Here’s the workshop description: Explore how an important recipe can lead you into your personal history and identity. This class is open to anyone with an interest in food or writing — no previous experience in journalism or food-writing is required. Come with a recipe (original recipe card or cookbook preferred), a favorite pen and a notebook.  A short break will be provided for lunch – food available for purchase from Muse or you may bring a lunch. $50, members receive a 10% discount. Space is limited; registration required.

Register here.

The post Bring a recipe and write with me! appeared first on Julia O'Malley.

All you need is a recipe.

Kim will guide us as we use personally meaningful recipes as prompts to craft short food memoir essays with potential for publication. We will also consider salmon, a food that is deeply evocative for Alaskans, and its connection to family, community and place.

Writers will work alongside chef and food writer Kirsten Dixon aboard The Widgeon II, Tutka Bay Lodge’s re-purposed crabbing boat turned cooking school.

Aside from writing, participants will enjoy cooking demonstrations, foraging and a seafood-related Kachemak Bay boat tour. Hiking and yoga optional.

About Kim:

Kim Severson is a New York Times domestic correspondent covering food trends and news across the United States. She was previously the New York Times Atlanta bureau chief and, before that, a staff writer for the Dining section of The Times. Since she arrived at the Times in 2004, she has pushed the food beat in interesting directions and onto Page One. She previously wrote about cooking and the culture of food for the San Francisco Chronicle, after a seven-year stint as an editor and reporter at the Anchorage Daily News in Alaska.

Ms. Severson has won several regional and national awards for news and feature writing, including the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism for her work on childhood obesity in 2002 and four James Beard awards for food writing.

She has written four books, “The Trans Fat Solution,” “The New Alaska Cookbook,” a memoir called “Spoon Fed: How Eight Cooks Saved My Life,” and, in 2012, “Cook Fight!” a collaborative cookbook with fellow New York Times food writer Julia Moskin.

About Tutka Bay Lodge: 

One of National Geographic’s Unique Lodges of the World, Tutka Bay Lodge is located at the end of a 7-mile fjord off the southwest coast of Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula near the seaside community of Homer.

The main lodge and six guest cabins are set on a piece of remote coastline and connected by a wooden boardwalk raised above the beach and ocean. Guests feel completely immersed in the Alaska wilderness, yet they have all the comforts of home around them and five-star service in addition to the thrilling soft adventures of Alaska (fishing, kayaking, hiking, bear viewing and more). Tutka Bay Lodge is owned by Within the Wild Adventure Company, run in partnership by Carl and Kirsten Dixon and their daughters, Carly Potgieter and Mandy Dixon.

Details:

Workshop dates are July 21-23. Cost for food, lodging and instruction is $875 and includes water taxi transportation to and from Homer.

Rooms are double-occupancy. Payment in full is required at time of registration and is refundable up to 30 days prior. To reserve a spot or ask questions, email me.

There are two subsidized spots available for enrolled, degree-seeking university students. To apply for one of these, please send an email with a bio, a writing sample and a paragraph that describes your recipe and why it is meaningful to you by May 15.

The post Write with NYT’s Kim Severson at Tutka Bay Lodge this summer! appeared first on Julia O'Malley.

It will be held at the glorious Yukon Island Retreat Center a short boat ride out of Homer.

(Here is a slideshow from a retreat held there last year.)

Here is the glassy water from the beach:

The creative writing process is informed by other creative pursuits. To that end, this weekend will include beach walks, nature walks and optional mini-sessions on pie-baking and naturalist watercolor-painting with Tommy O’Malley, my uncle, a wilderness guide, longtime Alaska artist and, most importantly, an international pie-baking champion. There’s a sample of his work down there. (Neri helped put the hole in the crust.)

(Here’s one of my most popular posts: Step-by-step with Uncle Tommy: Best Pie Crust Ever)

The workshop will be held July 22-24.

The cost, which includes instruction, two nights lodging, meals, supplies and water taxi from Homer is $525 per person. Alaska Press Club members receive a $25 discount.

Space is limited to eight people. To reserve a spot, email me.

The post Write with me this summer on Yukon Island appeared first on Julia O'Malley.

I’m hosting a two-day storytelling retreat this summer in Homer on beautiful Yukon Island, July 24 -26. This retreat is an intimate, no-homework, no-pressure opportunity to generate material and improve storytelling and listening skills in a positive environment. The workshop, especially suited for people who write for their jobs, will center on personal storytelling while relying on techniques that have broad applications in writing and reporting work. You will leave with tools that help you write more fluidly, listen more effectively and tap into your innate ability to organize and tell interesting stories that connect with readers.

There are 10 workshop slots available.  The cost for two days writing on the island is $425, which includes lodging and food. Transportation by water taxi is an additional $65. I can offer up to five discounted slots for working, early-career journalists. Alaska Press Club members get $25 off.

Please email me by May 15 if you’re interested in participating: juliaeomalley@gmail.com. You must pay in full to reserve your slot (or make other arrangements). Paypal preferred. First come, first served. I promise you’ll have a great time.

The post Write with me in beautiful Homer, AK! appeared first on Julia O'Malley.