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Pre-Session: June 22–26

Ages: 8-12
Shakespeare & I
JY9-W1
Instructor: Sally Bittner Bonn
ALL DAY: 9 a.m.-4 p.m., June 22-26
$198 W&B members / $220 general public
 
Shakespeare isn’t so tough–and the rewards are great! In this class we will learn not only how to “speak Shakespeare,” but also how to use all of our other senses and talents to explore the world of the Bard. We’ll take an in-depth look at one of his plays, make an Elizabethan visit, do some acting and artwork, and take a look at theaters and costumes. Let’s cook up some chaos, incite some sibling rivalry, get serious about comedy, look lightly at tragedy, and create some conflict as we construct a performance of our own! If you’re interested in inviting the great language and insights of Shakespeare into your present life, then there will be something here for you!
Upon the stage we shall seek
To incite a rivalry resolved within the week.
Tragedy or comedy? No matter how it ends,
We shall become dramatic friends!
 
 
Week 1: June 29–July 3
 
Ages 6-8
Circus of Words
JY9-L1
Instructor: Reneé Conley
ALL DAY: 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m., June 29-July 3
$182 W&B members / $199 general public
 
Mad Libs, Instant Storyline, Poetry Tickets, Hangman, Charades, Pictionary, Metaphor, Dictionary, Rhyming—We will use great word and story games to pump up our language skills. Each day we will each adopt a new word and find ways to use it throughout our day. Some games expand vocabulary, some help us classify words, some help us understand story structure, spelling, and sound to become better readers—and some help us tame words, string them together, and make them do circus tricks! We will each collect new words for our own word bank. Most of all, we’ll have fun with words—our friends for life!
 
Ages: 9-11
Wordplay
JY9-M1
Instructor: Miranda Cologgi
MORNINGS: 9 a.m.-Noon, June 29- July 3
$99 W&B members / $110 general public
 
What could be more fun than words? Playing with them, finding new ones, rearranging them! Join us at Writers & Books on Rochester’s ArtWalk and discover fun words while exploring our creative neighborhood. We will play word games like Hangman, Boggle, Scrabble, and Balderdash. We will poke around with Palindromes, spoon up soup with Spoonerisms, run with Rebuses, wrestle with Word Searches, make our own Mad Libs, and jostle some Jokes and Riddles! We’ll rescue some endangered words and have fun discovering the history of words. Inspired by the words that make up our surroundings, we’ll leave our verbal art mark on the neighborhood with sidewalk chalk poems, gigantic magnetic poems, and mysterious messages stashed in strange places. Join us and become a Word Explorer!
 
Ages: 9-11
Explorer’s Notebook
JY9-M2
Instructor: Melissa M. Slocum
AFTERNOONS: 1-4 p.m., June 29-July 3
$99 W&B members / $110 general public
 
Rochester makes a great setting to inspire all kinds of writing. Even fantasies stem from the world the writer encounters every day. We will explore several imagination-stirring sites in our area, stopping for tours, historical notes, photo and sketching opportunities, and to write our observations. We will use writing exercises to consider various aspects of the setting, including how it stimulates each of our senses, what sort of atmosphere it can provide to a story, and what various characters can make of it.

Ages: 12-14
Imagemaker and Storyteller: Writer/Photographer
JY9-A1
Instructors: Wendy Low and Alicia Vandervorst
ALL DAY: 9 a.m.-4 p.m., June 29-July 3
$208 W&B members / $228 general public
 
Every picture tells a story…and every story paints a picture. In this class we will use techniques of professional writers and photographers to capture moments in time, movement through time, feelings from the colors, atmosphere and textures of a place, and personality in the portrait of a character. We’ll visit current exhibitions at George Eastman House and other galleries for inspiration. You’ll learn some advanced photo manipulation techniques and some unusual writing experiments. Perfect for graduates of Picture This and other visually inspired writers…or is that verbally inspired photographers?
 
Ages: Teen
Write to the Heart of Life
JY9-M3
Instructor: M.J. Iuppa
MORNINGS: 9 a.m.-Noon, June 29-July 3
$99 W&B members / $110 general public
 
Most poems and all personal essays start with the “I” of the beholder. Most writers start in their teens when they are both keenly observant and deeply aware of their own reactions to life. We will investigate how you, the human observer, feeler, and thinker at the heart of life, can report from the knife-edge of experience in ways that will inform and move your readers. We will look to examples from young poets, writers, and lyricists who have opened eyes and minds over the ages. We will learn how to use sense imagery, precise words, and sound effects to make our writing more vivid.
 
Ages: High School
Pushing the Edge: Writing Speculative and Experimental Fiction
JY9-F1
Instructor: Anjali Parasnis-Samar
AFTERNOONS: 1-4 p.m., June 29-July 3
$99 W&B members / $110 general public
 
Have you ever wanted to write a story in an unusual format such as an IM conversation or a “To Do” list? What about a story that features an insane narrator or a futuristic setting? In this workshop, we’ll explore techniques for working with narrators, settings, characters, and topics that push the edge of fiction. We’ll talk about writing that plays with our assumptions about reality and our expectations as readers, including science fiction, magic realism, metafiction, and experimental fiction. Our focus will be on using “unusual” techniques and genres to create interesting, complex, believable characters and compelling plots.

Week 2: July 6-10

Ages: 6-8
Rhyming, Rhythm, and Movement
JY9-P1
Instructor: Reenah L. Golden
MORNINGS: 9 a.m.-Noon, July 6-10
$99 W&B members / $110 general public
 
Summertime means sidewalk rhymes! We will learn traditional rhymes, poetry, music, and creative movement as an introduction to performance art and the magic of the spoken word. We’ll also experiment! Activities will include playing rhyming games with movement, writing poetry to music, and acting out poems and children’s rhymes. Each participant will then create rhymes, make up movements to go with them, and teach them to the group. We’ll take home audiotapes of our rhymes at the end of the week.
 
