Quarry Heights Writers' Workshop

QHWW on hiatus

2020-07-22T14:56:00.000-07:00

Dear writers, readers, lovers of writing, lovers of reading, and more:

As we continue to navigate this new normal, the Quarry Heights Writers Workshop will be on hiatus. We hope you remain safe, healthy, and engaged during this time. And we look forward to seeing you again in the future.

-QHWW

QHWW is featured in VOX Magazine!

2015-12-17T10:27:00.001-08:00

Check out the article here

Also, spaces are still available in the winter 2016 workshop. January 21-March 10, Thursday evenings from 7-9pm. Email quarryheightsworkshop@gmail.com for inquiries or to register.

QHWW is featured in The Columbia Tribune!

2015-07-12T09:04:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to the article that Amy Wilder wrote in the Sunday edition's Ovation section. And remember: spots are still available for the August 20-October 8 workshop. Check the website for more information.

Introducing the new Director of the Quarry Heights Writers' Workshop!

2015-05-18T12:37:00.005-07:00

Recently, I accepted a job as an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Tulsa, which means I will be moving to Tulsa with my family this summer. While I'm sad to leave behind Columbia's vibrant writing community and the many friends I've made here, I'm excited for this new opportunity!

I'm very happy to announce that after I depart, the Quarry Heights Writers' Workshop will live on under the leadership of the writer Gordon Sauer!

Gordon Sauer earned his MFA in fiction from Columbia University, where he was a Teaching Fellow. His fiction has appeared in Narrative Magazine and his nonfiction in Columbia College Today. While living in New York City, Gordon interned at The New Yorker, worked as a freelance writer for Columbia College Today, and was on the board of Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art. He's been a resident on scholarship at the Vermont Studio Center and has been teaching creative writing for the past five years. Currently, Gordon is an Assistant Teaching Professor of English at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Gordon is an excellent writer and an experienced teacher; I had the pleasure of observing him teach a fiction workshop at Mizzou, and he leads his workshops with an informed, probing intelligence. And he will be offering his first QHWW class soon, beginning August 17th and extending through the week of October 5th. Expect more information about that class soon, and in the meantime, mark your calendars!

I have every confidence that Gordon will continue the QHWW's tradition of exciting and rigorous craft-focused workshops. Please don't hesitate to get in touch with us if you have any questions about this transition, and please help me in welcoming Gordon to the QHWW family! You can still reach the Workshop at the quarryheightsworkshop@gmail.com account.

This year marks the fifth anniversary of QHWW. Thank you for a wonderful experience. I've made lifelong friends from this community. Long may it continue here in CoMo!

-Keija

QHWW on KBIA!

2011-06-27T06:32:00.000-07:00

As a lover of all things public radio, I was delighted to appear on KBIA's Off the Clock with Scarlett Robertson.

Click here to listen to the interview!

QHWW in the Columbia Tribune!

2011-05-13T21:11:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to the complete interview I did with Jill Hicks at the Tribune. The article will appear in the Sunday print edition. Thanks for reading!

More local coverage of QHWW!

2011-02-27T06:13:00.000-08:00

Check out this feature on QHWW over at the Columbia Missourian community blog!

Thanks to Ann Elise Taylor for the great write-up.

Article about QHWW in Vox magazine!

2011-01-27T09:20:00.000-08:00

I'm delighted to share with you an article on the Quarry Heights Writers' Workshop in this week's issue of Vox magazine, the University of Missouri's student mag:

http://www.voxmagazine.com/stories/2011/01/27/author-keija-parssinen-works-local-writers/

Thanks to writer Matt Drachelman and photographer Eve Edelman for their terrific work!

Announcing a new creative community for writers living in and around Columbia, Missouri!

2010-09-14T14:33:00.000-07:00

January 2011 will mark the launch of the Quarry Heights Writers' Workshop! I envision the Workshop providing a creative home for mid-Missouri writers of all levels.

The first workshop will focus on fiction writing and will begin the week of January 10th, 2011. It will run for eight weeks, meeting once per week for two hours in the evening at my home in Quarry Heights. If you're interested in reserving a spot in the Workshop, please contact me at quarryheightsworkshop@gmail.com; include a bit of information about yourself and your writing background, along with what you'd like to achieve in the Workshop setting.

I received my MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop (www.uiowa.edu/~iww), where I taught fiction writing to undergraduates and studied with Anthony Swofford, Elizabeth McCracken, Scott Spencer, Lan Samantha Chang, Jonathan Ames and Charles D'Ambrosio. I have also taught creative writing to children through the Badgerdog Literary Press summer program (www.badgerdog.org). In 2012, HarperCollins will publish my debut novel, AGAINST THE KINGS OF SALT.

I began my own writing journey with the help of the Sackett Street Writers' Workshop in Brooklyn, New York (www.sackettworkshop.com). The teaching, guidance, wisdom and support I received from my teachers there changed my life. I hope to bring that same level of passion and dedication to the Quarry Heights Writers' Workshop!

Please check back here over the coming months for more information about the launch of this exciting new community!