Sophfronia Scott

Alma College MFA Winter 2026 Residency, Alma, MI
2026-01-08 - 2026-01-17 | NY
As director of Alma’s MFA program, Sophfronia is pleased to announce its winter 2026 residency. Residency is the heart of the MFA experience. Students, faculty, visiting writers, and guest speakers from the publishing industry come together to form a diverse and dynamic artistic community teeming with the energy of a shared commitment to writing. Visiting writers will join the residency with craft talks, informal talks for students and public readings in the evening.

Contemplation Talk, Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, New Haven, CT
2026-01-27 16:00 - 17:30 (America/New_York) | Berkeley Divinity School at Yale
The Color of Contemplation with Sophfronia Scott

The contemplative life is essential to grasping the wholeness that may heal divides. But what if contemplation means different things and looks like a different ideal in groups of various races and cultures? Does that mean our spirituality will always separate us? Does that mean we’re reaching for a unity that will always be beyond our reach? Author and spiritual writer Sophfronia Scott joins Executive Director Brandon Nappi for an engaging discussion at Berkeley Divinity School at Yale.

In Conversation with Angela Flournoy on The Wilderness, Mark Twain House, Hartford, CT
2026-01-28 19:00 - 20:30 | Mark Twain House & Museum, 351 Farmington Avenue, Hartford, CT, United States
Bestselling and award winning author Angela Flournoy will be in discussion with Sophfronia at the Mark Twain House & Museum about Angela’s latest novel, The Wilderness.

Journal on Teaching Writing Colloquy, Online
2026-01-29 - 2026-02-01 | NY
The Wabash Center for Teaching Religion and Theology’s Journal on Teaching is modeling a change in scholarship by utilizing a collaborative peer-review process. Writers/Contributors are invited by the Wabash Center to participate in our collaborative Peer-Review process, beginning with a writing colloquy held in the winter. In the JoT Writing Colloquy, authors participate in mutual workshopping of their work, dialogue about the craft of writing, consider ways of making their potential article submissions multi-modal, and have opportunity for writing coaching beyond the workshop. We expect that Writers/Contributors who participate in the colloquy will submit a piece for publication in the journal.

Anam Cara: Thomas Merton, and Pursuing Relationships That Enlighten Our Lives, West Hartford, CT
2026-02-21 08:30 - 16:30 | NY
CCE Contemplative Enrichment Day
Saturday, February 21, 2026
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (ET)
Sophfronia Scott
Though Thomas Merton craved the solitude of a hermitage and the silence in which “God shines there and is immediately found,” his mysticism and writing life were deeply fed and influenced by special friendships that he developed both in person and through a prolific correspondence that connected him to writers and spiritual thinkers all over the world. Sophfronia will discuss how we can find and nurture similar bonds today to the great benefit of our lives and work.
This program will be offered both in-person and online via Zoom. Information on how to access the program on Zoom will be sent to participants in advance.
This program will include a morning and an afternoon session of Centering Prayer.
Offering: $75, includes lunch
Scholarships are available, please contact Mike Smoolca at cce@holyfamilyretreat.org for more information.

Association of Writers and Writing Program Conference, Baltimore, MD
2026-03-05 - 2026-03-07 | NY
The Alma College MFA in Creative Writing will be present at a booth at the conference Bookfair.

Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop, Dayton, OH
2026-03-26 - 2026-03-28 | NY
The Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop marks its 25th anniversary this year and will keep the celebration going through next spring with a keynote lineup of bestselling authors and rising comedy stars, hands-on workshops, networking — plus the opportunity to laugh, learn and be inspired.
The 2026 workshop, set for March 26-28 at the University of Dayton, will feature keynote speakers Kelly Corrigan, Ann Garvin, Sona Movsesian, Steven Rowley and John Searles — writers whose work spans memoir, fiction, humor and media. Attendees will also choose from dozens of hands-on workshops with gifted faculty, including former keynoters Annabelle Gurwitch, Katrina Kittle, Jacquelyn Mitchard, Sophfronia Scott and the writing duo of Kathy Kinney and Cindy Ratzlaff.
The Art of Memoir: The Page as Mirror
Sophfronia Scott
Joan Didion famously noted, “I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking.” That kind of writing can mean a precarious process. After all, what you’re thinking may be unsettling! And writing has been compared to opening a vein and bleeding onto the page. But the journey of self-discovery need not be so dramatic — or traumatic. In fact, it can be quite productive. Unpacking your interiority as you put words on the page may solve writing blocks, present new ideas and result in deeper and more meaningful and authentic work. We will play with a writing exercise and think about how to observe your thoughts as you write. We will also discuss what to do with what you find in the marginalia of your brain. By embracing the unknown, we may see that writing, no matter the genre, doesn’t have to be about opening a vein. It may be as simple as stepping onto a path and seeing where it takes you.