Ages 6-8
Read Around the World
JY9-R1
Instructor: Sally Bittner Bonn
AFTERNOONS: 1-4 p.m., July 6-10
$99 W&B members / $110 general public
 
Wish you could travel around the world? At Writers & Books you can! Come listen to stories and poems from cultures near and far. We will celebrate our diversity while exploring literature. From Asia to Africa, from Europe to our own backyard, we will find threads within stories that tie us all together. We will use art projects and performance to deepen our understanding of the stories we read. Participants are encouraged to bring a story from their own background to share. At the end of the week we will have a presentation for families.
 
Ages: 8-11
Writing Fiction: Let’s Get Started
JY9-F2
Instructor: Debra Lewis
MORNINGS: 9 a.m.-Noon, July 6-10
$99 W&B members / $110 general public
 
You have tons of story ideas swimming around in your head just waiting to be brought to the page. Well, it’s time to get started! In this class we will explore the basics of writing fiction and begin the process of bringing those ideas to life. Through character development, sensory descriptions, and an awareness of the basics of plot, any simple idea can be turned into a full-fledged story! It’s part magic, but it still takes work. Let’s do it together.

Ages 8-12
WWAB-AM: Our Own Radio Show
JY9-D1
Instructor: Maria Gillard
MORNINGS: 9 a.m.-Noon, July 6-17
$205 W&B members / $227 general public
 
Live radio was what people listened to for entertainment before television. CREATING a radio show is a BLAST! It involves developing characters, dialogue, and stories with sound effects. It’s composing jingles for advertising fun things. It’s music, poetry, and journalism all in one! This is a great opportunity for you to develop a variety of skills in writing, public speaking, and acting, as well as a fun way to use your imagination! Anyone who plays a musical instrument or loves to sing and is interested in writing, acting, and comedy is encouraged to attend. On the last day, at 11 a.m., we will
perform and record our show before a live audience. Later, you’ll get a CD in the mail!
 
Ages 8-12
ASL: The Joys of American Sign Language
JY9-L2
Instructor: Stacy Lawrence Hurwitz & Brenna Sniatecki
AFTERNOONS: 1-4 p.m., July 6-10
$99 W&B members / $110 general public
 
American Sign Language offers you a way to understand and communicate with deaf friends and neighbors who make up a growing percentage of the Greater Rochester population. It also offers an exciting way to expand your thinking to include a three-dimensional, kinesthetic form of storytelling. This class, co-taught by a deaf signer and a hearing signer, will showcase children’s sign language games and the work of deaf poets and storytellers in a fun, interactive learning
program. Children will learn a basic sentence structure and story structure, gain vocabulary, and express a piece of poetry or a children’s story in ASL in a final performance. The class creates a basis for understanding American Sign Language as separate from English.
 
Ages: 8-12
Sideways Songs From Wayside School
JY9-S1
Instructor: Doug Waterman
AFTERNOONS: 1-4p.m., July 6-10
$99 W&B members / $110 general public
 
In this workshop, we will write songs for Louis Sacher’s wacky characters and situations in his Wayside School stories: An advertising jingle for Miss Mush’s mushroom surprise? A stair-climbing chant? Miss Jewls’ mean day lament? A rhyme to help tell the Erics apart? Participants should have read at least one “Wayside School” book and should know who Louis, Mrs. Jewls, Miss Mush and Mr. Kidswatter are, so that they will never have to write their name on the board under the word “DISCIPLINE”! Friday we’ll perform our songs; tootsie pops provided!
 
Ages: Teen
Shakespeare’s Dreamers, Bad Boys, Vixens, and Clowns
JY9-W2
Instructor: Alexa Scott-Flaherty
MORNINGS: 9a.m.-Noon, July 6-10
$99 W&B members / $110 general public
 
From Mercutio to Lady MacBeth to Iago, Shakespeare has given us some of the most fun, diabolical and wicked characters to play. From Hamlet to Feste to Ophelia he’s given us some of the smartest, most memorable and complex dreamers and clowns. What character from any play in Shakespeare’s canon have you always wanted to tackle? Othello? Cleopatra? It’s your choice! In this class, appropriate for beginners and
seasoned students of Shakespeare, we will play with the visionaries, manipulators, and villains in Shakespeare through both scenes and monologues. Through acting work in class and a final performance, students will learn to play Shakespeare “moment to moment” and to create subtle, full-bodied and fully realized human beings through Shakespeare’s text. We will explore an honest and brave approach to acting Shakespeare.
 
Ages: High School
Teen Slam
JY9-P2
Instructor: Reenah L. Golden
AFTERNOONS: 1-4 p.m., July 6-10
$99 W&B members / $110 general public
 
Slam poetry is poetry spoken and performed in a variety of crowd-pleasing formats. Participants will study the art of the spoken word and “slam” through a series of pieces shared by the instructor and video excerpts from professional slam poets from the famous Nuyorican Café and Def Poetry Slam. During the course of the workshop, each poet will develop his or her own original piece or personal adaptation of an existing text using the group’s feedback and encouragement, and perform together as a “team.” Our slam team will then take it on the road in the fall and perform at other venues! Whether you were born to slam or just want to put more life into your presentation skills, we will be on your team!

Week 3: July 13–17

Ages: 6-8
Author-Illustrator Fan Club
JY9-A2
Instructor: Kevin SerWacki
AFTERNOONS: 1-4 p.m., July 13-17
$99 W&B members / $110 general public
 
We will read aloud and look at several examples of the wonderful picture books of some of our favorite author-illustrators. Each day will feature a different creator’s style and technique. Then, using our own imaginations, we will create picture book pages imitating their techniques with language, story, and pictures. On Friday, we will each go home with a small book that collects our tributes to these beloved author-illustrators. The teacher is an author-illustrator himself and will use his book, Doorknob and the Carnival of Bugs, for one of the activities.
 
Ages: 8-12
My Name in Print
JY9-A3
Instructor: Sally Bittner Bonn
MORNINGS: 9 a.m.-Noon, July 13-17
$103 W&B members / $115 general public
 
Write, write, write! We will spend the first part of the course producing poems, stories, journal entries, and creative essays through imaginative writing prompts. Participants will be encouraged to try all genres, but to focus on the one(s) they feel most passionately about. Toward the end of the week we will work as a team to create our very own anthology. Participants will learn to make the most of their writing by sharpening their editing and revising skills. Then, we will make all the decisions necessary to create a book of our own. What will it look like? How will it be organized? In the end, each
participant will receive a copy of the book they helped create.

