News from the “Malmo Art Colony”: Three Women Talk
Nanci Olesen is a freelance writer and radio producer in Minneapolis. Last week she spent 5 days with columnist/journalist Kris Berggren and novelist/writing teacher Kathy Coskran at Kathy's cabin on Mille Lacs, near Malmo, Minnesota.
The three are friends, and
this is their second year doing a week-long retreat. The rules of
the retreat are simple: work on a writing project, all day, every
day. Each woman has a desk and a computer, and there is internet
access and phone. Each woman brings her own breakfast and lunch, and
the three trade off making dinner for each other. The last night of
their week they do a reading of their work.
Kathy is resurrecting a
novel she began 10 years ago, and polishing off twenty query letters
to send to publishers about a current novel. Kris is beginning work
on a memoir about her life as a Catholic, and writing several columns
for her job at the National Catholic Reporter. Nanci is writing
several commentaries for public radio and a few essays to submit to
magazines, as well as working on some ideas for a picture book about
Santa Lucia Day, a Swedish holiday she celebrates.
Each woman has
gone skiing every day, and each woman has done a lot of reading.
It’s a quiet and lovely place to be. Listen to an interview that
radio producer Nanci Olesen conducted with Kris and Kathy around the
dining room table last Thursday night: click on the “Related Content” tab at the foot of the column on the right.