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Winter 2006 |
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All
classes and workshops are held at the Hudson Valley Writers' Center (Philipse
Manor Railroad Station building) unless otherwise indicated.
Spring 2006 Class Schedule CLASSES
& WORKSHOPS Monday: Tuesday: Wednesday: Thursday: Friday: Saturday: One
& Two Day Workshops:
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| SELF
SCRIPTING Work in a highly individualized way with a renowned writer and performance artist to heighten your imagination and create narrative in memoir, fiction, poetry, and performance or through interdisciplinary work.
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LIVING
THE POET'S LIFE It’s now or never! Whether you are an experienced poet who feels “stuck” or one fairly new to the craft, this workshop will help you get your poetry life on track with exercises and advice designed to get you writing poetry—and keep you writing poetry.
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MEMOIR
WRITING Write stories taken from your own memories and experiences and free your voice as you shape the stories you want to tell in a relaxed, supportive environment. Subjects may range from early childhood memories to the transforming events of adulthood. Participants will read aloud and discuss their work each week. Class limited to 9 students.
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WRITEMIND:
A Special Creative Writing Workshop for Teachers By thinking and working like a writer, teachers of writing at all levels (older elementary and up) can acquire many new insights. Enjoy a personalized hands-on experience with the narrative technique method of creative writing and acquire the teaching and assessment tools you need to encourage your students to become more creative writers.
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POETRY:
Intermediate to Advanced This workshop will make a distinction between editing and revising and will approach each poem with this difference in mind. Both are needed, so all levels of the poem from surface to depth are addressed. You will consider the many elements comprised by a poem: image, metaphor, diction, tone, voice, perspective, grammar, syntax, line breaks, form, etc., focusing on those issues that arise from this particular group of writers. Participants must have taken at least one poetry class previously.
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WRITING
CHILDREN'S BOOKS & STORIES
* * Please note that our Wednesday Children’s Literature class with author Jean Fritz is currently full, but we do maintain a waiting list of interested students from which we fill available openings. If you would like to add your name to the list, please call us at 914-332-5953 or e-mail info@writerscenter.org. Writing a book for children—or planning to? Don’t miss this chance to discuss your project with one of our country’s most honored writers of books for children. Come with some knowledge of what kind of children’s books you like and what good writers in this field are doing today. The sessions will be informal and tailored to the needs of the group.
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THE
ART OF THE ESSAY More than any other kind of non-fiction writing, the essay offers the opportunity to express, in a short and conversational form, the whole range of thoughts and feelings, from intimacy and grief to joy and epiphany. This once-neglected form, now in renaissance, allows for the most satisfying and polished examination of ideas, beliefs, troubles and pleasures by writers beginning, renowned, and (like most of us) in between. Class limited to 8 students.
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EXPERIMENTS
IN POETRY This workshop focuses on writing contemporary poems in both traditional and free verse forms. Although some class time will be spent responding to works in progress, we will also study model poems, write exploratory drafts, and discuss issues of process and creativity. Textbooks: Poetry Daily, edited by Boller, Selby, and Yost (Sourcebooks, 2003, paperback.) Also suggested: The Teachers & Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms, edited by Ron Padgett (1987, paperback).
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EXPERIMENTS
IN BRIEF NONFICTION This workshop focuses on creating brief nonfiction pieces and shaping them for the reader’s eye. However, participants are also expected to respond to other writers’ work as well as to read the textbook selections and be prepared to discuss them. Textbooks: Short Takes: Brief Encounters with Contemporary Nonfiction, edited by Judith Kitchen, (Norton, 2005); In Brief: Short Takes on the Personal, edited by Judith Kitchen and Mary Paumier Jones (Norton, 1999)
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CREATIVE
WRITING FOR THIRD, FOURTH & FIFTH GRADERS Each day you take in the world around you -- a fly perched on a leaf, the smell of spaghetti sauce bubbling on the stove, the sound of traffic rushing by on the street outside our window. How do use these things to create stories and poems? This class will help stimulate your senses, imagination, and emotions, and allow you to try out various writing techniques and share ideas in a comfortable atmosphere.
