Sophfronia Scott

A Circle of Quiet, the Madeleine L'Engle Writing Retreat, Litchfield, CT
2022-09-30 - 2022-10-01
Join us this fall in New England for two full days of writing, reflection, and community.
We’re finally gathering in person! We can’t wait to see you Friday and Saturday, Sept 30 and Oct 1, at Wisdom House in Litchfield CT near Madeleine’s beloved farmhouse, Crosswicks.
Program Registration includes two full days (9 AM to 5 PM) of thoughtful content, facilitated cohorts, solo writing time, and refreshments, all at the gorgeous retreat center buildings and grounds.* Depending on your lodging choices, your time on location can stretch to three or even four days–a true retreat!
Come with your own writing projects or inspire yourself with our curated prompts inspired by Madeleine’s first Crosswicks Journal, A Circle of Quiet.
Details: https://lenglewritingretreats.com/?page_id=126

The Write of Your Life Writers' Retreat, Veneto, Italy
2022-09-18 - 2022-09-24
Join Sophfronia in the idyllic countryside of Italy for ‘The Write of Your Life’ – A one week Writers Retreat. Our home will be at the luxurious Hotel Villa Margherita in Mira.
UPDATE FROM JANET SIMMONDS:
I’m pleased to say we are all systems go for the Writer’s Retreat in Italy next September. Sophfronia and I have been delighted by the response we’ve had from our writer friends and colleagues.
Here are the important pieces of information that you need to know:
Dates of trip: 18-24 September, 2022
Program Director: Sophfronia Scott
Full program here: https://wp.me/p97CFs-ee

The cost of the retreat is as follows:

US $ 4500 / Euros € 3950 – Double room for single use (one person)
US $ 4800 / Euros € 4300 – Junior Suite per person (two people sharing)
US $ 3900 / Euros € 3500 – Smaller Twin room per person (two people sharing)

To reserve your place a deposit is required of US $ 1500. You can make the payment by clicking on the following ‘Pay Pal’ link – paypal.me/GrandTouristLtd
Please complete the attached booking form and return it to us – a scanned copy is fine.

Don’t hesitate to let me or Sophfronia know if you have any questions, we’d be delighted to help.

Always remembering the poetic and magical words of Lord Byron,

‘But words are things,
And a small drop of ink,
Falling, like dew,
Upon a thought
Produces that which makes thousands,
Perhaps millions, think’

Feel free to reach out to us via zoom, e-mail, text or even the old fashioned telephone, if you have any questions at all.
Once you are signed up we will invite you to join our private ‘Alumni Facebook Page’ where we share ideas, thoughts, book recommendations etc

Kindest regards

Janet Simmonds
janet@grand-tourist.com
www.grand-tourist.com
View the full brochure at this link.

Merton on Thursday, Online Talk
2022-09-01 14:00 - 15:30 (America/New_York)
This is an online presentation of the talk originally planned for the UK Merton conference scheduled for April 2022 that was cancelled.
Go to https://www.thomasmertonsociety.org.uk/
for Zoom link details.
In his journal entry of April 15, 1965, Thomas Merton asks the question: ‘Where is our hope?’ He argues that if our hope is in a temporal and secular humanism of technological and political progress, we will be participating in the stupidity and barbarism of the despoiling of God’s creation.
For Merton, ‘our hope must be in God.’ For us in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, this answer can all too easily be equated with Christian optimism.
But for the many people who live precarious lives, not even knowing where the next meal will come from, this question is meaningless – There is no hope in this world. The very structures and support that we in the affluent West take for granted are absent. The only hope can be in heaven, in the riches of the world to come, further embedding the view that they are never for the here and now.
If, for Merton, ‘the real root of Christian hope is the presence of the Risen Lord among us’ (Merton’s circular letter of Lent, 1967), how might this be worked out in our lives, in our communities, in our world?
Sophfronia Scott. will deliver a workshop on Bearing Witness to Hope: Merton’s Reach for Simplicity

Breaking the Academic Mold Workshop, Collegeville Institute, Collegeville, MN
2022-07-25 - 2022-07-31
Applications for this jointly sponsored Wabash Center/Collegeville Institute workshop are closed.
This writing workshop is for scholars of religion and theology who have written exclusively or primarily in the scholarly genre for other scholars of religion but long to share their knowledge or personal experience in a more creative way with a wider audience.
Many scholars yearn to speak to a broader audience through creative nonfiction, blogs, op-eds, and memoir. Many scholars want to write with more clarity and imagination. Participants in this workshop will develop their writing voice in service to topics they care about, and for which they have passion and curiosity. A combination of plenary, small group and individual instruction, our week together will help scholars free the creative spirit, structure their writing more effectively, and speak on the page in a truer, more engaging voice. Our focus will be on releasing the professors’ voice to the public square, giving permission to be imaginative, and finding new ways of being inspired.

