On Saturday morning, all weekend attendees are invited to gather for breakfast before the orientation. It turned out to be a great time to meet my fellow classmates and find out what had brought others to the workshop. The age range was from 20's on up; and people had come from all over the USA (and even Europe!) to attend.

During orientation, I learned a bit more about the history of the workshop. This was the 15th summer it was offered. In its history, enough Pulitzer Prize-winning authors have walked through its doors to make up a football team.

I'm not quite sure how the "Focus on Photos" workshop that I selected came to be included in a writing festival, but I was glad it was! Michael Lemberger was my instructor, and he's had an award-winning career in photography; primarily newspaper photography. He was a great instructor, and obviously enjoyed his students as much as we enjoyed him. He and his wife (also teaching at the Festival) graciously gave up their Saturday evening to take us for an evening walk through campus and along the river so we could do some night photography.

Housing is available to participants on campus at the dormitory; some of these accomodations even offer full room and board. There is also a hotel on campus, called the Iowa House Hotel, where participants can stay, as well other hotels in Iowa City.

Class size is limited to twelve participants, which enables students time to spend one on one with their instructor. Depending on your course, you will spend at least 8 hours of the weekend in class, as well as possibly having assignments to complete outside of class.

In case anyone is interested, they do offer a travel writing workshop; this year I believe it was a week-long workshop.