For the first time, Electric Literature is offering a day-long writing boot camp—an intimate event in the Hudson Valley! The inaugural Craft Camp will feature keynote lectures by novelists Marie-Helene Bertino and Francine Prose, who will each guide a small, select group of writers through in-depth craft discussions, as well as generative writing exercises. EL Executive Director Halimah Marcus and Editor in Chief Denne Michele Norris will lead a Q&A session on how to get published, strategies for submitting work, and any other questions the group may have about related topics such as finding an agent. At the end of the day, local publishing professionals will join for a social hour.

DATE 

Saturday, June 1, 2024, 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM

LOCATION

The 2024 Craft Camp will be hosted at Barnfox, a gorgeous, light-filled, open space perfect for generating discussion and finding inspiration in uptown Kingston, NY. Barnfox is an accessible space.

SAMPLE SCHEDULE

9:30 AM – Coffee, donuts, arrival

10:00 AM – Welcome, introductions

10:30 AM – “Revision as an Act of Autonomy” with Marie-Helene Bertino

12:00 PM – Catered lunch (vegetarian options available)

1:00PM  – “Read Like a Writer” with Francine Prose

2:30 PM – Breakout sessions and generative writing time

3:30 PM - Publishing Q&A with Halimah Marcus and Denne Michele Norris

4:30 PM – Social Hour with local publishing professionals

APPLICATION DEADLINE AND INSTRUCTIONS

Please submit a 5-page writing sample (fiction or nonfiction), a 1-2 paragraph personal statement introducing yourself, and a 1-page professional resume or CV via Submittable by May 6, 2024. 

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis. The portal will close when the 40 person admission cap is reached—so get yours in early! Five spots will be reserved for EL members. All admission decisions will be made by May 15, 2024. 

Writing samples should be double spaced, in 12-point Times New Roman, with 1” margins. Don’t forget page numbers. 

QUALIFICATIONS

The Hudson Valley Craft Camp is designed to accommodate and inspire writers of all ages and experience levels. Applicants should have an active writing practice, and a desire to improve their craft. Because of the focus on close reading and revision, it’s also helpful if applicants are engaged with a work in progress.

There are no requirements in terms of publications credentials or education. Applicants must be curious and willing to learn, and considerate and respectful of their fellow writers. 

TUITION

Tuition is $350 per person, and includes all programming, coffee and donuts in the morning, lunch, and snacks and wine during the social hour. Accommodations and transportation are not included. Accepted applicants will receive an invoice following acceptance. EL Members receive a $50 discount. 

PROGRAMMING

“Revision as an Act of Autonomy” with Marie-Helene Bertino 

This nuts-and-bolts craft talk led by Marie-Helene Bertino will offer practical, guiding questions to help writers move toward a better understanding of how to maintain discovery during revision. The intent is to place pressure against what and how we choose, order, imagine, and notice, in order to know ourselves more deeply and express ourselves more exactly. Bertino constructed these questions (encompassing character, “plot,” revelation, and “time,” among others) over many years, based on insight culled from conversations, reading, sustained practice, fear of flying, being a daughter, and disagreeing with almost everyone about almost everything. Hewing closer to the line means hewing closer to the self. The location of this talk will be the sentence, the gestural level, the middle part of a novel or long project, and the meantime. With a seat saved for the ineffable. And the shadow self. And sound.

Marie-Helene Bertino is the author of the novels Beautyland, Parakeet, and 2 A.M. at The Cat’s Pajamas, and the story collection Safe as Houses. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Electric Literature, Tin House, Granta, Guernica, and BOMB, among others. Awards include The O. Henry Prize, The Pushcart Prize, The Iowa Short Fiction Award, The Mississippi Review Prize, The Center for Fiction NYC Emerging Writers Fellowship, and The Frank O'Connor International Short Story Fellowship in Cork, Ireland. She has received fellowships from MacDowell, Sewanee, Hedgebrook, and New York City’s Center for Fiction. Her short stories have been anthologized in Best American Short Stories, Pen/O. Henry Prize Stories, Gunzo Anthology of American Surrealists, and Mississippi Review 30, and has twice been featured on NPR’s Selected Shorts. She has taught for NYU, The New School, Institute for American Indian Arts, and was the Distinguished Kittredge Visiting Writer at University of Montana. Currently, she is the Ritvo-Slifka Writer-in-Residence at Yale University. Her second collection of short stories will be published by FSG in 2025.

