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Gemini Ink programs are supported by the Albert and Bessie Mae Kronkosky Foundation, Brown Foundation,
Catto Charitable Foundation, Edouard Foundation, Elizabeth Huth Coates Charitable Foundation, Frost National
Bank, theFund, H-E-B, Hixon Properties Myra Stafford Pryor Charitable Trust, Najim Family Foundation, National
Endowment for the Arts, New Image Dentistry, Newman Family Foundation, The Peter Ray and Deborah Sultemeier
Hope Fund, Rackspace Foundation, Russell Hill Rogers Fund for the Arts, Ruth Lang Charitable Fund and Dan and
Gloria Oppenheimer Fund of the San Antonio Area Foundation, San Antonio Department for Culture and Creative
Development, Texas Commission on the Arts, The Twig Book Shop, and Valero Energy Foundation.
Oct 29, 2015
Honoring Dr. Coleen Grissom
Inkstravaganza
Save the Date!
Born in southern Texas, Dan Vera is the author of Speaking Wiri Wiri (2013), recipient of
the inaugural Letras Latinas/Red Hen Poetry Prize; and The Space Between Our Danger
and Delight (2008). Vera has served on the boards of Split This Rock and Rainbow History
Project. LatinoStories.com named him a 2014 Top Ten “New” Latino Author to Watch (and
Read). He lives in Washington, DC.
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Jennifer Bartlett’s most recent book is Autobiography/Anti-Autobiography (theenk Books, 2014).
Bartlett also co-edited, with Sheila Black and Michael Northen, Beauty Is a Verb: The New Poetry
of Disability. Bartlett has received fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, Fund for
Poetry, and the Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut. She is currently writing a
biography of poet Larry Eigner.
Dan Vera and Jennifer Bartlett, Keynote Speakers
Fri–Sat, July 24–25
See website for complete schedule; $10 suggested donation; CPE credits available
Gain insights from keynote speakers Dan Vera and Jennifer Bartlett about how writing from the margins can transform community. How can
marginalized voices and perspectives be brought to the center? In break-out sessions, discuss pedagogical strategies for teaching writing in
communities that can be transformative.
Mini–Conference: Like Oak Trees—How Writing Transforms Community
Summer 2015
Classes & Events
Write Across Boundaries
Burst through your own barriers. Rethink your writing across genres by taking a writing class.
Writing Picture Book Manuscripts in a Video Crazy World
Tue/Wed, July 7, 8, 14, 15, 6:30–8pm, $95
Class limit: 15
Instructor: Diane Gonzales Bertrand
Integrate stories with images in new and vibrant ways. Read samples, then reimagine,
draft, and revise stories. Exercises in plot structure, character development, and editing
transform an idea into a working manuscript; suggestions for publication, working with
illustrators, and professional support complete the experience.
Diane Gonzales Bertrand is the author of many books for children and young adults including The Empanadas
that Abuela Made / Las empanadas que hacia la abuela and Sip, Slurp, Soup, Soup / Caldo, caldo, caldo. A native of San Antonio, she
teaches writing at St. Mary’s University where she is Writer in Residence.
Literary Perspectives: Get Chicana/o Lit
Tue, July 7 & 14, 6:30–8pm, $65
Class limit: 15
Instructor: Patricia Portales, PhD
Discover common themes and understand the context of narrative in vignettes and short
fiction by established and newer Chicana/o writers. Featured authors are Américo Paredes,
Tomás Rivera, Michele Serros, and Helena Maria Viramontes.
Patricia Portales is Professor of English at San Antonio College, focusing on Mexican American history, literature, and
film. Her chapter “Tejanas on the Home Front: Women, Bombs, and the (Re)Gendering of War in Mexican American
World War II Literature” appeared in Latina/os in World War II: Mobility, Agency, and Ideology, published by the University of Texas Press.
Six Ways to Write a Story
Thu, July 9, 16, 23, 30, 6:30–8pm, $95
Class limit: 15
Instructor: Bob Flynn
Writers all tell stories, and tell them differently when thinking of different audiences. Use
a prompt from the instructor to draft a short story to bring to the first class; then revise it
from radically different vantage points. Sound out the decisions you make when telling a
story and why you make them. Stretch decisions further for more clarity and energize the
revision process.
Robert Flynn is the author of nine novels and two story collections for which he received two Wrangler Awards from the National Cowboy Hall
of Fame and two Spur Awards from Western Writers of America. Flynn is a past president of the Texas Institute of Letters and a member of the
Texas Literary Hall of Fame.
