'We Are All Guests Here,' a Writer's Seminar

The Steinbeck House Advisory Committee and Sag Harbor Partnership have welcomed fiction writer Carrie R. Moore as the first writer-in-residence at the newly preserved John & Elaine Steinbeck home in Sag Harbor. Creating a writer’s retreat in the spirit of Steinbeck’s generosity toward other writers has been at the center of this effort since its inception. That goal has now been realized.

Carrie Moore will lead a community seminar entitled “We Are All Guests Here: Honoring Others’ Experiences on the Page” on Saturday, November 4, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The seminar is open to writers of all levels, age 21 and up. It is free of charge. To be an avid reader is to fall in love with narratives unlike your own. But as writers, how do we capture stories that differ from our lived experiences? Using examples from classic and contemporary literature, this class will explore prose techniques for writing beyond biases, personal understandings and imaginations. Whether you’re a fiction writer looking to create multi-faceted characters or a memoirist hoping to preserve your ancestors’ stories, this seminar will offer starting points for making your writing reflect the complexity of the world. Participants can expect a brief craft talk, as well as time to apply strategies to their own work.

Participants should bring a notebook and writing utensil — or a laptop if preferred. Though there will be an opportunity to share writing, participants may accept or decline at their own comfort level.

Carrie R. Moore’s fiction and essays have appeared in One Story, The Sewanee Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, For Harriet, The Southern Review, and other publications. She has received scholarships and fellowships from the Community of Writers, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and the Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies. She earned her MFA in Fiction at the Michener Center for Writers, where she won the Keene Prize for Literature and served as Fiction Editor of Bat City Review. Currently, she is the inaugural Writer-in-Residence at the John Steinbeck House in Sag Harbor.

The Steinbeck House Residency program is run by the Michener Center at the University of Texas, Austin. Moore’s application for residency was selected unanimously by the Michener Center’s review panel. Each writer is required to offer a community program as part of their residency.

Advance registration is required as space is limited. The seminar will be held at Eastville Community Historical Society, 139 Hampton Street, Sag Harbor. To register, contact Kathryn Szoka or Maryann Callendrille at Canio’s Books, 631-725-4926.