Thomas Merton Society 2026 Celebration, Sarum College, Salisbury, UK
2026-04-10 - 2026-04-12 | NY
Fri, 10 Apr 202614:00 Sun, 12 Apr 202612:45

We are pleased to announce that our 2026 Celebration will be held at Sarum College, adjoining the close of Salisbury Cathedral.
The theme for our celebration is Embracing the Present Moment – Possibilities and Challenges
Merton wrote in Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander:
In a time of drastic change one can be too preoccupied with what is ending or too obsessed with what seems to be beginning. In either case one loses touch with the present and with its obscure but dynamic possibilities. What really matters is openness, readiness, attention, courage to face risk. You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith, and hope. In such an event, courage is the authentic form taken by love.
Speakers include (in alphabetical order):
Malcolm Cash – Provisional title: Lessons from Thomas Merton & Malcolm X for the Racial Possibilities and Challenges in America.
Vaughn J. Fayle – Provisional title: Thomas Merton and the forgotten Africa
Gary Hall – Provisional title: Seeing ‘the world that remakes itself without consulting us’: the bystander as teacher of attention.
Michael W Higgins – Provisional title: Thomas Merton & John Moriarty: poetic visionaries of unity.
Dan Horan – Provisional title: ‘The Power of Hope Beyond our Control: Insights from Merton’s The New Man for the Present Moment.’
Paul Pearson – Provisional title: This Day Will Not Come Again: Living in the Present Moment with Thomas Merton.
Paul Pynkoski – Provisional title: Creation, Incarnation, and Resistance in “The Night Spirit and the Dawn Air.”
Sophfronia Scott – Provisional title: As I Write This Letter…: Merton’s Model of Self Care Through Communication.
BOOKING DETAILS – See below. Please book early to avoid disappointment.
NOTE: Bookings will happen DIRECTLY WITH SARUM COLLEGE.
Contact details for booking are as follows:
Email: ggifford@sarum.ac.uk
Phone: (0044) 01722 424800
Ref: MERTON CELEBRATION APRIL 2026
Other links:
https://www.sarum.ac.uk/contact/
https://www.sarum.ac.uk/
*The Celebration is full board (breakfast, lunch, evening meal and refreshments) * Various accommodation options, including twin, double and single * Accessible lift * Daily rates
COSTS – For 2 nights, full board, en-suite: £255.30. Because delegates present with different requests (e.g. double, twin, single, etc), you can arrange with Sarum your preferred option. “Each room booking includes all meals and refreshments. It will be possible to add extra nights before or after the Celebration. This will incur the usual extra costs.

The Sacred Art of Writing Residency, Western Theological Seminary, Holland, MI
2026-04-29 - 2026-04-30 | NY
Purpose: This Doctor of Ministry track will invite both established and emerging writers in multiple genres and contexts (those in traditional ministry and those whose work and writing moves them into broader arenas of service) to think deeply, theologically, and artfully about their work. As people whose very life arrives from the Word, Christians ought to be those with the deepest reverence for language. Yet, too often our writing is stilted, banal, cliched, moralistic and bereft of the beauty and care our craft requires. If we are dealing with holy work simultaneously immersed in gritty humanity and divine transcendence, then our writing ought to carry a haunting lilt while piercing the heart and the mind. The Sacred Art of Writing aims to walk with students into this joyful, sacred calling.
Sophfronia will be a guest lecturer at this residency.

Chautauqua Catholic Community Seminar, Chautauqua, NY
2026-07-10 12:45 - 14:00 | NY

Wabash Creative Writing Roundtable, The Inn at Willow Grove, Orange, VA
2026-07-19 - 2026-07-24 | NY

Alma College Summer 2026 Residency, Alma, MI
2026-08-06 - 2026-08-15 | NY
As director of Alma’s MFA program, Sophfronia is pleased to announce its summer 2026 residency. Residency is the heart of the MFA experience. Students, faculty, visiting writers, and guest speakers from the publishing industry come together to form a diverse and dynamic artistic community teeming with the energy of a shared commitment to writing. Visiting writers will join the residency with craft talks, informal talks for students and public readings in the evening.

Thomas Merton Celtic Spirituality Pilgrimage, Iona, Scotland
2026-09-11 - 2026-09-20 | NY
You are invited to travel to the Isle of Iona to immerse yourself in a conversation between Thomas Merton, Celtic spirituality, and the Imagination; to pay attention to the ways these wisdom voices invite us to grow more fully into living with greater mercy, courage and action toward all people and ourselves.
Download a brochure for more information.

A Circle of Quiet, Madeleine L'Engle Writing Retreat, DeWitt, MI
2026-10-02 - 2026-10-04 | NY
A retreat co-led by Sarah Arthur and Sophfronia Scott at St. Francis Retreat Center in DeWitt, Michigan.
What to expect:

A lovely mix of large group plenaries, smaller cohorts, and optional morning/evening prayer, interspersed with creativity prompts and long stretches of solo writing for an enriching and generative experience.

Come with a project you’re already working on, or see where our curated writing prompts take you!

L’Engle Writing Retreats are open to anyone in any stage of their writing journey.

As a bonus, all registrants will receive links to the recorded sessions afterwards along with access to all digital materials (handouts, prompts, etc.). So even if you can’t attend in real time, you’ll have the chance to enjoy your own retreat later.

Thomas Merton Lecture in Spirituality, Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, IN
2026-11-10 19:00 - 20:00 | NY
Sophfronia will be on campus to deliver the lecture on the evening of November 10, 2026.

Alma MFA Winter 2027 Residency, Venice, Italy
2027-01-06 - 2027-01-16 | NY
