Not a kid, but wish you could go to 826’s amazing writing programs? Now, thanks to 826 Michigan‘s How To Write Like I Do workshops, you can—and you don’t have to put your hair in pigtails and pretend to know about Bakugan.
Inspired by a similar series at 826 Seattle, the How To Write Like I Do workshops for adults are held 5-6 times per year, led by writers like Daniel Alarcon and Peter Ho Davies. Novelist and UM MFA faculty member V.V. Ganeshananthan leads the next session February 4, 2012 (that’s tomorrow!) titled “The Reported Imagination: Journalism Techniques for Fiction Writers“:
Whether writing what she knows or writing what she doesn’t — and needs to find out — any fiction writer can learn from reporters. Reporters go out into the world and observe it closely: interviewing people; hunting down information; producing lots of copy on deadline; and subjecting themselves to rigorous editing for length and clarity. How can fiction writers turn this approach toward the practice of writing creatively? […]
Workshop participants will enjoy Zingerman’s coffee and pastries as they read, write, and discuss the issues raised in this workshop. Proceeds, as ever, support 826michigan’s free creative writing programs for students 6-18 in Washtenaw County.
The cost is $25 for one person or $40 for two, and tickets are available online at Brown Paper Tickets. (Zingerman’s pastries? As if I needed yet another reason to wish I were in Ann Arbor…)
If you’ve already got plans this weekend, no need to despair. You can catch the next session, “The Richness of Place: Setting in Fiction” with Doug Trevor (winner of the Iowa Short Fiction Award) on May 5, 2012, or attend 826 Michigan’s Third Annual Writer’s Conference, June 15-17, 2012. Check their website for forthcoming details.
And stay tuned—Program Coordinator Catherine Calabro writes: “We’re hoping to start a sister series called ‘How to Write Like Kids Do’— workshops that our volunteers teach but for adults to give them the chance to play/write creatively with a cool community of writers.”
