I attended the Tin House Workshop this past July and it was excellent. My instructor was Dorothy Allison, who is one of the most gifted and generous teachers I’ve ever had. She has a way of giving you lessons you don’t even know she’s giving you and damn if she isn’t just fun to listen to. I had planned on applying again this year, but my circumstances are such that I would not be able to make those dates.

Anyway, all this is to say that they start accepting applications for admission on January 1, and trust me when I tell you that you are going to want to get your application in early (they accept on a rolling basis) as this workshop is becoming more and more popular and with good reason: not only is the instruction excellent, and the quality of writing among the students high (not patting self on back, talking about the quality within my own workshop and what others told me), BUT get a load of this line up for faculty and guests (with my notes):

Special Guests:

T. Coraghessan Boyle (would love to be at his reading)
Annie Proulx (Can’t believe I’m missing her!)

Fiction:
Dorothy Allison (see above–love her!)
Charles Baxter (Man, would I ever love to work with him)
Aimee Bender (I missed her lecture because I was sick. Bummer!)
Charles D’Ambrosio (Heard great things about his workshop)
Yiyun Li (wasn’t there last year, but what a great writer)
Whitney Otto (she wasn’t there last year but I met her at a party)
Peter Rock (don’t know much about him, sorry!)
Jim Shepard (Everyone who has had him for workshop LOVES his style of instruction)
Karen Shepard (She was there but not as an instructor–she seems quite interesting)
Colson Whitehead (he was not there last year–I have not read his work)

Poetry:
Thomas Sayers Ellis (sorry–haven’t read)
Marie Howe (sorry–haven’t read)
D. A. Powell (poet–he gave an interesting reading at the amphitheater–a dog got away from its owner and running around in amongst the crowd and I became convulsive with laughter. I am a child)

Non-Fic:
Stephen Elliott (Would love to hear him lecture)
Abigail Thomas (don’t know her work)

Now, you might think that it’s too expensive but I believe you will find that the cost is well worth it as you will hopefully leave the beautiful Reed campus feeling as though you have gotten yourself filled up and ready to write.

So go on and apply and then afterwards, please come back here and let me know about your experience.