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GREEK
MYTHOLOGY The myths and legends of ancient Greece, which depict a heroic age when gods and mortals fell in love, feasted, and fought together, have had a profound influence on Western literary writing that continues today. This introduction to Greek mythology will focus on the archetypal figures of myth, among them Prometheus and Demeter, Tantalus and Helen, and the narrative patterns of creation, conflict, and transformation that give the myths their enduring significance and power. The course will include readings of selections from works by Homer, Hesiod, and the Greek tragedians. Please note that this class is not subject to our 10-student maximum enrollment policy. RECOMMENDED TEXT: Classical Mythology by Morford and Lenardon (used copies easily found at Amazon.com)
* This course is being sponsored by The Hudson Valley Writers’ Center at Kendal-on-Hudson. It is open to all interested students. Kendal is in northwest Sleepy Hollow between Phelps Hospital and the Hudson River. It is accessible via Rockwood Road off of Route 9 just north of the entrance to the hospital. | |
WRITING
MEDICINE Everyone has at least one story to tell about an experience with a doctor, illness or hospital stay, but developing the written narrative presents challenges. How much should you tell? How do you convey a tragic moment without becoming maudlin? Whether yours is a personal experience or that of a relative or friend, this workshop will introduce you to the literature of illness and recovery by exploring various genres (memoir, essay, creative non-fiction and fiction) and through writing exercises designed to inform your own narrative.
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LITERARY
APPRENTICESHIP IN FICTION Annie Dillard notes in The Writing Life that writers get inspiration from the work of other writers: that Ernest Hemingway and I.B. Singer studied Knut Hamsun and Ivan Turgenev; that Ralph Ellison studied Hemingway, and that Eudora Welty studied Anton Chekhov. Practice the playfully demanding art of literary apprenticeship as you read and emulate the work of five distinguished writers. Each week, you will read one story and write an exercise in that story’s style. Authors to be studied include James Baldwin, Maeve Brennan, James Salter, Jean Stafford and Eudora Welty. This class is for writers who already have a working knowledge of characterization, dramatization, description, style and tone.
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WRITING
PLUS (for High School students) Your “left brain” works hard all week at school. Give it a rest, have fun, and let your “right brain” get the exercise it deserves. This class encourages you to use you own personal truths and perceptions as fuel as you use different genres and disciplines to express what you want to say.
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FICTION
WRITING In this workshop, designed for beginning and experienced writers, you will go beyond the traditional elements of fiction writing as taught in English class (“plot,” “setting,” “conflict,” etc.) and will focus instead on what great writers actually do on the page, the techniques they use to capture the reader’s interest and create imaginatively and emotionally rich work. By combining narrative technique exercises with traditional manuscript review in a focused and supportive setting, we will help you create work that employs the fundamentals of fiction writing while also expressing your personal voice.
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CONTINUING
FICTION For this course, Mr. Surface has developed an entirely new set of writing exercises that challenge students’ imaginations at a higher level, expanding on the skills developed in the introductory fiction class. This course is recommended for people who have already taken Mr. Surface’s Introduction to Fiction workshop.
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CREATIVE
WRITING FOR TEENS Six workshop sessions in which writers age 11 and up can refine their “writer’s eye” and find their own voices. Participants will be challenged to use their imaginations and every sense of their being to get beyond the surface of things and to put on paper the stories and ideas that come to them. They will also celebrate the sound of words and the images they create. “It’s not like school,” says Connor-Bey, and the small groups allow for maximum individualization.
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HOW
TO PLAN, WRITE, and DEVELOP A BOOK Whether you’re a nonfiction author or memoirist with a book concept or work in progress, or a novelist who needs a fresh look at your material, this 2-day workshop will help you get to know your book - what it is about, how to structure it, how to finish it! You’ll learn a step-by-step plan (including timetables, chapter grids, storyboarding, and other techniques) and ways to flow chapters, find holes in your material that need filling, organize research and concepts, and construct plots. 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. Limited to 20 students. Bring 15 double-spaced pages of your book and a SASE with postage to the last class and instructor will review and return with comments.
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WRITING
YOUR LIFE: How to Plan, Organize, and Write a Memoir Whether you are trying to write the story of your life for publication or as a family legacy, this one-day workshop by the author of two memoirs will show you how to organize your stories into a readable, interesting work. You will be introduced to a simple formula that successful authors use to plan, organize, and write a book, and you will learn book-writing techniques such as the value of themes and how action and reflection balance one another in memoir and creative nonfiction. Hands-on exercises will help you put your learning into practice immediately. Please note that this class is not subject to our 10-student maximum enrollment policy.
