In their essay for LitHub, fiction writer Morgan Thomas declares, “Place is not a character–it is its own story.” Conceptualizing place not as a two-dimensional backdrop, but as an interactive, generative force, participants in this day-long retreat will immerse themselves in place. We will use texts ranging from Leslie Marmon Silko’s meditations on the turquoise ledge of the Tucson Mountains to Frank O’Hara’s lunch breaks in New York City as springboards for our own thinking and writing, zeroing in on the way place interacts with the senses, time, memory, and language. This generative workshop will be guided by poet and reviewer Emily Pérez, a two-time Colorado Book Award finalist. Writers at all stages in their craft and of all genres are welcome!