More About The Writers’ Academy at the Kravis Center
The 2016-2017 Writers’ Academy begins with the popular Kickstart Your Writing Ability, a two-hour immersion program to be held on Tuesday, January 3rd, letting aspiring writers “dip an exploratory toe” into the craft and power of writing, says instructor Julie Gilbert.
Writers’ Launch, beginning on January 10th, 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.” Writers’ Launch will be held on seven consecutive Tuesdays beginning January 10th, from 1:30-3 p.m. Writers’ Launch II, a second series of seminars beginning February 28th, is a continuation of the first series, building upon skills learned. The cost for each Writers’ Launch series is $325.
“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’ Circle sessions occur every two weeks beginning January 9th at 12 p.m., and are designed for dedicated, working writers who have either been published or are actively working on being published. The cost for the series is $525.
“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.”
Gilbert is also known to Kravis Center fans as a co-presenter of popular lectures, including this season’s Kravis Film & Literary Club presentation of Tennessee Williams: Timeless Art From A Tortured Soul, on March 13 at 11 a.m.
On Friday, April 7th 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. The cost is $10.
To learn more about The Writers’ Academy, please call 561-651-4339 or visit kravis.org/writers.