Porter Shreve

Fiction Writing Workshop: Single Scene Stories, Short-Shorts and Monologues

About:

The stories we will discuss and write in this workshop do not necessarily have to be historical in nature, though they could be prompted by historical research or personal history. You will be asked to bring in two pieces on the first day of class: a story or monologue that you admire and will share with the class and a story or monologue that you have written yourself and will turn in for feedback. Each piece should be around 2500 words. Some possible models might include a single scene short story, such as John Updike's "A&P" or John Cheever's "Reunion," a lyrical short-short such as Sandra Cisneros' "The House on Mango Street" or Alice Walker's "The Flowers," or a monologue from a historical novel such as Michael Shaara's "The Rebel Angels," Marguerite Yourcenar's "Memoirs of Hadrian," or an excerpt by any of the extraordinary panelists assembling for this year's seminar.

Requirements:

This workshop is open to writers of all levels of ability. Applicants should submit manuscripts of around 2,500 words at the time of application.

Biography:

Porter Shreve grew up in Washington, DC and graduated from the MFA program at the University of Michigan, where he studied the novel and short story with Nicholas Delbanco, Charles Baxter, and Lorrie Moore. He has taught at the University of Michigan, the University of Oregon, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and is now Associate Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at Purdue University.

Shreve is the author of three novels, all with Houghton Mifflin: The Obituary Writer was a 2000 New York Times Notable Book, Drives Like a Dream was a 2005 Chicago Tribune Best Book of the Year, and When the White House Was Ours, to be published in September 2008. He is coeditor of six anthologies, including the Contemporary American Short Story: A Longman Anthology.

Shreve's book reviews, nonfiction, and short stories have appeared in Witness, Northwest Review, Salon, the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Boston Globe and the Chicago Tribune. He is currently working on a new novel.