If you dream of telling stories — short stories, novellas, novels — you’ll want to learn from these three masters of the craft at this year’s Terroir Creative Writing Festival.
Molly Gloss (fiction)
Molly Gloss is the author of several novels including The Jump-Off Creek (PEN Faulkner finalist), The Dazzle of Day (PEN West Fiction Prize), and The Hearts of Horses (national bestseller) as well as a retrospective story collection Unforeseen (World Fantasy Award Finalist). She writes both realistic fiction and science fiction, and her work in both genres often concerns the landscape, mythology, and life of the American West. mollygloss.com
Keynote: Elements of Style
Virginia Woolf said “Style is a very simple matter; it is all rhythm.” And John Garner, speaking about rhythm, said that it’s mostly a matter of sentence length. In this keynote, Gloss will speak about sentence length as a wellspring of rhythm, and rhythm as a principal feature of style.
Sonya Thomas (kid lit)
Sonja Thomas writes stories for kids of all ages. A 2023 Oregon Book Awards and Washington Book Awards finalist, Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence is “a noteworthy debut” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). Her next middle grade novel, Olive Blackwood Takes Action! releases May 14. bysonjathomas.com
Workshop: Writing for Kids of All Ages
Do you want to write for kids, but don’t know where to begin? Spoiler alert: It doesn’t matter where or what age you are on your writing journey and an MFA is not required! We’ll talk about the different types of books in traditional publishing, from wee ones to young adults; themes and topics in kids’ books, including difficult subjects; and the action steps to take to get published.
Miriam Gershow (fiction)
Miriam Gershow is the author of Survival Tips: Stories, The Local News, and the forthcoming novel, Closer (2025). Her stories have appeared in The Georgia Review, Gulf Coast and Black Warrior Review among other journals. Her creative nonfiction appears in Salon, Craft Literary, and elsewhere. miriamgershow.com
Workshop: Creating Memorable Characters
In this hands-on writing workshop, we will practice creating complex, believable characters that will hook readers and keep them turning pages. Please bring your preferred way to write—a laptop or pen and paper—and be ready to jump into a number of short, creative exercises to bring your characters to life.
Terroir Creative Writing Festival 