Drexel Storylab

A creative writing immersion experience

Drexel University Storylab: Creative Writing Workshops and Study Abroad

Drexel Storylab is designed for adult learners who want to explore careers as writers. The program offers creative writing workshops and study abroad retreats geared towards non-traditional students – including working professionals, Drexel alumni and other community members. Storylab is taught by Drexel faculty members and visiting, accomplished authors of note. This program can serve as an immersion experience for anyone who is interested in pursuing Drexel's Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing. Storylab, an initiative of the Drexel University College of Arts and Sciences, is hosted within the Department of English and Philosophy.

Creative Writing: Advanced Workshop, Fall 2021 Session

Teacher: Maegan Poland
Price: $400 *There is a 10% discount for Drexel Alumni.
Schedule: Mondays, 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. (nine sessions)
Location: Drexel campus in University City. Room will be announced after registration.
Dates: September 20, September 27, October 4, October 18, October 25, November 1, November 8, November 22, November 29 (Note: October 11 is university holiday and we will not have class.)

This class is intended for students who have been writing for some time and are interested in taking their work to the next level with a small and supportive group of fellow writers. All students should have workshop experience, and they should be at least 18 years of age. Adult themes may be explored in the reading and writing we share.

If you are interested in joining the Advanced Storylab, please email the instructor, Maegan Poland at mcp332@drexel.edu. New writers will be asked to share a brief explanation of their prior workshop and writing experience, and to submit a sample of narrative prose, between 1000 and 2500 words in length. The sample may be a complete piece or an excerpt of a longer work. The workshop is limited to nine students, and students must have permission to enroll.

The primary focus of the course will be reading and discussing each other’s work, but the workshop will sometimes also include brief discussions of published short stories and essays. When it is their turn to workshop their materials, participants can submit up to 8,000 words of prose, double-spaced. Workshop stories or chapters will always be due one week before the assigned workshop. Workshop order will be assigned by the instructor; reasonable adjustments may be made for minor scheduling conflicts. The first submissions will be due on September 13th.

Each student will have the opportunity to receive at least two rounds of workshop feedback, with written notes from the instructor. If you would like two rounds of feedback, be prepared to commit to two workshop dates at the start of the course. If a student would like to workshop an excerpt from a novel, they should begin with the first chapter or provide summaries for the omitted material.

StoryLab Writing Retreat in Collioure, France

Drexel Creative Writing Retreat in Collioure, France

Register now for an all-inclusive, six-day writing retreat in June 19-25, 2022

The Storylab creative writing retreat is designed for beginning, emerging, and published writers — anyone who feels the urge to reconnect with their writing self, or deepen and improve their craft is invited to attend.

The price includes six days of lodging in historic hotel located in the village center; two meals a day, plus snacks; five days of small group workshop; craft talks; one-on-one consultations with guest authors; and optional afternoon adventures such as wine tasting, hiking, and olfactory experience with a perfume maker — plus more!

Now Enrolling — Early Bird Pricing Ends January 1, 2022

Six-days in June 19-25, 2022

The retreat is for beginning, emerging, and published writers — anyone who feels the urge to reconnect with their writing self, or deepen and improve their work.

The village of Collioure is in the very south of France, where the Pyrenees meet the Mediterranean. The place smells of salt, earth, lavender, citrus and rose. Attendees will stay at the historic Hôtel des Templiers, in the center of the old village, steps away from the beach, cafés, shops and the Château Royale. The Templiers was a popular haunt of Matisse, Derain, Picasso, Dali and other painters who came to make art in Collioure, and continues to be popular among artists and writers to this day.

The Retreat

Six nights’ accommodation in Collioure, close to shops, cafés, and the sea
Breakfast is included, along with one other meal each day (lunch or dinner) with our retreat chef, Emily Park
Five morning writing workshops
Afternoon Sensory Adventures with Karen
Evening craft talks by Nomi Eve
One-hour private consultation with Karen
Ground transportation to and from Perpignan

Retreat costs cover lodging for attendees in single rooms with air conditioning and ensuite bathrooms. They do not cover air transportation or course credit.

For-Credit Option

Students in Drexel’s MFA in Creative Writing have the option to take the retreat for elective, or just to as a way to awaken their writing self or deepen and improve their work. Students must pay for the credits separately at the MFA per-credit rate.

Meet the Retreat Instructors

Karen Karbo is the best-selling author of 16 works of fiction and non-fiction, including the international best seller, The Gospel According to Coco Chanel. Her work has appeared in Vogue, Elle, Outside, Tin House, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and the New York Times Modern Love column. She has taught writing workshops at the University of Oregon, Rutgers University, Portland State University, Tin House, Portland Literary Arts and the Todos Santos Writers Workshop. She launched Come to Karbohemia, her writing retreat in the South of France, in 2018.

Nomi Eve is the author of Henna House and The Family Orchard, which was a Book-of-the-Month Club main selection and was nominated for a National Jewish Book Award. She has an MFA in fiction writing from Brown University and has worked as a freelance book reviewer for The Village Voice and New York Newsday. Her stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, Glimmer Train Stories, The Voice Literary Supplement, Conjunctions, and Guernica. She lives in Philadelphia with her family and is the director of the M.F.A. in Creative Writing at Drexel University and of Drexel Storylab, a writing workshop for non-matriculating adults.

Pricing

Two Step Registration Process - Participants pay $250 registration fee to Drexel and then are given information on how to pay the remainder directly to Karen Karbo.

Early bird pricing, until JANUARY 1, 2022 ($3000)

$250 registration to Drexel September 28, 2021
$1125 to Karen Karbo by November 15th
$1125 to Karen Karbo by December 15th
$500 to Karen Karbo by January 1st

Bird-by-Bird pricing, until APRIL 15, 2022 ($3250)

$250 registration to Drexel by September 28, 2021
$1250 to Karen Karbo by December 15th
$1250 to Karen Karbo by February 15th
$750 to Karen Karbo by May 15th

Registration

There are 12 spots available on a first come, first serve basis. The Drexel Creative Writing Retreat will only run if all spots are filled.

If you are interested and would like to receive updates on registration, email Nomi Eve at nae28@drexel.edu.

Storylab Instructors

Nomi Eve

Drexel Storylab Writer-in-Residence/Project Coordinator

Nomi Eve, an assistant teaching professor, holds an MFA in fiction writing from Brown University and has worked as a freelance book reviewer for The Village Voice and New York Newsday.Her stories and essays have appeared in the New York Times, Glimmer Train Stories, The Voice Literary Supplement, Conjunctions, and The International Quarterly. She is the author of "Henna House" and "The Family Orchard," which was a Book-of-the-Month Club main selection and was nominated for a National Jewish Book Award. Nomi lives in Philadelphia with her family.

Maegan Poland

Maegan Poland, an assistant teaching professor, received her PhD in English with a Creative Dissertation from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where she was a Black Mountain Institute PhD Fellow. She also holds an MFA in Fiction from the University of Mississippi, as well as a BFA in Writing for Screen & Television from the University of Southern California, where she was a Trustee Scholar. Her writing has been published in Mississippi Review, Pleiades, Juked, Beloit Fiction Journal, Notre Dame Review, Day One, and elsewhere. She has received a Special Mention in the Pushcart Prize XL anthology, a Tin House scholarship, and a grant from the Elizabeth George Foundation to support her writing. She has served as Fiction Editor for Witness magazine, and as Managing Editor for Yalobusha Review.