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Delaware Division of the Arts

2020 Retreat Summary Page

Screenshot of a virtual group meeting in gallery view, showing multiple participants in separate webcam boxes on a dark video-conferencing interface. Each person appears from a different home or office setting, suggesting an online discussion or workshop.

2020 Writers Retreat

Designed to encourage reflection and creativity, the 2020 Delaware Writers Retreat provided writers with a collaborative atmosphere to write, revise, and recharge. It was a meaningful opportunity to make progress on their work while drawing inspiration from a community of peers.

More About the Retreat

Thirteen writers from around the state attended the Division’s 2020 Delaware Seashore Poets and Prose Writers Retreat. In addition to giving writers time to write, the Retreat featured guest instructors Lise Funderburg and Lauren Grodstein who led workshops and gave craft talks.

Writers critiqued each other’s work and generated new writing. Lise and Lauren gave craft talks on conceiving plot, removing obstacles to productivity, and the business of writing. While acknowledging the challenges of the virtual format, one participant noted, “This retreat was excellent and the teachers were amazing. I enjoyed everything and feel that I learned a lot.”

2022 Workshop Leaders

Portrait of a woman with long brown hair leaning against a light-colored wall, wearing a denim button-up shirt. She looks directly at the camera with a soft smile, while bright windows and blurred greenery create a clean, natural background.

Lauren Grodstein

Fiction Facilitator

Chet’la Sebree is the author of Field Study, winner of the 2020 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets, and Mistress, winner of the 2018 New Issues Prize and nominated for an NAACP Image Award. She earned an MFA in Creative Writing from American University and has been awarded fellowships from Baldwin for the Arts, the Delaware Division of the Arts, Hedgebrook, MacDowell, the Stadler Center, the Vermont Studio Center, and Yaddo. Her poetry and prose have been published in journals and magazines including The Yale Review, The New Republic, Kenyon Review, and Guernica. Currently, she is working on her debut essay collection as she directs the Stadler Center for Poetry & Literary Arts and teaches in the Creative Writing program at Bucknell University.

Portrait of a woman with shoulder-length gray hair and glasses, wearing a green cardigan over a dark top and a small pendant necklace. She faces the camera with a gentle, thoughtful expression, seated in front of a bulletin board covered with postcards and small images.

Lisa Funderburg

Prose Facilitator

Tara Campbell is a writer, teacher, Kimbilio Fellow, fiction co-editor at Barrelhouse, and graduate of American University’s MFA in Creative Writing. She’s the recipient of the following awards from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities: the 2016 Larry Neal Writers’ Award in Adult Fiction, the 2016 Mayor’s Arts Award for Outstanding New Artist, and Arts and Humanities Fellowships for 2018 – 2022. Campbell’s publication credits include SmokeLong Quarterly, Masters Review, Wigleaf, Jellyfish Review, Booth, Strange Horizons, and CRAFT Literary. She’s the author of a novel and four multi-genre collections including her newest, Cabinet of Wrath: A Doll Collection. She teaches fiction with American University, Johns Hopkins University’s Advanced Academic Programs, the Writer’s Center, Politics and Prose, Catapult, and the National Gallery of Art’s Virtual Studio.