week Options: June 30-July 11, 2008: Margot Livesey & Jim Shepard (one week each)
OR July 14-25, 2008: Howard Norman & Mary Gaitskill (one week each)        
Four-Week Option: June 30-July 25, 2008: Livesey, Shepard, Norman & Gaitskill                  

F3   FICTION MASTER CLASS
Two-Week Options: June 30-July 11, 2008: Mary Gordon & Marilynne Robinson (one week each)
OR July 14-25, 2008: Rick Moody (both weeks)          
Four-Week Option: June 30- July 25, 2008: Gordon, Robinson, & Moody      

F3A   INTERMEDIATE & ADVANCED FICTION
Two-Week Option ONLY: July 14-25, 2008: Neil Gordon (both weeks) - (may be taken along with with Session One - June 30-July 11 Workshop F1, F2 or F3 for academic credit)   

Po1   INTERMEDIATE AND ADVANCED POETRY WRITING
Two-Week Options: June 30-July 11, 2008: Campbell McGrath (both weeks)
OR July 14-25, 2008: Henri Cole (both weeks)
Four-Week Option: June 30-July 25, 2008: McGrath & Cole      

Po2   POETRY MASTER CLASS
Two-week Option:  ONLYJune 30-July 11, 2008:  Frank Bidart (both weeks)

NFP   INTERMEDIATE AND ADVANCED NONFICTION PROSE
Two-Week Options: June 30-July 11, 2008: A Workshop in Memoir & Personal Essay with Phillip Lopate (both weeks)
OR July 14-25, 2008: A Workshop in Memoir & Miscellaneous Non-Fiction Forms with James Miller (both weeks)
Four-Week Option: June 30-July 25, 2008: Lopate & Miller (two weeks each)        

Special Readings/Discussions

Discussions with visiting faculty and special panels are scheduled between 2 and 4 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday and are open only to students enrolled in the Institute. Summer 2008 writers participating in this program include Russell Banks, Michael Ondaatje, Ann Beattie, Louise Gluck, Jamaica Kincaid, Gish Jen & Caryl Phillips. Public readings, interviews, and discussions are scheduled between 8 and 9:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Student readings are on Sunday evenings. Other special weekend events include two-hour workshops (session one and session two) on “Writing Historical Fiction” (with Writer-in-Residence Adam Braver) and on “The Relationship Between Writing & Publishing” (with Bob Boyers & Institute Faculty).

Tutorial Sessions

Students enrolled in F1, F2, or F3 who are writing novels are invited to register for intensive tutorial sessions with writers-in-residence Adam Braver, Darin Strauss, Amy Wallen, Greg Hrbek or Kirsten Bakis. (Students are invited to request a particular tutor, though the Institute cannot guarantee that they will be assigned to the tutor requested.) The writers-in-residence will read and discuss with students entire novels up to 300 manuscript pages in length. Students enrolled in poetry workshops or in nonfiction prose workshops who are preparing book-length collections are invited to register for private sessions with Barry Goldensohn (poetry) or Rochelle Gurstein (non-fiction), who will offer criticism and advice on manuscripts up to 150 pages in length (non-fiction) or 90 pages (poetry). All manuscripts must be received by the Skidmore program office not later than June 1, 2008, and must be addressed to Robert Boyers, Director, New York State Summer Writers Institute, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York, 12866-1632. Tutorial fee: $400.

Registering for a Tutorial

Students accepted into the Institute who wish to register for a tutorial program with one of the writers-in-residence will find an opportunity to do so in a letter sent out by the Director in mid-April and again in early May.