* This course is being sponsored by The Hudson Valley Writers’ Center at Kendal-on-Hudson. It is open to all interested students. Kendal is in northwest Sleepy Hollow between Phelps Hospital and the Hudson River. It is accessible via Rockwood Road off of Route 9 just north of the entrance to the hospital. | |
| For further information on any of our class offerings, call the HVWC at (914) 332-5953 or email us at info@writerscenter.org. |
| Notes: HVWC = The Hudson Valley Writers' Center, 300 Riverside Drive, Sleepy Hollow, NY. Classes and worshops are held in the restored Philipse Manor railroad station. For travel directions, visit our Directions page or see train schedules at Metro-North's Hudson River Line. Kendal-on-Hudson is in northwest Sleepy Hollow between Phelps Hospital and the Hudson River. It is accessible via Rockwood Road off of Route 9 just north of the entrance to the hospital. Weather-related closings: As a general rule, if bad weather causes the Tarrytown schools to close, it is likely that classes at the Writers’ Center will be cancelled. We will record a message on the office answering machine (914-332-5953) at least 2 hours prior to class time if the decision is made to close. Refund policy: For classes dropped at least 24 hours prior to the first class, 100% of the class fee will be refunded. For classes dropped at least 48 hours before the second class, 75% of the class fee will be refunded. After that time, a partial refund will only be issued if your space in the class can be filled. For classes cancelled by the Writers’ Center, 100% of the class fee will be refunded. For further information about any of these classes or workshops, call the Writers' Center at 914-332-5953. |
KAREN
FINLEY ’s raw and personal performances, written and recorded work, installations,
and visual art have long provoked controversy and debate. She has an MFA from
San Francisco Art Institute, has won numerous grants, fellowships, and awards
(including MS. Woman of the Year in ‘98 and an Obie and Coaguala Artist of the
Decade in ‘99), and is currently a visiting professor at New York University,
Tisch School of the Arts in Art and Public Policy. Her published works include
Shock Treatment, Enough is Enough, Living it Up, and the memoir A Different
Kind of Intimacy. A novella George and Martha (think Bush and Stewart)
will be published by Verso in the spring. 
SUZANNE
CLEARY has an MA in Writing from Washington University and a Ph.D. in Literature
and Criticism from Indiana University in Pennsylvania. She is Associate Professor
of English at SUNY Rockland. Her poems have appeared in Poetry, Georgia Review,
and other journals, and she recently won a Pushcart Prize. Her first book, Keeping
Time, hailed by Billy Collins, is now in its second printing, and her second
collection will be published by Carnegie Mellon in early 2007.
JOAN
POTTER ’s nonfiction writing has been published in numerous magazines, newspapers,
and anthologies. She is the author of three books, including African American
Firsts: Famous, Little-Known and Unsung Triumphs of Blacks in America, published
in fall 2002. She is the editor of Growing Up Strong: Four North Country Women
Recall Their Lives, a collection of memoirs produced in a writing workshop
she led in the Adirondacks. She recently edited Mountain Shadows: An Adirondack
Novel of Courage, Danger, and Love, published in August by Pinto Press, a
small publishing company of which she is co-owner. She is a regular contributor
to the Westchester County Times.
DAVID
SURFACE is a 2005 fellow in nonfiction literature from the New York Foundation
for the Arts (NYFA) and was a finalist for the NYFA Prize. He has been twice nominated
for the Pushcart Prize in fiction and has also been awarded residencies at the
MacDowell Colony for the Arts and the Dorland Mountain Colony. His stories and
essays have been published in DoubleTake, North American Review, Crazyhorse,
Fiction, and on-line in Slow Trains, Tatlin’s Tower and the Cortland
Review. He has developed and implemented writing curriculum and professional
development programs for school districts and state and national arts organizations
including the Lincoln Center Department of Education.
KURT
BROWN is founding director of the Aspen Writers’ Conference, served for years
on the board of Sarabande Books, is currently on the board of Poets House, and
is the editor of three annuals which gather outstanding lectures from writers’
conferences and festivals. He has edited several anthologies. The most recent,
Conversation Pieces: Poems That Talk to Other Poems will be published next year
in Knopf’s Everyman’s Library series. He is the author of five chapbooks and four
full-length collections of poems including Future Ship, coming out soon from Story
Line Press. He is on the graduate studies writing faculty at Sarah Lawrence College
and teaches at writers' conferences, retreats and other venues across the U.S.
