The Ministry of Writing:

An Annual Colloquium
October 29 & 30., 1999

with keynote speaker Will D. Campbell

"My boy was writing about hornet's nests." That's what Will Campbell's dad said when some of Will Campbell's family was uncomfortable with the language in Will's Brother to a Dragonfly, Campbell's award-winning biography of his brother Joe coupled with a chronicle of Campbell's own involvement in the civil rights movement. Will Campbell has spent much of his life writing, preaching, speaking, and living in the middle of controversial issues. Campbell will headline the 1999 edition of the Ministry of Writing Colloquium.

Campbell avoids labels and does not call himself a Christian writer. But he admits that somewhere he caught the "virus" for writing, and he hasn't found a cure yet. His awards as a writer include the Christopher Award and the Lillian Smith Prize, both for Brother to a Dragonfly, the Friends of American Writers first-place award for Glad River, and an Alex Haley Award. He has published seventeen books, both fiction and nonfiction, and numerous articles. Campbell has a way of talking about ethical issues through storytelling. Wherever he shares his stories, Will Campbell offers a challenging presence and a call for obedience to the gospel of Christ. He will give a presentation to the wider Earlham and Richmond communities on Friday evening, October 29, 1999 and speak twice to colloquium attenders on Saturday, October 30.

Workshops:

The seven workshops listed below will be repeated. Please choose one to attend in the morning and a different one for the afternoon session.

Writer as Contemplative Activist
led by Peter Anderson

Like contemplative prayer, writing begins with a long loving look at what's real - a bird, the weather, another person. And like contemplative prayer, the task of writing begins with listening. How do writers learn to listen for the words that grow in stillness? And how might writers understand their work in the context of the Christian contemplative tradition? These questions, and others, will be considered experientially in group writing exercises.

Peter Anderson was the 1998 Patrick Henry Scholar at ESR, where he worked on a collection of essays on mountain and spirituality. The author of 12 children's book, he is also certified as an instructor at the Center for the Journal and leads writing groups.

Acts of Turning
led by Mary Brown

One of the best ways to explore the mysteries of God is through poetry: sometimes a miraculous unearthing occurs in the course of the turning of lines. The workshop will focus on poetry as a distinctively spiritual medium and will suggest how artistic obedience can lead both a writer and her reader to epiphany.

Mary Brown is a poet and professor and director of the Honors College at Indiana Wesleyan University where she teaches literature and writing.

Faith and Fiction: Spiritual Seeking and Writing Fine Stories
led by C. Michael Curtis

Contemporary literature may not be the first place you think of to find God, but this workshop will challenge the reader to find faith in fiction, both of which can challenge our deepest yearnings and provide our greatest comfort in ways both mysterious and immense.

C. Michael Curtis is senior editor of The Atlantic Monthly , which involves editing all fiction, the Letters to the Editor, and other pieces. He screens some 12,000 manuscripts annually. Curtis was the editor of American Stories: Fiction From The Atlantic Monthly, Contemporary New England Stories, Contemporary West Coast Stories, and God: Stories. His essays, articles, reviews, and poems have been published in The Atlantic, The New Republic, National Review, and Sport.

Everyone A Historian
led by Larry Ingle

Like faith, doing history is open to all those willing to submit to the discipline. This workshop will explore how to research, write, and publish what the past has to offer.

Larry teaches history at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga and is author of Quakers in Conflict: The Hicksite Reformation and First Among Friends: George Fox and the Creation of Quakerism and is co-author, American History, A Brief View. He is currently working on an examination of Richard M. Nixon and his Quaker world.

From Pulpit to Publication
led by Jay Marshall

This workshop will especially appeal to pastors and other church workers who want to learn how to bring sermons and newsletter articles to print. It will look at making the transition from local orientation of material to a more universal approach, and moving from oral presentation to the written word.

Jay is the author of The Beatitudes of Christmas, The 10 Commandments and the Christian Community, Family Faults: Healing the Hurts that Threaten the Home, and Israel and the Book of the Covenant, as well as numerous magazine articles. He is an experienced pastor and currently serves as dean of the Earlham School of Religion.

The Art of Revision
led by Barbara Bennett Mays

This workshop is based on Barry Lane's creative and fun approach to revision. It involves adding to what is written rather than fine tuning what is already on the page. This workshop will be participatory, involving in-class writing. Topics include building scenes, playing with time, and finding organic form in writing.

Barbara Bennett Mays is the editor and publisher of Friends United Press and has edited more than 30 books. She is also the author of hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles and is a published hymn and songwriter.

How To Sell Your Stuff
led by Holly Miller

Are you having trouble marketing your stuff? Then this is the workshop for you. Holly will help you develop strategies for getting your work published. She'll talk about how to catch (and keep) an editor's eye with irresistible query letters and flawless book proposals.

Holly Miller is the author of 12 books, a contributing editor to Today's Christian Woman and travel editor for The Saturday Evening Post. She has sold more than 2,000 articles to magazines of all descriptions. She has won a number of writing competitions and serves on the faculties of writers' workshops from Massachusetts to California.

Schedule

Friday, October 29

Saturday, October 30

A $50.00 registration fee covers all colloquium events including the Friday night concert, all plenary sessions and workshops, Saturday lunch and refreshments. This should be paid no later than October 15. After that date, the cost increases to $60.00. The conference cost for attending Saturday only is $40 if registered before October 15; $45 after October 15. Send to: '99 Writing Colloquium, J. Brent Bill, Earlham School of Religion, 228 College Avenue, Richmond, IN 47374. E-mail: brentbil@ecicnet.org or billbr@earlham.edu

The Friday night registration and concert will be held in Wilkinson Theater on the Earlham College campus. All Saturday plenary sessions, workshops, and the noon meal will be held in the ESR Community Building at the northeast corner of the Earlham Campus. A finalized schedule and list room assignments for workshops and other gatherings will be distributed at registration.

For more information contact:

Earlham School of Religion
228 College Avenue
Richmond, IN  47374
1-800-432-1ESR
esr@earlham.edu