This Week at the Writers' Center
April 9, 2010
In This Issue
  • Still Time to Enroll for Spring Workshops!
  • From the HVWC  Executive Director 
  • Third Friday Open Mike
  • Spring Reading Series and Events
  •  Alliance Francaise of Greenwich Event

The Hudson Valley Writers' Center
300 Riverside Drive
Sleepy Hollow, NY 10591
914-332-5953
fax: 332-4825

www.writerscenter.org

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THERE IS STILL TIME AND SPACE TO ENROLL IN SEVERAL OF THE EXCITING HVWC SPRING WORKSHOPS!
                                                                                             
                 
     MEMOIR: A WINDOW INTO YOUR LIFE
with SUSAN TIBERGHIEN
Master Class
Monday, April 26, 1-4 pm
Fee: $65
 
Memoir is not autobiography, but a selected facet of a life.  By choosing the focus, you open a window into your life.  Which window do you open?  What is its frame?  What do you include; what do you omit?  what pattern will you use to link the elements together?  Within these questions, studying contemporary memoirs and executing guided exercises, you will create new material and enrich your existing projects.
 

 
WRITING CHILDREN'S BOOKS AND STORIES
with ELIZABETH SACHS
4 Wednesdays, May 5-26
1:30-3:30 pm
Fee: $155
 
 
Develop a strong narrative voice and a distinct style in writing for youth and young adult readers. This extensive course will teach writers, both beginning and advanced, to explore their strengths, with each session focusing on a different aspect of the craft. The challenges of being published will also be addressed. (Note: this workshop will take place at 57 River Street, Sleepy Hollow).
 

   
HOW TO PLAN, WRITE, AND DEVELOP A BOOK
with MARY CARROLL MOORE
6 Mondays, May 24; June 7,14, 21, 28; July 12
1:30-4:30 pm
Fee: $355
 
Continuing book class for nonfiction authors, memoirists, or novelists, who have a book in progress. This class will help you get deeper into your book’s ideal structure using a step-by-step plan for chapter organization and book arcs, including timetables, chapter grids, story-boarding, etc. You’ll find holes in your material that need filling, organize research and concepts, and construct strong dilemma, players, and setting. You’ll also learn how to package your book for agents and publishers and gain essential tips on editing and evaluating your book at all stages.
 
*With instructor approval, this class will accept new students with strong writing background. (Note: this workshop takes place at 57 River Street, Sleepy Hollow.)
 

   
READING & WRITING POEMS: A COURSE FOR LOVERS,
HATERS, AND IN-BETWEENS
with JO ANN CLARK
8 Fridays, April 16-June 11
10:15 am-12:15 pm
Fee: $290
This workshop is for anyone whose dread, loathing or sheer love of a poem has ever inspired-or provoked-the wish to make one.  Bring to the first class a poem that incites a strong reaction, from an author of your own choosing (dead or alive).  These and other poems will spark our exploration of poetic craft and engender new writing every week of the course.  Students can expect to have serious fun.
 

  
MEMOIR WRITING
with SUSAN HODARA
7 Thursdays, April 29; May 6, 13, 20; June 3, 10, 17
7:00-9:00pm
Fee: $305
 
Are you inspired to record the transforming events of your life? Are you drawn to explore the circumstances surrounding your most vivid memories? For those with a work-in-progress and those starting fresh, this class will offer a supportive environment wherein each week you will read aloud and receive constructive feedback. Writers at all levels of accomplishment, and with projects both full-length and short-form, are welcome. (Note: this workshop takes place at Pelham Art Center.)
 

  
Register for classes by phone (914-332-5953), e-mail (information@writerscenter.org), fax (914-332-4825), or regular mail (300 Riverside Drive, Sleepy Hollow, NY 10591).  Please call if you have any questions or if you would like more information.
  

  
  FROM THE HVWC  EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
http://www.facebook.com/profile/pic.php?oid=AAAAAQAQKwDncNEzH9JzaysZtniNlQAAAArlubHNY6QU2xzLHIYx3IJv
   
Dear Friends,

Thanks to so many of you for sharing your interest and comments with the office over these past months.  We have been delighted to know how many people truly care about the Writers' Center and wish us all well.

At this time I would like to announce our newest member of the team, Ryan Conatti.  Ryan started this week as the new Executive Assistant/Office Manager, and already he has proven himself to be a valuable partner.  He has many skills and is especially good with computers and social media.  So anticipate more frequent, informative and concise communications from this office. Don't forget to introduce yourself and welcome him when you call or e-mail the office.

