GALLERY
C ONTEMPORARY W EST T EXAS A RT
401 N. 5th Street • Alpine TX 79830
(432)837-5999
Representing work by
Charles Bell • Karl Glocke
Ling Dong • Carlos Campana
Wed. - Sat. 10 - 6 p.m.or by appointment
Art and Guitar classes • Weekend workshops offered
Hand-painted signs and graphics
W HITE C RANE
A CUPUNCTURE
C LINIC
Acupuncture
•
Herbs
•
Bodywork
Shanna Cowell, L.A.
505 E Sul Ross • Alpine
432.837.3225
Mon. - Fri. by appointment
26
Cenizo
West Texas Writes On!
By Cyndi Hughes
Writers gather in Alpine to hone their skills, July 27 – 31
A
lpine takes over as the
state’s literary epicenter
the last week in July
with the Writers’ League of
Texas Summer Writing
Retreat leading in to the Way
Out West Texas Book Festival.
The Writers’ League, a
statewide non-profit profes-
sional organization that
supports writers of all types,
presents its fourth annual writ-
ing retreat July 27-31 at Sul
Ross State University in
Alpine. The mountains of
West Texas provide an inspira-
tional backdrop for writers to
get down to the business of
serious writing.
Award-winning historical
novelist Karleen Koen will
return to reprise “Something
Novel,” the most popular class
of the 2008 retreat.
“I loved being in Alpine’s
clear air and sweeping vistas. I
could see the spirit of the West
alive and well,” Koen said. “I
loved running into local legend
Ted Gray at a coffee shop and
his drawling politeness and
charm. And I loved the oppor-
tunity to be around and work
with aspiring writers and writ-
ers in general for a solid week
under the big Texas sky. It’s a
special retreat.”
Four of Texas’ top authors
will teach a weeklong series of
intensive writing classes in fic-
tion, nonfiction and poetry
and then appear at the festival
on August 1. Classes include:
• “Something Novel: Craft and
Creativity in Writing the
Novel,” with Karleen
Koen, author of Through a
Glass Darkly, Now Face to Face
and Dark Angels.
• “Narrative Voice: Using
Point of View to Seduce
Your
Reader
and
Third Quarter 2009
Strengthen Your Prose Into
an Irresistible Story,” with
Carol Dawson, author of
the novels The Waking Spell,
Body of Knowledge, Meeting the
Minotaur and The Mother-in-
Law Diaries and co-author of
House of Plenty: The Rise, Fall
and Revival of Luby’s
Cafeterias, winner of the
WLT’s 2007 Violet Crown
Book Award.
• “Making Book: Turning
Your Nonfiction Idea in to
Reality,” with Joe Nick
Patoski, former Texas
Monthly senior editor and
author of Willie Nelson and
biographies of Stevie Ray
Vaughan and Selena, as
well as Texas Mountains and
Big Bend National Park.
• “Poetic Forms for Today’s
Poets,”
with
Scott
Wiggerman, poet and pub-
lisher of the Texas Poetry
Calendar.
Small class sizes and per-
sonalized instruction are made
to order for writers wanting to
hone their craft and immerse
themselves in writing.
Students can finish off the
week of writing by staying in
Alpine for the 2009 Way Out
West Texas Book Festival on
August 1, which will feature
appearances by the Summer
Writing Retreat instructors,
along with several other
authors.
The Writers’ League is
pleased to be a sponsor of the
festival.
The Writers’ League estab-
lished the writing retreat in
2006 under the auspices of
league members Steve and
Joan Neubauer after they
moved to Alpine. The retreat
is now the league’s signature
outreach program. Former
instructors
include
Jodi
Thomas, David Marion
Wilkinson, Suzy Spencer and
Clay Reynolds.
Sul Ross State University
generously supports the
Writers’ League by hosting the
retreat’s classes and students.
Tuition for the Summer
Writing Retreat is $199 for
WLT members and $249 non-
members through June 15
($249 WLT members and
$299 nonmembers after June
15). Room and board are
additional.
For more information on
the Summer Writing Retreat,
call 512.499.8914 or visit
WritersLeague.org