The Sundress Academy for the Arts hosts the Sundress Workshop Series, a series of generative writing workshops emphasizing composition, revision, and creative development. As part of Sundress Publications, the Sundress Workshop Series provide focused and expert instruction to writers of all skill levels. Participants are treated to guidance from advanced instructors who help them to not only hone their craft but also opportunities to create and share new work.
Workshops
Giving Shape: Retrospection & Projection in Personal Essays
August 12, 2026, 6:00-7:30PM EST
The Sundress Academy for the Arts is excited to present “Giving Shape: Retrospection & Projection in Personal Essays,” a workshop led by April Sopkin on Wednesday, August 12th from 6:00-7:30 PM EST. This event will be held over Zoom. Participants can register for this event here.
When we attempt to reiterate personal experience on the page, we often stick too closely to the facts and forget that the passage of time gives shape to the telling. We create “shape” in many ways, including a unique structure, imagery or sensory repetition, or playing with retrospective parallels. More than that, we forget that personal narrative is also about wonderment, and on the page this can look like an imagined projection of the future: hopes, assumptions, fears, expectations. In other words, the parts of the story that—before this point of arriving at the page—only existed within our hearts and minds.
We’ll use four essay excerpts to study how authors have used retrospection and projection in their work, then we’ll practice those same moves through guided prompts. Students will come away with a new or renewed understanding of specific craft mechanics and new angles to approach their own ideas.
While there is no fee to participate in this workshop, those who are able and appreciative may make donations directly April Sopkin via Venmo @asopkin
April Sopkin writes fiction and personal essays. She was the 2024-25 writer-in-residence at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond, and was awarded a 2023 Elizabeth George Foundation grant to support her in-process short story collection. Her work has appeared in Joyland, MIT Technology Review, Carve, and elsewhere. She was a 2019 Tin House Scholar and has won the Raymond Carver Short Story Contest, the Patricia Aakhus Award, and the TSR Nonfiction Prize. She writes Something Out of Nothing, a regular newsletter about seeking meaning in a multifaceted life.
Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Broadway Debut of For Colored Girls Who’ve Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuff
September 8, 2026, 6:00-7:30PM EST
The Sundress “For Colored Girls” Event happening online on Sept 8th will be a celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Broadway debut of play, For Colored Girls Who’ve Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuff, showcasing a mix of folks who’ve performed Shange’s work with those who’ve been inspired by it. Monica Prince, who directed and performed in a staged version of the play in March will lead the event.
We don’t have the full line up for this community-centered event yet, but we will start and end with Shange’s words with aim of inspiring a new generation to read her work and to give time and space to the sharing of what that work has meant to those present. It will be heart opening.