from The Del Mar Times, July 14-July 20, 2006

By Barbara Davenport

Jincy Kornhauser and Lisa Fugard are novelists, and their fiction has been widely praised. Kornhauser’s collection of stories, "Jenny and the Jaws of Life," prompted David Sedaris to say, "I am prepared to wear a sandwich sign for this book. It's just that good."

Augustin Burroughs called her 2003 novel "Winner of the National Book Award," "the funniest novel I have read, possibly ever."

She’s currently at work on a thriller set in a writing group, in which group members die mysteriously.

Fugard has written for the New York Times and Outside magazine. She is the daughter of South African novelist Sheila Fugard and playwright Athol Fugard, who live in Del Mar. Her novel, "Skinner’s Drift," set in South Africa, was published in January of this year.

Publishers Weekly praised its "vivid sense of place," and the Christian Science Monitor commented on its "moments of grace." She recently closed a deal for film rights for her novel. She’s "fiddling," she said, on another novel.

Kornhauser and Fugard will teach a six-week writing workshop at the Book Works in Del Mar, July 19 to Aug. 23. The class will focus on craft, the techniques and skills that make good writing, and they welcome writers of all skill levels.

Kornhauser, taught writing courses at UCSD Extension for a number of years, and she’s conducted a long-running private writing group. She said many classes put the cart before the horse, with talk of agents and publication before students have learned the basics of their craft. She and Fugard turn their full attention to these techniques.

"If you’re looking for a class that’s serious about writing," she said, "this is it."

Students will present their work, usually two or three pieces each week. The novelists will lead a discussion in which students critique each other’s work. They expect writers will learn not only from critiques of their own writing but also from learning to examine their classmates’ work. Fugard and Kornhauser aim to teach writers how to think critically about writing and to understand the particulars that make good writing work.

Both writers were quick to agree about an essential element of their craft: the use of vivid detail.

"People don’t realize how important details are," Kornhauser said.

"A student in our spring class wrote a description of her grandmother, that she smelled of cookies and perfume," Fugard said. "Jincy told her to use the name of the perfume, and the name of the cookie. The class got it then, how important details are."

Kornhauser feels that their strengths are complementary.

"Lisa talks more about language," she said, "and she has some really good exercises to get people started. I don’t use exercises, but I think hers are terrific."

Fugard calls her colleague incredibly articulate.

"Jincy can say two sentences about a student’s piece," she said, "and her two sentences tell us what the whole structure is and open up everyone’s thinking."

They praise the Flower Hill Promenade’s Book Works as a welcoming place to teach. Fugard loves the store’s ambience, but she worried that the class’s conversation would be disruptive. Book Works proprietor Lisa Stefanacci has the opposite take.

"It's a pleasure to have the group in the store," she said. "This is exactly the kind of gathering that the Book Works strives to support."

The class runs 6:30 to 9 p.m. Fugard agrees it’s a long evening, but people can browse the shelves at the break and restore themselves at the Pannikin next door.

The class fee is $200, and several spaces remain open. Interested writers may register by sending a $50 non-refundable deposit to: Writing Workshop c/o T. Link, 408 Hilmen Place, Solana Beach, 92075, or e-mail tesslink@adelphia.net