Category: In The Media

Hosted at Prairiewoods Franciscan Spirituality Center in Hiawatha, Iowa

October 16, 2023 – October 18, 2023

Most of us give little thought to how we would like to be remembered in our obituaries. The thought of writing it may be scary. But writing your obituary does not signal the end of your life. Instead, it is a wonderful opportunity to reflect, receive feedback from others, and to plan how you wish to live the rest of your best life. And, wouldn’t you rather be the author of your obituary as opposed to leaving the writing of your life to someone else?

This two-and-a-half-day workshop will help demystify writing about ourselves and explore the history of obituaries—both newspaper and online versions. Step-by-step exercises will help each of us gather our own anecdotal and biographical data, and easy writing exercises will produce draft obituaries, both online and newspaper versions. During our final evening celebration, everyone will be invited to read their obituary to the group.

Join Mary Lou Nosco and Ana McCracken for a fun-filled and reflective writing retreat at Prairiewoods. You don’t have to be “a writer” to join us. During our time together, we will gather in community for walks, good food and conversation, and time to reflect and write. And, of course, there will be wine!

Ana McCracken received her B.S and MFA in Creative Writing and Environment from Iowa State University, and she the founder of the Ames Writers Collective. Ana enjoys reading a well-written obituary, and wants to be the author of her own.
Mary Lou Nosco has a B.A. in history, an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership, and is a retired Army officer. While in the Army, Nosco wrote too many obituaries for soldiers. Additionally, she has written obituaries for five family members and would like to spare her own family that duty.
DATES
Arrival: October 16 (Noon)
Departure: October 18 (by 1 pm)

COST: $295 includes lodging (single rooms) and meals, materials and wine! Click here for payment instructions or to make inquiry. Pre-assignments and itinerary will be sent closer to the retreat date. Plan to bring a notebook and pen and/or your laptop for writing and taking notes.

The Swift Youth Writers Workshop is back!

In partnership with the Ames Public Library, our Swift Youth Writers Workshops offer kids an escape into creative writing and the opportunity to connect with other youth writers.

Regardless of genre, for five days writers will come together in a safe space to read an inspirational piece of writing and write together to timed-writing prompts. At the end of each session, writers will be invited to read aloud to the group to receive positive feedback.These FREE sessions will be held at the Ames Public Library.

Learn more here

We are honored to be the recipient of the Veronika Ruedenberg Cultural Entrepreneur Award this year, recognizing our founder, Ana McCracken, for starting the Ames Writers Collective in 2021.

This award is meant for a community-minded pioneer who has shown the vision and courage to break ground for some new institution for the enrichment of Ames’ cultural life, creating something where there was nothing.

Veronika Ruedenberg was an inspiration to many. She supported individual creative efforts in those who wanted to try something new, regardless of how unusual or difficult. She was open-minded and encouraged this in others. Her good intuition, her unflinching good will, her selfless enthusiasm and her confidence in other people, made her an effective cultural pioneer and the institutions she built up grew and prospered long after she was gone. She was living proof of the joy in the creative journey, rather than the safety of the bandwagon.

Many thanks to a board member for accepting the award while Ana was out of the country!

Words Meet Art, an outreach program of the Ames Writers Collective, is a literary arts event demonstrating through words how art, used as a writing prompt, can invoke feelings, trigger memories, and inspire conversations across divides and demographics. For inspiration, writers will interact with the Harriet Bart exhibition at the Christian Petersen Art Museum to compose and publicly read poems, flash fiction or creative nonfiction, and/or perform monologues or music.

For this first session of Words Meet Art, participants will receive a guided tour of Harriet Bart: Material Alchemy to educate and inspire creativity led by Sydney Marshall, Curator, University Museums, Iowa State University. An introduction to “writing to writing prompts” will follow, with writing sessions to connect writers to the exhibition. This session will be led by Ana McCracken, founder of the Ames Writers Collective, and/or an Iowa State University MFA in Creative Writing and Environment Program candidate. There are two options for attending Part 1: March 30 from 6pm to 8:30pm , and April 1 from 10am to 12:30pm.

Participants may bring their own drink and snacks for breaks. Refreshments are not provided. These events are free, but registration is required.

Words Meet Art, Part 1 – March 30
Words Meet Art, Part 1 – April 1

Then, on April 2 from 2pm to 4pm writers will come together for Words Meet Art, Part 2.

The writers who participated in Words Meet Art Part 1 will present their flash fiction, poems, creative nonfiction, a monologue, and/or perform music in response to the exhibition Harriet Bart: Material Alchemy in the Christian Petersen Art Museum.

Registration is not required to attend Part 2/the reading. Writers participating in the reading will sign up during Part 1.

Ana spoke with KHOI’s Community Bookshelf. Community Book Shelf features primarily books, short stories, and poetry by local authors, read sometimes by the authors, sometimes by local narrators.

Listen to the full interview:




Our Founder, Ana McCracken, was one of three interviewed on Iowa Public Radio’s Talk of Iowa show recently.

The show, hosted by Charity Nebbe, explored the new options available for non-academic writers in Iowa.

First up is Julie Gammack, columnist and producer of Okoboji Writers’ Retreat. Then our own Ana McCracken speaks, and finally, Andrea Wilson, certified narrative therapist, founder and executive director of Iowa Writers’ House.

All three are focused on building supportive communities for aspiring writers who are not involved in a university program or other academic-based writer’s setting.

Listen to the show, here!