Writers can climb on the Floating Island

You're sure you have a food memoir in you just bursting to get out? You might be able to get the push you need in Chapel Hill in October. (Warning: It ain't cheap. But writing workshops rarely are.)





Kim Sunee, author of "Trail of Crumbs," will bring her Floating Island Writers Workshop Oct. 11-14. It has a variety of events attached to it. The actual workshop is four days of intensive group and individual sessions, a roundtable discussion with Frances Mayes, author of "Under the Tuscan Sun," a cooking demonstration and a wine tasting at Bonne Soiree. The cost: $1,200 per person. (Steep, yes, but try pricing something like the Greenbrier Symposium for Professional Food Writers.)





If you can't handle the full four-day event, there are a couple of smaller events in conjunction to it that are open to the public:

• Lunch with Bill Smith, chef at Crook's Corner and author of "Seasoned in the South." That's $29 for a three-course lunch from noon-2 p.m. Oct. 11 at Crook's. It's included for workshop participants.
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• Two publishing panels, including cookbook authors and possibly editors, at Fearrington Village at 4:30 p.m. Oct. 12.
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• A family-style, multicourse dinner at Lantern with chef Andrea Reusing at 6 p.m. Oct. 13, for $95.

The extra events are expected to sell out quickly, and time also is running out to sign up for the workshop. Go to www.floatingislandwritersworkshops.com for full details and registration forms.

Write on.