"Poetry has no limits. It can be waiting in the doorway in the cold early hours before dawn when you come home with tired feet and the collar of your coat turned up. It can be waiting in the water of a fountain, perched on the flower of an olive tree, or set out to dry on a piece of white fabric on a terrace roof." — Federico García Lorca

The 2012 workshop takes place in the province of Granada, where we will write our exercises in the picturesque and historic village of Alhama, in the orchards and courtyards of Lorca’s family homes, in the twisting white streets of Granada’s old Arab quarter, inhabited by gypsies in Lorca’s day, and on the majestic hillside from which rise the palaces of the Alhambra and the flowers and fountains of the Generalife gardens. Because the best writing is based on fresh, original observation, irrespective of genre, these exercises are designed to develop perception, to cultivate the habit of taking the time to see.

Traveler's Mind workshops are designed for writers to generate new work, be it fiction, poetry or literary nonfiction, or to hone pieces that are in early stages of development. Thus, each day begins with a silent breakfast, followed by four hours of writing exercises in ever-changing locations. After the discipline of a full morning’s work, we lunch together in a café and, afterwards, participants have the afternoon free to read, nap, explore or prepare for the evening class.

In the two-hour evening sessions we examine published work provided by the instructor, in order to identify and discuss point of view, narrative time, setting, and other basic technical elements. We also schedule time in the evenings for the critique of poems, stories or essays in progress that participants bring from home. (See schedule.)

Participants return from this workshop with the habit of daily, disciplined writing and with a deposit account of ideas, fragments, new techniques, sketches and fresh starts - material to last for months. Enrollment is limited to 10 students; early registration is advised to hold a place.

Granada storm, painted by Antonio Muñoz Degrain, 1881