Ages: 8-12
WWAB AM: Our Own Radio Show
(Week 2)
Instructor: Maria Gillard
MORNINGS: 9 a.m.-Noon, July 13-17.
Note: Second of two weeks. See page 7, above.
 
Ages: 8-12
Where’s Walden?
JY9-G1
Instructors: Angela Cannon, Edgar Brown and Wendy Low
------------------------------------------------------------
ALL DAY: 9 a.m.-4 p.m., July 13-17
If meeting the class at the Gell Center.
$198 W&B members / $220 general public
------------------------------------------------------------
If attending from 740 University Avenue.
$298 W&B members / $310 general public
------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Held at the Gell Center of the Finger Lakes. A bus will run from 740 University Avenue in Rochester, leaving promptly at 8:10 a.m. and returning at 5:00 p.m. There will be some additional activities on the bus.
 
Summertime, sunshine, green rolling hills, wildlife, and you! Spend a week communing with nature and with the writer within you at our retreat in the Bristol Hills. Hike with professional writers and naturalists along the Finger Lakes Trail, and observe the natural environment around you. We will participate in nature art activities, both ancient and modern. Then we will write stories, dramatic monologues, and poems probing the past, present, and future of the landscape, plants, and animals before us. We will publish our own small anthology. Please dress to hike, and pack a bag lunch each day. An optional evening campfire circle and sleepover will be held on Thursday.
 
Ages: 9-12
Puppet Theater
JY9-D3
Instructor: Brenna Sniatecki
AFTERNOONS: 1-4 p.m., July 13-17
$99 W&B members / $110 general public
 
How can you give voice, body, and motion to a lonely purple frog from outer space? Dive into the magic of puppets! Participants will see examples of puppetry styles from
various cultures, practice lip-synching techniques and puppet theatrics, and build their own cloth puppets to keep. With these puppets, and perhaps others from home, they will use writing prompts and theater games to build characters and skits to create their own Friday performance.
 
Ages: 12-14
Comedy Improvisation
JY9-D4
Instructor: Carol Roberts
AFTERNOONS: 1-4 p.m., July 13-17
$99 W&B members / $110 general public
 
Have you ever seen the television show “Whose Line is it Anyway?” and thought, “I’d like to do that”? Here’s your chance! Comedy improvisation is the art of plugging audience suggestions into specific theater-game formats with the result being at best hilarious and at the least entertaining. In this experiential workshop students will learn the craft of comedy improvisation through playing warm-up and group-building games, skill-building theater games, and, finally, the improv sketches themselves. Students will learn in a supportive atmosphere designed for experienced and inexperienced improvisers trusting and supporting their
fellow players and learning to ask the audience for
suggestions on how to create scenes, along with brief
characterization, projection, and timing.

Ages: Teen
The Graphic Novel
JY9-A4
Instructor: Kevin SerWacki
MORNINGS: 9 a.m.-noon, July 13-17
$99 W&B members / $110 general public
 
Maus. Persepolis. Runaways. Buddha. The Sand Chronicles. Sandman. Death Note. Naruto. We read them. Let’s write them. Graphic Novels, though they come in various styles, share certain possibilities and limitations. By looking at various examples, we can find graphic storytelling techniques which fit the kinds of stories we want to tell. We’ll also work on dialogue and narrative writing, pacing, suspense, surprise and humor. We may have a guest appearance by local graphic novelists.
 
Ages: Teen
Outdoor Writers
JY9-G2
Instructors: Angela Cannon, Edgar Brown and Wendy Low
ALL DAY: 9 a.m.-4 p.m., July 13-17
$198 W&B members / $220 general public
------------------------------------------------------------
If attending from 740 University Avenue.
$298 W&B members / $310 general public
------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Held at the Gell Center of the Finger Lakes. A bus will run from 740 University Avenue in Rochester, leaving promptly at 8:10 a.m. and returning at 5:00 p.m. There will be some additional activities on the bus.
 
Summertime, sunshine, green rolling hills, wildlife, and you! Spend a week stalking the natural world! Commune with nature and with the writer within you at our retreat in the Bristol Hills. Hike with professional writers and naturalists along the Finger Lakes Trail, and note the natural environment around you. We will participate in nature art activities, both ancient and modern. We’ll enagage the writings of great nature writers, past and present. Then we will write stories, dramatic monologues, and poems probing the past, present, and future of the landscape and ecosystem before us. We will publish our own small anthology. Please dress to hike, and pack a bag lunch each day. An optional evening campfire circle and sleepover will be held on Thursday.

Week 4: July 20–24

Ages: 5-7
Early Journal: A Writing and Craft Workshop
JY9-J1
Instructor: Wendy Low
AFTERNOONS: 1-4 p.m., July 20-24
$99 W&B members / $110 general public
 
A journal is a tool for learning, memory, and reflection, which is a great habit to establish early. We will explore different ways of creating and filling journals with drawings, words, photos and mementoes. Every experience that is worth remembering is worth a journal entry, and there are many ways to make those entries. Parents should be prepared for five to fifteen minutes of journal work at home between classes, and to encourage ongoing use of the journal.
 
Ages: 5-7
Bienvenidos: Fun With Spanish
JY9-L3
Instructor: Henry Padrón
MORNINGS: 9 a.m.-Noon, July 20-24
$99 W&B members / $110 general public
 
If you want to explore the Spanish language in a fun and
creative way this is the course for you! We will learn the
language through songs, games, African-Caribbean drumming, and multi-media. A walking field trip to the public market will help us learn our food words as we enjoy treats at Maria and Juan’s Empanada Stop and Rich Port bakery. This is a weeklong experience for children who want to learn Spanish in a fun and relaxed atmosphere, promising great excitement. We will design and make a piñata for a final fiesta!
 
