Historic New Harmony, Indiana, was the site of two nineteenth century utopian experiments, and in the same spirit, the The RopeWalk Writers Retreat offers up a small slice of heaven. Here, a competitively chosen pool of students study for a week under four prominent writers (faculty over the past few years include Andrew Hudgins, Erin McGraw, Sigrid Nunez, Lee Martin, Marianne Boruch, Kyoko Mori, among others). There are workshops and panels and readings and one-on-one conferences — the standard fare — but unlike other conferences, no one gets lost in the numbers at RopeWalk. The workshops are intimate (with ten students, sometimes fewer) so every manuscript is discussed with thoughtful intimacy. In no time, everyone seems like an old pal. And unlike other conferences, at RopeWalk there seems to be a healthy blend of fun and work: students spend as much time in inspired conversation as they do in inspired congress with the keyboard. As for the town, it is as curious as it is idyllic: participants can wander through a labyrinth, hike along the Wabash River, enjoy yoga at the roofless church, down a pint and eat a brain sandwich at the Yellow Tavern, and tour a museum that includes a baby coffin, a two-headed calf, and the skeleton of a 38-year-old horse named Old Fly. To learn more about the retreat, click here.

Nancy Sherrie

If there’s such a thing as an ordinary reading series, Gist Street is not it. For starters, the monthly readings–the hub of the Pittsburgh literary scene for over eight years now–are held as potlucks in the warehouse of sculptor and tai chi master James Simon, so readers and attendees spend the evening surrounded by Simon’s quirky sculptures (plant people, dogs with human heads…) and, in the summer, when the series sometimes moves outdoors, his chickens and his cats. Novelist Sherrie Flick’s homemade vegan pastries can be found at no other reading series, and the clawfoot bathtub full of ice and beer is also a nice touch. Another unusual detail: people pay $5/head to come hear emerging fiction writers and poets strut their stuff. As Salvatore Scibona said to the crowd at his reading last night, just after blowing out the candle on the birthday brownie Sherrie made him, “People PAY to come here?! What is in the WATER in Pittsburgh?” We’re not sure what’s in the water, but yes, we pay–and even so, Gist Street is always full. Officially the festivities kick off at 8p.m., but if you’re not there by 7:30, you are out of luck.

Salvatore Scibona

James Simon

Gist Street is usually the first Friday of every month, but July is special: it’s Gist Street’s Annual Cookout Extravaganza, held on Saturday July 18th under the stars in Jimmy’s plant and sculpture-filled back yard. Master grillers will be on hand to grill up whatever goodies you bring (or you can bring potato salad, pie, wine–it’s a potluck, after all). The cookout bash always spotlights a particular small publisher, and this year it’s Autumn House Press. Novelist Samuel Ligon will be in from Spokane to read fiction, and poet Mary Crockett Hill is coming up from Virginia.

Sometimes there’s a bonfire; sometimes the party lasts until 3 AM. For all this fun, we have Gist Street’s founders to thank: the aforementioned Sherrie Flick, poet Nancy Krygowski, and playwright Rick Schweikert. And Gist Street is easy to find: just go to Pittsburgh’s Uptown neighborhood and look for the giant gorilla. Or follow the directions at GistStreet.org.

1. Natalie Bakopoulos is currently teaching a week-long writing workshop on the Greek island of Andros as a part of the Aegean Arts Circle, which was founded in 2003 by Amalia Melis. Stratis Haviaris, a poet and the founding editor of the Harvard Review, will lead workshops during the week of July 3-9. Previous workshop instructors have included such writers as Dorothy Allison, Nick Papandreou, Beatriz Badikian, June Gould, Connie May Fowler, and Kathryn (Kitsi) Watterson.

2. Jeremiah Chamberlin and Steven Wingate will travel with Kodi Scheer (recipient of the 2008 DZANC prize), Lana Santoni, and Maya Sloan (who just sold her first novel, Red Dirt and Ice, to Simon and Schuster earlier this month) to Bulgaria next week to participate in the 2009 Sozopol Fiction Seminar, which will take place June 4-8. Joining them will be five Bulgarian fellows: Alexander Shpatov, Alexandra Chaushova, Evgeni Cherepov, Maria Doneva, and Yanitza Radeva. Workshops will be lead by faculty members Elizabeth Kostova and Emilia Dvoryanova. The seminar will also feature guest lectures by Georgi Gospodinov and Josip Novakovich. This is the second annual writing seminar. FWR Contributor Travis Holland was one of the 2008 Fellows. Here are photos/bios of this year’s participants.

3. Sarah Van Arsdale will begin new writing sessions in June on Wednesday nights as part of the Atlantic Writers’ Workshop, which (to quote the AWW website) “offers writing classes, salons, and workshops in New York City in fiction, memoir, and the tricky borderland between.”