There are two ways to obtain course credit for work done at the Chesapeake Writers’ Conference.
- College students are eligible to receive transferable course credit for their experience at the Chesapeake Writers’ Conference. You would take “ENGL 395 Topics in Writing: Chesapeake Writers’ Conference Seminar in Creative Writing” for two credits from St. Mary’s College of Maryland. More details about this option are available below. If you plan to apply to the conference as a college student wishing to pursue the course credit option, please be sure to check the appropriate box in your submittable application. Once accepted to the conference, you will sign up for the credit option when you register. SMCM students will need to sign up for the course during summer enrollment.
- Teachers interested in gaining Continuing Professional Development credit can take the teachers’ seminar, “EDUCATION STUDIES 790: Graduate Topics in Education Studies (The Chesapeake Writers’ Conference).” Participants in the teachers’ seminar will attend a genre-specific workshop like other conference-goers (either fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction), but will also meet each morning to engage in question of writing pedagogy. To learn more about this option, check out the Teachers’ Seminar page.
You can contact Conference Director, Jerry Gabriel, with questions about the course credit options. chesapeakewritersconference@smcm.edu
ENGL 395 Topics in Writing: Chesapeake Writers’ Conference Seminar in Creative Writing
Professor Gabriel
2 credits
June 24-30 (on St. Mary’s campus) and correspondence with professor post-conference.
Prerequisite: 200-level writing course or permission of the instructor.
Course Description
This unique course will be rooted in the intensive experience of the Chesapeake Writers’ Conference, during which students will immerse themselves for one week in the art and craft of fiction, poetry, or creative non-fiction. In addition to attending a daily three-hour workshop in your genre, you will be required to attend all other conference literary events, including daily readings, lectures, craft talks, and panel discussions (there will be approximately two to three such events each day).
Other requirements will include daily journal responses to the literary events of the conference, and thoughtful, constructive responses to your workshop peers’ submissions. You will work out with the professor a short reading list in your genre that you will use as a touchstone for your work. Finally, you will work with the professor via email in revising the work produced in and for your workshop. This, along with the other assignments and an introductory reflection essay on the work, will be due in a portfolio approximately one month after the conference ends. This course is worth two-credits.