Imagining Istria: A Creative Writing Workshop with Mark Ari
This workshop will derive its inspiration from a medieval village and its pastoral surroundings in this remarkable cultural crossroad in the Balkans. Taking the opportunity to tune your senses to landscape, architecture, and cuisine, you’ll be encouraged to find your own voice in prose poem, vignette, and brief lyrical essay. You will be given exercises and methods to help tap resources of memory and imagination, and develop the sound and structure to make your language most fully your own. Since our workshop will coincide with one involving painters, we’ll consider the possibilities of ekphrastic writing, as well.
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Features & Info
Workshop Features
• Double-occupancy accommodations at a Luxury Villa (single occupancy available with supplement)
• Airport transfers
• Internal transportation
• Excursions
• Istrian Market Tours
• Continental Breakfast
• 5 Dinners, prepared by Chef Frederick, at the Villa
Mark Ari – Workshop Leader
Acclaimed “A true original,” by Kirkus Reviews, Mark Ari publishes fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. His novel, The Shoemaker’s Tale(Zephyr Press), earned high praise from Kirkus, the New York Times, The Jerusalem Post, and Publisher’s Weekly, among others. Most recently, he published ”Looking Back on Louis,” a personal essay on meeting Louis Armstrong; “Fibonacci, Bread, Mathematics, and Some Mention of Sardines” in the Monarch Review; and “Hama, July 31, 2011” (Poetry Quarterly). His fiction has been anthologized in Kiss the Sky (Paycock Press), an anthology of works about Jimi Hendrix; The Stoker Anthology (Stroker Press), and Paradise Now, a DVD commemorating The Living Theater and its 50 years of vanguard and experimental theater (Univeral Mutant and Arthur Magazine). Ari has received fellowships from Fundacion Valparaiso, The Ragdale Foundation on two occasions, and three times by the MacDowell Colony, including once as the Philip Morris Fellow. He teaches creative writing at the University of North Florida where he has received awards for outstanding teaching in 2006, 2009, and 2013. He is Editorial Advisor to the literary magazine, Fiction Fix and publis her of EAT Poems, a series of audio chapbooks devoted to poets reading their own work.
Frederick Brown- Director/Chef
Food and drink are essential to culture. We want to feed your belly as well as your creativity. Fred, a Florida-based chef, with more than 15 years experience, has honed his craft working in the United States and Europe. He has been creating nique workshop experiences for artists, students and food lovers for the last 5 years. Fred has traveled extensively, lived and worked abroad. He taught cooking classes and worked in the production of food and wine events for Bon Appétit Magazine in cities across the USA. His broad knowledge of food, coupled with his culinary skills combine to create memorable dining experiences informed by the local culture. He believes in using regionally grown products and produce assuring the freshest of ingredients. Fred will showcase his talents producing regionally influenced dinner fare to be enjoyed outdoors while being complimented by local wines and exceptional views of the Croatian countryside.
