Pushcart Nominated Essayist on September 11 to Hold Writers' Workshop

Santa Fe, New Mexico
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Internationally recognized writing teacher, poet, novelist, essayist, Karen Blomain will conduct a writers workshop in Santa Fe, New Mexico September 15-17. Blomain was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for her essay “Sisters”, which appeared in the anthology, September 11: American Writers Respond, edited by William Heyen, Etruscan Press, 2002.

One-hundred and twenty-seven writers from diverse cultures within the U.S. react to the events of September 11, 2001 in Heyen’s anthology, including respected short story author and novelist John Updike, New Yorker Erica Jong, and storyteller, poet, musician Joy Harjo, whose Oklahoma Muskogee roots and connection with the American Southwest provide a unique voice. Blomain, a university writing instructor, has documented the lives of first and second generation families in the coal mining regions of Pennsylvania in poetry and short story.

Blomain’s essay, “Sisters,” documents the experiences of two sisters shopping in a flea market when news of the attack begins to move through the booths and aisles. The American sisters come to understand the depth of the tragedy and mourn along with people from every continent within the flea market. Bruce Bond writes in an essay included in this anthology, "The challenge of all politically charged art is for the authority of the work to reside not merely in the situation, charged as it is by ready-made pathos, but in the quality of spontaneous imaginative participation in that situation." With “Sisters,” Blomain skillfully helps the reader participate in the events with out the repetition of morbid details.

Blomain has documented her reaction to all the expected significant life experiences in her work, i.e., birth, death, marriage, divorce. She has just as skillfully created images of universal topics and international events with the subtle hand of a poet and an observer. Her poetry, found in four published volumes and numerous anthologies and literary journals, runs from whimsical verse to deep observation. Most proud of her work guiding other writers, Blomain holds a MFA has taught in the Creative and Professional Writing Program at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania since 1990 and in workshops nationwide and globally.

A writers' workshop titled Personal Writings: Memoir and Poetry will be conducted by Blomain in Santa Fe, New Mexico September 15-17, 2006. Workshop fee for local participation is $200 and includes two meals daily. Accommodations are available for out of town attendees for an additional fee. Workshop space is still available. Scholarships are also available for this program for non-student adults and also for college and secondary students. For more information visit www.BelleCora.com/Workshops.html or call 505/310-0703.