Writers in the Mountains Announce Class Schedule for Spring and Summer
Writers in the Mountains, a local writing group whose mission is to provide a nurturing environment for the practice, appreciation and sharing of creative writing, has announced it’s schedule of classes for the spring and summer of 2007. These include a variety of creative writing workshops at various locations. To find out more about WIM or to register for classes go to the website www.writersinthemountains.org or call 607 326 7908. Pre registration is strongly advised. The schedule of workshops is as follows:
PLAYWRITING FOR BEGINNERS WITH Frank Canavan March 4, 11, 18th, & April 22 - rescheduled
In this workshop playwrights will learn how to create characters, plot,
and story lines. There will be a reading of the plays at The Stamford Performing
Arts Center in Stamford on April 15th with a follow up discussion workshop
on April 22. This workshop will be limited to eight students.
Sundays, 1-4 PM
Roxbury Arts Group, Roxbury
4 sessions and reading for
$75
FACT INTO FICTION with Ann Epner, Tuesdays, 6 -8 p.m. April l0 - May l5, 2007 at the Roxbury Arts Group.
Six sessions at $60. "Fact into Fiction" is a six-session workshop that is designed to assist the writer in creating a strong fictional voice, while incorporating real people, places or events into their fiction. This workshop is for writers of all experience who want to incorporate real people, places or events into their fiction. Participants will read historical and fact-based fiction and write short pieces in the genre .
Ann Epner is a founding member of WIM. She has been writing since she could. She has taught creative writing classes and facilitated critical thinking workshops in several contexts including vocational training programs with refugees and women on public assistance, adult basic literacy classes and as a teacher of English as a second language in Italy and Turkey.
Her published work has been featured in a monthly column for the New York Business Women's Newspaper as well as area magazines. Ann currently works for The Roxbury Arts Group as the Community Arts Funding Coordinator.
ADVANCED PLAYWRITING with Frank Canavan April 29, May 6, 13, & June 10
This workshop is offered to writers who have taken the Playwriting workshop
in the past or who have experience in writing plays. Two Advanced Playwriting
workshops will be offered concurrently; the first is an early afternoon session
from 1-3 PM and the second in the late afternoon from 3:15 to 5:15 PM. Please
sign up for one of those two time slots. There will be a public reading of
the plays at The Stamford Performing Arts Center on June 3. Each workshop
will be limited to five students.
Sundays, 1-3 PM
Roxbury Arts Group, Roxbury
3 sessions and reading for $75
WRITING NEWS FEATURE ARTICLES with Maggie Inge, Thursdays, 6 - 8 p.m. May l0 - June l4, 2007 at the Roxbury Arts Group.
Six sessions $75. This class takes participants through the rigors of writing a news feature for publication. Beginning with the principles of writing news (the 5 W's and H) we will explore the nature of features and what it takes to get them published in local newspapers and magazines. Each week participants will write a story and have it critiqued by their peers.
Maggie, is best known locally for her column, "At Your Service" which has run in the Catskill Mountain News for more than ten years. In addition to her column, she writes other features for the paper. Her journalism credits extend over 35 years and include articles in numerous national magazines and newspapers. She began her journalism career on the staff of 60 Minutes, where Mike Wallace described her as being "the only person I ever met who can get the full story without ever asking a question."
POEMS FROM HOME WITH LYNN DOMINA, Wednesdays, 6-8 p.m. June 6 - July l8, 2007 (except July 4) at the Andes Library. Six sessions $75.
This course will combine discussion of craft with a focus on "home" broadly defined. Each week, we will emphasize a different element of craft (image, figures of speech, lineage, etc.) while we also complete exercises and write poems exploring the homes we come from, return to , inhabit, and avoid. We will use the work of published poets as examples and discuss our own work in a workshop format.
FROM DRAFT TO PUBLICATION, POETRY WITH LYNN DOMINA, Wednesdays 6- 8 p.m. July 25 - August 29, 2007 at the Andes library. Six sessions $75.
