The Nook Farm Writers Collaborative
To get the right word in the right place is a rare achievement.
The Nook Farm Writers Collaborative is a summer creative writing apprenticeship at The Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford, Connecticut under the guidance of writer and teacher Victoria Nordlund and program coordinator Dr. Erin Bartram. The program is inspired by Mark Twain’s life as a working writer, someone who wrote in a variety of genres and cultivated a range of skills in order to sustain a career in a challenging publishing world.
In the summer of 2022, 13 apprentices from 9 towns in the greater Hartford area came together to explore forms inspired by Twain’s writing career, including travel writing, journalism, personal essays, poetry, short stories, and creative non-fiction. Their daily work with a talented group of teachers was supplemented by in-person and virtual workshops with writers and editors from around the country:
Melanie Lieberman, currently senior travel editor at The Points Guy, former editor at Travel + Leisure.
Michelle Guerrero, illustrator and data graphics reporter for the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Bonnie Hennessy, author of Twisted.
Nick Paley, screenwriter for the film Marcel The Shell With Shoes On.
Jason Courtmanche, director of the Connecticut Writing Project.
Amherst-based band The Baxbys.
Poet and Stafford High School ELA teacher Caitlin Donahue.
Connecticut writer Barbara Greenbaum.
Christiane Lee, copy- and line-editor.
Steve Smith, writer for the Hartford Courant.
Emily Esten, Kaplan Curator of Digital Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania and web manager at Contingent Magazine.
In addition to their individual portfolios, these apprentices have collaborated to produce an online literary journal showcasing the best of what they had produced: Journey 75.
Learn more about the program and hear from teachers and participants in this recent Hartford Courant piece “Young writers getting summer crash course in writing, publishing.”
Programs at The Mark Twain House & Museum are made possible in part by support from CT Humanities; the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, Office of the Arts; Ensworth Charitable Foundation, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee; the Greater Hartford Arts Council’s United Arts Campaign; The Hartford; The Mark Twain Foundation; The National Endowment for the Humanities; and Travelers.
The 2025 program runs June 24-July 30. Please read the eligibility requirements below carefully before completing your application:
- Participants must be between the ages of 14 and 18 when the program begins on June 24, 2025.
- The program meets on-site at The Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford. Participants must be able to be at the museum Monday-Wednesday and Friday each week of the program from 9 AM to 3 PM; Thursday is a work from home day.
- Participants must be able to commit to the full six-week program to be considered for acceptance.