Class

Write Your World for Ages 12 to 14

Welcome back to Summer Youth at Open Book! Join us for a week of writing and all day creativity!

-Session 1: Finding the Poet Within for Ages 12 to 14
In this class, we'll discuss the many techniques poets use to find the strongest way to express their ideas through language and structure. We'll especially discuss how to develop stronger imagery in our writing and how the structure of a poem effects how it's read.

-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.

-Sesson 2: Beyond Text: Visual Experiments in Writing for Ages 12 to 14 with Courtney Ludwick
As writers, we rely on image all the time: in metaphor, in description, in our characters, in the worlds we create on the page. But how might we use image beyond text? What happens to our writing when we embrace experimentation and lean into hybrid forms—into forms that use both text and image? Working within a hybrid tradition, first we will explore how contemporary writers have used visual experimentation in revolutionary ways—discussing examples of new media, visual poetry, experimental fiction, erasure, and collage, among other forms. Then, we will turn to generating our own work. Students can expect to write new material, break apart traditional genre conventions in order to (re)construct hybrid works, and to, quite literally, rip up magazines and old books as we experiment with a wide variety of texts and media. Centering innovative “play,” this is a generative workshop for students working in any genre who want to investigate new forms, practice experimental writing practices, and explore the intersections between image and text, art and writing.

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