Instructor: Beverly Donofrio
Memoir Writing

Beverly Donofrio studied literature at Wesleyan University and received an MFA in Writing from Columbia University. The author of two memoirs as well as numerous personal essays that have been included in books and national magazines, her first memoir, Riding in Cars with Boys, became a cult classic, which was made into a movie directed by Penny Marshall and starring Drew Barrymore. Her second memoir, Looking for Mary, was published to critical acclaim and is also on its way to becoming a cult classic. Beverly is president of the English speaking chapter of PEN in Mexico and has given lectures around the United States. She has written for PBS, network TV, and National Public Radio, where her personal essay/documentaries have won awards. In the eighties Donofrio taught writing at New York University and more recently at the University of Wyoming. Teaching writing is a new focus and passion in her career, for which she has received thanks and enthusiastic praise. www.beverlydonofrio.com

Instructor: Kaylie Jones
Fiction Writing

Born in Paris to novelist James Jones, Kaylie Jones studied language and literature at Wesleyan University and received an MFA in Writing from Columbia University. She is the author of five novels including A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries, which was made into a Merchant Ivory Film directed by James Ivory and starring Kris Kristofferson and the critically acclaimed novel, Speak Now. Kaylie also worked at Poets & Writers, Inc. in the Readings/Workshops Program and later as the assistant to the Director of Development. She taught fiction workshops at The Writers Voice, then became involved in the creation of the MFA Program in Writing at LIUs Southampton campus, where she still teaches Literature and Fiction Writing. In addition, Kaylie chairs the James Jones First Novel Fellowship, which awards $10,000 yearly to an unpublished first novel. In the last ten years, seven of the winners have been published to impressive critical acclaim. www.kayliejones.comom

Instructor: Tony Cohan
Travel Writing

Tony Cohan is the author of the bestselling travel memoir On Mexican Time. He has taught courses in Travel Narrative at the yearly Book Passage Travel Writers Conference. His recent memoir Native State was a Los Angeles Times Notable Book of the year. His articles, essays and reviews have appeared in Conde Nast Traveler, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The London Times, and many other publications. His novel Opium was a Literary Guild selection, his novel Canary a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Reviewers have said of On Mexican Time: “Terribly seductive, an enticing and intoxicating vision of Mexico.” (Denver Post) “Chapters read like carefully crafted short stories.” (Washington Post) “One of those rare, delightful books that allows the reader to enter the author’s mind and float effortlessly from place to place, thought to thought.” (Albuquerque Sunday Journal) His newest travel memoir, Mexican Days, was published by Broadway/Random House in 2006 to equally rave reviews.

Instructor: Laura Fraser
Memoir & Personal Essay / Food Writing

Laura Fraser is the author, most recently, of An Italian Affair, a travel memoir, which was a New York Times bestseller and translated into five languages. She is a contributing editor to More magazine, and writes for Gourmet, O the Oprah Magazine, the New York Times, and many other national magazines. Her articles have been collected in numerous anthologies, including Mexico: A Love Story, Best Food Writing 2004, Italy: A Love Story, Best Women’s Travel Writing 2005, and The Kindness of Strangers. Her first book, an expose of the diet industry called Losing It, landed her on the Today Show, Good Morning America, MTV, CNN, and NBC Nightly News, and the cover story in Newsweek. She has taught writing at the University of California at Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, Aspen Summer Words, and other venues. She is a long-time member of the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto, a literary collective. www.laurafraser.com

Instructor: Sarah Lovett
Memior/Fiction Writing

Sarah Lovett's five best-selling novels have been translated into 11 different languages and have been optioned for film and television. They include Desperate Silence (Villard; February 1998), Dantes' Inferno, (Simon & Schuster; April 2001), and most recently Dark Alchemy (Simon & Schuster, March 2003). Her new novel, When It's Raining in the Milky Way, is the first of a trilogy set in the California Delta. She has studied writing for page, stage, and screen with Sam Shepard, Robert McKee, Christopher Vogler, Irene Fornes, Natalie Goldberg and Miriam Sagan. In addition to her best-selling fiction, Sarah's non-fiction books include the award-winning "Extremely Weird" children's series, which aired as a television special. Her short fiction and how-to pieces are included in anthologies, and she has worked as a freelance writer for newspapers and magazines. She also teaches writing and works privately as a writing consultant and coach in Santa Fe where she lives with her husband Michael, their daughter Pearl Xing, and their two dogs. www.writingcoachsarah.com