MFA Nation, Featured Panel, Online, 1455 Summer Literary Festival
2022-07-15 12:00 - 13:00
Over the last fifty years or so, the Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing has become one of the important ways that writers study the craft of writing, gain entry to the literary world, and connect with the world of literary agents, book publishers, and magazine editors. Join us in looking at current trends, new developments and future challenges in the world of the MFA. This session is for writers considering applying to MFA programs and also for writers looking for alternatives to the MFA but all are welcome!

REGISTER FREE at 1455litarts.org/summerfest.

Chautauqua Institution Summer Lecture, Chautauqua, NY
2022-07-07 14:00 - 15:30
Sophfronia’s reflections on Thomas Merton’s wisdom and personal journals, as related in her book, The Seeker and the Monk: Everyday Conversations with Thomas Merton, will inform her lecture on the theme, “Reconnecting with the Natural World.”

Alma College MFA in Creative Writing Summer Residency, Alma, MI
2022-06-16 - 2022-06-26
As director of Alma’s MFA program, Sophfronia is pleased to announce its summer 2022 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 Deborah Copaken, Matthew Dickman, and S. Kirk Walsh will join the residency with craft talks, informal talks for students and public readings in the evening.

Madeleine Mornings, Online Writers' Retreat
2022-05-07 10:00 - 14:00, 2022-01-29 10:00 - 14:00, 2021-10-16 10:00 - 14:00
Inspired by the late Madeleine L’Engle (A Wrinkle in Time), these virtual mini-retreats, co-hosted by Sarah Arthur and Sophfronia Scott, are designed to spark insight, foster connections, deepen your reading, and lend structure to your writing and spiritual life.

The Thomas Merton Society of Great Britain & Ireland Conference, Oakham School, Rutland, England
2022-04-07 - 2022-04-09
Oakham Conference 2022
on the theme ‘Where is Our Hope?’
Our Residential Conference will be held at Oakham School from Thu 7th April to Sat 9th April 2022.
In his journal entry of April 15, 1965, Thomas Merton asks the question: ‘Where is our hope?’ He argues that if our hope is in a temporal and secular humanism of technological and political progress, we will be participating in the stupidity and barbarism of the despoiling of God’s creation.
For Merton, ‘our hope must be in God.’ For us in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, this answer can all too easily be equated with Christian optimism.
But for the many people who live precarious lives, not even knowing where the next meal will come from, this question is meaningless – There is no hope in this world. The very structures and support that we in the affluent West take for granted are absent. The only hope can be in heaven, in the riches of the world to come, further embedding the view that they are never for the here and now.
If, for Merton, ‘the real root of Christian hope is the presence of the Risen Lord among us’ (Merton’s circular letter of Lent, 1967), how might this be worked out in our lives, in our communities, in our world?
Sophfronia Scott. will deliver a workshop on Bearing Witness to Hope: Merton’s Reach for Simplicity

16TH Annual Thomas Merton Black History Month Lecture, Bellarmine University, Louisville, KY
2022-02-22 19:00 - 20:00
Sophfronia Scott will deliver a lecture, TITLE TBD, at this annual event hosted by the Merton Center.
The event is free and open to the public.

Eat and Read at Melba's, New Orleans, LA
2022-01-21 13:00 - 14:00
Sophfronia Scott will sign copies of The Seeker and the Monk: Everyday Conversations with Thomas Merton, as part of a communal literacy awareness project. The books will be given away to community members.

Alma College MFA in Creative Writing Winter Residency, Roscommon, MI
2021-12-27 - 2022-01-06
As director of Alma’s MFA program, Sophfronia is pleased to announce its winter 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.
We’ll convene for our winter residencies at the Ralph A. MacMullan Conference Center on the shore of Higgins Lake in Michigan’s gorgeous northern woods. The center, known for its modern facilities with rustic décor, has a legacy of conservation education. We’ll be able to appreciate Michigan’s abundant natural resources and sparkling winters with activities such as ice fishing, sledding, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and downhill skiing. Guests will have access to miles and miles of groomed cross-country ski trails located across the main road of the facility.

