Kristina Marie Darling
Instructor
Kristina Marie Darling is the author of over thirty books, which include recent releases from Bloomsbury, Dzanc, Persea, and Penguin Canada. A twice-awarded Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Darling was granted a five-year tenure as an expert consultant with the U.S. Fulbright Commission and now serves on the jury for Fulbright awards. Her work has also been recognized by Yaddo, the Villa Lena Foundation, the American Academy in Rome, Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, the Ucross Foundation, Fundación Valparaíso, the Andorran Ministry of Culture, the American Academy in Berlin, where she was nominated for the Distinguished Visitor Fellowship, the European Law and Governance School, the Clews Foundation, where she will serve as faculty at their Chateau La Napoule Retreat Series in the south of France, and many other leading institutions in the U.S. and abroad. A prolific educator and public speaker, Dr. Darling has also lectured (or is scheduled to lecture) at Yale University, the American University of Rome, Stanford University, the Leopardi Writers Conference in Recanati, Italy, the Leysin American School in Switzerland, the Universidade do Porto, Columbia University in the City of New York, the New School, the University of Cyprus, the Prague Summer Program for Writers, the University of Zadar, the University of Montenegro, the University of Pécs in Hungary, the University of Bangka Belitung in Indonesia, the San Miguel Writers Conference & Literary Festival, and the Ionian Center for the Arts & Culture, where she is now permanent faculty. Dr. Darling lives in Croatia, spends her summers teaching in Greece, on the islands of Andros and Kefalonia respectively, and her winters in San Michele on the Amalfi Coast.
New Books from Persea, Penguin, Dzanc, & Bloomsbury
Public Speaker, The Ovation Agency | Fulbright Specialist, L'Université de Lomé
Artist Residencies & Fellowships at Yaddo, Ucross, The American Academy in Rome, Hawthornden Castle, The Villa Lena Foundation, Cité Internationale des Arts, Faber Andorra, The Writer's Room at The Betsy, & Fundación Valparaíso
Academic Appointments at The University of Cambridge, Universidade do Porto, The European Law & Governance School, The Leysin American School in Switzerland, The American Research Center in Sofia, The Ionion Center for the Arts & Culture, & The Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis
Recent Teaching & Speaking Engagements at The American University of Rome, The University of Zadar, Yale University, Stanford University, The Prague Summer Program for Writers, Columbia University in the City of New York The San Miguel Writers' Conference & Literary Festival, The Martha's Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing, The University of Cyprus & The New School
2026 Workshop information
This workshop will begin with a discussion of your existing body of work. A multi-genre workshop, encompassing fiction, poetry, and nonfiction of all kinds, we will work to refine—and expand your sense of what is possible within—your current writing projects. This workshop is open to all experience levels, ranging from those who have just embarked on a poetry or prose manuscript to published writers. Projects of all scopes, from short stories and essays to full length books - are also welcome. This workshop will offer an opportunity to learn from an experienced instructor as well as colleagues whose work will challenge, delights and surprise you. We will also spend some time broadening our horizons. After all, every writer has a repertoire of literary forms in which they are comfortable writing. Our goal for the second part of the class will be to expand that repertoire of forms and techniques, offering tools that can be implemented in both short and long form writing projects. We will examine types of innovative writing that are seldom taught in creative writing classes, such as erasure, the prose poem, flash fiction, and "found forms" (like footnote poems, glossary poems, and other templates that are not germane to poetry). In addition to in-class writing exercises, and detailed discussions of new drafts, we will examine work by contemporary innovative writers (Jenny Boully, Kristy Bowen, Simone Muench, Yedda Morrison, and Ronald Johnson). These brief readings and sample texts will be provided in class. This segment of the workshop offers an opportunity to experiment, learn about new forms of writing, and see oneself as part of a community of working writers. We will also discuss the steps one takes to build an audience for a book prior to publication, strategies for effective pitches to publishers, and standard submissions procedures within the industry, in addition to offering personally tailored journal and publisher recommendations.