Youth Classes

Ages 10-13
Young Writers’ Circle
Great for homeschoolers too!

F11-Y6
9 Wednesdays, 3:45- 5:00 p.m.
September 29- December 1 (no class November 24)
$99 W&B members/$110 general public
Instructor: Wendy Low

You enjoy creative writing. Join a group of young writers who are eager to develop new skills. This course will allow you to dig in, explore new approaches to craft, share your work with others, and learn to give effective feedback under the guidance of an encouraging teacher. Inspiring writing prompts will help generate new work, and revision sessions will help turn a good piece of work into a great one. We will look at how to begin and finish works of fiction that will draw in and delight readers, sharpen our skill with words through learning new poetic techniques and forms, and try our hands at dramatic writing. Optional “fieldwork” assignments will allow you to further practice your writing skills.

High School
Writing the College Admissions Essay

F11-Y7
4 Thursdays, 6:30-8:00 p.m.
September 23-October 14
$99 W&B members/$110 General Public
Instructor: Wendy Low

Learn to write impressive essays for admission applications, the kind that wow admissions officers by what 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.

Ages 11-14
Haunting Highland Park

F11-Y8
One Saturday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
October 23
$39 W&B members/$45 general public
Instructor: Melissa Slocum

Highland Park is not just a park. It’s a garden, a castle, an observatory, a reservoir, and the pathway to a cemetery. And it’s a door way to stories, art, poems, personal essays, and so much more. We will explore the park and Mt. Hope Cemetery, walking around each area and stopping often for writing exercises, intriguing history bits, tours, and photo opportunities. While at Mt. Hope Cemetery we will also discover who haunts and inhabits this historic landmark. As one of our projects, students will be able to try writing their own ghost stories using this expansive landscape as their backdrop and local stories as prompts. Students are free to write in their preferred genre for their project, including poetry, short fiction, or personal narrative. Feel free to also keep a photo journal so that we might explore the outdoors, buildings, and sculptures with pens and eyes. Please bring a lunch. Upon registration, students will be notified of meeting point in the park.

Saturday Series

In this new, unique series, students ages 8-11 have the opportunity to work with several different writers, exploring different topics. This will give young writers a diverse experience, allowing them to both expand their horizons and hone in on specific writing skills. Take your pick! Attend just one session, a few, or all four.

Saturday Series
Ages 8-11
Picasso is a Writer!

F11-Y1
One Saturday, 10 a.m.-noon
September 25
$27 W&B members/$30 General Public
Instructor: Karen Lee Lewis

Join us on a field trip to Memorial Art Gallery where we will explore the elements and principles of art making, and discover how they can inspire the creation of literary art! We will use several stimulating original works of art for writing poetry or prose. This workshop will leave you feeling encouraged, energized and motivated!

Saturday Series
Ages 8-11
Fiction: Setting & Atmosphere

F11-Y2
One Saturday, 10 a.m.-noon
October 16
$27 W&B members/$30 General Public
Instructor: Wendy Low

We will read passages that establish setting, including those from authors famous for their ability to draw us into imagined worlds, such has Poe, Dickens, Tolkien, Leguin, and Rowling. Whether we seek to establish a spooky, mysterious, joyful, or whimsical atmosphere, we will see how “telling details” and word choice make the difference, how sentence structure can help, and how point of view and setting interact. Then, using various prompts, we will experiment with writing brief passages of setting interspersed naturally with dialogue and action.

Saturday Series
Ages: 8-11
Fleshing Out Your Halloween Character

F11-Y3
One Saturday, 10 a.m.-noon
October 30
$27 W&B members/$30 General Public
Instructor: Debra Lewis

Halloween is the perfect time to think about characters! In this class we will come dressed in our Halloween costumes and learn all about this basics of character development. Using our costumes as a starting point, we will create believable, lovable characters complete with personalities, families, secrets and desires. We’ll have fun getting into the heads and hearts of our characters, and make them more interesting for our readers.

Saturday Series
Ages 8-11
The Power of Poetry

F11-Y4
One Saturday, 10 a.m.-noon
November 13
$27 W&B members/$30 General Public
Instructor: Sally Bittner Bonn

A single spark can set a whole forest ablaze. The same is true with your imagination! Anyone can write poems. No previous experience needed. We’ll try a handful of inspiring writing exercises focusing on your powers of observation, memory, and creative language. Each student will come away with at least three new poems. Come, show up to the page, and see what you can create!

Full Saturday Series
F11-Y5
4 Saturdays, 10 a.m.-noon
September 25, October 16 & 30, November 13
$99/W&B members/$110 general public
Instructors: various
Enjoy the discount when you register for all four Saturday Series workshops!

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