Travel Writing and Photography Workshop in Rome, April 20-26, 2008
Scholarship available to study in the Eternal City

Instructors Amanda Castleman and Marcus Donner
Tuition: $1,200, if paid in full before March 15, 2008. Prices then rise to $1,500.
Due to the limited class size, seats in class cannot be held without full payment.
Class sizes are under 10 people. Our courses fill quickly. The Rome workshop is 75 percent full, so register today.

Learn how to capture the sights and experiences of your holidays – and share those vacation memories with the world. Travel Writing Class.com hosts a six-day travel journalism workshop in Rome, Italy, for aspiring professionals and passionate amateurs alike. From April 20-26, 2008, join acclaimed instructors Marcus Donner and Amanda Castleman, winner of a Lowell Thomas award – travel writing's ersatz Pulitzer.

Given their gentle encouragement –and truly detailed commentary – many students have launched careers; a handful even debuted in national publications like The New York Times, National Geographic Traveler and The Christian Science Monitor.

Sessions convene in the morning and late afternoon – just a few minutes' stroll from the Roman Forum, Coliseum, Trevi Fountain and a handful of national museums. A four-hour siesta allows students to rest, roam or put new skills into play - easy to do from a central classroom near metro and bus lines.

Explore the genre and pitch strategies. Evolve your redrafting and self-editing chops. Discover your authorial voice, as you work on plot, structure and pacing tips from narrative nonfiction. The course also covers digital photography and shooting for blogs, the web and travel publications. We'll even hit the cobbled streets for a "magic hour" and nighttime photo safari.

Excursions include the famous Volpetti deli, the Protestant Cemetery; Rome's candle-lit birthday bash in a Michelangelo-designed piazza; and a field assignment in Ostia Antica (the city's old port is now the most extensive collection of Roman ruins outside of Pompeii). The course kicks off with a wine and antipasti reception, then ends with a gala dinner that could feature ox-tail, brains and peas, and batter-fried artichokes. Students also enjoy a 30-minute private consultation with each instructor, among other benefits.

This city interleaves ancient, medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and modern like tiramisu ingredients. Eleanor Clark best captured the chaos, contradictions and coquetry in her 1950s travelogue classic, Rome and a Villa. "The ordinary traveler," she observed, "runs off in relief to Florence, to the single statement, the single moment of time, the charming unity of somewhat prison-like architecture, and is aware later of having retained from his whiz tour of Rome some stirring around the heart, those images, huge, often grotesque, were what he had been looking for, only it would have take so long..."

Tackle this complexity with instructors who boast 35 years of combined experience. Additionally, Amanda Castleman – an Italian American – has lived in the Eternal City several years and contributed to titles like Italy, A Love Story; Rome in Detail; Michelin Rome and Italy; AA Key to Rome; Rough Guide to Rome and Frommers Italian Phrasefinder, among other travel titles.

This workshop is a springboard for discovering Rome and its surroundings. Amanda and Marcus teach students how to capture one of the world's most legendary cities - in word, image and deed.

About the Rome workshop and scholarship
Travel Writing Class.com offers this week-long seminar for $1,200, if paid in full before March 15, 2008. Prices then rise to $1,500. Due to the limited class size, seats in class cannot be held without full payment. The tuition fee does NOT cover airfare, accommodations, ground transportation or food, except for the opening reception and closing-night dinner. Companions are welcome to join us for the meals (additional $125) and the photo workshops (additional $350).

The Susan Tifft Scholarship provides a 50% tuition discount for the winner of our essay competition.

Scholarship Assists
Budapest-based Writer
We're pleased to award the 2008 Susan Tifft Scholarship to Monika Jones, who moved to Budapest, after completing a masters at the Central European University. “I wanted to write, live abroad, and be out-of-context,” Jones explains. She now works for a variety of English-language publications and blogs, including the All Hungary Network.

Italian-American Amanda Castleman spent eight years in Europe (two in Rome). Despite her yoga-and-yogurt appearance, she won a Lowell Thomas – travel writing's ersatz Pulitzer– for a 2007 adventure tale about diving in Honduras.

She has contributed to more than two dozen books, including titles for Michelin, Frommer's, Time Out, Rough Guides and National Geographic book series, as well as the first travel writing textbook. Other credits include MSNBC, the BBC, Salon, Wired, The Guardian, The International Herald Tribune and The Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Amanda also teaches for Writers.com and the Richard Hugo House.

Marcus R. Donner has worked as the Director of Photography for daily newspapers, new media and independent films. His images have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, HBO, Cinemax, The Christian Science Monitor, Microsoft, The MacArthur Foundation, The Sundance Channel, Reuters and the Associated Press.

He's run workshops for an NPR affiliate and the Society of Professional Journalists, among others. Visual storytelling is his passion, but Marcus is equally renowned for his ability to nutshell complex concepts and technology to a lay audience.

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