Seeking Everyday Faith with Thomas Merton, St. Bart's Church, New York, NY
2021-11-14 10:00 - 12:00
Seeking Everyday Faith with Thomas Merton

Author Sophfronia Scott shares her deep dive into the private journals of the famous Trappist monk, and the connection she found in his pages that led to her book The Seeker and the Monk: Everyday Conversations with Thomas Merton. As a Black woman who is not Catholic, Scott both learns from and pushes back against Merton, holding spirited, and intimate conversations on race, ambition, faith, activism, nature, prayer, friendship, and love.
Sophfronia Scott is a Harvard-educated novelist, essayist, and leading contemplative thinker whose work has appeared in numerous publications. She has received a 2020 Artist Fellowship Grant from the Connecticut Office of the Arts as well as the 2021 Thomas Merton Award from the International Thomas Merton Society.
Note: If this event is in person, it will also be livestreamed.

Second Tuesdays Writers Discussion Group, Online
2021-11-09 20:00 - 21:00
Sophfronia Scott will be the featured author for November discussing a writing topic for this group hosted by Brian Allain. Details TBD. Registration at this link.

Writing For Your Life Conference, Online
2021-11-08 - 2021-11-12
Sophfronia Scott will present an informational session on the Alma College MFA in Creative Writing graduate program. Exact date and time TBD.

Seeking Hope with Thomas Merton, River's Edge and Centering Space, Cleveland, Ohio
2021-11-06 13:00 - 14:30
Details TBD

Seeking Everyday Faith with Thomas Merton, Christ Church Greenwich, Greenwich, CT
2021-10-31 11:00 - 12:00
Seeking Everyday Faith with Thomas Merton

In conversation with Deborah Goodrich Royce, author Sophfronia Scott shares her deep dive into the private journals of the famous Trappist monk, and the connection she found in his pages that led to her new book The Seeker and the Monk: Everyday Conversations with Thomas Merton. As a Black woman who is not Catholic, Scott both learns from and pushes back against Merton, holding spirited, and intimate conversations on race, ambition, faith, activism, nature, prayer, friendship, and love.
Sophfronia Scott is a Harvard-educated novelist, essayist, and leading contemplative thinker whose work has appeared in numerous publications and received a 2020 Artist Fellowship Grant from the Connecticut Office of the Arts as well as the 2021 Thomas Merton Award from the International Thomas Merton Society.

The Humanity of Thomas Merton - Retreat Day, Holy Family Passionist Retreat Center, West Hartford, CT
2021-10-23 09:00 - 16:30
The Humanity of Thomas Merton

Contemplative Enrichment Day
Saturday, October 23, 2021
9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (ET)
Sophfronia Scott, M.F.A.
Though Thomas Merton lived as a contemplative monk studying, writing, and praying, he remained vulnerable in his humanity, making him most accessible to us. Seen through the lens of grace, Merton’s teaching can help us learn to reach for God through our imperfections. During our time together, we will focus on developing a relationship with Merton’s spirituality that might deepen our own.
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.
Offering: $65 (includes lunch)
Register at this link.

Alma MFA Open House featuring David Lynn, Alma College, Alma, MI
2021-10-07 19:00 - 20:00
A reading by fiction writer and Kenyon Review editor emeritus David Lynn. Informational session on applying for the Alma College MFA in Creative Writing.
UPDATE: I’m reading at this event too! I’ll read from The Seeker and the Monk. More details soon.

Progressive Christian Voices: Today and Tomorrow - Webinar
2021-10-06 19:00 - 20:30
A webinar hosted by Brian Allain and intended to deal with “big questions.” The session will feature three Broadleaf Books authors addressing questions such as:

Please tell us briefly about your background and a bit about your most recent book

What have you been reading lately that has most impacted you?

What do you believe are currently the most pressing issues that progressive Christians should address?

In what ways would you suggest that progressive Christians take action to address these needs?

There seems to be an increasingly wide gap between progressive and conservative Christians in the United States. Does that matter? Should we do anything about it?

Looking forward, what plans can you speak about in terms of where your own work is headed? (future books, activism, etc.)

