Floating Island Workshops - Upcoming Writers’ Workshop Set for Chapel Hill, NC, October 10-14

Kim Sunée’s culinary and writing workshop moves from Florida to North Carolina, Fall 2010.

Following a successful inaugural, four-day workshop of food and writing in Seaside, Florida, Kim Sunée, author of the bestselling memoir Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love, and the Search for Home and director of the Floating Island Writers’ Workshops, has set her next four-day session in Chapel Hill, NC.

Writers and readers will be invited to participate in events being scheduled for October 10-14, throughout the town of Chapel Hill, NC.

“Hot on the (Tar) heels of our successful session in Seaside, writers have requested another gathering so I chose Chapel Hill for its amazing culinary talent,” said Sunée. “I wanted to feature the incredible chefs, food authorities, and authors in the area.”

The schedule for the Floating Island Workshops, which will be finalized and announced late July, includes lunches and dinners, chats and wine tastings and panels with an amazing line-up of chefs, including Bill Smith of Crook’s Corner, Andrea Reusing of Lantern, Sara Foster, Chip Smith and Tina Vaughn of Bonne Soiree, and many more. Many have become successful cookbook authors not only for their culinary talents, but because they also are able to tell a compelling story behind the food, blending recipes with memoir. Successful authors will join in with other personalities from North Carolina’s literary and culinary circles.

The above events will be, in part, ticketed and open to the writing and reading public. There will be also, within the four days, seminars scheduled for the workshop participants.

Seminars, for the select 15, are structured for those who have already started writing about their personal experiences, as well as those who are ready to write a memoir and need help finding the heart of their story. Daily topics include using nuances of plot, character development, setting, theme, and dialogue.

“Writing is a very solitary undertaking, but these workshops help writers step outside of themselves and receive constructive feedback from other writers. The workshops also create a sense of community and reward the solitary work with the conviviality of a good meal shared at the end of the day,” said Sunée. The 15 will meet each morning for a session focused on craft, then again in the afternoon for a workshop session. Each afternoon and evening, free time is set aside for writing and cooking with guest chefs. There are also panels and receptions with authors, readers, writers and booksellers in the community.

The workshop is designed to set writers on their way with either a more cohesive and publishable manuscript or confidence to expand on a memoir in the works. The workshops conclude with information on how to find an agent, sell a book proposal, and the art of assisting with marketing and promotion.

$1200 includes 4 days of intensive writing workshops, breakfast, exclusive cooking demos and tastings. Lodging will be available at a special rate at a local boutique hotel. Other Floating Writers’ Workshop events, to be announced late July, will be offered a la carte and open to the public.

“This workshop week is a dynamic event filled with cogent, on-target information on how to refine one’s craft. Kim is open and inclusive. Her sessions are thoughtfully driven by example, reflection, and wise advice. — Sonja Lothar, Birmingham

“Kim’s memoir-writing course is fantastic. Her eye-opening assignments, lectures, and comments helped me get back on track. She read my chapters in depth and offered perfect advice and encouragement.” — Jann Huizenga, Sicily

REGISTER FOR THE CHAPEL HILL SESSIONS at www.floatingislandwritersworkshop.com or by contacting Daniel Schumacher at or at dan[at]aisle-9.net

Future locations for the traveling workshops include Sunée’s hometown of New Orleans, New York City, San Francisco, and Alaska.