Mary Swander is available to teach writing workshops to people of all ages in all genres: poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and play writing. In addition to giving readings and performances of many of her works, including The Girls on the Roof, Driving the Body Back, and The Desert Pilgrim, Ms. Swander and Company perform a docudrama, Farmscape: Documenting the Changing Rural Environment.
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Mary Swander, a nationally recognized and award-winning author, has published her latest book of poetry called The Girls on the Roof (April, 2009, WordTech Press). The Girls on the Roof is a long narrative poem about a mother and daughter stuck on top of the roof of Crazy Eddy’s Café on the banks of the Mississippi River for three days during the 1993 flood. There, the two women discover that they’ve both had an affair with the same man. Swander and the internationally renowned Eulenspiegel Puppet Company have created a performance piece from selections of The Girls on the Roof. In this one-hour adult (not for children) production, Swander reads poems from her new book while puppeteer Monica Leo brings the scenes alive through the use of hand, rod, and shadow puppets. This show, filled with old time music, romance, intrigue, humor, folklore, and the flora and fauna of the Mississippi River basin, will dazzle the ear with its poetic rhythms, and delight the eye its likenesses of an unforgettable cast of characters. For more information or to schedule a performance, please contact mswander@iastate.edu. |
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Mary Swander is available to conduct workshops and retreats centered around her memoir The Desert Pilgrim: En Route to Mysticism and Miracles (Viking, 2003). Injured in a car accident, Swander made a pilgrimage to New Mexico where she sought the aid of traditional Hispanic and Native American healers in her recovery. In Albuquerque, she encountered Father Sergei, a Russian Orthodox monk whose barrio church is hidden away on the once-proud Route 66, now the terrain of crack dealers and the homeless. In his backyard, Father Sergei grew herbs for the curandera , Lu, in the pharmacy across the street. Lu's herbal cures are legendary. Together, these two healers led Swander through the "dark night of the soul" to look inside herself and to the Divine for strength and meaning. Lu took Swander on a trip into the New Mexico landscape to harvest herbs and return with a more profound sense of desert spirituality. The retreat will include a reading from Desert Pilgrim and a discussion of the role of women healers through western civilization. Participants will be encouraged to meditate on the courage and strength they have found during times of crisis in their own lives, and share stories of healing--whether physical, emotional or spiritual-they've witnessed in their own pasts. Swander, who is also a licensed and certified massage therapist, will discuss the use of some simple herbal remedies and alternative healing techniques. For more information or to schedule a performance, please contact mswander@iastate.edu. |
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With a unique blend of poetry reading, puppetry and banjo, kazoo and bodhran (traditional Irish drum) music, Mary Swander, author, Teri Jean Breitbach, artistic director of Eulenspiegel Puppet Company, bring Driving the Body Back to the stage. Mary Swander and Teri Jean Breitbach dramatize the monologues of Swander's award-winning book of poetry that tells the stories of an unforgettable family of eccentric Irish-American characters. This evocative piece incorporates movement, found objects, a child's doll, and painted silks with Swander's resonating language. Music underscores the themes and provides transitions between the lively, funny and moving scenes of Irish immigrant pioneers, bootleggers, butchers, and bird watchers. This performance piece is suitable for adult audiences--not children. Performing time is approximately one hour. For more information or to schedule a performance, please contact mswander@iastate.edu. |
(click image to read article)
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This play documents American farmscape through interviews with real people involved in real changes in how we grow our food and live our lives in the rural United States. You’ll take delight in a sip of Zinfandel at a new winery and savor the taste of organic vegetables on a truck on its way to the local farmer’s market. You’ll make a stop at a bed and breakfast and Hispanic cultural center and gaze out the window at restored wetlands and prairie. You’ll also suit up in protective clothing and a mask before you enter a hog confinement operation and you’ll watch pigs move quickly down a conveyor belt at an IBP slaughtering plant. You’ll experience the David and Goliath story of an organic farmer up against the economic forces of the 3500 acre agri-business operation next door. In the end, you’ll understand that during the pioneer days, farming completely changed the ecosystem of the prairie. A hundred and fifty years later, this landscape is dramatically changing again. Links to articles:
For more information or to schedule a performance, please contact mswander@iastate.edu. |
Open to people of all spiritual traditions. This workshop explores the world of spirituality and how it connects with human physical and emotional healing. The focus is on the writing of non-fiction and poetry and how these genres capture the experience of transcendence.
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Site last updated:
April 9, 2009
©2005-2009 Mary Swander
