The 4th Annual IWWG Boston Area Conference: Writing the Heroine’s Journey – In Poetry, Prose, Memoir & Drama, will be held in Medfield, MA, May 10 and 11, 2019

The 4^th Annual IWWG Boston Area Conference: Writing the Heroine’s Journey – In Poetry, Prose, Memoir & Drama, will be held in Medfield, MA, May 10 and 11, 2019

   

The International Women’s Writing Guild (IWWG) will host its 4^th Annual Boston area writing conference, featuring four outstanding IWWG instructors, on Friday, May 10, and Saturday, May 11, 2019. The conference offers new and experienced writers craft insights into writing memoir, poetry, prose and monologue, and will be held at The Montrose School, 29 North Street, Medfield, MA from 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. May 10, and from 9:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. on May 11.

This year’s conference theme focuses on writing the “heroine’s journey,” a narrative process developed by author of the bestselling The Heroine’s Journey, Maureen Murdock. In 1949, Joseph Campbell presented a model of the mythological journey of the hero that has since been used as a template for the psycho-spiritual development of the individual. This model, however, did not address the task for today's woman, which is to heal the wounding of the feminine that exists deep within herself and the culture. Now, more than ever, women are speaking their truth as the feminine demands healing.

Throughout the conference, writers will apply insights and themes of The Heroine's Journey, which redefines the heroic quest for women in memoir, poetry, prose and drama. Attendees will experience all four workshops, including: Boston area playwright and poet, Kelly DuMar, presenting: Voices of Unsung Heroines - Writing Photo Inspired Monologues for the Stage; Brooklyn, NY based poet, Vanessa Jimenez Gabb, presenting How the Political is Personal: The Heroine Probes Context in Poetry; Geneva, Switzerland based author Susan Tiberghien, presenting The Alchemy of Journaling: Emerging from Darkness as Heroine; and California based author and Pacifica Graduate Institute faculty member, Maureen Murdock, presenting The Heroine’s Journey as a Narrative Structure for Memoir & Myth.

The conference opens Friday evening with Maureen Murdock’s workshop exploring the stages in 

The Heroine's Journey. As women claim their voice and name their experience, this workshop will provide a framework for their voice to be heard. Come prepared to write your own narrative as a heroine’s journey.

In Susan Tiberghien’s workshop, The Alchemy of Journaling, she asks, why are we afraid to see ourselves as heroines?  Why are we afraid of the dark? If we enter the dark, we will emerge as heroines: vibrant, creative, compassionate. We will look at examples from C.G. Jung, Etty Hillesum, and Marion Woodman. We will see journaling as alchemy with its three steps: entering the dark, nigredo; distilling the memory, albedo; polishing the gold, the new consciousness, rubedo.  Through active imagination, we will find a memory, a dream, an image and take into the dark, we will distill its meaning, and find its worth. 

How is the Political Personal? Vanessa Jimenez Gabb will invite participants to think about the ways we can generate poetry based on the heroine's journey to bring attention to the various systems of which we are products, privileged, oppressed. We will reflect on and write our respective journeys through poetry, and share with one another so that we may realize their collective power. 

Kelly DuMar invites participants to write the voices of unsung heroines. “You hear them, you see them, you know them – these women from your families, your personal history, and your community – but their stories are as yet unwritten,” she says. In this workshop you’ll develop a draft of a short, dramatic monologue for the stage, inspired by voices of unsung heroines. Bring 1-3 photos of unsung heroines (from your life or from history) to write from.

The mission of the non-profit IWWG is to foster the personal and professional empowerment of women through writing. Our regional conferences, as well as our online digital village of writing webinars, and our annual summer, writing intensive at Muhlenberg College, offer women writers the support necessary to hone their writing craft and benefit from ongoing personal and artistic development.

Writers of all levels and genres are welcome. The space is wheelchair accessible. The cost is $130 for IWWG Members; $150 for non-members, and $95 for students with ID. It’s possible to register for just Friday or just Saturday. There is a new member special of $185 (includes $75 Annual IWWG membership dues). Registration fee includes snacks and lunch. To learn more about the workshops, presenter bios, and to register online, go to http://www.iwwg.org/boston-2019. You may also contact Dana at iwwgquestions@iwwg.org or Kelly DuMar at kellydumar@kellydumar.com