Laura Sweeney, MS/MPA/MFA, facilitates Writers for Life in Iowa and Illinois. She represented the Iowa Arts Council at the First International Teaching Artist's Conference in Oslo, Norway. Her poems and prose appear in sixty plus journals and ten anthologies in the States, Canada, Britain, and China. Her recent awards include a scholarship to the Sewanee Writer's Conference.  In 2021, she received an Editor's Prize in Flash Discourse from Open: Journal of Arts & Letters; Poetry Society of Michigan's Barbara Sykes Memorial Humor Award; and two of her poems appear in the anthology Impact: Personal Portraits of Activism, an Indie Book Awards finalist.  She is a PhD candidate, English/Creative Writing, at Illinois State University. 

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOPS/SEMINARS/RETREATS

  • § C.D. Wright Women Writers Conference. Virtual Edition. 2020.
  • § The Examined Life Conference. Virtual Edition. 2020.
  • § Nimrod Conference for Readers and Writers. Virtual Edition. 2020.
  • § Small Steps in Uncertain Times. The HerStories Project. Virtual Edition. 2020.
  • § Kentucky Women Writers Conference. Virtual Edition. Erin Hosier. 2020.
  • § Kentucky Christian Writers Conference. Virtual Edition. Hallee Bridgeman; Bob Hostetler. 2020.
  • § Missouri State Teachers Association Creative Retreat at Bunker Hill. Ibtisam Barakat. 2019.
  • § Sundress Academy for The Arts, Summer Writing Retreat. Emori DiGiorgio. 2019.
  • § The David R. Collins Writers Conference. St. Ambrose University. Lyz Lenz; Amy Hassinger. 2018.
  • § Faith & Writing Workshop. Concordia Seminary. Travis Scholl. 2018.
  • § Writers in Common. Southern Illinois University. Allison Joseph; Halina Duraj. 2018.
  • § Water-Stone Review Summer Writing Workshop. Hamline University. Rebecca Lindenberg. 2016.
  • § How Writers Write Poetry. University of Iowa International Writing Program. 2015.
  • § Creative Writing Seminar for Helping Professionals. U of Iowa School of Social Work. Ellen Szabo. 2013.
  • § St. Olaf Conference on Worship, Theology, & Arts. Christian Wiman. 2012.
  • § Introduction to Poetry/Biblio Therapy: Theory and Practice. Geri Chavis, LP, CPT. 2012.
  • § Writing the Hard Stuff. Iowa Summer Writing Festival, University of Iowa. Mary Kay Shanley. 2011.
  • § The Essay Goes Into Combat. Iowa Summer Writing Festival, University of Iowa. Patricia Foster. 2010.

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