Class

From Memoir to Myth (for ages 12 to 14)

Welcome to the Loft's Summer Youth program at Open Book! Join us for 4 days of writing and creativity!

SESSION 1:
WRITE ABOUT YOURSELF
(for ages 12 to 14, with Amelia Colwell)

Ever wonder why you’re drawn to writing about your real-life experiences? Do you have something to say about who you are, but you’re not sure where to start? In this class, we'll write as a tool to figure things out and explore who we are as people.

We’ll read work on identity and writing from Jane Wong, Shannon Gibney, Nic Stone, Glennon Doyle, and Anne Lamott. Expect to spend part of each class: writing in response to prompts, reading and discussing essays and memoir, free writing, and group sharing and feedback time, with breaks to care for our bodies.

No advance work expected – come to class with your favorite writing device or notebook, and we’ll take it from there together!

LUNCH AND 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:
ALTERNATE HISTORIES
(for ages 12 to 14, with Amy Sailer)

In this workshop, students will collaborate on a group novella that takes place in an alternate history. We will discuss examples of alternate histories in excerpts of novels and TV shows, like Nisi Shawl’s Everfair, Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Years of Rice and Salt, Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, and the TV show For All Mankind.

Students will work together to choose a "point of divergence" — the point when the course of history could have changed — and create a new timeline for their alternate history. Then they'll write their own 3–5 page stories that take place in the shared timeline.

On the final day of class, we'll read and workshop each other’s stories for craft and continuity, and the teaching artist will send out the final anthology at the end of the course.

This class offers a chance to experiment with worldbuilding techniques in a historical context. It also provides a creative outlet for students to use historical research, and to consider sequences of cause and effect in plot.

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