Writing for Young People: ASTAL Summer Institute

3rd Annual
ASTAL Summer Institute
Writing for Young People

June 24, 25, 26, 27, 29 & 30, 2009

These days can change your life.

View our ASTAL Institute Presentation to meet our faculty, see our program in action,
and hear what our participants have to say about their experiences.
VIEW PDFVIEW PPT

SCHOLARSHIP INFO

Catherine and Montie Ciarlo
Memorial Scholarship

The Catherine and Montie Ciarlo Memorial Scholarship, named in remembrance of two outstanding educators and good friends to ASTAL, provides all expenses for the recipient to attend the ASTAL Summer Institute, Writing for Young People.

We will accept applications from participants and nominations.

Application/Nomination Form

Learn More

Once again this summer the Alliance for the Study and Teaching of Adolescent Literature (ASTAL) at Rhode Island College is offering an institute for people who are interested in learning to write for young people. Participants will write and interact for six days of working with award-winning authors who serve as their instructor/mentors; they will also attend presentations about book publishing featuring editors and publishers and they will meet and hear from guest authors. The instructor/mentor to student ratio will not exceed 1:8 to provide maximum opportunities for individualized instruction and feedback during work sessions. Enrollment will be limited and students will be accepted in the order that we receive the applications by the strand indicated.

PROGRAM FEATURES

  • 8 to 1 student/faculty ratio
         Highly rated faculty
  • Whole Group Instruction and Feedback
  • Mentor Group Instruction and Feedback
  • One-on-One Mentor Conferences
         Editor-in-Residence to critique manuscripts
  • Individual session with the editor
  • Presentation and Feedback
         One day freelance writing workshops
         Book fair (with discounts)
  • Guest Authors
  • Keynote Speakers
  • Follow-up Session in the fall

Enrollees may elect to earn three graduate or undergraduate credits for their participation. Credit fees are $894 and noncredit fees are $750.

For more information, watch for postings on this page or contact ASTAL@ric.edu. Watch this web site for information about the presenters and the instructor/mentors.


PARTICIPATION OPTIONS

This year we are featuring four participation options:

Option 1  Full registration
Participants will enjoy the following opportunities:

  • Whole Group Instruction and Feedback
  • Mentor Group Instruction and Feedback
  • One-on-One Mentor Conferences
  • Editor-in-Residence to critique manuscripts
  • Individual session with the editor
  • Presentation and Feedback
  • One day freelance writing workshops
  • Book fair (with discounts)
  • Luncheon with Patricia McCormick
  • Opportunities to interact with Guest Authors
  • Opportunities to interact with Keynote Speakers
  • Follow-up Session in the fall

Option 2 "Cashing in on Your Imagination: Becoming a Freelance Writer," June 27, one day workshops
Participants will join Institute participants for a day long program exploring aspects of freelance writing to turn talent into cash in these difficult economic times.

  • One day freelance writing workshops
  • Book fair (with discounts)
  • Luncheon with Patricia McCormick
  • Opportunities to interact with Workshop Leaders over lunch

Option 3 Speakers Only
Participants will have the opportunity to attend the author presentations from 9-10 on June 24, 25, 26, & 29 and Luncheon on June 27

  • Opportunities to interact with Guest Authors
  • Book fair (with discounts)
  • Luncheon with Patricia McCormick

Option 4 Luncheon, June 27

  • Luncheon with Patricia McCormick
  • Book fair (with discounts)


TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

While there will be variation from day-to-day at the Institute, the following will give you an idea of the structure.

Days 1, 2, 3, and 5

  • 8:30 Coffee and informal discussion
  • 9:00-9:50 Guest Speaker
  • 10-11 Whole group instruction [Workshop time for the advanced group]
  • 11-12:15 Writing time in mentor groups (one-on-one conferencing)
  • 12:15-1 Lunch
  • 1-1:30 Whole group discussion
  • 1:30-3:30 Writing/ Mentor groups/critiquing

Day 4 "Cashing in on Your Imagination: Becoming a Freelance Writer"
All Institute participants are automatically enrolled in this program.

  • 8:30 Sign-in for one day registration
  • 9-9:45 Keynote
  • 10-11 Workshop session 1
  • 11:10-12:10 Workshop session 2
  • 12:30 Lunch
    Speaker Patricia McCormick
    ASTAL Book Fair

Day 6

  • Mentor groups and participant readings

Day 7

  • One Day Fall Follow-up, date TBA


INSTITUTE FACULTY

About Padma:
Padma Venkatraman's first novel, Climbing the Stairs, has received numerous award and starred reviews. She is currently working on her second and highly anticipated novel. She is also a published poet and the author of numerous popular science articles. Paper Etchings is a collection of her poetry. Her nonfiction book for young people include: The Albertosaurus Mystery: Philip Currie's Hunt in the Badlands (2006), and Double Stars: The story of Caroline Herschel (2007), a young adult biography about the first female professional astronomer, and Mathematwist (2007), a collection of mathematical folktales.

About Peter:
Peter Johnson was the recipient of a Rhode Council on the Arts creative writing award in 2002 and a 1999 fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Peter founded and edited "The Prose Poem: An International Journal" and The Best of The Prose Poem: An International Journal (White Pine Press, 2000).His second collection of prose poems, Miracles & Mortifications (2001) was the winner of the 2001 James Laughlin Award. His other books include a short story collection, I am a Man (2003) as well as Eduardo & "I" (2006), Pretty Happy! (1997), and Love Poems for the Millennium (1998).

About Kara:
Kara LaReau is a Connecticut native who now lives and works in Providence, RI. After earning an MFA in Emerson College's outstanding program in Writing, Literature, and Publishing, she worked as an editor at Candlewick Press in Cambridge, Massachusetts and at Scholastic Press. Among the authors she has worked are Rosemary Wells, Kate DiCamillo, Norma Fox Mazer, Deborah Wiles, Cecil Castellucci, and poet Paul B. Janezcko.

      "I love when I give my book to Kara and then we talk. She pulls the best stuff out of me, she has this magical way of just tweaking things just so and then I'm off and running. I love when I get her notes and then I revise. Revising is fun. First drafts are hard."

                    Cecil Castellucci, author of Beige in an Interview with Tim O'Shea ("Talking with Tim")
                    Click Here

For more about Kara and her exciting new company Bluebird Works, visit www.bluebirdworks.com.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Copyright 2007-2010 The Alliance for the Study and Teaching
of Adolescent Literature at Rhode Island College. All rights reserved.
600 Mount Pleasant Avenue - 357 Craig Lee Hall • Providence, RI 02908-1991 • 401-456-8457 & 401-441-3441
Visit Rhode Island College Web Site

free page hit counter