Ages: 8-12
The Art of the Picture Book: Let’s Draw and Write
JY9-A5
Instructor: Debra Lewis
MORNINGS: 9 a.m.-Noon, July 20-24
$99 W&B members / $110 general public
 
In a picture book, the images are just as important as the words. Do you want to both write a story and illustrate it? Take this class and learn how picture books for children are made. After studying a few picture books, we will review the basics and write a story of our own. We will then identify the illustrations we want to accompany our story and work on them. In the end, we will have a work of art that we can both see and read.

Ages: 8-12
Our Own Fairytales
JY9-M4
Instructor: Doug Waterman
AFTERNOONS: 1-4 p.m., July 20-24
$99 W&B members / $110 general public
 
We all know the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Or maybe we just think we do. Come make up your own bumps and twists to turn traditional fairytales on their heads. We’ll use songs, writing, storytelling, and acting to help us explore and reinvent old favorite stories. Family and friends are invited to our final session, where we’ll share what we’ve created.
 
Ages: 9-12
Word on the Street
JY9-N1
Instructor: Annette Ramos
ALL DAY: 9 a.m.-4 p.m., July 20-24
$198 W&B members / $220 general public
 
There’s a reason why Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and Peter Parker work for newspapers: it’s where the action is! Our news team will scour the streets to uncover “the scoop” and cover recent events in the Neighborhood of the Arts and in popular culture. We will read and critique articles and photographs from
popular magazines, entertainment TV shows, City Newspaper, and the Democrat and Chronicle brought in by the instructor and participants. We will then decide which feature stories, personal profiles, and arts, music, dance, book, and restaurant reviews we want to write and photograph. At the end of the summer, our articles will come out in an exciting newsletter for distribution in shops and cafés along ArtWalk.
 
Ages: Teen
Scene Study Class
JY9-D5
Instructor: Alexa Scott-Flaherty and Caedra Scott-Flaherty
ALL DAY: 9 a.m.-4 p.m., July 20-24
$205 W&B members / $225 general public
 
Jump right in! In this workshop for teen actors, directors, and playwrights, each participant will write a 10-minute play around a common element. We will bring the plays through the development process—casting ourselves as actors and directors. Playwrights revise best by seeing and hearing work in action, so we’ll make revisions to our scripts through the rehearsal process. We will explore an honest and brave approach to acting, as used in Philip Seymour Hoffman’s LAByrinth Theater Company in NYC. In a supportive environment, we will challenge ourselves to create honest, compelling work. The class will culminate in a public performance of the plays. Find out—through DOING—the incredible relationship between the written word and performance, and the importance of living playwrights to American theater.
 
Ages: Teen
Writing the Young Adult Novel
JY9-F3
Instructor: Robert Ricks
MORNINGS: 9 a.m.-Noon, July 20-24
$99 W&B members / $110 general public
 
Have you ever felt that you could just scream from all the angst of adolescence? Well, here is your chance. We will survey great works of YA Fiction, such as The Catcher in the Rye and The Outsiders, to learn where YA literature came from and newer works to see where it is going. You will share what you find compelling about your favorite YA novels. Most importantly, you will craft a YA story of your own. Whether you have a novel-in-progress, a short story to expand, or a fresh idea, this class is for you. You can plumb the emotional depths and nuances you see going on in teen life through a vivid character. You can use your witty pen to skewer the ridiculous behavior of adults and other teens who make life miserable. You might go on to win the Printz Award for YA!
 
Ages: Teen
Literary Snapshots: A Craft Workshop for Teens
JY9-M8
Instructor: Sonja Livingston
AFTERNOONS: 1-4 p.m., July 20-24
$99 W&B members / $110 general public
 
In this class, we’ll describe what we see. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? But we can create amazingly vibrant images simply by opening our eyes and putting pen to paper. We’ll use tools of the trade (sensory imagery, dialogue, details, and drama) to describe the people, places and objects that surround us. The results will be writing that dances right off the page and let’s the readers feel as if they are inside the experience. This workshop is appropriate for writers of creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry! Students will respond to writing exercises, share their work in a supportive environment, and have several opportunities to explore the Neighborhood of the Arts.

Week 5: July 27–31

Ages: 6-8
Aesop’s Fables Fun: Page to Stage
JY9-D6
Instructor: Almeta Whitis
ALL DAY: 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m., July 27- August 7
$365 W&B members / $385 general public
 
Using classic fables with morals, whether from Aesop, America, or China, we will put together performances that add our own creative touches. We will also enter into the spirit of fable creation and stir up some moral tales of our own, using familiar elements. We’ll perform our pieces on Friday at 3 p.m. for our friends and family.

Ages: 8-12
A Guide to Sprites, Goblins, and Other Magical Folk
JY9-J2
Instructor: Angela Cannon
MORNINGS: 9 a.m.-Noon, July 27-31
$99 W&B members / $110 general public
 
Spiderwick is not the only recorder of Fantastical Notes and Observations. Through guided imagery and visits to extraordinary local gardens, we will create our own notebooks of magical beings. Our books can include character sketches, interesting happenings in magical realms, and meanings associated with fantastic “appearances.” Learn and write all you can about goblins, familiars, fairies, pookas, and other magic folk and animals.
 
Ages: 8-12
World Building
JY9-F4
Instructor: Greer Nelson
AFTERNOONS: 1-4 p.m., July 27-31
$99 W&B members / $110 general public
 
Every great story, movie, or role-playing game starts with a great world that springs from the experience and imagination of the author. In this class we will work together on creating fully fleshed out worlds for our characters to inhabit. We will look at different elements such as geography and climate, dress, language, customs, levels of science and magic, and many others, in order to see how to make them work in harmony to create a fantastically believable world.
 
 
Ages: 10-13
Fiction Writing Skills
JY9-F5
Instructor: Nancy Kress
MORNINGS: 9 a.m.- Noon, July 27-31
$99 W&B members / $110 general public
 
Learn how to make your stories grab your readers and hold on! We will look at four tasks that are central to successfully writing fiction: creating characters, describing scenes, crafting dialogue, and spinning plots. Reading excerpts of good fiction will help us see good ways to fulfill these tasks. We will also examine examples of unclear or unexciting writing and how they can be revised. As you build your understanding of how fiction works, you will also practice your fiction writing skills, creating stories to share with your classmates. The teacher is a highly successful novelist and short story writer who is also a popular teacher and a respected columnist on fiction writing.
 