This course is designed for poets who have previous experience in poetry workshops and who have some poems ready or nearly ready for submission to periodicals. Each student will have a portfolio of 6-8 poems discussed in class. We will also research avenues of publication open to poets working today, focusing primarily on web sites and print magazines, with some attention to chapbook and book publishers.
Lynn Domina is the author of a collection of poetry, "Corporate Works, and a reference book, "Understanding a Raisin in the sun." Her recent work appears in "Quarterly West" "Poetry Northwest," "Barrow Street," "Prairie Schooner," "The Marlboro Review" and several other periodicals.
CRITICS'S CORNER WITH BARBARA APOIAN, Thursdays, 6 - 8 p.m. June 21 - July 26, 2007 at the Erpf Gallery, Arkville. Six sessions $65 (limit 8).
Participants in this workshop will be revising, critiquing and editing previously written pieces or they may also revise and expand new work.
Barbara Apoian has been recognized for her ability to critique workshop members' writing in a scrupulous and helpful manner. She can supply the necessary inspiration for each workshop member to carry out his/her aims as a writer. Barbara has worked as a professional travel writer in both London and New York. Barbara studied Creative Fiction Writing at NYU, and for the past six years taught the Critic's Corner class. She recently co-edited "Out of Our Minds' a published regional writing by WIM members. Her recent performance at the Erpf Center entitled "Among My Souvenirs" which consisted of dramatized readings and anecdotes was widely and well - received by members of the community.
JOURNALING with Carol Little Mondays, 6-8 p.m. July 2 - August 6, 2007 at the Andes Library. Six sessions $60 (limit l0).
Journaling aids uncovering, defining, or sorting out, the pieces and themes of one's life. This class is for anyone wishing to experiment with writing as a connection to personal truth and voice. No prior journaling experience is needed.
IN THE MIDST OF WINTER with Carol Little. Mondays, 6 - 8 p.m. October l5 - November l9, 2007 at the Andes Library. Six sessions $75 (limit 8).
There are many reasons to write about our dead - to preserve memories, to make sense of our experiences, to reveal the impact of loss on our lives. In this class participants will read from the literature of mourning, and write personal experiences related to deaths -- close or distant -- new or old.
Carol Little holds a Master's degree in Counseling, and is a clinical member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. She has extensive experience working with groups, and with the use of writing for personal expression. Before returning to this area in l994, she had a private practice in Santa Rosa, and Mill Valley California, and taught graduate students at J. F. Kennedy University, Orinda, CA. She continues with a private practice in Delhi and has written numerous columns on topics related to emotional well being. Twenty years ago Carol started writing essays about her life experiences, and has not stopped.
FICTION WITH JENNIFER KABOT Thursdays, 6 - 8 p.m. August 23 - September 27, 2007 at the Roxbury Arts Group. Six sessions $75 (limit 8)
In her workshops , Jennifer, assigns readings by notable short story authors to all participants reading the same piece of literature as a group looking for the same issues to discuss. She also plans writing exercises in each class to help everyone get focused and also to pay particular attention to a specific skill like character or dialogue. There will be work-shopping done on stories that participants bring into the class and plenty in depth discussion and feedback.
Jennifer Kabot moved to Margaretville recently from London. She works as a journalist and her writings appeared in New York Magazine, Wired, Conde Nast Traveler, The Financial Times, Vogue, The Guardian, while she's a contributing editor at the architecture and design magazine Metropolis. She's been an editor at the British style magazine the Face and men's magazine Arena as well as the American design magazine ED. She got her MFA in creative writing from the University of East Anglia and works closely with a lauded group of young British writers including Diana Evans, Tash Aw and Richard Benson. After her MFA she taught American high school students creative writing as part of the prestigious Oxbridge summer abroad program at Cambridge University. She recently participated in the advanced fiction group and the master class in the short story at the New York State summer Writers Institute. She is currently putting together a short story collection.