Viable Paradise is an annual one-week residential
writing workshop
A writing circle is a group of like-minded writers needing support for their work, either through writing peer critiques, workshops or classes, or just encouragement. There are many different types of writing circles or writing groups based on l ...
held each autumn on the island of
Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the Northeastern United States, located south of Cape Cod in Dukes County, Massachusetts, known for being a popular, affluent summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes th ...
in
and is focused on
speculative fiction.
The workshop began in 1997, as part of a science fiction convention presented by the Martha's Vineyard Science Fiction Association. After 1998, the convention was discontinued, but the workshop continued.
Present and past instructors include:
Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Patrick James Nielsen Hayden (born Patrick James Hayden January 2, 1959), is an American science fiction editor, fan, fanzine publisher, essayist, reviewer, anthologist, teacher and blogger. He is a World Fantasy Award and Hugo Award winner (wi ...
,
Teresa Nielsen Hayden
Teresa Nielsen Hayden (born March 21, 1956) is an American science fiction editor, fanzine writer, essayist, and workshop instructor. She is a consulting editor for Tor Books and is well known for her weblog, ''Making Light''. She has also worke ...
,
James D. Macdonald,
Debra Doyle,
Steven Gould
Steven Charles Gould (born February 7, 1955) is an American science fiction writer and teacher. He has written ten novels. He is best known for his 1992 novel '' Jumper'', which was adapted into a film released in 2008.
Biography
Steven Charle ...
,
Laura J. Mixon
Laura J. Mixon (born December 8, 1957) is an American science fiction writer and a chemical and environmental engineer.[Lawrence Watt-Evans
Lawrence Watt-Evans (born 1954) is one of the pseudonyms of American science fiction and fantasy author Lawrence Watt Evans (another pseudonym, used primarily for science fiction, is Nathan Archer).
Biography
Born in Arlington, Massachusetts, as ...](_blank)
,
Elizabeth Moon
Elizabeth Moon (born March 7, 1945) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. Her other writing includes newspaper columns and opinion pieces. Her novel ''The Speed of Dark'' won the 2003 Nebula Award. Prior to her writing career, she ...
,
Maureen McHugh
Maureen F. McHugh (born February 13, 1959) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer.
Career
McHugh's first published story was published as a ''Twilight Zone'' under a male pseudonym in 1988. It was followed by a pair of publication ...
,
James Patrick Kelly
James Patrick Kelly (born April 11, 1951 in Mineola, New York) is an American science fiction author who has won both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award.
Biography
Kelly made his first fiction sale in 1975. He graduated magna cum laude fr ...
,
Elizabeth Bear
Sarah Bear Elizabeth Wishnevsky (born September 22, 1971) is an American author who works primarily in speculative fiction genres, writing under the name Elizabeth Bear. She won the 2005 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, the 2008 Hugo ...
,
Cory Doctorow
Cory Efram Doctorow (; born July 17, 1971) is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who served as co-editor of the blog '' Boing Boing''. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent o ...
,
John Scalzi
John Michael Scalzi II (born May 10, 1969) is an American science fiction author and former president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He is best known for his ''Old Man's War'' series, three novels of which have been no ...
,
Sherwood Smith
Sherwood Smith (born 1951) is an American fantasy and science fiction writer for young adults and adults. Smith is a Nebula Award finalist and a longtime writing group organizer and participant.
Smith's works include the YA novel ''Crown Due ...
,
Steven Brust
Steven Karl Zoltán Brust (born November 23, 1955) is an American fantasy and science fiction author of Hungarian descent. He is best known for his series of novels about the assassin Vlad Taltos, one of a disdained minority group of humans livi ...
,
Daryl Gregory, and
Scott Lynch
Scott Lynch (born April 2, 1978) is an American fantasy author who wrote the '' Gentleman Bastard Sequence'' series of novels. His first novel, '' The Lies of Locke Lamora'', was purchased by Orion Books in August 2004 and published in June 2006 ...
.
Past students include authors
Curtis C. Chen
Curtis or Curtiss is a common English given name and surname of Anglo-Norman origin from the Old French ''curteis'' ( Modern French ''courtois'') which derived from the Spanish Cortés (of which Cortez is a variation) and the Portuguese and G ...
,
Julie C. Day,
Claire Humphrey,
N. K. Jemisin,
Marko Kloos,
Fonda Lee,
Sandra McDonald,
Paul Melko,
David MolesMargaret Ronald Greg van Eekhout, and
Fran Wilde
Dame Frances Helen Wilde (née Kitching, born 11 November 1948) is a New Zealand politician, and former Wellington Labour member of parliament, Minister of Tourism and Mayor of Wellington. She was the first woman to serve as Mayor of Welling ...
; and podcast editors and authors Serah Eley and
Mur Lafferty
Mur Lafferty (born July 25, 1973) is an American podcaster and writer based in Durham, North Carolina. She was the editor and host of '' Escape Pod'' from 2010, when she took over from Steve Eley, until 2012, when she was replaced by Norm Sherm ...
.
References
External links
*
What Is Viable Paradise
1997 establishments in Massachusetts
Organizations established in 1997
Creative writing programs
Martha's Vineyard
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