STATUS UPDATE 

A writing group for children and young adults in Fall 2013.

What "counts" as writing? Where and when does it happen? Why do we often speak in a different voice than the one we write in? Where do stories come from? A workshop by Peter Nowogrodzki, Olivia Williams, and Kaya Weidman.



What "counts" as writing? Where and when does it happen? Why do we often speak in a different voice than the one we write in? Where do stories come from? 

For ten sessions throughout the Fall, local writer Peter Nowogrodzki will team up with Kite’s Nest educators to offer a broad spectrum of imaginative writing experiences.  We will partner with local writer whose talents ranged from fiction to spoken word to hip hop.  Together, we will think and talk about different forms of creative writing.  We will begin each class with a shared group experience that stimulates our senses - a shared tasting of food, a visualization, a song or a physical movement. We will then have time for a collective writing experience as well as individual writing time and, whenever participants feel inspired to read their work to others, we will be sure to facilitate a supportive group sharing environment.

Our goal is to empower the voices of young writers.  We will expand our understanding of what writing is, as well as capture our attention through writing that breaks free from rules and rights and wrongs. Through wordplay, games and experiments, we might compose a collaborative poem out of text messages, write rap lyrics on candy wrappers, transcribe a story our friend tells, keep a journal about our lives inside a fantasy video game, or invent histories about the Hudson River.  Our experiences together will deliver to us new words and with those words, new ideas. Participants will become comfortable with the coexistence of many written voices, and also gain confidence in the sound of their own writing voice. This group is for anyone and everyone who enjoys words in any form: rhymed, sung, read, texted, written and spoken.