About

If you've never written, need to let go of your critical or "editor" voice, or just need some new energy to get the words flowing, this afternoon retreat could be for you. All writing levels and genres are welcome in this safe and fun environment. Use this opportunity to generate new work with the help of prompts for timed writing followed by time to read and receive responses to freshly written material. Reading your work is optional.

As one former participant said, "My very best writing emerges out of your group's creative cauldrons...your comments were spot on, very insightful and helpful." 

Details:

• This class will be held in BARN's Great Room located on the upper level just past the front desk.
• Please click here for BARN's current COVID-19 health & safety protocols. 
• Tuition assistance is available. Click here to fill out our simple application before you register.

Julie Gardner, an Amherst Writers & Artists Affiliate, has led WritersGathering groups, workshops and retreats in Seattle since 2011.  At BARN, she has offeredregular series since 2019. Participants say they learn more about their strengths, discover new ones, develop their repertoire of craft elements, take risks, generate writing, and have fun writing and learning from others.

Julie is the editor of Original Voices: Homeless and Formerly Homeless Women's Writings. Recent works have been featured in Passager's Pandemic Diaries, Persimmon Tree, and in Alone Together: Love, Grief and Comfort in the Time of Covid 19 which won the 2021 Washington State Book award for nonfiction. A current project has been collaborating with libettists Kamala Sankaram and Kristin Martig leading workshops to generate lyrics for Joan of the City, a site-specific multi-media opera that will use augmented reality/mixed reality to tell the story of a modern-day Joan of Arc through Opera on Tap.