ASTAL Five-Day Institute June 21-26 2007
ASTAL (The Alliance for the Study and Teaching of Adolescent Literature) at Rhode Island College has announced a new program for those interested in learning to write for young people. The five-day Institute will be held this summer on June 21, 22, 23, 25, and 26. Participants will choose between strands for fiction writing or nonfiction writing. A third strand will be available for students in grades 7-12 interested in learning to write for their peers. The instructor/mentor ratio will not exceed 1:7 to provide maximum opportunities for individualized instruction and feedback.
The program features presentations about book publishing with editors and publishers, including Kara LaReau (editor for Scholastic Books), R. James Stahl (publisher of the Merlyn’s Pen Series), and Jennifer Taber (publicist at Houghton Mifflin). They will hear from guest authors including Natalie Babbitt, Patricia Reilly Giff, Janet Taylor Lisle, Patricia McCormick, Sarah Lamstein, and Melissa Stewart. Instructors for the strands will include Tonya Bolden, Kelly Easton, Beatrice Gormley, Joyce Hansen, Mark Peter Hughes, Donna Jackson, Peter Johnson, and Liza Ketchum. I'm pleased to see the number of familiar NE-SCBWI names in this list!
Enrollees may elect to earn three graduate or undergraduate credits for their participation. There is also an audit option for people who would like to hear the morning keynotes and guest authors’ presentations but not attend the writing strands.
For those who register before April 1, the cost of this program is $800. That will include tuition for the strand, a continental breakfast and lunch each day, books, materials, and a Saturday outing. All participants will receive a detailed critique of the work they do during the Institute. There will also be a follow-up session in December. Participants earning academic credit will pay an additional $100 processing fee. Auditors will pay $450.
To download and print out the application, and for updates on additional presenters and instructor/mentors, go to the ASTAL web site: www.ric.edu/astal
For questions or more information, contact Dr. Jean E. Brown at 401-441-3441.
"To a Distant Land," watercolor, retelling of The Six Swans