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Delaware Division of the Arts

2016 Retreat Summary Page

Large group photo of workshop participants gathered around a conference table in a bright meeting room. Several people sit at the table with open laptops while others stand behind them, smiling toward the camera beneath a wall-mounted screen and tall windows.

2016 Writers Retreat

Designed to encourage reflection and creativity, the 2016 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

Twenty-two writers from around the state attended the Division’s 2016 Delaware Seashore Poets and Prose Writers Retreat from November 3-6, 2016, at the Cottages at Indian River Marina, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

One attendee summarized the experience, “Amazing weekend of focusing on writing and interacting with other writers. Did wonders for my confidence in my writing skills.” Workshops were led by novelist, H. G. Carrillo and poet, Diana Goetsch.

2016 Workshop Leaders

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Diana Goetsch

Poetry Facilitator

Diana Goetsch is the author (as Douglas Goetsch) of three full-length collections of poems—most recently Nameless Boy (Orchises Press, 2015)—and four prizewinning chapbooks. Her poems have appeared in many leading journals and anthologies, including The New Yorker, Poetry, The Gettysburg Review, The Iowa Review, Best American Poetry and the Pushcart Prize anthology. She is also the author of Life in Transition, a series of 31 essays appearing from 2015-16 at The American Scholar online. Among her honors are fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Donald Murray Prize. She has been on faculty at dozens of writing programs and conferences, including, for the last 16 years, the Iowa Summer Writing Festival. She resides in New York City, and her website is www.dianagoetsch.com.

Portrait of a man leaning on an outdoor metal stair railing on a rooftop or terrace, with city buildings blurred in the background. He wears a dark sweater and rests his face on one arm, looking directly at the camera with a thoughtful, serious expression.

H. G. Carrillo

Prose Facilitator

H. G. Carrillois the author of Loosing My Espanish, a novel, published by Pantheon Books and in paperback by Anchor Books. His short stories have appeared in Kenyon Review, Conjunctions, The Iowa Review, Glimmer Train, Ninth Letter, Slice and other journals and publications. A member of the board of directors of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, Carrillo lives in Washington, DC, where he is currently at work on a novel. His website is www.stuartbernstein.com/hgcarrillo.html.