This week, Margo Stever (HVWC founder, SHP co-editor and board member), Jo Ann Clark (Slapering Hol Press advisor), and I will be in Denver representing the Center at the  Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) conference.  We will share our experiences next week.  
Lastly, below there is an link to the Focus on French Cinema film festival produced by the Alliance Francaise of Greenwich.  I sit on the board of the festival and have long been a partner (as have some of you) with the Alliance on many events.  This is a wonderful opportunity to see great French films hosted in our neighbor with frequent collaborator SUNY Purchase.  And who knows, if this stimulates your interest, perhaps you will have the chance to attend a screenwriting workshop at the Writers' Center sometime in the near future.

Cheers,
Frank

Third Friday Open Mike
April 16 at 8:00 pm (sign up to read at 7:30)
Admission: $3

The third Friday of every month is Open Mike Night at the Writers' Center. This month our special guest host is poet and jazz musician Nathaniel "Papahawk" Goldberg. Writers of every genre and experience level are encouraged to join us at the Philipse Manor RR Station for this engaging event. There is a five minute time limit for each reader and remember to bring your friends because non-reading audience members are also always welcomed and appreciated!   
 

Spring Reading Series and Events

HVWC Readers’ Series with Ros Barber and Mervyn Taylor
Sunday, April 25, 4:30pm
Admission: $5
 
 
ROS BARBER
Born in Washington DC to British parents, Barber spent part of her childhood in California before her family returned to the UK. Her poetry has been broadcast on the BBC, and featured in anthologies published by Faber, Virago & Seren. Her short fiction has been published by Bloomsbury and Serpents Tail. She has two collection with Anvil, How Things Are On Thursday (’04), and Material (’08; Poetry Book Society Recommendation). She is currently writing a fictional autobiography of Christopher Marlowe in blank verse, under a grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
 
 
MERVYN TAYLOR
Taylor divides his time between Brooklyn and his native Trinidad. He has taught at Bronx Community College, The New School, and for the New York City Department of Education. His poems have appeared in such print and on-line journals as Poetry International, St. Ann’s Review, Sulfur, BigCityLit, and Rattapallax; and in the anthology Chance of A Ghost. Junction Press has brought out three volumes of his poetry: An Island of His Own, The Goat, and Gone Away. He can be heard reading his poetry on the CD Road Clear, accompanied by bassist David Williams. Derek Walcott has observed of Taylor’s work that "The sense of search, of the avoidance of flash, mutes his meters to an admirable degree, and the tone, which he found remarkably early, keeps him separate and unique."  
 

Upcoming Readings and Events

Third Friday Open Mike Night
5 minute limit per reader
Friday, April 16, 8 pm (sign up to read beginning at 7:30)
Admission: $3
 
Reading by poets Ros Barber and Mervyn Taylor
Sunday, April 25, 4:30 pm
Admission: $5
 
Reading by writers Elizabeth Bradley and Joseph O'Neil
Thursday, May 6, 7:30 pm
Admission: $5
 
Reading by poets Meg Kearney and Matthea Harvey
Friday, May 14, 7:30 pm
Admission: $5
 
Reading by poets Ilya Kaminsky and Jeffrey Harrison
Thursday, May 20, 7:30 pm
Admission: $5
 
 
 
All readings and events take place at the Writers' Center unless otherwise noted.

 
 Alliance Francaise of Greenwich Presents...
 
Focus on French Cinema 2010
 
Focus on French Cinema 2010 announces the line-up for the 6th annual festival of 12 French and francophone films. Presented by the Alliance Francaise of Greenwich in partnership with Purchase College, NY, the festival will run from April 9-11 at the Performing Arts Center at Purchase College. This year, Focus on French Cinema will present 12 newly released films from France, Belgium, Quebec and Africa including 5 US Premieres, chilling thrillers, family comedies, vivid dramas and for the first time – a selection of short films from Belgium.
 
Focus on French Cinema continues to be a unique cultural event. We are honored to bring the best in French Directors, Actors and New Voices to moviegoers in the community. Please visit our website for up-to-the-minute details on this great weekend of French language film. www.focusonfrenchcinema.org, or call the Alliance Française office at 203-629-3644 for further information.
 
 

 
The Hudson Valley Writers' Center is located in the Philipse Manor Railroad Station in Sleepy Hollow, New York. Follow the Metro North signs to the station from Route 9, near Historic Hudson Valley's Philipsburg Manor. For more information, call us at (914) 332-5953 or visit our website, www.writerscenter.org. Our programs and events are made possible, in part, by grants from the Bydale Foundation, the David G. Taft Foundation, the Morgan Stanley Foundation, the Orchard Foundation, the Thendara Foundation, and the William E. Robinson Foundation; with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts; and by the Basic Program Support Grant of the Westchester Arts Council with funds from Westchester County Government.

The Hudson Valley Writers' Center, Inc. (HVWC) is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1988 with a mission to advance the art and craft of writing by encouraging writers and readers at all levels to participate in and enjoy the literary arts. HVWC is a not-for-profit, IRC section 501(c)(3) organization. Contributions in excess of value received are deductible for Federal Income Tax purposes.

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