Italian Idyll

GAMBIER, Ohio (February 2, 2006) The Kenyon Review will return in June to the picturesque village of Vitorchiano, Italy, to present a fiction-writing workshop along with a new workshop on reading poetry. This will be the second summer that the Review has offered writers, and lovers of literature, the opportunity to gather for eight days of work mingled with pleasure.

Kenyon President S. Georgia Nugent, a specialist in classical poetry, will join Review poetry editor David Baker to lead the first-ever readers' workshop, "Reading Poetry." Participants will explore selections of Ovid's epic poem of changes, The Metamorphoses, and trace its influence into the modern age. In the classroom, they will examine the fine art of poetry, follow the rich mythology and abiding allusion of Ovid's work, and look at lyric poems by such writers as Walt Whitman and Louise Glück.

The fiction workshop, "The Art of the Story," will focus on the short story. Participants will concentrate on producing new work, with private consultations and advice, and plenty of chances for revision, in an environment that is both supportive and challenging. In addition, readings will be chosen from short story classics. The workshop will be led by Review editor and Professor of English David Lynn, who has recently published a new collection of his own stories, Year of Fire.

The workshops will be held from June 4 to 11. The application deadline is March 15. More information, including details on the application process and costs, is available at www.kenyonreview.org.