“Read Like a Writer” with Francine Prose: John Cheever Edition

Francine Prose’s 2007 craft compendium, Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them is an essential book for any writer’s shelf. As she points out in Reading Like a Writer, before MFA programs and modern workshops, writers looked to the masters to learn their craft. At EL’s Hudson Valley Craft Camp, Prose will bring this approach to life with a close reading of John Cheever’s classic story, “Goodbye, My Brother.” (Students are asked to familiarize themselves with the story beforehand.) The discussion will perform a deep dive into how the story is written and constructed on the level of language, structure, and style, so that participants may internalize these lessons for their own writing. 

Francine Prose is the author of twenty-two works of fiction including the highly acclaimed The Vixen; Mister Monkey; the New York Times bestseller Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932; A Changed Man, which won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize; and Blue Angel, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her works of nonfiction include the highly praised Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife, and the New York Times bestseller Reading Like a Writer, which has become a classic. Prose is a former president of PEN American Center, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is a Distinguished Writer in Residence at Bard College.

Halimah Marcus is the Executive Director of Electric Literature. Halimah Marcus has been a fiction editor since 2012, when she co-founded Electric Literature’s weekly fiction series, Recommended Reading. Over the last decade, she has worked with hundreds of writers, and stories she has edited have gone on to be included in Best American Stories, the O. Henry Prize Anthology, and the Pushcart Prize Anthology. She is also the editor of Horse Girls (Harper Perennial, 2021), an anthology that reclaims and recasts the horse girl stereotype, which was a New York Times “New and Noteworthy” pick. Her own work has appeared in Oprah Daily, Indiana Review, Gulf Coast, One Story, BOMB, The Literary Review, and elsewhere. Andrew Sean Greer selected her short story, “The Party Goers,” from the The Southampton Review as a distinguished story in Best American Short Stories 2022. Halimah has an MFA from Brooklyn College, and lives in Kingston, New York.

Denne Michele Norris is the Editor in Chief of Electric Literature, and in 2021 became the first Black, openly trans woman to helm a major literary publication. She was previously the fiction editor of Apogee Journal and The Rumpus, where multiple stories she edited were awarded the PEN Robert J. Dau Prize for debut short fiction. Denne Michele’s writing has been supported by MacDowell, Tin House, VCCA, VONA, and the Kimbilio Center for African American Fiction. Her short stories appear in McSweeney’s, American Short Fiction, SmokeLong Quarterly, and ZORA, and in the anthologies Everyday People: The Color of Life, published by Atria Books, and Forward: 21st Century Flash Fiction. She has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and her short story, “Where Every Boy Is Known and Loved” was a finalist for the 2018 Best Small Fictions Prize. Her debut novel, When The Harvest Comes, is forthcoming from Random House.
 

TRANSPORTATION

ADDRESS

291 Wall Street, Kingston, NY

PARKING

Street parking is available and free on Saturdays. There are also 2 lots on Front Street, which are also free on Saturdays.

BY TRAIN

Metro North or Amtrak to Poughkeepsie, a 35-minute drive away.

Amtrak to Rhinecliff, a 25-minute drive away.

There are some rideshares in the area but their availability tends to be spotty. Please arrange transportation from the train station in advance of your arrival. 

BY BUS

Trailways bus to Kingston. The station is within walking distance from the Craft Camp at Barnfox. 

ACCOMODATIONS

The day-long Craft Camp is designed to accommodate local writers, as well as commuters. However, if you are traveling from out of town and planning to stay the night, Hotel Kinsley is across the street from Barnfox. Best Western is a 15- to 20-minute walk. Airbnbs may also be available. If you are not staying within walking distance of the Craft Camp, it is best to have your own vehicle, as ride shares and taxis in the area are unreliable. The Hampton Inn and the Courtyard Marriott on Ulster are 10-15 minutes away by car. Hutton Brickyards is also 10 minutes away by car, on the Hudson River.

CONTACT

If you have any questions, please email editors@electricliterature.com.