Iota Short Forms Writing

10/19/2026

10/19/2026

How to end a most fabulous four days that were the 2026 Iota Short Forms Writing Conference? Well why not just stay for the optional retreat, as eight of our writers and three of our faculty members are doing right here at Cobscook Institute in Trescott, Maine. Some of us are holed up in our rooms, spreading out notes and drafts, others are out getting inspiration from this glorious section of Down East Maine, while some of us are enjoying writing together in silence.

10/18/2026

Saturday at the 2026 Iota Short Forms Writing Conference, co-sponsored by Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance at Cobscook Institute in Trescott, Maine. Workshops with Lewis Robinson, Alexis Paige and Penny Guisinger. Celebration dinner. Publication discussion led by Suzanne Strempek Shea. Open mic and rest.

10/17/2026

Friday at the 2026 Iota Short Forms Writing Conference, co-sponsored by Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. Workshopping with Lewis Robinson, Alexis Paige and Penny Guisinger. Shopping during the breaks at our very own outpost of Eastport's Boatload of Books. Community discussion on creating community for your writing, with Lewis. Featured readings with Erica Kent, 2024 winner of our An Iota of a Writing Contest, and Lewis. Capped the night with open mic from our talented participants. A rainy day spent cozy on the Cobscook campus.

10/17/2026

Write with Cindy Stewart tomorrow, October. 18, from 4 to 5:15 p.m., EST, during our Sunday Writing Session. Free and online and open to all! This Massachusetts writer and writing instructor is also a veteran birder. What flocks of ideas might land on your pages after a session with Cindy? Find out by registering for the Zoom link: https://cobscookinstitute.org/events?e=iota-sunday-writing-sessions

10/16/2026

We've only just begun the 2026 Iota Short Forms Writing Conference, co-sponsored by Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance here at Cobscook Institute in Trescott, Maine. Thanks to all who traveled from coast to coast and Texas on up, to Co-Executive Director and Director of Cobscook Experiential Programs Kara McCrimmon, Community Programming Steward Emily Girl and Retreat Center Steward Heather Pellegren, and to our faculty readers last night: Alexis Paige, Penny Guisinger and Suzanne Strempek Shea.

10/09/2026

We're thrilled to have Jodi Paloni in the driver's seat for this weekend's Sunday Writing Session! Join her Oct. 11 from 4 to 5:15 p.m. EST, free and online, and get in gear to put a few lines (or more) on the page, in the silent company of fellow wordsmiths from coast to coast. You simply need to register for the Zoom link.
You'll be in fabulous hands with Jodi, Jodi Paloni is the debut author of the linked story collection, They Could Live With Themselves, runner up in the Press 53 Award for Short Fiction and an IPPY Silver Medalist. They Could Live With Themselves was a 2017 finalist for the Maine Book Award and she has been a two-time finalist for the Maine Literary Award Short Works Competition in Fiction.
She has won the Short Story America Prize, placed second in the Raymond Carver Short Story Contest, and has had short stories anthologized in North by Northeat I, North by Northeast II, and in Short Story American IV.
Jodi's writing also appears in a number of print and online journals and magazines such as Decor Maine, Art New England, Green Mountains Review, Carve Magazine, upstreet, Whitefish Review, Contrary Magazine, Literary Mama, and others.
Jodi grew up in the hills of Chester County, Pennsylvania, moved to New Hampshire to attend graduate school at Antioch New England, and settled in southern Vermont where she lived for twenty-five years. During the snowstorm of 2015, she and her husband, Bob Wright, relocated to the Pemaquid Peninsula in Maine. She holds an MS in Environmental Communications from Antioch New England Graduate School, an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and is a Gestalt International Study Center ICF certified coach.
In addition to working as a freelance writer, editor, and writing coach, Jodi is a visual artist. She teaches writing and art workshops and leads retreats remotely on Zoom and at Bird and Tree Studios located in Bristol, Maine.
We hope to see you on Sunday!
www.jodipaloni.com/

10/02/2026

Don't miss the opportunity to write with Maine author, musician and columnist Dave Patterson at this weekend's Sunday Writing Session, free and online at 4 p.m. EST.
An author with a talent as big as his heart (and that is quite big!), Dave is a graduate of St. Michael’s College and holds an MA from the Bread Loaf School of English and an MFA from the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast program. His work has appeared in Slice Magazine, Salon, Hot Metal Bridge, Clare Literary Journal, and Blinders Literary Journal among other journals. He was a finalist for a 2019 Maine Literary Award. Dave teaches high school English in Maine and at Southern New Hampshire University’s Online MFA program in Creative Writing.
As a journalist and b**r critic, Patterson was a regular contributor to Maine Magazine and Maine Today. Dave is also a musician and songwriter. He spent a decade in the Portland based band, This Way. The band shared bills with G. Love and Special Sauce, Mason Jennings, and My Morning Jacket, and won a Portland Phoenix Award for Best Americana Band. Steal.
Register here for the Zoom link: https://cobscookinstitute.org/events?e=iota-sunday-writing-sessions

10/02/2026

We love Maine Lit Fest, and Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance, which puts this great event on annually. MWPA also partners with us for the annual Iota Short Forms Writing Conference, so we love them all the more for that. If you're in Maine Sept. 30 to Oct. 9, definitely look into the offerings at the Lit Fest: https://www.mainewriters.org/maine-lit-fest