Lynda Barry joins Chamonix faculty

New addition to Butler's Chamonix Summer Writing ProgramsIn case you’ve missed our coverage of it over the course of the semester, the Butler MFA program has a new summer program that whisks students away to scenic, historic Chamonix, France. For the straight details, you can visit the Chamonix Summer Writing Programs website. Or, for a more personal, narrative take, might I guide you to one of our three Chamonix Memorixs pieces, generously contributed by Jim Hanna, Farhard Anwarzai, and Lisa Renze-Rhodes? Aside from its picturesque vistas, wine and gourmet cheeses, our Chamonix program also boasts a stable of beast writers for 2014. Spanning poetry, prose and non-fiction, our list includes Erin Belieu, Dan Chaon, Michael Dahlie, Terrance Hayes, Ann Hood, and Cheryl Strayed. So you can imagine the great excitement with which we tell you that we’ve added Lynda Barry to our roster.

Lynda Barry's Eisner Award-winning What It IsBarry is a prolific cartoonist and author with 17 books under her belt, and whose longstanding comic series Ernie Pook’s Comeek ran from 1977 to 2008. Her debut illustrated novel The Good Times are Killing Me might be her best-known work, but her Eisner Award-winning 2008 effort What It Is might be her most ambitious. The part-graphic novel, part-workbook, part-memoir promises on its cover that it is “Dramatically illustrated with more than color pictures.” Inside, the pages are lush and erratic, heavily collaged, combining personal narrative with detailed instructions and exercises meant to open up the reader’s mind to the creative process. In fact, Barry continues to host workshops all throughout the United States and Canada in the style of What It Is, endeavoring to instill in her students the ability to, in her words, “write the unthinkable.”

Remaining spots fill every day, so if great food, great views, and a variety of workshops led by great writers is at all appealing to you, be sure to give the Chamonix Summer Writing Programs website a long, luxurious perusal. The application is available there, or hey, right here.