Ages: 10-13
Young Poets
JY9-P3
Instructor: Sally Bittner Bonn
AFTERNOONS: 1-4 p.m., July 27-31
$99 W&B members / $110 general public
 
Poetry lurks everywhere: in the cracks of the sidewalk, in the sound of a whirring engine, in the recesses of our imaginations. This course will give you the opportunity to discover, record, and fine-tune your own poetry. We will spend the week observing the world with a poet’s eye and ear, playing with innovative writing exercises, and reading published works to inspire us. Each participant will create several new poems. An encouraging environment will be created to foster a great community of Young Poets. On the last day of class, we will have a showcase to share our works with family and friends.
 
Ages: 12-16
The Fantastical Writer’s Notebook of Fantasy and Magic Things
JY9-J3
Instructor: Angela Cannon
AFTERNOONS: 1-4 p.m., July 27-31
$99 W&B members / $110 general public
 
This program is designed by popular demand for graduates from “The Field Guide to Fairies, Sprites, and Goblins,” but it is open to all those interested in fantasy and magic! In this class we will explore how different authors use myth and magic in their writing and how we can utilize it in our own. Through research, games, and other activities, we will put together our own Notebooks of Fantastical Things to enhance our storytelling, poetry, and journal keeping. We will further our knowledge of the magical by exploring Viking Rune Stones, herb and tree lore, fairy tales, dragonology and more to help us connect to the enchantment that surrounds us all! Bring a blank notebook and your magical minds.
 
Ages: Teen
Interviewing for Publication: Writers’ Profiles
JY9-N2
Instructor: Amy Calabrese
MORNINGS: 9 a.m.-Noon, July 27-31
$99 W&B members / $110 general public
 
Profile writing is a basic journalism skill, and interviewing people is a skill that has uses beyond writing. In this class we will look at examples of profiles in various styles. We will interview writers working in various genres: newspaper and magazine journalists, reviewers, poets, songwriters, novelists, technical writers, dramatists, ad copywriters. You will develop questions to conduct an interview and write a profile on a writer of your choosing. We will line up local writers willing to be profiled, but if you manage to land an interview with your favorite author, more power to you! We will edit together with an eye to writing strong leads and giving each piece a shape. The completed profiles will be featured on our Writers & Books website. Because of the insight you will gain into writers’ lives, this class is not just for aspiring journalists, but for any teen serious about making writing part of their career.
 
Ages: High School
Advanced Fiction
JY9-F6
Instructor: Steven Huff
AFTERNOONS: 1-4 p.m., July 27-31
$99 W&B members / $110 general public
 
Do you feel that your writing is ready for the “real world”? This workshop will help you, an aspiring writer, to polish your work, improve your style, and analyze your technique. Learn revision skills that the pros know: choosing the best point of view, helping readers engage their senses in imagining your story, increasing reader interest through controlling when you reveal information, paring away elements that are not supporting your main impression, etc. We will look at editing as well: how to avoid cliché, what and when to cut, “show, don’t tell,” and how to take advantage of the English language’s vast stock of words. We will work together to become better writers, revisers, and editors.

Week 6: August 3–7

Ages: 6-8
Aesop’s Fables Fun: Page to Stage
(week 2)
Instructor: Almeta Whitis
ALL DAY: 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m., July 27–August 7
Note: Second of two weeks. See page 11, above.
 
Ages: 9-12
Writers & Cooks: Menus for Every Meal
JY9-C1
Instructor: Paul Jonasse
MORNINGS: 9 a.m.-Noon, August 3-7
$159 W&B members / $175 general public
 
Cook up a storm and put together your own cookbook in this busy, creative, and tasty workshop for budding young cooks and writers. Taught by a chef who is also an English teacher, this workshop will take place in a teaching kitchen. Participants will work from a full day’s menu—breakfast through evening snack—cooking, eating, and discussing dishes for one meal for each day. They will annotate and illustrate the recipes (including their own creative variations), and do a bit of taste-bud- -tickling creative writing. Note: New Recipes!

Ages: 9-13
Writers & Cooks: Around the World
JY9-C2
Instructor: Paul Jonasse
MORNINGS: 1-4 pm, August 3-7
$159 W&B members / $175 general public
 
Travel the world and write your own cookbook in this busy, creative, and tasty workshop for budding young cooks and writers. Taught by a chef who is also an English teacher, this workshop will take place in a teaching kitchen. Participants will work from a full day’s menu—breakfast through evening snack—cooking, eating, and discussing dishes for one meal for each day. They will annotate and illustrate the recipes (including their own creative variations), and do a bit of taste-bud- -tickling creative writing. Note: New Recipes! Note- New recipies!

Ages: 9-13
The Storyteller’s Apprentice
JY9-M5
Instructors: Renee Conleyand Kevin SerWacki
ALL DAY: 9a.m.-4 p.m. August 3-7
$198 W&B members / $220 general public

You like that special warmth that comes from faces in rapt attention to your voice. Perhaps you plan to baby-sit or work with children in the future and want to learn more about engaging techniques for reading and storytelling that encourage them to grow up to be readers. Perhaps you see yourself as a future public speaker, swaying crowds with your voice, or as a beloved author of children’s books. You are a great candidate for the Storytelling Apprenticeship! We will focus on the skills of an oral storyteller and on your own ideas for a book. You will then apply your skills at Asbury Daycare Center, where you will read and tell stories to children and small groups. You will choose at least one story to develop into a special dramatic delivery. You’ll also create your own short book to share. On Friday afternoon at 3, along with the daycare children, invited family and friends will get to see your work.

