This year, we are delighted to launch the first time American Short Fiction (ASF), From Thursday, May 26, to Monday, May 30, we will welcome twenty-four writers to Austin to study with short-story masters Karen Russell and Dantiel W. Moniz over the course of five inspiring, enlightening days.

Participants will attend daily fiction workshops, one-on-one meetings with distinguished faculty, and craft lectures by faculty, special guests, and ASF editors. We'll provide space to create new work and make lasting connections in the atmosphere of the sights, sounds, and swimming holes of Austin.

How to Apply

Applications are due February 15 by 11：59pm. To apply, please send us a double-spaced writing sample of up to 25 pages through our submit table application site (https：//American short fiction. org/workshop/). There is a non-refundable ﹩20 application fee. We will inform applicants of their acceptance by email on or before March 15.

Tuition for the workshop is ﹩1, 800, which does not include room and board. We are working with a local hotel within walking distance of our office for a discounted block of rooms, and you are also welcome to seek out accommodations on your own.

Scholarships and Financial Aid

We are proud to offer financial assistance to attend the workshop in the form of two scholarships and two fellowships. Our merit-based (基于优秀的) scholarships will come with a 50% reduction in tuition. Our fellowships are need-based, and cover the entire cost of the workshop and accommodations. Writers from historically under served communities are encouraged to apply.

More than a third of small towns in Georgia lost population in the last year alone, highlighting the challenges of reviving rural areas. New census (人口普查) estimates show that Camilla fell below 5, 000 residents. Sparks fell below 2, 000, and Milan fell to 661 residents for a loss of 7% of its population. All three towns are in South Georgia.

"Many of the young people in these communities graduate from high school and don't come back. They go to college, whatever, they don't come back," said David Bridges, head of its Center for Rural Prosperity and Innovation in Tifton.

Meanwhile, Georgia's cities are growing, having no problem drawing people from small towns and other cities. Atlanta grew more than 1% in the past year and is now nearing the half-million-resident mark.

The trend of people moving from rural to urban areas is hardly a new one——it's been going on worldwide for more than a century. But continued population losses have raised questions about whether rural areas can do anything to reverse the tide.

Rural residents can face a number of challenges including access to good jobs, transportation and health care. Manufacturing jobs have dried up in many places, while modernization and new technology means fewer people are needed for farming. And many people are deciding to have smaller families than was typical a century ago.

"The older generation is dying, the younger generation is moving away, and because there are perceived to be fewer business opportunities, financial opportunities, etc. It's very challenging to get inbound population." Bridges said.

Demographers (人口学家) expect the shift from rural to urban to continue. But there are some bright spots in rural America still. Jackson County near Athens was recently named one of the fastest-growing counties in the nation by the Census Bureau. Amazon opened a large fulfillment center there a couple of years ago. And Young Harris, near the Georgia-North Carolina border, has grown by more than 80% since 2010.

From Mozart to Metallica, tons of people enjoy listening to various types of music while they paint, write, or draw. Many believe that music helps inspire creativity, but an international Study conducted by English and Swedish researchers is challenging that idea.

Psychologists from Lancaster University, The University of Gavle, and The University of Central Lancashire say that their findings indicate music actually prevents creativity.

To come to their conclusions, researchers had participants complete verbal insight(洞察) problems designed to inspire creativity while sitting in a quiet room, and then again while music played in the background. They found that background music "significantly impaired( 削弱)" the participants' ability to complete tasks associated with verbal creativity.

The research team also tested background noises such as those commonly heard in a library, but found that such noises had no impact on subjects' creativity.

The tasks were simple word games. For example, participants were given three words, such as dress, dial, and flower. Then, they were asked to find a single word associated with all three that could be combined to form a common phrase or word. The single word, in this case, would be "sun" (sundress, sunflower, etc.)

Participants completed the tasks in either a quiet room, or while exposed to three different types of music; music with unfamiliar lyrics, instrumental music, or music with familiar lyrics.

"We found strong evidence of impaired performance when playing background music in comparison to quiet background conditions," says co-author Dr. Neil McLatchie of Lancaster University.

Dr. McLatchie and his colleagues theorize that music interferes (干 扰) with the verbal working memory processes of the brain, preventing creativity. Also, as far as the library background noise having seemingly no effect, the study's authors believe that was the case because library noises create a "steady state" environment that doesn't prevent concentration.

It's worth mentioning that even familiar music with well known lyrics impaired participants creativity, regardless of whether or not it produced a positive reaction, or whether participants typically studied or created while listening to music.

"To conclude, the findings here challenge the popular view that music inspires creativity, and instead show that music, regardless of the presence of semantic(语义的) content (no lyrics, familiar lyrics or unfamiliar lyrics), always prevent creative performance in insight problem solving", the study reads.