WORKSHOPS:
"Brooke seems to see where her students are, and what they aspire to, with amazing clarity. I made a huge transition in Brooke’s workshop. I had been producing first draft after first draft of work, unsure what to do next with my raw material. Brooke gave me guidance and encouragement to expand, examine, streamline. In workshop, she was a careful reader, providing wide-focus examinations of pieces as well as delicate line edits. She led discussions with flexibility and made us into a community of writers: we are still in touch, reading one another’s work. Brooke has a rare quality in a workshop leader, meeting writers where they are and challenging them to get somewhere else!"
--Micaela Blei
--Creative Nonfiction Workshop, Spring 2010
"Brooke Shaffner's workshop inspired me to continue writing. Other writing workshops I've taken left me at a loss afterwards about how to move forward with my work. This time, I have Brooke's perceptive critiques to guide me through the revision process. Through Brooke's focus on the actual techniques and tools writers can use to tell their stories, I was able to see my writing in a different light. At the same time, Brooke consistently pushed us to figure out what hid at the center of our stories, to get down to the 'heart of the matter'."
--Caitlin Chandler
--Creative Nonfiction Workshop, February 1-March 8, 2010
BROOKE IS CURRENTLY TAKING ON MANUSCRIPT CONSULTATIONS, TUTORING CLIENTS, ADMISSIONS ESSAYS, AND OTHER WRITING/EDITING PROJECTS!
JULY 10-15, 2012: THE STORY OF EACH STONE: A WRITING AND HIKING RETREAT IN COLORADO (for adults):
Find us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Story-of-Each-Stone-A-Hiking-and-Writing-Retreat-in-Colorado/172948629474385?notif_t=page_new_likes
Brooke is currently developing a multi-genre writing and hiking retreat near Aspen, Colorado in partnership with Pam Brown, a certified trainer who leads hikes in Colorado. This workshop would be open to 6 students of varied writing levels working in a variety of genres. Pam Brown will develop hiking and outdoor activities around students' fitness levels and interests. Details will be posted soon. Brooke is in the process of developing a website for this workshop. Email summerwriting2012@gmail.com if interested and we will do our best to mold the workshop around your needs and interests.
Sleeping on the Wing: A Creative Writing Workshop for Teens (July 23-August 8, 2012)
Find us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Sleeping-on-the-Wing-A-Creative-Writing-Workshop-for-Teens/165483916895335
Description: Sleeping On the Wing, named for Frank O’ Hara’s poem, offers high school students the experience of writing in an intimate, supportive workshop that values the risks and adventure of the creative process. No previous creative writing experience is necessary—only a fascination with words and a desire to develop greater fluency and confidence in your writing. Each student will have the opportunity to workshop two pieces and to meet individually with me. Students will learn about poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction, and the writing process through readings and exercises based on Kenneth Koch’s anthology of modern poetry Sleeping on the Wing, and excerpts of works by Sandra Cisneros, Jamaica Kincaid, J.D. Salinger, and Lorrie Moore, among others. They will investigate the strategies these authors use to craft their prose and poetry, learning to read the work of their peers, and ultimately their own work, with a greater awareness of structure, voice, character, image, scene, setting, and language. Email summerwriting2012@gmail.com for more information.
Instructor: Brooke Shaffner has taught creative writing to teenagers through Northwestern University's Center for Talent Development, the Bank Street Writing Workshops, Creative Alternatives of New York, and at Athens Academy. She currently teaches writing at Rutgers University, and has worked in education for a decade—teaching, tutoring, and writing literature and composition curricula for Pittsburgh, Chicago, Lynwood, and Clayton County public high schools. She received her MFA in creative writing from Columbia University, has been published in The Hudson Review and the anthology Lost and Found: Stories from New York, and has received numerous awards and fellowships for her writing. Her memoir, Between That Body and This One, is represented by Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc.
Genres: fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry
Ages: 13-18
Dates: Meets six times on M 7/23, W 7/25, M 7/30, W 8/1, M 8/6, W 8/8. Meeting times are still flexible and can be changed according to students’ schedules.
Cost: Sliding Scale: $400-$500
Class Size: Ten spaces are available on a first-come-first-served basis.
Projections: A Creative Writing and Photography Workshop for Teens (late July/August 2012). Find us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Projections-Summer-Writing-and-Photography-Workshop-for-Teens/103828369741985
Description: Projections is a creative writing and urban landscape photography workshop. Students will study, emulate, and workshop poems about the Brooklyn Bridge by Vladimir Mayakovsky and Derek Walcott, the Staten Island Ferry by Audre Lorde, and the Brooklyn Ferry by Walt Whitman—extending New York literary history into the present. They will study historic and contemporary photographs by Robert Frank, Garry Winogrand, Gordon Parks, Weegee, Berenice Abbott, Lee Miller, Vivian Maier, and Helen Levitt, among others. Between workshops, they will field trip to and photograph the Brooklyn Bridge and the Staten Island Ferry. During the final week, students will publish their poems and photographs in an anthology. For sample writing exercises, poems, and photographs, see http://projectionsnyc.blogspot.com/. For a full syllabus, email summerwriting2012@gmail.com.
Instructors:Brooke Shaffner will co-teach this workshop with photographer and longtime educator Charlie Stephens.
Charlie Stephens has been taking pictures since 1983---the year, at age 8, Charlie used allowance money to buy a battered Instamatic 110 at a garage sale in Salem, Oregon. Since then Charlie has earned a M.A. in Education from San Francisco State University, and has lived all over the United States as a teacher, bike messenger, writer, bookstore clerk, boat captain, photographer, chauffeur, and seasonal shark diver (for educational purposes only). Charlie's creative work has appeared in Transfer 93, Artsy Magazine, Make/Shift Magazine, OaklandLocal, Instant City, Original Plumbing, The Bedford Gallery, and will soon have the honor of gracing the cover of Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore's latest anthology due out this year.
Genres: poetry, flash fiction, photography
Ages: 13-18.
Dates:This workshop will meet 6 times as follows: T, 7/24 (classroom, 2-4 pm), TH 7/26 (Brooklyn Bridge, 1-4 pm), T 7/31 (classroom 2-4 pm), TH 8/2 (Staten Island Ferry, 1-4 pm), T 8/7 (classroom, 2-4 pm), TH 8/9 (classroom 2-4 pm).
Cost: Sliding Scale: $400-$600
Class Size: Ten spaces are available on a first-come-first-served basis.
===========================
Brooke Shaffner is also available for private tutoring for college application essays, as well as tutoring for junior high and high school humanities subjects, general organization, and study skills.
|