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2026 Creative Writing Colloquium Schedule

8:15 - 9 a.m. Registration

9-9:15 Opening Remarks

9:15 - 10 a.m. Session 1 (Fiction)
Alicia Drumgoole
"Beautifully Broken: The Power of Character Contradiction"
The difference between a good story and a great story lies in character development. Memorable characters come from their contradictions. This session will cover techniques to make your characters more memorable through the use of paradox, how to use dialogue to illustrate a character’s strengths and flaws, and how to plan the character’s choices to better drive the plot of the story. This session will end with a quick exercise allowing writers to create and share their own character sketches.  

9:15 - 10 a.m. Session 1 (Poetry)
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"Documentary Poetry  "
In this session, participants will be introduced to documentary poetry, which is a strain running through recent and contemporary poetry that seeks both to free the writer's passion while engaging with subjects and themes of personal and/or social import. Poets in the documentary mode often use research (with a "big R" or "little r") and techniques like persona as ways to create credible scenes that illuminate the delights and struggles of contemporary life. Several examples of recent and contemporary poems with documentary elements will be read and discussed, and participants will be asked to model such a poem and share their work.    

10 - 10:45 a.m Session 2 (Fiction)
Neil Connelly
“The Plot Thickens:  Free Your Story from Freytag and the Chains of Time  ”
Not unlike the middle school writing class’s five-paragraph essay, there is undeniable wisdom to be found in Freytag’s Pyramid and the standard plot scheme.  But too many writers take general principle (so necessary for beginners) as rigid law or sacred scripture, limiting their imagination and hampering their fiction’s narrative energies.  Similarly, adhering to strict chronological storytelling cripples the potential of many stories.  Together we’ll examine these ideas, and ultimately you’ll decide whether to keep the training wheels on for a while longer or cast them off.     

10 - 10:45 a.m Session 2 (Poetry)
Heather Hamilton
“Crafting Effective Imagery”
Have you ever wondered why some writing pulls you in and makes you feel like you’re there in person, experiencing what’s being described directly? Often, this experience is due to good use of imagery. In this craft lecture, poet Heather Hamilton will discuss what makes for effective imagery, present skillful examples of this in published work, and guide you through how to incorporate strong images into your own writing.  

10:45 - 11:30 a.m. Session 3
The Quill and Ink Society 
Keynote: A Reading by the Quill and Ink Society  
The Quill and Ink Society is an eclectic group of writers representing all stages of the writing craft. Monthly meetings include chapter critique, overall writing related discussions, and networking with fellow writers. The group meets the 4th Thursday of the month at Grove Family Library in Chambersburg, PA. All are welcome to attend!  

11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Lunch (Jensen Dining Hall)

1:15 - 2 p.m. Author Q and A 
You got questions? We got answers! Ask any of our colloquium authors your burning questions about writing, publishing, and more! 

The colloquium is underwritten by the Arts for All grant opportunity of the Greater Harrisburg Community Foundation, a regional foundation of The Foundation for Enhancing Communities.

Bios for the 2026 Creative Writing Colloquium Speakers

Alicia Drumgoole is an Associate Professor of English at Hagerstown Community College, where she teaches courses in composition, literature, and creative writing. She began her career as a political writer, producing speeches and other government documents for state and local politicians. Alicia wrote her first novel, Premonition, under the pen name Agnes Jayne in 2015.  She is the founder of a local writing group called The Mountain Scribes in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. She has contributed to two anthologies: Last Writes: Haunting Tales from the Mountain Scribes (2017), and The Appalachian Compilation (2018). She is the Project Director for a National Endowment for the Humanities Grant entitled Bridging the Antietam, a project designed to boost student performance in composition classes and produce curricula to support writing across the disciplines. She holds degrees in English and Political Science from Binghamton University; a Master of Arts in English from the State University of New York in Albany; and is about to begin the thesis for her M.F.A in Creative Writing through Southern New Hampshire University. Alicia has been presenting at this conference since 2017.  

�ٰ�. E������‵����������� is an assistant teaching professor of English and creative writing at Penn State Harrisburg. His poems have been published in a variety of journals and periodicals including The Birmingham Poetry Review, Pleiades, Quarterly West, The Southern Review, and The Times Literary Supplement. His chapbook Travel & Leisure won the Poetry Society of America's National Chapbook Fellowship. He is now teaching a course on documentary poetry writing, and he serves as the faculty advisor for the student-edited journal Fission.  

Neil Connelly has published 8 books of fiction and dozens of shorter works.  His newest, Slubber Doffers, based on his time serving on a school board during Covid, is due out in 2026. Before returning to his home state of Pennsylvania where he teaches at Shippensburg University, he directed the MFA program at McNeese State University.  

Heather Hamilton teaches English and creative writing at Penn State Harrisburg. Her chapbook, Here is a Clearing, was published by the Poetry Society of America, and her work has appeared in numerous journals, most recently Action, Spectacle, Bennington Review, Cincinnati Review, Copper Nickel, and Smartish Pace. 

Laura L. Zimmerman loves doing puzzles, drinking coffee, and practicing yoga, and is a sucker for a solid grumpy/sunshine trope. She is the author of the award-winning YA fantasy Banshee Song Series and two middle-grade mysteries.  

Nancy E Reyes was born and raised in NYC and has been writing poetry since she was a child. Her poetry is rhymed, lyrical, a bit narrative and heavy on imagery and rhythm.  

Susan Lower writes fast paced romantic suspense and fantasy adventures where danger, passion, and justice collide. When she’s not building new worlds, she helps fellow creatives strengthen the business side of their art with clarity and confidence.  

James P. Barkley: I am a visual: poet, artist, and visual arts teacher. I create: to speak, to learn, to teach.  

Matt McBride's work has recently appeared in Action, Spectacle, The Banyan Review, Conduit, The Cortland Review, Figure 1, Impossible Task, Guernica, The Rupture, Rust+Moth, and Zone 3 among others. He is the author of one full-length poetry collection, City of Incandescent Light, published by Black Lawrence Press in 2018, and four chapbooks. His most recent, Prerecorded Weather, co-written with Noah Falck, won the 2022 James Tate Prize and is available at SuVision Books. Currently, he is a professor of interdisciplinary practice at 91ɫ��Ƭ.