2007 Workshops: October 16 - 27
The Assisi Workshops are for writers interested in exploring the spiritual basis of writing practice.We invite applicants from diverse backgrounds, both in terms of writing accomplishment and religious orientation. The common demoninator among those of us who gather in Assisi to write and commune together tends to a fascination with the life of St. Francis and the mystical tradition of Umbria, the mountainous " green heart of Italy" which for centuries has attracted seekers and contemplatives of all persuasions. The beauty and tranquility of Assisi is particularly conducive to the creative spirit. Come explore fresh dimensions of your imagination among the hills that inspired St. Francis. (June 15th deadline)

The Instructors and the Workshops

Cindy Clough

Cynthia Clough has been exploring Italian culture since her high school years as a NATO brat in Rome and Naples. Since 1997 she has focused primarily on Umbria and its spiritual heritage, living in both Perugia and Spoleto. She holds an M.A. in writing from the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars and a Ph.D from the Florida State University Creative Writing Program. Her poems and stories have appeared in various small press magazines. She currently teaches creative writing and research methods at the Umbra Institute in Perugia

Wendy Murray

Wendy Murray is a seasoned and award-winning journalist. She earned a bachelor of arts degree from Hiram College, Hiram, Ohio and master’s degree at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 1985.
Her early years in journalism found her living in Honduras where, for four years, she worked for the English-language newspaper Honduras This Week writing feature articles and carrying her own column titled “American Memo.” During that time she served as regional reporter for Time magazine. She returned to the U.S. and served as Associated Editor at Christianity Today magazine for the next five and a half years, and as Senior Writer for five more, through January 2005. She has written extensively for other publications such as Books & Culture, The Christian Century, and Beliefnet.com.
Her feature essays have won awards consistently and her work has been listed in The Best Christian Writing. She was cited in Brill’s Content “Credentials” as among the nations leading religious reporters. She has appeared on Chris Matthews’s “Hard Ball”and “Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly” and was invited by the Carnegie Council (New York) to give a lecture on religion before an audience of world thought leaders. She served for two years as Writer-in-Residence at Gordon College, Wenham, Massachusetts. She has published nine books.
She currently lives in Assisi, Italy completing her tenth book titled In Search of Saint Francis and the Mysterious Clare for Basic Books, New York.

The Workshops

Writing as Spiritual Discipline (Cindy)
The Judeo-Christian tradition has always distinguished sacred writing from more utilitarian writing and has, through the centuries, developed practices that transform writing into articulate and visionary prayer. In this course, we will study the history of writing as a spiritual discipline, examining such practices as Lectio Divina, Ignatian meditation, psalm-writing and midrash, as a means of allowing scripture, icons and the sacred art of Assisi to enter our hearts and imaginations and bring light and fire to our creative process.

Creative Imagination and the Power of the Land (Wendy)
Her studies of Saint Francis have rendered Wendy a keen awareness of the power of place in allowing entrance for the creative imagination. Francis understood this and it bore fruit in his well-known Canticle of the Creatures. Using Francis’ spiritual sensitivities as a model, this workshop will emphasize the consciousness of nature, beauty and location as an exercise for tapping and harnessing the creative impulse, translating into assignments that highlight specific gifts of individual writers.