2026 Writers Retreat Set for June

Saint Francis Summer Arts presents:

Writing Among The Pines
A Writer's Retreat

June 12th - 14th
Connors Family Fine Arts Center
Saint Francis University

Join our group of writers and educators for a weekend of workshops, group critiques, guided writing exercises, and the beauty of the Saint Francis campus to inspire your writing.

Workshop options:

• Character and character building
• Research Roundup for Writers
• Drawing Inspiration From Nature
• Hands-on Bookbinding And more!

No experience necessary
All skill levels welcome
All genres welcome
18+ only

Workshop fee: $300
On campus room and board available for an additional fee.
Please contact April Beiswenger [email protected] with questions or to enroll in the retreat!

Schedule of Events

(these may change)

Friday 12th

• 5-6pm - Check in at the Connors Family Fine Arts Center (CFFAC) lobby
• 6-8pm - Bookbinding workshop - CFFAC ArtGarage
• 8-9pm - Snacks and chat - CFFAC ArtGarage

Saturday 13th

• 8-10am - Breakfast
• 10-11am - Workshop set #1
• 11-12pm - Genre Specific Sessions
• 12-1:30pm - Lunch
• 1-3pm - Campus Tour - Writing in Nature
• 3-4pm - Workshops set #2
• 4-4:30pm - Techniques set #1
• 4:30-5pm - Techniques set #2
• 5-6:30pm - Dinner
• 6:30-8pm - Writing time, reading time

Sunday 14th

• 8-9:30am - Breakfast
• 9:30-11am - Small circle critiques
• 11am-1pm - Public reading and awarding of certificates

Retreat Facilitators

Brennan Thomas is a Professor of English at Saint Francis University, where she directs the university's writing center and teaches courses in research and creative writing, composition pedagogy, and Disney film studies. Her most recent scholarship is featured in the edited collections Disney's Menagerie: Essays on Animals in Disney Culture (Bloomsbury Press, 2026) and Suicide in Popular Media and Culture (Bristol University Press, 2026), as well as The International Journal of Disney Studies.

Failed death metal singer turned professor, Matthew Ussia is director of Duquesne University's First Year Writing Program in spite of the fact that he got a C- in freshman writing and was rejected from Duquesne's MA program. He is also an editor, podcaster, post-doom thereminist, softcore punk, postpunk backup singer, social media burnout, and sentient organic matter.

His first book, The Red Glass Cat, was published by Alien Buddha Press in 2021. His second book, also published by Alien Buddha Press, Saturday Night on Earth was published in 2025. His writings have appeared in Mister Rogers and Philosophy, Future Humans in Fiction and Film, North of Oxford, MadSwirl, Trailer Park Quarterly, The Chiron Review, and Pittsburgh Quarterly among others. More information can be found at www.matthewussia.com.

Lisa Beiswenger loves to learn. Last year, she attended level 1 and level 2 bookbinding courses at the prestigious American Academy of Bookbinding in Telluride, CO, and now she wants to share that knowledge with others. When she isn't making books, she's either embroidering or making pottery.

Her training includes advanced degrees in Literature, Media, and Cultural Studies, as well as a graduate interdisciplinary specialization in Folklore and a graduate certificate in Composition. She studies public markets, food culture, food security, local food systems, food waste, and commodity fetishism.

For her doctorate, she examined the role of public markets as social infrastructure and how vendors define success at Findlay Market in Cincinnati, OH. Her masters work at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Roehampton University centered around popular culture and representations of commodity fetishism in American television.

Saint Francis University and the Arts

The Connors Family Fine Arts Center at Saint Francis University is a creative hub for students across disciplines, housing the Resinski Black Box Theatre and providing opportunities for both performing and visual arts. As part of the School of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics), the Center emphasizes the role of creativity and expression in a well-rounded education.