Ages: 10-13
Bringing Your Poem to Life
JY9-P4
Instructor: Sally Bittner Bonn
ALL DAY: 9a.m.-4 p.m., August 3-7
$198 W&B members / $220 general public

You knowyou like to write poems, but you wonder what to do with them when you’re finished. We will explore just how to bring your poems to life! If you’d like, you may bring already written poems to workwith. We will begin with engaging and inspiring writing exercises to get our creativity flowing. We will soak up some inspiration from the Neighborhood of the Arts, including a trip to Visual Studies Workshop to see examples of artists’ books. Then we will work on presentation. Explore turning a poem into an artworksuitable for framing, making books and broadsides, and reading/performing your poem out loud for an audience. We will present our work on Friday at an Art Opening and Performance.

Ages: Teen
Through My Eyes: Memoir Writing for Teens
JY9-N3
Instructor: Sonja Livingston
AFTERNOONS: 1-4 p.m., August 3-7
$99 W&B members / $110 general public

We’ll learn to write about what we know best: Our own lives! We all havestories to tell! Nomatter howold you are, where you come from, or where you hope to go, your take on the world is unique and worthwhile.Readers are hungry to read about real-life characters and experiences.Inthis interactive workshop, we’ll breathe extra life into our personal stories by borrowing from the rich language of poetry and the snap and pizzazz of good fiction. Participants will respond to writing exercises and share their work in a supportive environment. We’ll also have a guest writer and plenty of opportunity to exploreand find inspiration in the Neighborhood of the Arts. Bring some pocket money on Tuesday to go to StarryNites CafÈ and write outside while drinking something fancy!

teen
Teen Writers’ Circle
JY9-M6
Instructor: M.J. Iuppa
MORNINGS: 9a.m.-Noon, August 3-7
$99 W&B members / $110 general public

Whether you write poetry or prose, here is your chance to share new ideas and experiment to deepen your understanding of how your writing works and what makes it powerful. Share your work for appreciation and helpful comments. Open yourself upto what your peers around the country and in the room are writing, and try new forms and techniques. No previous experience is required and all types of writing are respected.

Week 7: August 10–14

Ages: 6-8
Olden Days of Wizards, Knights & Daring Damsels
JY9-R2
Instructor: Marna Rossi
ALL DAY: 9a.m.-3:30 p.m., August 10-14
$182 W&B members / $199 general public

Travel to magical times of enchantment! Enjoy stories of wizards and dragons,bold princesses and daring knights.Learnabout the marvels of the middle ages. Through games and crafts, find out about how kids lived and had fun in castle times. Visit a museum to learnabout the magic of story. Through the power of your imagination and words, create medieval adventures and act them out as skits.

Ages: 9-12
Cauldron of Fiction: The Middle Ages
JY9-F7
Instructor: Wendy Low
AFTERNOONS: 1-4 p.m., August 10-14
$99 W&B members / $110 general public

We will study strong hierarchical kingdoms of the actual 13th and 14th centuries in three cultures: England under Edward III, Mali (Central Africa) under Mansa Mula, and China under the first Ming Emperor, Hong. Then we will develop our own fantastical kingdom based on historical medieval elements and our imaginations. We’ll draw maps, architecture and fashions; we’ll list beasts and plants.We’ll know what classes of men and women exist and how each contributes to the common welfare. We’ll decide what goods are traded for what other goods with neighbors, what the climate is like, and what rules, laws and beliefs govern society. Finally, we’ll write stories from our own well-imagined Once Upon a Time.

Ages: 10-12
Mathemania
JY9-X1
Instructor: Kerry Robertson
MORNINGS: 9a.m.-Noon, August 10-14
$99 W&B members / $110 general public

Math is a language all its own, with wonderful ways of describing the world. Enjoy mathematical discovery and exploration! Read some of the poems and stories that math
has inspired. Look into the math of Quidditch and other sports. Hear historical stories of discoveries in math. Figure out the tricks behind misleading math riddles. Play mathematical playground games. Write and act out your own weird math word problems. Learn about other numbering systems, special kinds of numbers (like square, triangular, and perfect numbers), and the fun of solving mathematical puzzles. Play math games with friends, including mancala and backgammon. Play with Tangrams and with origami, the Japanese art of geometrical paper-folding. Full of physical and mental activity, this is a camp for kids who think math is fun!

Ages: Teen
Keep it Real
JY9-D7
Instructor: RobertRicks
ALL DAY: 9a.m.-4 p.m., August 10-14
$198 W&B members / $220general public

Do you ever wish people would listen to what you have to say? Come learn how to create believable characters based on yourself, teens you know, or your ability to empathize imaginatively with teens you don’t know. Tell the world what it’s like to be on the front edge of adolescence. We’ll read monologues (dramatic speeches) and scenes for teens (including those written by other young people) before writing our own. We’ll take risks while we learn about acting, characterization, and voice. At the end of the workshop, we’ll perform our own pieces or choose actors from among us to let our characters speak from the stage for an audience.

Ages: High School
Writing the College Admissions Essay
JY9-B2
Instructor: David Pascal
MORNINGS: 10a.m.-Noon, August 10-14 (21?)
$99 W&B members / $110general public

Learn to write impressive essays for admission applications, the kind that wowadmissions officers bywhat you say and how you say it; that advertise you: creative, curious, intelligent, hard-working, and involved. Bring your questions about college applications and any specific essay questions from schools where you want to apply. We will practice with the real thing.

Week 8: August 17–21

Ages: 6-8
Magic Tree House Summer Adventure
JY9-R3
Instructor: Marna Rossi
MORNINGS: 9a.m.-Noon, August 17-21
$99 W&B members / $110 general public

Take part in wonderful magical adventures from the Magic Tree House Series. Join Annie and Jack as they solve problems, help people, and travel around the world and through time. Like Annie and Jack, we will learn about the animals and people in each environment we visit. We will read some of the stories and act out some of the scenes. Through trips to libraries, archives, and museums, we will explore how we can learn about animals, landscapes, and peoples in other times and places. You will illustrate stories through art activities, and, with a team, create your scenes and act them out for your friends and family. You and your friends and family will also haveachance to join with classmates at a Magic Tree House Picnic in the amazing Classroom in the Trees (at the Gell Center of the Finger Lakes).