Poetry and Poetics of “We”
Sat, July 11, 10am–3pm, $95
Class limit: 15
Instructor: Barbara Jane Reyes
In poetry, the lyric “I” appears so often, yet our communities value collectivity and
cooperation over individualism. How can poetry reflect the cultural values of kinship and
community, and still be firmly rooted in poetic lyric tradition? What are our roots and
origin stories? What are our collective aspirations and heartbreaks?
Barbara Jane Reyes was born in Manila, Philippines and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, she is the author
of Diwata (BOA Editions, Ltd., 2010), winner of the Global Filipino Literary Award for Poetry, Gravities of Center (Arkipelago Books, 2003) and
Poeta en San Francisco (Tinfish Press, 2005), which received the James Laughlin Award of the Academy of American Poets. She is an Andrew
W. Mellon Foundation Fellow. Her fourth book, To Love as Aswang, is forthcoming from PAWA, Inc.
Saturday 10am–3pm workshops include a light snack. Please bring a brown bag lunch.
Copy edited by Rose M. Glennon
Crime and Fiction
Sat, July 11, 10am–3pm, $75
Class limit: 15
Instructor: Rod Davis
Why are true crime, detective fiction, and
mysteries such popular literary genres? Are
the protagonists, while full of flaws, actually
rebellious knights-errant seeking truth
in a world of pervasive moral and social
collapse? Examine the codes of ethics, class, and ideology in some
of the most intriguing and hard-boiled characters. Then integrate
the craft of writing crime into a work of fiction.
Rod Davis received the fiction award in the inaugural PEN Southwest Book
Awards in 2005 for Corina’s Way (NewSouth Books, 2003). He is also the author
of American Voudou: Journey into a Hidden World (UNT Press, 1998). His work
has appeared in numerous magazines and journals. His piece “Wal-Marts Across
Texas” was featured in True Stories by David Byrne of The Talking Heads.
The Essence of Story
Sat, July 18, 10am–3pm, $95
Class limit: 15
Instructor: Mat Johnson
Often beginning, intermediate, and even
advanced writers confuse anecdote for
storytelling, which can result in a collection
of scenes rather than a fulfilling narrative
stronger than the sum of its parts. Identify
the essence of powerful storytelling, and channel this power
through a manuscript that meets its full potential.
Mat Johnson is the author of the novels Loving Day, Pym, Hunting in Harlem,
and Drop; the nonfiction novella The Great Negro Plot; and the graphic novels
Incognegro, Dark Rain, and Right State. Until 2000, Johnson was a regular
columnist for Time Out New York magazine. In 2007, Johnson was named the
first USA James Baldwin Fellow by the United States Artists Foundation.
Sex is Good for Your Character
Sat, July 18, 10am–3pm, $75
Class limit: 15
Instructor: Marian Szczepanski
Ideal opportunities to reveal and deepen
characters, sex scenes increase tension
and propel a powerful narrative. Learn
the elements of a compelling sex scene
by reading and discussing their use by
accomplished authors. Craft scenes that will inform and enhance
your own creative work.
Marian Szczepanski, author of the debut novel Playing St. Barbara (High Hill
Press, 2013), holds an MFA in fiction from the Program for Writers at Warren
Wilson College, and a BA in American Studies from the University of Notre Dame.
Named to the Houston Press 2014 roster of “100 Houston Creatives,” she teaches
creative writing workshops at Writespace Houston and beyond.
Connect with us!
Summer Classes
and Events
Open Writers Workshop
Last Monday of every month
June 29, July 27, Aug 31
6:30pm, Free
Gemini Book Club
Fri, 12pm, Free
May 29, My Brilliant Friend, Elena Ferrante
June 26, Smoke and Mirrors, Neil Gaiman
July 31, Honeydew, Edith Pearlman
Aug 28, Mañana Means Heaven, Tim Z. Hernandez
Semester Kickoff Reading:
Rod Davis, Bob Flynn &
Barbara Jane Reyes
Fri, July 10, 7pm
Mat Johnson Reading
Fri, July 17, 7pm
Carver Community Cultural Center
Mini-Conference Reading:
Jennifer Bartlett & Dan Vera
Fri, July 24, 7pm
Mini-Conference
Like Oak Trees—How Writing Transforms
Community
Sat, July 25, 12pm
All events take place at Gemini Ink,
1111 Navarro St, unless otherwise stated.
Register at
geminiink.org
210.734.WORD (9673)