Writing Modern Love with Lavinia Spalding

​Every week, The New York Times treats readers to a love story. The Modern Love column illuminates the humorous, hopeful, and heartbreaking complexities of romantic, familial, and platonic relationships. Join two-time contributor, Lavinia Spalding, as she teaches us how to expertly write in this unique form. How do you resonate with readers? What's the secret to getting accepted? Together, we’ll examine theme, voice, structure, and emotional impact as well as tackle prompts so you can generate your own Modern Love essay.

​​​​​FAQ

• ​​​​​I'm unable to join live. Will the event be recorded?
  Yes! The event will be recorded and shared with ticket-holders via email the following day. You will have one month to watch the workshop before the recording expires.

• ​​​​​How can I participate during the event?
  You will be joining a Zoom Meeting for this event. We encourage you to have your camera on, but remain muted until prompted. We also recommend that you to come prepared with writing materials!

• ​​​​​I live outside the U.S. Can I still join?
  Yes! We have many international members in Sustenance. We'd love to see you there no matter where you're tuning in from.

​​​BIO:

​Lavinia Spalding is an award-winning author and editor who has published eleven books. She’s the author of Writing Away: A Creative Guide to Awakening the Journal-Keeping Traveler (named one of the best travel books of 2009 by the Los Angeles Times), six-time series editor of The Best Women’s Travel Writing, and co-author of With a Measure of Grace, This Immeasurable Place (named one of the best books of 2017 on NPR’s “On Point”) and the 2022 and 2023 editions of the Frommer’s EasyGuide to New Orleans. Lavinia has published two Modern Love essays in the New York Times and her writing has also appeared in AFAR, Tin House, Longreads, River Teeth, Post Road, Off Assignment, Yoga Journal, Sunset, AirBnB magazine, Ms., The San Francisco Chronicle, The Guardian, and many more national and international publications. Her work has been widely anthologized, has won gold SATW Lowell Thomas and gold SOLAS travel writing awards, and has been noted in The Best American Travel Writing. She’s also the co-host and co-creator of the storytelling podcast There She Goes and a co-founder of Studio Unfurl. Lavinia wrote the introduction to the Restless Books’ e-book edition of Edith Wharton’s classic travelogue A Motor-Flight Through France. She leads writing workshops around the world and online and teaches storytelling classes to businesses, and she is available for speaking engagements. She lives with her family in New Orleans and on Cape Cod. Watch her TEDx talk here, and sign up to receive occasional updates HERE.