The purpose of this six-week gathering will be for writers to learn from other writers. We’ll be looking closely at works of fiction, poetry, and reflective essays and creative nonfiction to help each other notice writers’ “brush strokes”—their approach to their craft, how techniques serve particular purposes, and how our own reading habits affect how we read what we read. We’ll draw upon the deeply subjective, receptive practice of lectio divina as we consider the truth of Emerson’s observation, “There is creative reading as well as creative writing.” We’ll gather online each week, each participant bringing a passage or poem that gave them a learning moment and help one another practice “writerly reading.”

6 Consecutive Thursday evenings, July 31-September 4, 2025 5-6:30pm PT
Dr. Marilyn McEntyre, facilitator
Enrollment limited to 15

July 31 Poetry Unbound, Padraig O Tuama
August 7 Foster, Clare Keegan
August 14 Natural Acts, David Quammen
August 21 The Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler
August 28 Regarding the Pain of Others, Susan Sontag
September 4 A Map is Only One Story, Nicole Chung, ed.

Tuition: $149

If general tuition is a hardship, please reach out to the Registrar at info@newcollegeberkeley.org for options.

About Marilyn McEntyre: Dr. McEntyre, a longtime professor of literature and medical humanities, teaches for New College Berkeley and Westmont College, and is on the faculty of Western Seminary’s “Sacred Art of Writing” doctor of ministry program as well as the “Forest Dwelling” program at the Oblate School of Theology. She offers spiritual retreats and writing workshops and continues to write about spirituality, language, healthcare and earth care. She also works as a writing coach. Her recent books include When Poets Pray, Speaking Peace in a Climate of Conflict, and a collection of Lenten readings, Where the Eye Alights.