Explore the possibilities with friends at the Art Colony after school art camp! Allison will teach a variety of art techniques and students will learn about the elements of design and composition through a ton of fun activities, including paper pulp painting, handmade sketchbooks, air dry clay mosaics, foil embossing, and pastel glow effects, among […]

Explore the possibilities with friends at the Art Colony after school art camp! Allison will teach a variety of art techniques and students will learn about the elements of design and composition through a ton of fun activities, including paper pulp painting, handmade sketchbooks, air dry clay mosaics, foil embossing, and pastel glow effects, among […]

Struggling to see what your manuscript needs next? This class will help you refocus on the big picture. Discover tools to examine your work-in-progress from different angles to pinpoint what more you need for your narrative arc and your character connections—as essential in memoir as for fiction. Re-visioning will help you see through to a […]

Recently, what excites me is that not-knowing, early stage of a poem. This isn’t to say my intentions and impulses are bad—it’s good to be aware of where I start—but sometimes what I think is best for a poem needs to take a backseat to what makes poetry different from any other genre: prioritizing language […]

Explore the editorial crossroads of capturing personal history with technical recipe collection and recording community foodways. Define your family story through the lens of kitchen time, everyday eating, and memorable celebration. Students will delve into storytelling and learn methods of collecting and testing recipes with the goal of working toward a cohesive, personal narrative. Location […]

Struggling to see what your manuscript needs next? This class will help you refocus on the big picture. Discover tools to examine your work-in-progress from different angles to pinpoint what more you need for your narrative arc and your character connections—as essential in memoir as for fiction. Re-visioning will help you see through to a […]

For most writers, their baptism begins when they find their voice. The real challenge then becomes how to plug that voice into appropriate themes. Some of the skills I've learned have been passed onto me from many literary greats ranging from George Saunders to Patricia Hampl. This class is a good fit for those who […]

Join North Shore Readers and Writers Festival Author David Mura as he reads from his novel, The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself. David is a memoirist, essayist, novelist, poet, critic, playwright and performance artist. In his newest book, David intertwines history, literature, ethics, and the deeply personal, to look back on the foundational narratives of white […]

This class will provide an introduction to ceramic art: historical and contemporary examples, the process of clay transforming into ceramic, and offer a hands-on exploration of wheel-thrown pottery. The pottery wheel is a wonderful tool for generating pottery forms. Students will learn to prepare the clay for use, center the clay on the wheel, open […]

Library Friends of Cook County and the Grand Marais Art Colony invite the community to a panel discussion featuring five esteemed Minnesota authors and educators. The discussion will center around the primary questions: 1) Who can best tell the story of people of color in literature? 2) Why is agency and authenticity important in the […]

There comes a point in nearly every poem I write where I get trapped in the poem I’ve built. What I mean is, it becomes difficult to consider other possibilities because I’ve whittled the poem down one thing. This is where radical revision techniques come into play. In this workshop, each student will bring in […]

This class will cover some of the basic techniques of Western narrative construction, including the goals of the protagonist, blocks to the goals of the protagonist, irreconcilable conflicts, the three act structure (from drama and myth), the difference between plot and subplot. Instruction will draw from the lessons of drama, film scripts and myth. The […]

Join Brenda Child, North Shore Readers and Writers Festival author, for an author talk at the Grand Portage National Monument. Brenda is a Northrop Professor and former Chair of the Departments of American Studies and American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota, where she received the President’s Engaged Scholar Award in 2021. She is […]

This discussion-style class will inspire fellow writers at any level of practice who wish to write from a place of adventure and vulnerability. Rather than always "writing what we know" or what we plan, sometimes it's vastly more rewarding to write what we need to know. Our fictional characters can work as guides to help […]

Join Lin Salisbury and friends for a Writers Salon where local writers will share their current work followed by an open mic open to any participant. Join us for wine, cheese, and a robust reading from a variety of genres. Local writers joining Lin to read include Rose Arrowsmith, Jim Boyd, and Nina Simonowicz. Lin […]

Join University of Minnesota Northrop Professor of American Studies and 2022 Guggenheim Fellowship recipient, Brenda Child, as she shares her film which considers the history of the Ojibwe Jingle Dress Dance tradition and its origin in the global pandemic of influenza in 1918 - 1920. Brenda is a member of the Red Lake Band of […]

Join our North Shore Readers and Writers Festival Authors as they read their most recent works. This is an all-day event taking place at Studio 21. You have the option to purchase individual tickets for each event, or purchase a day-pass that will give you entry to all the readings. The lunch reading is NOT […]

Celebrate the culmination of the North Shore Readers & Writers Festival by joining in on our table discussions hosted by festival authors. Tables will seat 6 - 8 participants. Please see ticket descriptions to select the discussion you would like to attend. Dinner is included in the ticket fee, with vegetarian and gluten free options […]