The Writer's Institute at WPI

THE WRITERS INSTITUTE AT WPI

The Writers Institute at WPI invites writers of every level to immerse themselves in a week of writing and discussion in the track of their choice—poetry, fiction, or nonfiction. This residential program includes lectures by working professionals, workshops, discussion, performance, visits to places of interest to writers, and, of course, lots of writing and rewriting. All tracks will work toward the publication of a magazine featuring the best work produced during the program

Program dates: June 26- July 1, 2011

Audience: Entering grade 12 in the fall-adult

Cost: $795

Meet the Faculty:

James Dempsey
Adjunct Instructor
Administrator of Literary Studies and Adjunct Instructor of English

Department: Humanities & Arts

Educational Background
B.A., University of Liverpool, U.K., 1976
M.A., Clark University, 1978
Research & Teaching Interests
Journalism, Writing, Modernism, Chaucer

Research
I come to academia from a 20-year career in print journalism, during which time I worked as metro columnist for the Telegram & Gazette of Worcester, Massachusetts. I published thousands of columns on a wide variety of topics, winning awards from the Associated Press and United Press International. I was also the writing coach at the newspaper, leading seminars for editors and reporters in which we discussed topics in newspapering ranging from narrative journalism to ethics. I am deeply interested in writing in all its forms, both journalistic and creative.

I consider myself a generalist in literature, teaching courses in many periods and genres. I am particularly fond of the medieval English poet Geoffrey Chaucer and in writers of the 18th century, including John Dryden, Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift. I am also researching the life and writings of Scofield Thayer, who edited a famous literary and critical magazine in the 1920s called The Dial.