National Spiritual Writing Conference at Scarritt-Bennett Center, Nashville, September 7-9, 2007

NASHVILLE, TN: The 2nd Annual Path & Pen Writing Conference is scheduled for September 7-9, 2007 at Scarritt-Bennett Center in Nashville, TN. This inspiring conference brings writers and would-be writers together to explore writing as a spiritual practice, and is a hands-on encounter with various forms of spiritually oriented writing, including memoir, poetry, liturgy, inspirational writing, and creative nonfiction.

The weekend begins Friday and ends Sunday and consists of a variety of intimate workshops led by award-winning facilitators, as well as both an Open Mike and a Songwriters Roundtable, featuring some of Nashville’s most creative lyricists on Saturday evening.

A partial list of workshops includes: Symbol and Spirit; Praying in Color; Tools for
Sacred Writing; Writing Spiritual Memoir; Writing Psalms from the Four Worlds: Body, Heart, Mind, and Soul.

The Nashville Path & Pen Writers Conference is co-sponsored by the Scarritt–Bennett Center and the One River Foundation. Scarritt-Bennett Center is a conference, retreat, and education center committed to empowerment through cross-cultural understanding, education, creativity and spiritual renewal. The One River Foundation promotes peace, justice, and personal awakening through inter-spiritual study, dialogue, and contemplative practice.

Cost: $160 for the weekend; rooms and meals are available onsite. For more information and to download a registration form, visit http://www.scarrittbennett.org/ or contact Kim Johnson at 1.866.420.5486 or kjohnson@scarrittbennett.org


Facilitators:

Nearly fifteen years in the book publishing industry have provided SHERI SWANSON with a wide breadth of experience. As a sales representative, her clients ranged from independent book and gift stores, to national chain store and distributor buyers. For five years, her dual roles at Publishers Weekly, as Southern Sales Manager and Religion Marketing Manager allowed her to nurture publisher relationships and develop an inside understanding of the business of religion publishing. Since leaving PW, she has built her own company, inkplot, into a source for book doctoring and reviewing, copy writing, and publishing industry consulting.

STARSHIELD LORTIE has been a student of Native American Shamanic and Toltec traditions for over 8 years. She brings a perspective of heart and truth to her work creating the space for the manifestation of her heart’s deepest desires. Her writing practice has become the road for these desires to travel. Expanding through her personal writing practice, StarShield created Writing Medicine as a way to share her journey and promote the utilization of writing as a spiritual tool. Writing Medicine includes writing workshops, a monthly writer’s group, individual coaching and more; all designed as a way to open a dialogue and remember the relationship with self that has always been there. Her first book, a collection of sacred poetry titled Voices in My Heart, is due out in September 2007.

SYBIL MACBETH is a mathematics instructor, a dancer, and a doodler. She has an M.S. in Mathematics from the College of William and Mary and was on the faculty of Tidewater Community College in Virginia Beach until 2004. Her 2007 book Praying in Color: Drawing a New Path to God introduces a prayer practice that is both meditative, active, and playful. Praying in Color is both process and product, conceived when Sybil could find no words for her prayers and picked up pen and colored markers. She began to draw shapes, writing names in them and adding lines, squiggles, dots, doodles, and color. Each mark of the pen and each stroke of color was a wordless act of hospitality – a nonverbal way to communicate with God, and the product is a prayer drawing or icon.

A former spokesperson for Miss Black USA, Inc. SHELLIE R. WARREN is a full-time writer and speaker, published in over three dozen publications including Honey Magazine, Upscale Magazine, CCM, b-gyrl.com, DOE Network and NV Magazine. Warren, who was named Miss Woman of Color 2002- 2003, is also a spoken word artist and is featured on b-gyrl.com’s compilation, The Lyristcess Lounge and Gotee-recording artist, GRITS Dichotomy A and B.

RAMI SHAPIRO is an award-winning poet and essayist, whose liturgical writings are used in prayer services throughout North America. He has written over a dozen works of poetry, liturgy, short story and nonfiction. Rami are an ordained rabbi, and hold a doctoral degree in religious studies. A congregational rabbi for 20 years, Rabbi Shapiro currently directs the One River Foundation, a not-for-profit educational center for inter-spiritual study and contemplative inquiry. His most recent books are Open Secrets, Hasidic Tales Annotated and Explained, The Hebrew Prophets Annotated and Explained, The Divine Feminine, Annotated and Explained, and The SacredArt of Lovingkindness.

The Rev. JASON SHELTON has been director of music at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville since 1998. He is a published composer, an active conductor and choral clinician, and an advocate for using music as a means of creating community in multi-faith, multi-cultural environments. Formerly a Franciscan brother, Jason received an MDiv at Vanderbilt Divinity School in 2003 and was ordained to the Unitarian Universalist ministry in 2004.

CONSTANCE BOVIER is a writer, speaker, spiritual director and retreat leader in the Houston area. Her publications include two inspirational books that build bridges between the recovery community and Christianity – More God and From the Crucible – as well as short fiction, essays and numerous articles in general interest, literary, inspirational and aviation industry periodicals. Her creativity is currently challenged through writing articles and PR in support of two non-profit organizations. She serves on the board and faculty of a regional spiritual director training program, conducts classes and retreats on a variety of spiritual topics, studies and counsels others in dreams and dream work and continually seeks new opportunities to encourage the spiritual growth of others.

ROBBIE CLIFTON PINTER is professor of English at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. She enjoys teaching writing at Belmont, and in the larger community. In both, she believes that writing is a way to hear the voice of the soul. She practices this belief through her classes and workshops, which primarily focus on all kinds of life writing (the journal, autobiography, and memoir), writing for social change, faith-based writing, environmental writing, and writing non-fiction prose. She publishes in a variety of small journals, and in 2004 her memoir about open adoption, For This Child I Prayed, was published.

To download Path and Pen brochure CLICK on the following web address:
http://www.scarrittbennett.org/programs/images/pp_web/PathPen07_broch_r2.pdf

To download Path and Pen registration form CLICK on the following web address:
http://www.scarrittbennett.org/programs/images/pp_web/Path&Pen07_regis.pdf