Ladyparts-A Memoir: Deborah Copaken in Conversation with Sophfronia Scott
2021-09-29 19:00 - 20:00
Twenty years after her iconic memoir Shutterbabe, Deborah Copaken is at her darkly comedic nadir: battered, broke, divorcing, dissected, and dying—literally—on sexism’s battlefield as she scoops up what she believes to be her internal organs into a glass container before heading off to the hospital . . . in an UberPool.
Ladyparts is her irreverent inventory of both the female body and the body politic of womanhood in America, the story of one woman brought to her knees by the one-two-twelve punch of divorce, solo motherhood, healthcare Frogger, unaffordable childcare, shady landlords, her father’s death, college tuitions, sexual harassment, corporate indifference, ageism, sexism, and plain old bad luck. Plus seven serious illnesses, one atop the other, which provide the book’s narrative skeleton: vagina, uterus, breast, heart, cervix, brain, and lungs. She bounces back from each bum body part, finds workarounds for every setback—she transforms her home into a commune to pay rent; sells her soul for health insurance; turns FBI informant when her sexual harasser is nominated to the White House—but in her slippery struggle to survive a steep plunge off the middle-class ladder, she is suddenly awoken to what it means to have no safety net.
Side-splittingly funny one minute, a freak horror show the next, quintessentially American, Ladyparts is an era-defining memoir for our time.
Copaken will be in conversation with author (and college classmate) Sophfronia Scott.
FREE program, but donations are gratefully accepted. REGISTER HERE.
Signed copies of Ladyparts are available for purchase through the Mark Twain Store; proceeds benefit The Mark Twain House & Museum. Books will be shipped after the event. We regret that we are NOT able to ship books outside the United States as it is cost-prohibitive to do so.
———————————-
Deborah Copaken is the New York Times bestselling author of several books, including Shutterbabe, The Red Book, and Between Here and April. A contributing writer at The Atlantic, she was also a TV writer on Emily in Paris, a performer (The Moth, etc.), and an Emmy Award–winning news producer and photojournalist. Her photographs have appeared in Time, Newsweek, and The New York Times. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Financial Times, Observer, The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, Slate, O, the Oprah Magazine, and Paris Match, among others. Her column “When Cupid Is a Prying Journalist” was adapted for the Modern Love streaming series. She lives in Brooklyn with her family.
Sophfronia Scott is the director of the Alma College MFA in Creative Writing for the 21st Century program and the author of novels and works of nonfiction including, most recently, The Seeker and the Monk: Everyday Conversations with Thomas Merton, about which she spoke for the Twain House in May.

Tuesdays with Merton, Online Presentation
2021-09-14 20:00 - 21:30
Sophfronia Scott will be in conversation with members of the International Thomas Merton Society. Details TBD, but registration will be at link below when available.
Registration

Publishing in Color Conference, Online
2021-09-13 - 2021-09-17

Emerging Writers Workshop, Online
2021-07-30 - 2021-08-01
Collegeville Institute participants (accepted via application) attend a virtual writing workshop that will involve formal seminars, individual mentorship and goal setting, peer-to-peer work, and time for participants to develop, write, and polish their first article.
After the workshop, McGregor and Scott will continue to work online with their assigned participants to develop a series of articles and/or essays to be published in Bearings Online. This work will include direct feedback on writing, Zoom sessions, and instruction on specific writing techniques. On occasion all six writers may gather together online for instruction.

Breaking the Academic Mold - Workshop, Online
2021-07-21 - 2021-07-26
Breaking the Academic Mold
Liberating the Powerful, Personal Voice Inside You
Many scholars yearn to speak to a broader audience through creative nonfiction, blogs, op-eds, and memoir. This workshop is for academics who have written mainly for peers but long to share their knowledge or personal experience in a more innovative way with a wider audience.
Participants in this workshop will develop their writing voice in service of topics about which they care, and about which they have some expertise. A combination of seminars, workshops, and individual instruction, our week together will help you unlearn the worst academic habits, free your creative spirit, structure your work more effectively, and speak on the page in a truer, more engaging voice. Our focus will be on releasing the professors’ voice to the public square.
This inaugural jointly sponsored Wabash Center/Collegeville Institute workshop is by invitation only. Invited participants are scholars and teachers of religion and theology.
Due to COVID precautions, the workshop will meet in the virtual sphere via Zoom.
Leadership Team
Sophfronia Scott, Director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing, Alma College
Michael N. McGregor, Writing Faculty, Collegeville Institute
Dr. P. Kimberleigh Jordan, Associate Director of Educational Design, The Wabash Center

Alma College MFA in Creative Writing Summer Residency, Alma, MI
2021-06-17 - 2021-06-27
As director of Alma’s MFA program, Sophfronia is pleased to announce its first 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. U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo will kick off the residency with a craft talk for students in the afternoon and a public reading in the evening.

Deviate with Rolf Potts Podcast
2021-04-17
Sophfronia’s interview with Deviate Podcast host Rolf Potts will be recorded March 22. A link will be posted when available.

Encountering Silence Podcast
2021-04-16
Sophfronia’s interview with Encountering Silence Podcast host Cassidy Hall goes live in early April. A link will be posted when available.
