Those participating in a recent creative writers retreat at the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center in Piggott included, from left: Front row -- Bob Jones, Jennifer Vernon, Sandy Harrison, Donna James and Rob Lamm. Second row -- Nancy Green, Wanda Jones and Glynda Bates. Third row -- Kathy Helmer, Lisa Woolery, John Achor, Rita Dortch and Marilyn Stroud. Back row -- Eileen Krause and Mary Lester. [Click to enlarge]

"The View from Here" is a collection of works by writers attending the first session of the sixth annual Creative Writers' Retreat held June 2-6 in the Educational Center of the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum in Piggott.

Seventeen talented writers from Rector, Piggott, Hoxie, Jonesboro, Jacksonville, Cabot, Little Rock, Hot Springs Village and North Little Rock, as well as Fisk and Bloomfield, Mo., came together to pursue their literary interests.

The authors wrote in a studio once used by Ernest Hemingway, and, literally, walked the same ground as Hemingway. He married into the Pfeiffer family and visited his Arkansas in-laws often, staying for extended periods of time.

During 2007 Dr. Rob Lamm and Glynda Bates had books published. "I credit the Writers' Retreat with giving me the courage to complete and publish my book filled with the stories my mother told," Bates said.

Lamm, of Arkansas State University, was the lead mentor for the retreat. Other mentors were Deanna Dismukes (the center's education director) and Donna Delain James, art and English teacher at Sloan-Hendrix schools in Imboden.

The title "The View from Here" was inspired by a warm-up activity based on the painting featured on the anthology's cover.