Ages: 6-8
Animal Fantasy
JY9-F8
Instructor: Amy Martin
AFTERNOONS: 1-4 p.m., August 17-21
$99 W&B members / $110 general public

Is Charlotte spinning webs in your garage? Do ants look up at you and wonder if you are an Ant Bully? Are there Warrior cats in your backyard? Since the days of Aesop, people have created stories where common animals have personalities like people...but still have characteristics of their animal species. We’ll hear animal stories from various cultures and create some of our own involving animals we know well in our environment. We’ll write poems and skits from our animal’s point of view to shareon the last day with an invited audience of family and friends.

Ages: 8-12
Picture This
JY9-A6
Instructors: Lisa Johnsonand Alicia Vandervorst
ALL DAY: 9a.m.-4 p.m., August 17-21
$208 W&B members / $228 general public

They say,ìApicture is worth a thousand words,î and Rochester hosts the home of a picture giant: George Eastman. If you love to photograph and write poetry or short stories, then join us! We’ll spend a week exploring the George Eastman House, gardens, photo galleries, and permanent museum collection as inspiration for our creative writing (as well as trying picture-making methods from pinhole cameras to Photoshop). Participants will create photographic narratives with their cameras. Our pens will capture the words that help to tell the photographic story. A final presentation featuring participants’ photographic and written expressions will be your own digital camera, you may wish to bring it.

Ages: 9-12
Character Building
JY9-F9
Instructor: Debra Lewis
MORNINGS: 9a.m.-Noon, August 17-21
$99 W&B members / $110 general public

The heart of good fiction can be found in its characters. This week will focus on the art of making believable, lovable char- acters that our readers will be excited to journey with through our stories. We will explore who are characters are, what they want, and how they change throughout the course of our stories. We will flesh them out, giving them personalities, families, and secrets, as well as physical characteristics. We will look at them in different ways, exploring dialogue and point-of-view. By the end of the week we will have characters that are as real as you and I!

Ages: 9-12
Call of the Wild:Through the Eyes of Wolves and Dogs
JY9-M7
Instructor: Amy Martin
AFTERNOONS: 1-4 p.m., August 17-21
$99 W&B members / $110 general public

Much fiction writing and reading helps us see the world through other people’s eyes. Here is a chance to see through the eyes of wolves. We will read both scientific research and fiction that try to get inside the minds, senses, and social lives of these species, so familiar to men throughout our history, whether feared, reviled, or loved. We will compare ourselves with our canine neighbors and see how they can teach us much about ourselves and yet remain mysterious and apart.
We will do sense experiments that allow us to get a better feel for their perspectives. And we will create believable canine characters and write them into realistic or fantastic situations. One day will be spent at Seneca Park and the Zoo, exploring and taking notes on behavior and habitat.

Ages: 13-16
My Life, My Words
JY9-N4
Instructor: Debbie Sullivan Murray
MORNINGS: 9a.m.-Noon, August 17-21
$99 W&B members / $110 general public

By now, you’ve seen a lot of what life has to offer—the good, the bad, the exciting, and the worrisome. Why not write about it before it flies out of your head and is gone forever? Write about all of your fun and funny friends, your favorite summer place, or your least favorite restaurant (and the time you found a gruesome insect in the potatoes). Your experiences can become essays, memoirs, or even the basis for fiction. Write about your worst vacation, favorite relative, scariest moment, proudest achievement, and earliest memory. Tell the story of your life—the story that’s yours and yours alone. Join us for a week of creativity and memory. We’ll prevent your original ideas from slipping into the outer atmosphere by collecting them in an anthology to go home.

Ages: Teen
Your Fantastic Novel
JY9-F0
Instructor: Debra Lewis
AFTERNOONS: 1-4 p.m., August 17-21
$99 W&B members / $110 general public

Are you not satisfied with short stories, poetry, and non-fiction? If you would like to take a longer journey with characters of your own creation, this workshop is for you. Since getting started is sometimes the hardest part, we will brainstorm together. Once we get started, there will be no stopping us! You will investigate what elements make for compelling characters and situations in a first chapter, and incorporate what you learn. We will work through the tangles that your characters and plot create for you—learning how to keep the novel going, and even how to tie it together at the end! Whether you write fantasy,sci-fi, or realistic fiction, this is a chance to grow as a writer while creating a whole world of your own! You will also get to help shape a work-in-progress currently being written byyour teacher and you will begin to create our own
book for your peers. Whether you have a novel-in-progress, a short story to expand, or a fresh idea, this class is for you.

Ages: Teen
Photo Meets Word
JY9-A7
Instructor: Karen vanMeenen
ALL DAY: 10 a.m.-3 p.m., August 17-21
$158W&Bmembers / $175 general public

Note: Eastman House members receive W&B member price. If you love both word andvisual art, then consider combining photography and creative writing to deepen your artful expressions and increase their impact. We’ll roam the George Eastman House, gardens, photo galleries, and permanent museum collection, collecting our thoughts and images. We’ll experiment in our writing and photography, using Surrealist and Dadaist techniques, the oldest pinhole camera technologies,and the latest digital technology to create collages, poetry postcards, and other forms that combine text and image. Afinal presentation featuring participants’ photographic and written expressions will be displayed at a last day Art Openingî exhibition. If you have your own digital camera, you may wish to bring it.

Ages: High School
Screenwriting
JY9-D8
Instructor: Neal Dhand
MORNINGS: 9a.m.-Noon, August 17-21
$99 W&B members / $110 general public

Ever wonder why your favorite film is so good, or why that movie you saw recently was so bad? We’ll break down scenes to investigate what works and what doesn’t in classic drama as well as genre films. You will learn to write the screenplays you see in motion on the big screen! This workshop will incorporate plenty of actual, hands-on writing and critique in addition to insights from classic examples. From format to exposition to character development to story, find out what happens before a movie becomes a movie. Students should come with a few simple ideas for a plot or a character in a situation. Over the course of five intensive sessions we’ll begin to develop your ideas towards the treatment and screenplay form and put you on your path to a successful script.

