Summer Fishtrap Schedule

Monday, July 8 – First Day of Summer Fishtrap!
2:00-4:00 pm – Check-In
4:00 pm – Welcome to Summer Fishtrap
4:30-5:30 pm – Workshop Orientation
5:30-7:00 pm – Dinner
7:30 pm – Opening Day Kickoff with Fishtrap’s
Shannon McNerney and a reading from Fishtrap
co-founder, Kim Stafford
Followed by author book signing

7:30 pm – Opening Day Kickoff with Fishtrap’s
Shannon McNerney and a reading from Fishtrap
co-founder, Kim Stafford

Followed by author book signing.

Tuesday, July 9
7:00-9:00 am – Breakfast
9:00 am-Noon – Morning Writing Workshops
Noon-2:00 pm – Lunch
1:30pm – Trees are Lovers Walk – Explore the amazing old growth trees of the Wallowa Lake Lodge grounds with Dr. David Mildrexler, Systems Ecologist with Eastern Oregon Legacy Lands and Wallowolgy Natural History Science Center. We’ll talk about the complex form and function of these ancient living beings, and processes that occur both deep in root systems and in the highest canopies that ensure the viability of our planet.
3:00-4:00 pm – Craft Talk with Sharma Shields: Love is a Fairy Tale
4:00-5:00 pm – Open Mic Readings
5:00-7:00 pm – Dinner
7:30pm – Faculty Readings: Aaron Abeyta, Perrin Kerns, Sam Mills
Followed by author book signing
9:00 pm – Star Party at Wallowa Lake State Park (open to the public)

Wednesday, July 10
7:00-9:00 am – Breakfast
9:00 am-Noon – Morning Writing Workshops
Noon-2:00 pm – Lunch
1:30 pm – Craft Talk with Perrin Kerns – Spooky, but Interesting: Can We Learn to Love A.I. as Writers? Perrin will share her own and her students’ experiences using AI for research, editing, brainstorming, prompts, project descriptions, and more. You will also have the opportunity to share what you have learned as we explore this topic together. Is this “tool” our friend, our foe, or both?
3:00-4:00 pm – A Community Art Project Celebrating Love – Join Arianna Olsen from The Josephy Center for Arts and Culture as we collaborate on three large canvases, a triptych of our collective expression of love. Whether you’re drawn to painting, drawing, writing, or printing, there’s a
space for your unique contribution. Let’s fill these canvases with colors, words, and images that reflect the love that binds us as a community.
4:00-5:00 pm – Open Mic Readings
5:00-7:00 pm Dinner
7:30pm – Faculty Readings :Stephanie Elizondo Griest, Eliot Treichel, plus the 2024 Summer Fishtrap Fellows—Autumn Bettinger and Isabelle Eastman
Followed by author book signing.

Thursday, July 11
7:00-9:00 am – Breakfast
9:00 am-Noon – Morning Writing Workshops
Noon-2:00 pm – Lunch
1:30 pm – Craft Talk with Laura Pritchett: Out of the sheets, onto the page. . . . sex scenes! – Let’s face it: Sex scenes can be outrageously bad—there’s even an award dedicated to them. And yet, they shouldn’t be skipped or avoided in writing just because of performance anxiety! Come explore ways to include real and honest intimacy.
3:00-4:00 pm – Panel Discussion: Whose stories can we tell? Writing from the Voice of Another moderated by Shannon McNerney; panelists: Nina McConigley, Tim Z. Hernandez, Eliot Treichel.  How can we authentically and respectfully create characters who come from different ethnic, cultural, gender, or identities? What should we consider? Are there rules, or should we only write from our own lived experiences?
4:00-5:00 pm – Open Mic Readings
5:00-7:00 pm – Dinner
7:30pm – Faculty Readings: Amy Irvine, Rena Priest, Sharma Shields
Followed by author book signing

Friday, July 12
7:00-9:00 am – Breakfast
9:00 am-Noon – Morning Writing Workshops
Noon-2:00 pm – Lunch
1:30 pm – Craft Talk with Sam Mills: Stories with Pictures and Words – Yes, you can create comics! Cartoonist and author Sam Mills will demystify the form and share some basics for how effort and open-mindedness can lead to fun, engaging visual stories.
3:00-4:00 pm – Love and Ancestral Homelands: The Connection Between Homeland and Identity in Indigenous Culture with Jacy Sohappy from the Nez Perce Wallowa Homeland
4:00-5:00 pm – Open Mic Readings
5:00-7:00pm – Dinner
7:30pm –  Faculty Readings: Tim Z. Hernandez, Nina McConigley, Laura Pritchett
Followed by author book signing.

Saturday, July 13
7:00-9:00 am –  Breakfast
9:00 am-Noon –  Morning Writing Workshops
Noon-2:00 pm –  Lunch
1:30–3:00 pm –  Yearlong Writers Workshop Readings
3:00-4:00 pm –  Craft Talk with Kim Stafford: Writing Love for What is Broken “Life is not all honey and roses,” an old lady told me once. Writers know this, but what to do? The first stage of love for a dark world is simply to notice, to take a hard look. We go from there.
4:00-5:00 pm –  Open Mic Readings
5:00-7:00 pm –  Dinner
7:30pm – LOVE: Keynote Address by Aaron Abeyta plus music by the Bad Penny Pleasure Makers
Followed by author book signing.

Sunday, July 14
7:00-9:00 am –  Breakfast
Let’s talk–a listening session with Fishtrap Executive Director, Shannon McNerney
10:00-11:00 am –  Wrap up your Summer Fishtrap experience with readings from Eastern Oregon University’s Master of Fine Arts Students in Creative Writing
11:00 am-Noon –  Hellos and Goodbyes