Attention writers!

We just announced the spring 2013 lineup of Adult Writing Workshops!

Starting April 8, we will be holding a different two hour workshop every Monday for six weeks. The classes are taught by professional writers and give you a chance to sample several genres and writing techniques throughout the season. This spring, the classes will be about these topics: creating dialogue, “cozy” mystery writing, nonfiction, poetry, playwrighting, and memoir writing.

The classes are for adults ages 18 and up, and we keep them small – we limit them to 20 students per course, so the workshops can fill up quickly. Be sure to register early!

For more information about the workshops, the instructors, logistics, and registration, click here to visit our website.

 

Master Class: Marketing Your Writing Through Social Media

Finding the inspiration for creative writing is never easy. But once it’s written, it can be just as difficult to leverage the power of the Internet to promote your work. Social media can be a powerful promotional tool – and to help you better understand the opportunities available online, Thurber House is excited to present a one-day master class entitled Marketing Your Writing Through Social Media.

Instructor Heather Whaling is the president of Geben Communication and a frequent speaker on the value of social media as an extension of public relations. At work, she helps brands and individuals integrate traditional and digital PR. During this class, Heather will provide tips and best practices to promote your writing online.

The class will be held on Saturday, May 19 from 1 – 3 pm at Thurber Center, 91 Jefferson Avenue. The deadline for registration is May 16. Enrollment is limited to 25 students, so be sure to sign up soon – for more information, and to enroll online, click here.

Spring Preview: Exciting Events to Add to Your Calendar

Spring is in the air – and you won’t want to miss any of the great events Thurber House has planned for the season!

Do you know a high school-aged student with a love for writing? Our Young Writers’ Studio gives them a chance to get together with like-minded peers and work with a professional writer to hone their talent. Remaining dates for this season are: March 28, April 11, April 25, May 9, and May 23. Call 614-464-1032 ext. 13 for registration information.

Spaces are available in several of our Adult Writing Workshops – are you interested in writing graphic novels, journaling, plotting a romance novel, or composing poetry? Click here to check out the classes and our award-winning lineup of instructors.

Speaking of graphic novels, we will be welcoming graphic novelist (and OSU alum) Paul Hornschemeier to Thurber House next week as our latest Writer-In-Residence. We’re excited to be partnering with the Columbus Museum of Art for his stay here. Welcome back to Columbus, Paul!

The application deadline for the John E. Nance Adult Writer-In-Residence Program has been extended to May 1. This program is a residency for a working writer in James Thurber’s boyhood home, and it gives the writer the gift of time to develop his or her work-in-progress.

Have you heard about the Kente project? We are partnering with Columbus Children’s Choir, Thiossane West African Dance Institute and Columbus Children’s Theatre for this project – the four organizations will work together to present West African folktales through dance, drama, spoken word, and song. We will host Dr. Buchi Offodile for a week-long residency while he teaches students at Thurber House and local library branches about folktales. You can find out more about the Kente Project via their website, Facebook page, Twitter, and YouTube channel.

We have four more Evenings with Authors events left in the Winter/Spring season. What a fantastic opportunity to meet some of your favorite best-selling authors! Lisa Lutz will be here March 20, Beth Gutcheon will be here April 4, Anne Perry will be here April 18, and J. Courtney Sullivan wraps up the season on June 5. Tickets are still available for all four events – order them here or call 614-464-1032.

And if you’re like us and can’t help but look forward to summer, we’ve got you covered there too. Summer Writing Camp registration is underway! Fabulous programs for kids in grades 2 – 8 are planned. Need more information? Click here. We also have an exciting lineup for our summer Literary Picnics, so keep an eye on this blog and our website for more information as they are announced.

For more information about these offerings (and two very special literary events we have coming up in May), be sure to like us on Facebook.

Thurber House Staff Favorite Fictional Character Picks

At Thurber House we often find ourselves in deep discussion about the latest book we’ve read, and most recently, with the Adult Writing Workshop coming up on Developing Characters in Your Fiction, we began to talk about our favorite fictional character. Members of our team were asked to submit their all-time favorite, though some of us had a hard time picking just one! So here it is, the Thurber House Staff list of favorite fictional character(s):

The character(s): Jane Eyre, Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird, Kate Vaiden, Lord Peter Wimsey in Dorothy Sayers’ mysteries and the magnificent Count of Monte Cristo.
The staffer: Susanne Jaffe, Executive Director
Susanne says: “This is such a difficult question to answer in a sentence or two or to even name just one character, so I’m not even going to try. For me, these are characters who live within me long after the last page of the book has been read. They are memorable and unforgettable because they possess human characteristics embellished through the brilliant writing of great authors.”