Week 9: August 24–28

Ages 6-8
Tales for the Earth
JY9-D9
Instructor: Almeta Whitis
ALL DAY: 9a.m.-3:30 p.m., August 24-28
$182 W&B members / $199 general public

The Earth asks all the birds of the world to embark upon on a quest to save her life,describing the place they must reach in order to bring back a message from the Great Being,who lives in the House of the Treasure,in a garden beyond the edge of time...îIn a tale told by the 12th century Persian poet, Farid ud-Din Attar, the birds actually undertake the important quest. Today we are asked to take wings and quest in our creative response to Earth’s call. Through artistic expression, we will honor the Earth. We will write journals, stories, life observations, and poetry to express and communicate our desire to protect Mother Earth. The students will receive wisdom of Earth’s indigenous peoples, via their languages, songs and traditions as inspiration for their own word creations. These creations will be developed into performances for Friday.

Ages: 6-8
Magic Tree House Summer Adventure
JY9-R3a
Instructor: Marna Rossi
MORNINGS: 9a.m.-Noon, August 24-28
$99 W&B members / $110 general public

Take part in wonderful magical adventures from the Magic Tree House Series. Join Annie and Jack as they solve problems, help people, and travel around the world and through time. Like Annie and Jack, we will learn about the animals and people in each environment we visit. We will read some of the stories and act out some of the scenes. Through trips to libraries, archives, and museums, we will explore how we can learn about animals, landscapes, and peoples in other times and places. You will illustrate stories through art activities, and, with a team, create your scenes and act them out for your friends and family. You and your friends and family will also haveachance to join with classmates at a Magic Tree House Picnic in the amazing Classroom in the Trees (at the Gell Center of the Finger Lakes).

Ages: 8-12
Write On a.m.
JY9-J4
Instructor: Wendy Low
MORNINGS: 9a.m.-Noon, August 24-28
$99 W&B members / $110 general public

You know you love to write. It’s the end of the summer and school is starting. Here’s a class that will help you keep writing throughout the year! Learnto finish the stories and poems you start and to keep a journal of observations and ideas. Look at famous people’s creative journals and learn new uses for your own journal. End the summer with a writing extravaganza! Take home the inspiration and techniques to keep you going!

Ages: 8-12
For a Song
JY9-S2
Instructor: Doug Waterman
AFTERNOONS: 1-4 p.m., August 24-28
$99 W&B members / $110 general public

Anything can be a song! A book you love, or a day you hate. Strong feelings are the number one ingredient you need to turn everyday life into your own song. In this workshop, we’ll sharpen our songwriters’ tools and explore techniques to help us find our own song. In the end, you will have an opportunity to perform for one another and our invited guests. Musicians are very welcome, but musical training is not a must. Robert Burns couldn’t carry a tune, and he’s one of the greatest lyricists in history! We’ll share our new songs with invited guests at a performance on Friday.

Ages: 9-13
Write On p.m.
JY9-J5
Instructor: Wendy Low
AFTERNOONS: 1-4 p.m., August 24-28
$99 W&B members / $110 general public

You know you love to write. It’s the end of the summer and school is starting. Here’s a class that will help you keep writing throughout the year! Learn to finish the stories and poems you start and to keep a journal of observations and ideas. Look at famous people’s creative journals and learn new uses for your own journal. End the summer with a writing extravaganza! Take home the inspiration and techniques to keep you going!

Ages: 11-14
Creating Short Films for Broadcast
JY9-V1
Instructors: Joshua Bloodworthand Nacor Castillo
ALL DAY: 9a.m.-3:30 p.m., August 24-28
$208 W&B members / $228 general public
Note: Meets at RCTVat 21 Gorham Street

In this collaboration between Writers & Books and Rochester Community Television (RCTV), you’ll learn how to use the visual and auditory tools of filmmaking to put across your poem, song, public service announcement, comedy bit, or storyscene.You’ll learn how to use the technical resources of RCTV: Studio, backdrops, studio cameras, handheld cameras, Apple G-5s with editing software. You’ll examine written scripts and treatments and analyze finished films. As a small team, you will produce short films for broadcast on RCTV Channel 15. Come with a poem, PSA idea or other short film idea. You’ll leave with a DVD of the group’s work. The work will belong to you, so if you wish to upload it to the web, you can!

Ages: Teen
Song Project
JY9-S3
Instructor: Doug Waterman
MORNINGS: 9a.m.-Noon, August 24-28
$99 W&B members / $110 general public

Songs are everywhere. Love some? Good. Hate some? Interesting... Feel the urge to change some words, or some notes? Great! There’s a place for you in Writers & Books’ Song Project. Whether you write words, music, or both, Song Project is a place to find support, co-writers, and people ready to sing or play your song. Students can work on their own, or team up with others. The only requirement is a willingness to share your work with others and a desire to take it to the next level. Come to the first session with CDs and lyric sheets for your favorite songs. If you play an instrument, bring it (keyboard on site).

Ages: High School Girls
Write Who You Are
JY9-N5
Instructor: Karen vanMeenen
MORNINGS: 9a.m.-Noon, August 24-28
$99 W&B members / $110 general public

Teen women have unique experiences, problems, feelings, dreams, and hopes. In this safe circle, we will explore these personal and cultural issues through poetry, personal essays, sharing life stories, and writing from journal prompts. Participants will be given the opportunity to write from the heart and share who they are and what they experience with a supportive group of other young women. We will also read and discuss selections from insightful books, including Ophelia Speaks: Adolescent Girls Write About Their Search for Self, The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women, Odd Girl Out,and Women Who Run With the Wolves.

Ages: Teen
Teen Poets
JY9-P5
Instructor: Sally Bittner Bonn
AFTERNOONS: 1-4 p.m., August 24-28
$99 W&B members / $110 general public

ìIf I feel physically as if the top of my head were
taken off,I know that is poetry.î
—Emily Dickinson

This is a fun course for serious poetry lovers! We will really pack it in, reading and writing many styles of poems. Discover what you love in published poets and work at making those qualities come alive in your own work. We’ll play with the sounds of poetry as well as the white space on the page. We’ll create rich images and metaphors. At the end of the week you will go home with a great collection of poems by published writers as well as a stack of your own new work and pieces from your classmates. Our goal is to have the tops of our heads taken off as many times as possible during the week!

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