This workshop looks at how authors of both fiction and nonfiction use evocations of place not simply as “background” settings, but to help create character, create mood and metaphor, forward the narrative, and reveal aspects of the self. We’ll look at some examples and consult our memories for an a place-based in-class writing.
Pamela Petro is an author, artist, and educator living in Northampton, MA. She 
has written three books of place-based creative nonfiction, including Travels in an Old Tongue, Sitting up with the Dead, and The Slow Breath of Stone. Her articles and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Granta, The Paris Review, and others. She is also the author of After Shadows, an artist’s book, and Under Paradise Valley, a graphic script. Pamela has received fellowships and residencies from Grand Canyon National Park, the MacDowell Colony, the Spring Creek Project, the Black Rock Arts Foundation, and more. She teaches creative writing at Smith College and on Lesley University’s MFA in Creative Writing Program, and directs the Dylan Thomas Summer School at the University of Wales.
