4-Week Fiction Intensive: Finish That Short Story

“Berman’s debut, a winning, keenly observed, and clear-eyed novel set in a summer camp, captures the age when fierce attachments forged over years begin to unravel, passionate female friendships give way to sex, and identity seems to shift with the tides.”

“Do you remember that youthful summer when ‘everything changed’? Mandy Berman sure does and her wonderful novel is a snapshot of that time and the group of young women who are irrevocably changed by it. PERENNIALS manages to be warm and loving and still wallop you with moments of shock and pain. What an exciting debut.”

“Snappy and irresistible, Berman’s debut novel, PERENNIALS, takes readers back to summer camp, where her characters’ first friendships and treasons play out in sharp dialogue and playful, generous prose. Berman fearlessly renders youth and adulthood alike, in sentences you’ll want to savor.”

“Mandy Berman explores an old trope: the magic of summer camp, a place separate from the rest of your life where you can become a slightly different version of yourself, a place where friendships run impossibly deep and romance and sex are innocent. But what happens when that divide begins to crumble, and real life, in all its moral ambiguity, finds its way to the heart of a halcyon summer? Lucid, psychologically nuanced, and great fun to read, PERENNIALS has taken an old subject and made it new.”

“Mandy Berman has remade the American summer camp narrative, ditching the usual clichés and getting in close with her characters and their various states of emotional and economic precariousness. PERENNIALS is a sharp, crushingly observant, and empathetic debut, full of wit and tragedy, and good for all seasons.”

“Berman is at her most insightful when exploring the awkward unfurling of female adolescence. . . PERENNIALS is a sharp meditation on the changing female body, and the ways in which such changes are often involuntary and unwanted."

"Mandy is a thoughtful writer and teacher who will help you improve your story by offering insightful feedback about the story that you want to write (as opposed to the story that someone else thinks you should write). She supports the development of your voice by emphasizing various aspects of creative writing that will strengthen your work. "

"Mandy Berman is an exceptional teacher, plain and simple. When discussing readings, she expertly communicates what the writer is doing beneath the text, and when analyzing her students' writings, she provides crucial insights and shows opportunities for growth."

"Mandy was very passionate about storytellers... She led a lot from her passion and skills. How those two things were fused together gave the class a sense of organic enthusiasm. It was not a burden, a paycheck or a interruption. I got the sense [Mandy] was like a coach or a drill sergeant who loves players or soldiers and who helps to bring people along because she saw the need for more voices to pipe up. Sometimes I found myself thinking, 'maybe she is trying to get the stories she wants out of us because she enjoys them.' The way she read and talked about the voices in the room showed she had a keen sense of where people wanted to take their stories and what kind of writers they wanted to be and could be. How she led the discussion was perfect, sometimes prompting and then stepping back or vice versa when needed. She had very good rhythm with this."

"Mandy was an excellent teacher—composed, insightful, and patient. She supported my work while challenging me to improve my writing. I highly recommend any class or workshop she is leading."

"Mandy is a deeply generous teacher and editor. She provides thorough and detailed feedback that gets to the heart of a story, and illuminates both its strengths and weaknesses with great compassion and care. I felt totally encouraged by her honest and specific notes, and left every workshop inspired to develop my projects with more confidence in my writing. Her class made me not only a better writer, but a better editor of work in general, whether it’s my peers’ stories or my own."