Enough Space: A Virtual Short Story Workshop

The Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow (WCDH) is pleased to present “Enough Space,” a virtual short story writing workshop by “Illuminating Black Lives” fellowship winner, Lorraine Avila. Participants will explore the craft of flash fiction, defined by Wikipedia as, “A fictional work of extreme brevity that still offers character and plot development.” The workshop will be Saturday, June 25, from 2:00 to 3:30 pm CST on Zoom. Participants will be given the link upon registration. The class fee is $35 per person and all proceeds benefit the WCDH scholarship fund. Register at www.writerscolony.org/events, email director@writerscolony.org, or call 479-253-7444.

This workshop is appropriate for writers of all levels of experience. Attendees should bring their preferred writing medium and will leave with two flash fiction drafts and a working short story draft.

Lorraine Avila is a Bronxite with Caribbean roots in the Dominican Republic. Her mission is to break free from generational trauma by continuing to rupture traditions of silence. Avila is the author of Malcriada and Other Stories (DWA), Celestial Summer (out spring 2022), and The Making of Yolanda La Bruja (forthcoming Spring 2023 from Levine Querido).  Avila has a BA from Fordham University in English and Middle East studies with a minor in Creative Writing and an MA in Teaching from New York University. She is an anti-racist educator; her expertise lies in middle school literacy and curriculum design. She teaches composition at the university level.

Avila is currently an MFA candidate at Pittsburgh University, a K. Leroy Irvis Fellow. In 2021, she received the Josephine and John McCloskey Memorial Nationality Room Scholarship and the Dietrich Diversity Research Grant. Avila is a VONA alumni and a Pushcart nominee. In 2020, she completed a successful Kickstarter campaign to self-publish Celestial Summer, a graphic novel that centers on Black love, healing, and psychedelics (forthcoming Spring 2022).  Her writing has been published in Teen Vogue, Bitch Media, Tasteful Rude, Our House LA, Latino USA, Catapult Magazine, Asteri(x) Journal, Hippocampus Magazine, Moko Magazine, The GirlMob, Accentos Review, La Galeria Magazine, and Blavity.  Avila spends the majority of her time between Pittsburgh, The Bronx, and the Dominican Republic. Learn more at www.lorraineavila.com.

The Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow is a 501(c)3 nonprofit whose mission is to nurture writers of all genres, backgrounds, and levels of experience in a supportive environment that builds community, energizes creative expression, stimulates new thinking, and optimizes productivity. Since opening its doors to writers in 2000, the Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow has made a lasting impact on the arts and literary communities hosting over 1,800 writers from 48 states and 13 countries. For more information, please visit call (479)253-7444.