The writer Lisa Cron has said that stories are more important to human evolution than the opposable thumb–the thumb helps us to hang on; stories tell us what to hang on to. Deno Trakas will read selections from several compelling contemporary stories and discuss the essential element of conflict and its importance for readers and … Read more
Novelist Sterling Watson calls my book “a taut page-turner about love and death on the dark side of international education” featuring a “forbidden affair of an American professor and his sultry Iranian student, the Hitchcockian suspense of men and women on the run for their lives in the world’s most dangerous places, and a cast … Read more
In this program, Dr. Tolson discusses the diverse children’s literature that should be included in every library, classroom, and home. She explains the movement of diversity in the field of publishing children’s literature and the authors and illustrators that have made a powerful change.
This presentation begins with late 19th century Negro children’s literature to the evolution of the present-day Black children’s literature and features a colorful Power Point.
In her autobiography, One Writer’s Beginnings, Eudora Welty states, “Writers and travelers are mesmerized alike by knowing of their destinations.” She argues that like travelers, writers are preoccupied with discovering sequence in experience, of stumbling upon cause and effect in the happenings of a writer’s own life as well as in the lives of others. Connections slowly emerge. “Like distant … Read more
This class is divided between lecture/discussion and writing exercises, and it is designed to help writers shape family stories into fictional or nonfictional narratives. We will discuss the best ways to identify “family legends” that make the richest material for written stories, novels, and essays. By reading excerpts from the work of published authors, we’ll examine several … Read more
In her autobiographical essay, “A Sketch From the Past,” memoirist and fiction writer Virginia Woolf explains that narrative is encoded in objects, particularly every day objects and places from our childhood. She maintains that these “moments” often go unrecognized, and that it is our job as writers to identify and consciously shape these experiences into stories. This … Read more
In this workshop we will discuss ways that writers use natural landscapes to form characters, to create rhythm and structure, and to communicate themes in their writing. You don’t need to be an expert in the natural sciences to enjoy and benefit from this workshop. We will practice writing exercises designed to help you hone … Read more
This is a Christmas season comedy based on Ebenezer Scrooge from the Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol. The stage performance features Donald Sweeper acting the part of Scrooge as if he is speaking in the Gullah Language.
