Teaching Philosophy
I have been teaching creative writing for a decade. I’ve taught at the University of Minnesota, Hennepin County Libraries, Jack Pine Writers’ Bloc, and I’ve led writing workshops and retreats in Minnesota and Wisconsin. I currently teach online and at The Loft Literary Center, where I have been teaching since 2006.
Students are drawn to writing because they want to tell a story or because language excites them. My goal is to tap into that energy and help each student, regardless of ability level, make discoveries through language. I strive to establish a nurturing classroom environment where students feel safe sharing their work and ideas and can grow as writers.
Upcoming Classes and Retreats
Motherhood & Words Online – Sept. 2012
Whether you are a new mom or a veteran, whether you gave birth to or adopted your child, in this online class you’ll learn how to take birth and motherhood stories and turn them into art. Weekly lectures, reading assignments and writing exercises will focus on telling details, character development, emotional distance, strengthening your reflective voice, and revision. You can expect to generate a number of short creative nonfiction pieces and one long piece. You will receive feedback from your peers and from me through online workshops.
Class size limited. Please contact me with questions or to register.
2013 Motherhood & Words™ Writing Retreat
Thursday, February 21 – Sunday, February 24, 2013
Join me for a weekend retreat for mother-writers. We’ll write, share our writing, discuss challenges with craft, and have time to connect with other mother writers in the luxury and quiet of Faith’s Lodge. Group meetings and individual conferences will help support you as you delve more deeply into your writing and learn to take risks on the page. Come immerse yourself in the writing life with other mothers who write.
Where: Faith’s Lodge, Wisconsin
Faith’s Lodge is located on 80 picturesque acres in Northwestern Wisconsin near the town of Webster, less than a two-hour drive from the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area, less than one hour from Duluth/Superior, and about four hours from Madison. The mission of Faith’s Lodge is to provide a place where parents and families facing the serious illness or loss of a child can retreat to reflect on the past, renew strength for the present, and build hope for the future.
You need not have experienced the loss of a child to attend the retreat. The Motherhood & Words Retreat is for all mother writers. (But proceeds from the retreat will benefit the children and families served by Faith’s Lodge.)
The Lodge has eight guest suites, and we can accommodate up to 10 people for the retreat. Each guest suite features a private bath, fireplace, balcony/patio, flat screen tv, DVD player, small fridge, and coffee maker. Meals are included.
Cost: $650 for single room, $550 for shared room (separate beds)
To register: Please contact Marquetta Nickols at Faith’s Lodge at 612-825-2073 or marquetta@faithslodge.org to register.
Please contact me with questions about the Motherhood & Words Retreat. To learn more about Faith’s Lodge, visit www.faithslodge.org.
What students are saying about Kate’s classes:
“Kate is warm, funny and full of great ideas to help writers of every level. I loved her organized syllabus, the breadth of the essays/passages she had us read outside of class, the free-flowing discussions, and the homework assignments that generated unexpected results in my own writing. Kate creates a classroom that encourages students to open up and share their stories, both in the form of conversation and the written word. I was truly delighted by [her class]. My writing went deeper than I expected, and I felt really inspired by the quality of the work Kate helped me produce.” –E
“Kate is a gifted and lively teacher, coach, and guide. She’s got a knack for finding the creative threads in a piece, then helping students weave them together to create something beautiful. I always felt supported and encouraged in her class-which is why I took it three times! The woman is awesome!” –P
“Kate has a way of reading your writing for what it truly is and wants to become. In this way she infuses new excitement into your work and stretches you as a writer in new ways.” –K
“Our classroom quickly became a community of mothers writing about every range of experience in motherhood, from infertility to SIDS. Kate’s steady presence, her preparation of selected readings designed to prompt memory as well as writerly analysis, and her gentle critical responses to our work fostered an environment that nurtured creativity, experimentation, truth-telling. Several students were repeating the class for the third time, learning new approaches and diving deeper into their own stories of motherhood. Yes, Kate Hopper IS that good!” –G
Feel free to contact me if you have questions about any of the classes I’m teaching.