It’s no secret that Denver has deep-rooted literary history. You may have driven by or toured “Poets Row,” where Cassady and Kerouac bummed around. Perhaps you’ve heard of John WIlliams, who founded the English department here at DU, started the Denver Quarterly and is the author of “Stoner.”
There are obvious haunts for Denver bookies such as Tattered Cover or Mutiny Information Cafe, but for those who want to get their writing on bookstore shelves, there’s Lighthouse Writers.
I attended an information session at Lighthouse on March 31 for their annual Poetry Collective, which is now accepting applications. The Poetry Collective is run through two well-known writers, Andrea Rexilius and Elizabeth Robinson. Rexilius and Robinson are both published poets who invite all budding wordsmiths to challenge their craft beside them, regardless of whether you’ve been published or not.
Elizabeth Robinson is the author of more than a dozen volumes of poetry, including “Three Novels,” “Counterpart” and “Blue Heron” and is the recipient of various awards. Andrea Rexilius is a professor at the Regis College Creative Writing MFA program and is the author of “New Organism: Essais,” “Half of What They Carried Flew Away” and “To Be Human Is To Be A Conversation.”
Every year, only 12 students are accepted. Applications are due by June 20, so if you’re interested, start thinking about your writing sample which needs to be composed of 10 to 12 of your best works.
The Collective will begin in August and finish in June with a reading and Lit-Fest, a weeklong celebration attended by writers from all walks, cities and degrees of success. Through close-mentorship and workshopping, graduates leave the Collective with a completed manuscript.
The course is composed of four one-on-one mentor meetings, three day-long intensives, four in-depth manuscript workshops and one additional meeting with a Lighthouse poetry instructor.
Considering that Lighthouse operates independently from any university or MFA program, the applicants mostly have non-literary careers: teachers, nurses, dentists, you name it. This also means that the members of your “cohort,” (the program is divided into two groups of six, mentored by either Robinson or Rexilius) will have diverse and unique perspectives.
The building where Lighthouse Writers currently resides in is historical— it’s the largest building in Colorado to have ever been moved in one piece and remain intact— and it happens to be absolutely beautiful too: dark wooden staircases with plush green velvet carpeting, a large dining table set for literary discussion and surrounded by a library of lit journals and local works, six classrooms and a grand performance space that fits over 100 people.
The total cost of the program is $2,760. The payment is accepted in monthly or quarterly installments. While the cost may seem steep, it’s important to consider it with the cost of tuition, and especially the cost of tuition for an MFA program. Some graduate from an MFA program sans manuscript but with $40,000 or more in loans.
The program offers a great opportunity to turn your literary aspirations into a cohesive, submittable manuscript, and it places you among others who share the same love of writing that some of us dare to have.