JEAN
FRITZ of Dobbs Ferry is the author of over two dozen books for young people
and is particularly known for her historical biographies, which the School
Library Journal says have “blown like a fresh breeze across the children’s
book world...(she) has changed the face of the map.” She has also written an autobiography,
Homesick, about her childhood years in China, which was a 1983 Newbery
Medal Honor Book and the recipient of an American Book Award and many other awards.
Most recently, she was presented with the 2003 National Humanities Medal.
HERBERT
HADAD’s work has appeared in numerous publications, including The New York
Times, Poets & Writers, Reader's Digest, Parenting, and Yankee. They
are also collected in several books, including The Random House Guide to Writing
and Sephardic American Voices: Two Hundred Years of a Literary Legacy.
He has received several awards for magazine writing and the New York Press Club
award for feature writing. One of his essays was included as a “notable essay”
in The Best American Essays 2003. A collection of his essays, Home Fires,
will be out soon.
REBECCA
MCCLANAHAN has published four volumes of poetry, three books about writing,
and a collection of personal essays, The Riddle Song and Other Rememberings,
which recently won the Glasgow Prize from Shenandoah. Her work has appeared
in T he Best American Essays, The Best American Poetry, Georgia Review, Gettysburg
Review, Kenyon Review, and elsewhere. McClanahan, who received a Pushcart
Prize in Fiction, the Wood prize from Poetry, the Carter prize for the
essay from Shenandoah, and a 2003 New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship,
lives with her husband in New York City and can be reached at 
KATE
GALLAGHER was a children’s book editor for many years and is now a freelance
editor and consultant. She has studied poetry with Marvin Bell and Jorie Graham
at the University of Iowa, and has read her work at venues throughout NYC and
Westchester.
BARBARA
MORROW, an editor and copy writer, has a Masters in Ancient Greek from Columbia
University. The classes she has taught in Homer, Aeschylus, Euripides, Aristophanes,
and other Greek writers in the Intervillage Continuing Education program in Hastings-on-Hudson
have attracted a large and devoted following, even among those who initially approached
Ancient Greek literature hesitantly.
ELIZABETH
SACHS has
written extensively about her own medical experiences. She is the author of ten
books for young readers. Her first novel, dealing with a long-term hospital stay,
Just Like Always, is considered a classic in this area and is listed in
numerous bibliotherapy indexes for medical professionals. Sachs has also written
for The New York Times, the News-Times, School Library Journal and
most recently Dance magazine.
LIANA
SCALETTAR’s fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Arts & Letters, Drunken
Boat, Failbetter, Gutcult, LIT, and Washington Square. Recent awards
include residencies at the Cat’Art Center for Contemporary Art in France and the
MacDowell Colony, a Glimmer Train fiction award, a Pushcart Prize nomination,
a storySouth citation for notable online fiction and the Amanda Davis Scholarship
given by the Wesleyan Writers’ Conference. Liana has taught at Boston, Brown and
Fordham Universities. She currently teaches at Queens College.
BRENDA
CONNOR-BEY, the 2002 recipient of the Outstanding Arts Educator award from
the Westchester Fund for Women and Girls, has long been active in writer-residency
programs throughout the region, often through the Westchester Arts Council. She
is the recipient of many grants and awards (including four PEN awards) and has
had her work published and performed widely. She has just completed a collection
of poetry and a young adult novel and is working on a novel.
MARY
CARROLL MOORE has published ten nonfiction books (including How to Master
Change in Your Life: Sixty-Seven Ways to Handle Life’s Toughest Moments).
She has just finished her first fiction book, Breathing Room, a collection
of linked short stories, and a chapter from this book won an honorable mention
in the 2005 McKnight Awards. For twelve years she was a nationally syndicated
newspaper columnist, and over 200 of her articles, essays, and stories have appeared
in publications such as the Boston Globe, American Artist, and American
Health. As an editor and book doctor for major publishing houses since 1986,
she knows what it takes to write a successful book. She teaches writing at Litchfield
Community Center in Connecticut, The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, and
other locations around the U. S., Canada, and Europe.