Class

Jumpstart Your Writing (for ages 12 to 14)

Welcome to the Loft's Summer Youth program at Open Book! Join us for a week of writing and all-day creativity!

SESSION 1:
EXPRESS YOURSELF! WORD!
(for ages 12 to 14, with Rachel Guvenc)

Are you passionate about expressing yourself? Are you curious about writing poetry? In this class you will explore poetry, Spoken Word, music, visual art and more to inspire your writing. You'll write poetry about your memories, dreams, observations, and opinions.

In our 4 days together, we'll use our senses to create vivid descriptions of our experiences and ideas. We will explore poetry by Margaret Noodin, Langston Hughes, Gloria Muñoz and others. Then you'll get the chance to write your own poems. As a group, we'll do games and fun activities that get the creative juices flowing.

By the end of the 4 days, you'll have a collection of poems you can choose to read aloud for our final celebration! Express your inner thoughts, memories, and emotions through poetry!

LUNCH & ENRICHMENT:
We'll break for lunch with more activities that will inspire us to express ourselves while having fun! We may explore Gold Medal Park to seek creativity outside the classroom! Please bring a packed lunch.

SESSION 2:
AN AMERICAN HAUNTING – A GUIDE TO GHOSTS
(for ages 12 to 14, with Alice Paige)

Ghosts haunt our histories, our abandoned houses, our lives. The past returns over and over again to demand we face the forgotten. The walls breathe. The cemetery sings with the impressions of life. The world churns with what has left it behind. How do we tell these tales? Why do they stay with us? What place does the ghost story take up in the modern narrative landscape? How do we blur the difference between life and death with our storytelling?

In this 4-day class, we'll discuss all these topics and learn how to write ghost stories that will stay with readers long after we've shuffled off this mortal coil. Class time is split between short lectures, discussion questions, and writing prompts. Reading material will be provided in class. Students can expect to regularly share written work.

Aspiring writers, grab your notebooks and pens, and let’s write at the Loft!