Weekend of October 22-24, 2010

Into the Fire: The Sun Magazine Celebrates Personal Writing

To write about ourselves in a way that touches others and reminds them of our fundamental connectedness we must be willing to take a leap — with all our passion, fear, and longing — into the fire. And that fire is not just a metaphor. It’s as real as our own mysterious existence; as real as a painful moment that has broken, and maybe opened, our hearts.

For thirty-six years The Sun has published the kind of brave, revealing writing that lives up to the magazine’s motto, a line from concentration-camp survivor Viktor Frankl: “What is to give light must endure burning.” We invite you to join Sun readers, authors, and staff — including editor and publisher Sy Safransky and authors Ellen Bass, Stephen Elliott, Pat MacEnulty, Michael Shapiro, and Cheryl Strayed — for a weekend of investigating our lives through the written word. The Sun will come to life in a retreat that mirrors the magazine’s format. We’ll discuss essays, fiction, and poems with their authors, who will lead exercises geared to bring forth similar elements in your own writing. Readers Write–style writing sessions will help get your pen moving. (You don’t have to be a writer to attend. Our aim is simply to create a space in which people can tell their stories from the heart.) The weekend will conclude with Sy Safransky reading from his Notebook and all of us sharing our favorite quotations at a Sunbeams open mic.

Of course, the best part of a Sun gathering is getting to meet everyone: staff, writers, and other people who love the magazine and share its compassionate, unflinching view of the world. We hope you’ll join us.

For a complete program and a list of materials to bring (or to order a free-trial issue of the magazine), visit www.thesunmagazine.org. A large enrollment for this workshop is expected; we recommend registering soon.

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