Workshops & Retreats...6th Annual Nebraska Summer Writers' Conference

Nebraska Summer Writers' Conference (NSWC) is in its sixth year, offering workshops, master classes, panel discussions, agent consultations, readings and receptions. Throughout its history, much of the conference's faculty had close ties to the renowned literary journal, Prairie Schooner, so this year the NSWC has renamed its poetry, fiction and nonfiction workshops "Prairie Schooner Workshops."

When is the conference?

The conference is actually in three parts. The weekend workshops are Saturday June 14 through Sunday June 15. The weekend offers workshops in fiction, poetry, nonfiction and publishing. The week-long workshops are June 16-20, Monday through Friday, and feature workshops in poetry, fiction and nonfiction, panel discussions, readings and receptions. Manuscript evaluations are also available. Finally, there are Master Classes, which focus on entire manuscripts. These classes run concurrently with the week-long workshops and are limited to six students. Classes are held in fiction, poetry and nonfiction. The goal in these classes is to have a manuscript ready for submission to a publishing house.

Who are the faculty?


The faculty consists of six in fiction, including Curtis Sitttenfeld who will teach the Master Class, four each in poetry and nonfiction, three publishing professionals and two screenwriters. Meghan Daum will teach the Master class in nonfiction and Hilda Raz will teach poetry.

Curtis Sittenfeld is the author of The Man of My Dreams and Prep.

Hilda Raz is a poet and an editor. Raz's poetry has appeared in numerous anthologies, publications and she has published a half dozen books.

Meghan Daum is the author of a novel and collection of essays My Misspent Youth. She is also a weekly columnist for the LA Times.

What do the classes and workshops cost?


The weekend workshop is $250. The week-long workshop is $525. If you want to take both, the tuition is $700. The fee for the manuscript evaluations during the week-long workshop is $100. Masters Class run according to class: novel and nonfiction up to 375 pages are $1300 each. Poetry up to 80 pages is $800.

Housing is available through the University of Nebraska-Lincoln at a rate of $40/night for a single bedroom with meal plan or $25/night for a single bedroom and no meal plan. The rooms are in an apartment style residence hall with two or four single bedroom suites.

The Details:

The Nebraska Summer Writers Conference 2008 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Weekend Workshops: June 14-15 - $250
Week-long Workshops: June 16-20 - $525
Combined Weekend and Week-long tuition: $700
Manuscript Evaluations (only during week-long workshop): $100
Master Classes: June 16-20 - limit to six students per class - classes: novel, nonfiction/memoir, poetry - $1300/novel, nonfiction; $800/poetry
On-campus residence hall housing available: $40/night - single bedroom and meal plan, $25/night - single bedroom