(NWI) Imaginative Writing Seminar: Works in Progress

Open to graduate students and to writers, filmmakers, digital storytellers, and creators in other media, this seminar is a collaborative studio for completing creative work, which also serves as the capstone course for the Certificate in Documentary Studies. The seminar directs the energies of the seminar community in the development of individual works in progress, with reference to the best in contemporary writing and documentary expressions in other media.


This course is part of the Documentary Studies Certificate Program.

Note: While participants who are ready to do so may complete major projects in this course, our focus will be on the completion of representative selections from on-going projects. A student might complete a chapter of a book, for example, in such a way as to be ready to complete other chapters independently, using lessons learned from the class community. Or a student might complete several representative segments for a film. This does not need to be the grand finale, but rather good work in good company toward a cherished goal. In fact, the best opportunity may be to get companionable insight early in a project, in order to set a direction and clarify intent for subsequent independent work. Questions? Please contact Kim Stafford at krs@lclark.edu or 503-768-6163.

Dates: Wednesdays, March 14, April 4, 11, 18, May 2, 2012

Time: 5-8 p.m.

Location: Lewis & Clark College, J.R. Howard Hall Room 242

Instructor: Kim Stafford, Ph.D.

Degree-applicable credit: LA/WCM 522, 1 semester hour, $738

Continuing education credit: CELA 822, 1 semester hour, $350

Noncredit/CEU: 15 hours, $250

Registration form (PDF)

About the Instructor

Kim Stafford founded the Northwest Writing Institute at Lewis & Clark College, and has published a dozen books of poetry and prose, most recently The Muses Among Us. He approaches writing as a chance to set down stories we have carried into poems, essays, radio commentaries, blessings, rants, parables, and other forms of  “tikkun olam,” the healing of the world. “In our time is a great thing not yet done. It is the marriage of Woody Guthrie’s gusto and the Internet. It the composing and wide sharing of generous expression in the voices of many for the needs of all.”