MFA Program in Creative Writing & Environment’s 2019 writing retreat

Lakeside Lab, a 147-acre regents universities research and teaching field station on Lake Okoboji in northwest Iowa, hosted the English Department’s MFA Program in Creative Writing & Environment October 18-20.  The expedition was intended as the environmental field trip that is part of the introductory MFA course for the first-year cohort, English 550: Craft & Professional Practice.  The Lakeside Lab directors graciously extended the offer to the rest of the program.  Twenty-two students from all three cohorts, one alum, and the CWE co-coordinators, Kenny Cook and Charissa Menefee, made the trip to Lake Okoboji.  During the weekend, they toured the research facility, wrote, hiked, kayaked, canoed, swam, participated in an open mic, and shared campfire stories under a spooky October moon.  The CWE program plans to make the trek to Lakeside Lab again next year for another environmental writing retreat.