December, 2015- WRITERS CELEBRATE 11TH YEAR ‘RELEASING THEIR INNER WRITING SELF’ WITH JULIE GILBERT
The Writers’ Academy at the Kravis Center gives beginning and developed writers a chance to work with a Pulitzer Prize-nominated novelist, biographer, playwright and teacher Julie Gilbert through four unique programs: Kickstart Your Writing Ability, The Writers’ Circle, Writers’ Launch and Showcase the Writing.
The 2016 Academy begins with the popular Kickstart Your Writing Ability, a two-hour immersion program to be held on Tuesday, January 5th, letting aspiring writers “dip an exploratory toe” into the craft and power of writing, says Gilbert. Writers’ Launch is just that – a pad from which to jump up and grasp the tools needed to begin. Gilbert views the Launch as a program “for anyone who loves reading and has questioned their ability to write. It is also for those who have relished writing once upon a time and found that life has galloped by without pursuing more of it.”
“I urge new writers to ‘lend me their ears and write me their words,’” says Gilbert, a National Book Critic’s Circle Award nominee for her biography Ferber: Edna Ferber and Her Circle, which chronicled the life of Gilbert’s great-aunt and fellow writer.
A third highlight of the Writers’ Academy is The Writers’ Circle, a safe haven for serious and dedicated writers to explore expression, expand and hone craft and respectfully critique fellow writers.
“The writers I work with at the Kravis Center are a funny, wise, intelligent and sophisticated bunch,” says Gilbert, who also received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for Opposite Attraction: The Lives of Erich Maria Remarque and Paulette Goddard. “But what has separated them from the myriad writers I have worked with is that they are daring. After a while, trusting that a solid amount of technique and the discipline of writing steadily would be their safety net, they have ventured up on the high wire.”
Past members of The Writers’ Circle have found their own literary acclaim. Mary Simses went on to write the novel The Irresistible Blueberry Bakeshop and Café, published by Little, Brown and Company. The Kravis Center has also published two books written by Writers’ Circle members: Driving Woodie: Tales From the Home Front During World War II by Martha McMullen and Verbal Snacks by Nancy Sims.
On Friday, April 15th at 7 p.m., talented new writers are introduced to the public at the Showcase the Writing event, where all genres of work are presented by Writers’ Circle members’ independent projects.
To learn more about The Writers’ Academy, please call 561-651-4339 or visit kravis.org/writers.