Classes & Workshops

A writing workshop for 3rd-6th graders, taught by award-winning author Victoria Oltarsh. Victoria will guide children in how to create their own original stories and begin a first draft of their book. We will explore settings, book categories, plot points, character development, how to write dialogue, and story arcs.

This is a 4-class series that includes a showcase presentation of the children's work with a table read.

Purchase of Victoria's book The Boy and the Secret of the Stars is optional with registration. But why not reserve one? Pick up at The Sparkle.

Class meets 4-5pm on Wednesdays, February 4, 11, 18
NO CLASS on Wednesday Feb. 25
Wednesday March 4 Class will be followed by a showcase and table read

Find Language for Emotion: Prose Poetry with Laurel Peterson
Emotions like grief and anger can feel overwhelming, especially when we try to translate them into creative work. Where do we start? Join Laurel S. Peterson, poet and fiction writer, whose latest collection, The Sky Weeps with Us, tries to channel those emotions and out of them create meaning and beauty. Let's spend the afternoon talking about ways we can do that by looking at other poets who have and writing our own work, including plenty of time for sharing and discussion. All are welcome.

Laurel’s poetry has been published in many literary journals. She has published two poetry chapbooks, That's the Way the Music Sounds (Finishing Line Press) and Talking to the Mirror (Last Automat Press) as well as two full-length poetry collections, Do You Expect Your Art to Answer? and Daughter of Sky (Futurecycle Press) and two mystery novels, Shadow Notes and The Fallen (Woodhall Press). Her latest release, The Sky Weeps with Us, is available at Finishing Line Press. She is a writing professor, serves on the Norwalk Public Library Board, and was Norwalk, Connecticut’s, Poet Laureate from April 2016 – April 2019. Find her at https://laurelspeterson.substack.com/ and at her website: https://www.laurelpeterson.com/.

$10
If you would like to request a fee waiver, please contact Donna at the store. No one will be turned away.

This is an online workshop, meeting Wednesdays 6-8pm on October 7, 14, 21, and 28.

All memoir writing highlights our experiences (what happens in the world) and our behaviors (how we respond to the world). The space between them is the writer’s inner life—the place where their real voice talks, generates insights, uncovers false stories, and creates meaning. You’ll learn techniques to elicit and use that crucial inner voice to maximum effect. Perfect for memoirists and fiction writers at all levels.

Lorraine Ash works as a book editor and author coach specializing in all forms of autobiographical writing. She has penned two memoirs, Life Touches Life: A Mother's Story of Stillbirth and Healing and Self and Soul: On Creating a Meaningful Life. Most recently, she edited the award-winning Corona City: Voices from an Epicenter, an anthology of first-person writings that chronicles life in New Jersey and New York when these two states were the nation's first COVID-19 epicenter. Lorraine studied at Fordham University and California State University, Long Beach. She lives in New Jersey.

** Early Bird Tuition: $445 with code ASHTTY70 before August 15 at 5:00pm
(Tuition after August 15 $515)

** CANCELLATION POLICY: Full refunds are available for cancellations at least one week prior to the workshop. Cancellations up to two days before will receive a 50% refund. No refunds will be issued for cancellations the day before or the day of the workshop.

Maybe you fell in love with your first Phalaenopsis a while back and, like some of us, have encountered via YouTube growers of more “exotic” orchids: cattleyas, oncidiums, cycnodes, and others. Challenge your grower’s hand with something new!

Join us for 60 to 90 minutes discussing and potting a selection of lovely exotics. We’ll talk about origins, care needs, and how we might accommodate them in our homes.

Orchids, pots, and medium will be provided. Depending on enrollment, attendees will go home with 2-3 plants. Varieties may include cycnodes, oncidium, cattleya, and phalaenopsis, but specifics will depend on nursery stock.

**UPDATE: Varieties will include Zygopetalum hybrids, one Oncidium hybrid, and one Cochleanthes species.

There will also be books, of course!

$50
You'll be asked to register with our website, which will allow us to record your enrollment.

FINDING YOUR AUTHENTIC VOICE: Writing from the Emotional World of the Protagonist

In this one hour workshop, for writers of all genres and styles, we'll explore how to locate and write from our work's authentic, compelling voice. Voice arises naturally from the emotional world of our protagonist. We don't need to force it or even think it up.

We'll look at examples of voice from novels, short stories and a screenplay, then we'll practice the technique with our own work in progress or from a prompt, taking away a felt, intuitive approach to language, cadence, rhythm and structure that tells our stories, imagined or real, with earned momentum and genuine depth.

Thursday October 2 at 6pm
$10
You'll be asked to register with our website, which will allow us to record your enrollment.

Jeff W. Bens is author of the novels The Mighty Oak and Albert, Himself. Jeff's short fiction and essays are published widely. He teaches at Manhatanville University.

This event is funded in part by Poets & Writers with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.