The character: Gulley Jimson from The Horse’s Mouth
The staffer: Amanda Fondriest, General House Administrator
Amanda says: “NPR recommended this book, and I pretty much do everything NPR says:) I like Jimson because the photographer or the soon-to-be-wife-of-a-musician in me relates to him on a personal level – he makes me feel comfortable and reminds me that most dreams aren’t supported or understood by others because if everyone saw the madness in the pursuit, it wouldn’t make the finished product nearly as valuable.”

The character: The silver-tongued vampire Lestat from Vampire Chronicles
The staffer: Anne Touvell, Deputy Executive Director
Anne says: “Lestat is complex, wise, wickedly clever and at times totally reckless. He also has an insatiable appetite for knowledge and is deliciously evil. For me Lestat is the greatest character I have ever met in a book. He is the gold standard vampire, no others compare.”

The character(s): Milo from Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze, Quillow from The Great Quillow, Walter Mitty from The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and all the characters from The Help
The staffer: Pat Shannon, Director of Education
Pat says: “Ever since Alan Silberberg came as our Children’s Writer in Residence in 2008, I have loved his character Milo, the “loveable geek.” I’m also very fond of Thurber’s characters, Quillow and Walter Mitty. Now that I think about it, they are both dreamers and underdogs … hmmmm.”

None of these characters would have been quite as memorable without the creative story around it. To discover the secrets of good writing, sign up for one or more of our Adult Writing Workshops. Classes teach you storytelling best practices, tips for genre writing and character development. Hope to see you there!

Calling all aspiring writers: Thurber House Announces Fall Adult Writing Workshops

Want to learn about narrative writing? How about blogging? Or developing fictional characters? We’ve got all that and more during our Fall Adult Writing Workshops. Each class will focus on a different genre, giving participants the opportunity to explore various writing areas. You can register for the workshop – or workshops! – that fit your writing interests.

Sept. 12 – Introduction to Suspense/Thriller Writing                               Instructed by Carla Buckley, author of The Things That Keep Us Here                  Deadline to Register: Aug. 29

Sept. 19 – Developing Characters in Your Fiction                                      Instructed by Erin McGraw, author of The Seamstress of Hollywood Boulevard Deadline to Register: Sept. 5

Sept. 26 – Writing for TV                                                                                          Instructed by Cindy Gaillard, award-winning producer of WOSU-TV’s “ArtZine” Deadline to Register: Sept. 12

Oct. 3 – Master the Art of Blogging                                                                   Instructed by Heather Whaling, blogger at prTini.com, Mashable, OpenForum and president of Geben Communication                                                                          Deadline to Register: Sept. 19

Oct. 10 – Writing a Story from a Picture                                                                Instructed by Lisa Klein, author of Ophelia and other novels                                   Deadline to Register: Sept. 26

Oct. 17 – How to Write a Young Adult Series                                                    Instructed by Linda Gerber, author of the “Death by …” YA series                               Deadline to Register: Oct. 3

Class size is limited to 15 participants (18 and older) per course and available on a first-come, first-served basis, so make sure you register today! To enroll, please complete the registration form attached here and mail it to 77 Jefferson Ave., Columbus 43215 or fax it to 614-280-3645 along with your payment. All classes are held at Thurber Center (next to Thurber House) from 6-8 p.m.

For more information about the Adult Writing Workshops, visit http://thurberhouse.org/adult-writing-workshop.html or call 614-464-1032.

We hope you’ll participate!

Joe Blundo Master Class

Thurber House is pleased to offer an Adult Writing Workshop Master Class taught by Joe Blundo, author of the beloved column, “So To Speak.” He will lead a master class in humor and column writing on Saturday, May 21 from 1-3 p.m.  Class size is limited to 25, and the deadline to enroll is Tuesday, May 17 – so get your application in soon!  You must be over 18 years old to participate.

“So To Speak” has been a Columbus Dispatch fixture since 1997. His trademark mix of humor, insight, information and humanity is one of the paper’s most popular regular features.  Blundo has one book, Dancing Dads, Defective Peeps & Buckeye Misadventures, which is a compilation of some of his favorite columns. In 2002 he won the National Society of Newspaper Columnists’ contest for humor writing in large newspapers.

For more information about the class or to register click here.

Sign up soon for our Adult Writing Workshops!

The deadline is coming up fast to sign up for either of our Adult Writing Workshops!

Thurber House is offering two programs: Fun, Fearless, Fiction and Fun, Fearless Poetry.  Both of these classes are for any level of writer, incorporating in-class writing exercises and critiques to help boost your writing chops.  This is your chance to work with two profesiona writers and soak up all their knowledge.

