Odyssey 2009 Press Release
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From The Desk of Liz Ensley:
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January 2009
ODYSSEY WRITING WORKSHOP
ANNOUNCES SUMMER 2009 SESSION
About Odyssey
Since its inception in 1996, Odyssey has earned a place as one of the most respected workshops in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror writing community. Odyssey is for developing writers whose work is approaching publication quality and for published writers who want to improve their work. The six-week workshop combines an intensive learning and writing experience with in-depth feedback on student manuscripts. Top authors, editors, and agents have served as guest lecturers, including George R. R. Martin, Harlan Ellison, Jane Yolen, Terry Brooks, Robert J. Sawyer, Ben Bova, Nancy Kress, Elizabeth Hand, Jeff VanderMeer, Donald Maass, Sheila Williams, Shawna McCarthy, and Dan Simmons. Fifty-three percent of Odyssey graduates go on to professional publication.
The program is held every summer on Saint Anselm College's beautiful campus in Manchester , NH . Saint Anselm is one of the finest liberal arts colleges in the country, dedicated to excellence in education, and its campus provides a unique, lovely setting and state-of-the art facilities for Odyssey students. College credit is available upon request.
Jeanne Cavelos, Odyssey's director, founder, and primary instructor, is a best-selling author and a former senior editor at Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing, where she won the World Fantasy Award for her work. Being a writer/editor makes Cavelos uniquely suited to provide students with constructive and professional critiques of their work. "I give the same unflinchingly honest, concrete, detailed feedback that I provided as a senior editor," Cavelos said. Her typewritten critiques average around 1,000 words, and her handwritten line edits on manuscripts are extensive. In addition, she guides students through the six weeks, gaining in-depth knowledge of their work, providing detailed assessments of their strengths and weaknesses in private meetings, and helping them target their weaknesses one by one.
Odyssey class time is split between workshopping sessions and lectures. An advanced, comprehensive curriculum covers the elements of fiction writing in depth. Students learn the tools and techniques necessary to strengthen their writing.
The workshop runs from June 8th to July 17th, 2009 . Class meets for four hours in the morning, five days a week. Students spend about eight hours more per day writing and critiquing each
other's work. Prospective students, aged eighteen and up, apply from all over the world. The early admission application deadline is JANUARY 31st, and the regular admission deadline is APRIL 8th. Tuition is $1900, and housing is $700 for a double room and $1400 for a single.
Meet Our 2009 Writer-in-Residence
Odyssey's 2009 writer-in-residence is Carrie Vaughn, New York Times bestselling author and Odyssey 1998 graduate. Carrie is the author of the phenomenally popular "Kitty" novels, about a werewolf who hosts a talk radio show. The first novel, Kitty and the Midnight Hour has over a hundred thousand copies in print. Books five and six of the series, Dead Man's Hand and Kitty Raises Hell, will appear in 2009. Carrie's short stories have appeared in Realms of Fantasy, Weird Tales, George R. R. Martin's Wild Cards series, and other anthologies. She has a Master's degree in English Literature from the University of Colorado at Boulder and has been a lifelong science fiction fan and reader.
Other Guest Lecturers
Odyssey is pleased to welcome its 2009 guest lecturers: bestselling author Jeffrey A. Carver; award-winning authors Melissa Scott, Patricia Bray, and Jack Ketchum, and Editor-in-Chief of the Ace and Roc science fiction/fantasy imprints, Ginjer Buchanan.
Odyssey Graduates
If you're reading science fiction, fantasy, and horror, you're reading the work of Odyssey graduates. If you've read recent issues of some of the top fiction magazines in the field--Realms of Fantasy, Asimov's, Analog, Weird Tales, Fantasy Magazine, Intergalactic Medicine Show--you've read stories by Odyssey graduates Theodora Goss, David Barr Kirtley, Eric James Stone, Clayton Kroh, Larry Hodges, Matthew S. Rotundo, James Maxey, Carrie Vaughn, Carl Frederick, and Andrea Kail.
If you've been to the bookstore lately, you've seen books by Odyssey graduates, including Superpowers by David J. Schwartz, published by Random House; Dragonforge by James Maxey, published by Solaris Books; Maledicte by Lane Robins, published by Del Rey; Bloodstone by Barbara Campbell, published by DAW; Red Dragon Codex by R. D. Henham, published by Mirrorstone Books; The Mirror by Natalia Lincoln, published by Space & Time Books; The Eunuch's Heir by Elaine Isaak, published by HarperCollins; and Kitty and the Silver Bullet by Carrie Vaughn, published by Warner.
Comments from the Class of 2008
"I sold three novels before I came to Odyssey. I just wish I had gone to Odyssey before I wrote them--they would have been better books. Odyssey freakin' rocks!"
--J. Justin Gustainis, author of Evil Ways
"You will never be more eager to work yourself to the bone. Nor will you have as much reward for doing it. The six weeks at Odyssey have done more for my writing career than my bachelor's degree in creative writing. I only wish I'd known about it sooner."
--Breanna Wojcik
Other Odyssey Resources and Services
The Odyssey website www.odysseyworkshop.org offers free podcasts, writing and publishing tips, a class syllabus, and more information about how to apply. An overview of the Odyssey Critique Service is also available on the website at http://www.sff.net/odyssey/crit.html. This service provides authors with professional-level feedback on their writing, done with the thoroughness and depth for which Odyssey is known.
Those interested in applying to the workshop should visit the website, phone/fax (603) 673-6234, or e-mail jcavelos@sff.net.
posted by Liz at 12:39 PM
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