Workshops & Retreats…Poetry Workshop and Festival

This column briefly profiles writers' workshops, retreats, seminars and conferences. Inclusion in this column is not an endorsement.



What is Poetry Workshop and Festival?

U.S. Poets in Mexico sponsor the new Poetry Workshop and Festival in Merida, Mexico, January 10-17, 2009. The workshop coincides with Merida's annual city festival and includes award-winning contemporary poets from Mexico and the United States. Days will be filled with morning poetry workshops, Spanish lessons in the afternoon, free readings in the evenings and two day trips to Uxmal, a Mayan ruin, and to the Celestun Nature Reserve. The Spanish lessons and day trips are optional and require an additional fee. The individual workshops will be limited to only eight people. Participants must sign up each morning for the workshops presented that day.

Participants must apply to be accepted to the program. An application form is required as is four to six poems in the application packet. Fees included in the application process are a $25 reading fee due with the application packet and a $200 registration fee due upon acceptance to the workshop. Application deadline is November 15, 2008.

Who makes up the faculty?

The faculty consists of Guggenheim Fellows, a MacArthur Fellow, Lannan Foundation Fellows, a Rockefeller Foundation Fellow, Gertrude Stein Award for Innovative North American Poetry winners, and NEA Fellowships, among others. Featured poets include: (click names to learn more)

• Mónica de la Torre
• Forrest Gander
• Bob Holman
• Maureen Owen
• Pedro Serrano
• C.D. Wright

What's included in the tuition?

Tuition for the week-long workshop is $450 on top of the above mentioned fees. The tuition covers all the workshops, welcome breakfast and orientation and evening opening night cocktail party and readings. If you would like to take the afternoon Spanish lessons, four 1 ½-hour sessions, the fee is $72. The day trips are $37 to Uxmal and $50 to Celestun. Each trip includes roundtrip bus fare, guided tour and lunch. Hotel, meals and airfare to Merida are not included. The workshop has a limited number of rooms held at a special rate at the Hotel Caribe and there are other hotels listed on the workshop website.

The Details:

Poetry Workshop and Festival, sponsored by U.S. Poets in Mexico, January 10-17, 2009.
Tuition/Registration: $450 tuition, $25 reading fee, $200 registration fee, trips and Spanish lessons for an additional fee.
Lodging: Hotel Caribe, Merida, Mexico, area hotels list.