“Playing with Words,” A Creative Writing Program for Tweens/Teens At Canton Public Library

Beginning in June and continuing through July and August, Canton Public Library is offering a 12-week long writing workshop for tweens and teens.  Called “Playing with Words” and led by Annie Barrett, the sessions will be held on Wednesdays, beginning on June 13 and ending on August 22, and running from 6:30 -7:45 PM.  The series is being funded by a technology grant from The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.

A longtime Collinsville resident and herself a poet, Barrett says of the series: “This workshop series for young writers is intended to offer collaboration, encouragement, and lots of new ideas about how to use language to explore feelings and ideas, create unique characters, and tell a story.”

Tweens and teens who are entering grades 6-12 in fall of 2012 are invited to sign up.  The group will be limited to 10 participants.  Six of the sessions will be formal workshop sessions; the alternate six weeks are informal and optional workshop times for participants to gather to work on their writing and assignments using the library’s computer lab.  Participants must be available for at least four of the six formal workshops (and keep up with the assignments for any workshops they need to miss.)

At the end of the whole series, each participant will contribute one "finished" piece to a collaborative book, which will be bound by a "print on demand" service.  One copy will be added to the library collection, and one copy will be given to each participant for their personal use.  (More than one copy may be provided to participants for a fee.)

The final meeting of the group on Wednesday, August 22, will be a presentation at which the young authors will read their work aloud to an open audience.

Barrett is a library assistant at the Canton Public Library and a literature and composition instructor at the University of Hartford and Northwestern CT Community College.  Her poems have appeared in journals such as Connecticut River Review, Tiger’s Eye, and Common Ground Review.  She has been awarded a residency at the Millay Colony for the Arts and a fellowship grant from the CT Commission on Culture and Tourism, and her collaborative pieces have been exhibited at the bi-annual Word Art shows at the Gallery on the Green in Canton.

“Playing with Words” is free.  REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. Canton Public Library is at 40 Dyer Avenue, Canton.  For information:  (860) 693-5800 or www.cantonpubliclibrary.org