About Us
Shannon Cain
Workshop Faculty
Your workshop facilitator is Shannon Cain, a writer, editor and manuscript consultant living in France since 2014. Shannon taught creative writing for 15 years at a variety of institutions, including to undergraduates the University of Arizona, as a visiting professor at Leipzig University, and as MFA faculty with the Bennington Writing Seminars.
Her short stories have been recognized with the O. Henry Prize, the Drue Heinz Literature Prize, a fellowship from the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts, and two Pushcart Prizes. Her MFA is from Warren Wilson College.
Books edited by Shannon have won The Next Generation Indie Book Award in Short Fiction, The Iowa Short Fiction Award, the Elixir Press Fiction Award and a nomination for the Goodreads Choice Award. In 2019, she was awarded the permanent resident status "Person of International Renown" by the Republic of France.
"I’m more than happy to share the educational, inspiring, and supportive experiences I’ve had working with Shannon. From the start, she has guided my writing with honesty, compassion and creativity. Shannon was the editor of an anthology in which I was published in 2007. The book, Powder: Writing by Women in the Ranks, from Vietnam to Iraq, was my first creative nonfiction publication, and I was just beginning my MFA. Shannon worked with me on everything from the macro to the minutiae, ensuring my piece was not only polished but solid. Over the years I’ve attended workshops with Shannon and learned how to take control of a narrative while crafting the best sentences within each piece. Moreover, with Shannon, I feel permission to be bold. I trust her openness, honesty and taste. With her, I’ve written things I wouldn’t dare explore in other workshops. I’m currently working with her now, and I’ve recommended her for nearly twenty years."
-- Christy Parrott, MFA Vermont College of Fine Arts
"Ten years ago I began my writing journey in Shannon's workshop. There was so much to learn from her: strengthening my voice, understanding the craft, developing content and ideas, editing and eventually publication. Shannon has a keen eye and mind for writing and as a teacher I have seen very few individuals who can do what she does. Her abilities in drafting, revising and editing are outstanding. She is the real deal and a master at her craft. Since that first workshop, I have published four novels. I will always be grateful for the gifts she shared."
--Starr Sanders, self-published author of Finding Grace, Pinkwashed, The Allegations and The Boy Without A Face.
Rose Reyes
Summer Workshop Host
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A native New Yorker based in Paris with more than 30 years experience working in tourism and entertainment, Rose is your summer workshop host and extracurricular rockstar.
As a longtime consultant to arts organizations, Rose's clients have included Broadway/West End shows such as Mamma Mia! Wicked, and Chicago, the California State Tourism Office, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of the City of New York, the Ground Zero Museum Workshop and the Cyclo-Café attraction in Paris.
Rose has lived in Paris since 2013. Her memoir, Somewhere in Between, won the 2006 Edward Riviera Autobiography Award. She teaches the basics of Slam Poetry at EDC Business School of Paris. Rose has been a proud performing member and host of the Paris spoken word community, has hosted her own comedy show at Club Rayé in Paris from 2016-2018 and appears regularly on a number of Paris comedy shows, including Laugh Etc., Unstable Comedy and Blast Off Comedy. Check out her appearance at the renowned French comedy club The Paname Art Café.