Stephanie Harrison will lead the fiction workshop, sharing her experience from teaching an online writing course for the University of Florida to editing the anthology, Adaptations: From Short Story to Big Screen.

Nancy Kangas will stretch your similes, metaphors, and explore the potential of your poetry.  She served as editor of Nancy’s Magazine, an internationally distributed magazine, for over a decade, and has been featured in print and online publications including Cap City Poets.  She writes poetry, humor, essays and combinations of all three.

Classes begin March 7 and run for six Mondays.  They are limited to 20, however, and are beginning to fill up.  You must be 18 or older to attend and the deadline is Wednesday, March 2.  So, sign up before it’s too late!

For more information, and to register for Adult Writing Workshops, please visit the workshop page on our website.

Thurber House Announces the Fall 2010 Adult Writing Workshops!

September isn’t just back to school for the kids!  Take advantage of those Back-To-School sales and get your notebooks and pens for the Thurber House Fall Adult Writing Workshops! We have two great workshops starting Monday, September 13!

From Page to Stage

New or aspiring writers will learn how to get over the hurdles of beginning the process of going from idea to story to script. Whether what you want to write is all about plot or all about character, or a great combination of both, moving from idea to page to stage is an opportunity to discover your own voice and move it to ‘center stage.’ Class limited to 20.

Instructor: Yolonda Sanders is a published author and playwright whose works have been featured nationally. She is the founder and CEO of Yo Productions, a theatrical entertainment and literary service company.

Introduction to Nonfiction Writing

How to write a variety of nonfiction including magazine articles, books, memoir, corporate communication, Web projects, ghostwriting, speeches, and more. From getting started to how to edit and proofread, to building your brand and interviewing tips and techniques, this class is a basic overview of the many different and interesting forms of nonfiction writing. Class limited to 20.

Instructor: Gretchen Hirsch is the published author of numerous nonfiction books in a variety of categories. She is the president of the Stevens/St. John Company where she provides communications project management; ‘chief surgeon’ at Midwest Book Doctors; and senior writer for Flyin’ West Marketing in San Francisco.

Classes begin Monday, September 13 and run for six consecutive Mondays from 6–8 p.m., until October 18.  All classes are held at Thurber Center 91 Jefferson Avenue, next door to Thurber House. Parking is free on Jefferson Avenue after 6 p.m.

Class size is limited to ensure individual attention so enrollment is on a first-come, first-serve basis.  The deadline for registration is Tuesday, September 7. For more information, including price and a downloadable registration form, visit www.thurberhouse.org.

Kick off 2010 with Thurber House’s Winter Adult Writing Workshops!

Have you been working on a novel or short stories and want some critical attention from a pro? Or maybe you’re deep into a memoir and need that little extra something to finish it? Then the 2010 Winter Adult Writing Workshops may be the answer to your New Year wishes!

Beginning February 1 and running six consecutive Mondays until March 8, there are two new Adult Writing Workshops:

Personal Memoir Writing taught by bestselling author D.G. Fulford
Intermediate Fiction Workshop taught by Ohioana Book Award winner, Terri Paul.

These classes are not for beginners. They’re intensive workshops for adults 18 and up, and classes are limited to guarantee personal attention to your work.

Deadline for registration is Monday, January 25, 2010.

For details about time, cost, class content and teachers, and to download a registration form, go to: wwew.thurberhouse.org.

Start your New Year write!

THURBER HOUSE ADULT WRITING WORKSHOPS ARE BACK!

The pilot program this past spring was an overwhelming success, and now the Adult Writing Workshops are a permanent Thurber House program with classes planned throughout the year.

So for all you wordsmiths out there, listen up!

Beginning, Monday, September 14 and running for six consecutive Mondays, from 6-8 p.m.  through October 19, the new classes are: Introduction to Poetry, taught by Ohio Arts Council Award recipient for Individual Excellence in Poetry, Ariane Bolduc.  The other class is Introduction to Young Adult Fiction, taught by the highly regarded YA novelist, Lisa Klein.

Class size is limited so you won’t want to miss out on these details:

TUITION:  $250, non—refundable.

DEADLINE FOR REGISTRATION:  Tuesday, September 8.

You must be over 18 to participate.

CLASS LOCATION: All classes are held at Thurber Center, 91 Jefferson Avenue, Columbus, next door to Thurber House. Parking is free on Jefferson Avenue after 6 p.m.

For more information on class content and the teachers, and to download a registration form, go to www.thurberhouse.org.

You won’t want to miss out these terrific classes so ACT NOW!