Young Writers' Circle Workshop

Adele Brown writes about The Young Writers' Circle workshop for 8 to 11 year olds, which meets Tuesday through Friday, July 24 through August 3 at The Writer's Center.

Summer is the time for recharging batteries and taking some time to appreciate all of the beauty the natural world has to offer. Therefore, summer provides a perfect opportunity for writing students of all ages to examine the art and beauty in nature. In my workshop we will use nature as our inspiration for writing, and we will also examine the works of other well-known writers who did the same.

The garden verse of Pablo Neruda and other poets to include Shel Silverstein, Issa, Paul Fleishman, and others will be examined as well as stories by Maurice Sendak, Helen Ward, O’Henry, and Ralph Waldo Emerson to mention a few. We will also explore narrative verse and the art of the memoir through the work of Anne E. Burg (All the Broken Pieces) and E. Ethelbert Miller (Fathering Words: The Making of an African American Writer).

Finally, we will not only be reading to inspire writing in my workshop—we will also be experimenting with a variety of writing exercises and prompts to stimulate the imagination and help us write. Exercises will include the use of photography, water painting, word play, music, art and more!

So come and join me in my workshop this summer and have fun while learning to perfect your craft of writing whether it be poetry, short stories, the novella, narrative verse, and/or the memoir—I’ll look forward to seeing you soon!

Adele Brown