Instructor: Wayne Greenhaw
Memior/Poetry

Wayne Greenhaw, 2006 recipient of the Harper Lee Award for Distinguished Writing, has published 18 books. In 2005, Greenhaw was recipient of the ninth Clarence Cason Award for Nonfiction, given annually by the University of Alabama’s College of Communication, joining such distinguished writers as Gay Talese, Rick Bragg, Diane McWhorter, and Howell Raines. A native of Alabama, he first traveled to San Miguel on the train in 1958. Greenhaw's short story, "The Old Guy," won first place in the Hackney Literary Awards at Birmingham Southern College's 2007 Writing Today conference. His first book of poetry will be published in April by River City Publishing who will also issue a paperback edition of his 1993 novel, KING OF COUNTRY. At that time Chicago Review Press will also publish his last book, THE THUNDER OF ANGELS: The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the People who Broke the Back of Jim Crow, in paperback. www.waynegreenhaw.com

Instructor:  Gina Hyams
Travel Writing

Gina Hyams, author and editor, specializes in mysterious and confounding subjects. Some of her books include Pacific Spas: Luxury Getaways on the West Coast (2006), In a Mexican Garden: Courtyards, Pools, and Open-Air Living Rooms (2005), The Campfire Collection: Thrilling, Chilling Tales of Alien Encounters (2005), Incense: Rituals, Mystery, Lore (2004),– all published by Chronicle Books.  She is also co-editor of the recently-published anthology, Searching for Mary Poppins: Women Write About the Relationship Between Mothers and Nannies (Hudson Street Press/Penguin U.S.A.).  Gina's essays and articles have appeared in national magazines as well. www.ginahyams.com

Instructor:  Stephanie Bennett-Vogt
Subsidy Publishing

Stephanie Bennett-Vogt,Stephanie Bennett-Vogt, M.A. is New England's leading expert in the field of space clearing and is founder of Space Clear, a private practice dedicated to bringing homes and their occupants back into balance. Her award-winning book Your Spacious Self: Clear Your Clutter and Discover Who You Are (Universe Press, 2007) is widely available through popular online and brick and mortar booksellers, and has more recently developed into a companion guide for a series of Web-based workshops and mini-courses. The non-traditional route Stephanie took to publishing has led her to discover the Internet as a marketing gold mine--which she sees as the best way to deliver her message, sell books, and build an enthusiastic following of readers for years to come. Born and raised in Mexico City with a home in San Miguel, Stephanie lives in Concord, Massachusetts with her husband and teenage daughter. www.spaceclear.com

Instructor:  CM Mayo
Creative Non-Fiction

CM Mayo is the author of Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico, a work lauded by the Los Angeles Times as "luminous" and the Interamerican Studies Institute as "perhaps the best new book about Mexico in many years". She is also the author of Sky Over El Nido, which won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction. Her many other awards include three Lowell Thomas Awards for travel journalism and three Washington Writing Prizes. An avid translator of Mexican literature, Mayo is the founding editor of Tameme, a bilingual (Spanish/ English) literary journal now operating as a chapbook publisher. www.cmmayo.com

Instructor:  Albert Sgambati
Novella Writing

Albert Sgambati is a native of New York City. At present he lives in Mexico City where he freelances as a features writer, film consultant, translator and editor, in addition to working as a part-time professor at Alliant International University.     In 2006, Miami University Press published his prize-winning novella, The Waiting Room. Other recent publications include a collaborative limited edition, All Roads...But This One, from Luddite Kingdom Press, (San Francisco, 2006). Radical House Press (San Francisco) released a collection of his poetry under the title, This Is Always, in the early 90s, and Big Scream Press (Grand Rapids, MI), included his poetry in its, Anthology of American Poets 1980’s.

Instructor:  Dianna Hutts Aston
Children’s Picture Books

Dianna Hutts Aston is the author of many children’s books, including the awarding-winning bestsellers AN EGG IS QUIET and A SEED IS SLEEPY, both illustrated by Sylvia Long. Once upon a time, she was a journalist who was certain it would be easy to whip out publishable manuscripts for children. After all, she had some wise moral messages to share with children, who need to revel in such righteousness. Editors called her first attempts “coy” and “didactic,” if they called them anything at all. Four years after she submitted her first awful manuscript, she sold a good one: WHEN YOU WERE BORN, illustrated by E.B. Lewis. www.diannaaston.com