Summer Writing Camps For Teenagers
We're finally launching summer camp classes for teenage writers in the Bay Area (and beyond). These virtual programs (conducted on Zoom) will be taught by published experts in the field, compassionate teachers and writers who will motivate your teenager during a summer when normal socializing opportunities are limited.
The imagination abounds. It cannot be suppressed! Whether your child needs an outlet for expression, a creative community experience, or ideas about how to approach college application essays in the near future, our summer camps are designed to engage and inspire their creative work.
Days: Monday through Friday (see dates below)
Time: Afternoons (see times below)
Ages: 10th - 12th grade (in fall 2020)
Price: $325 per week
Reminder: We will donate $50 of every enrollment fee to one of the following local organizations doing vital work for people of color and underserved communities in the East Bay:
Roots Community Health Center, which uplifts local citizens impacted by systemic inequities and poverty.
East Oakland Collective, a community organizing group invested in serving the communities of deep East Oakland by working towards racial and economic equity.
POETRY CAMP FOR TEENS
Inviting Wildness and Wonder
July 20-24
12-2pm
The language of poetry allows us to venture into places we might not otherwise have entered, to know things we might never have known. In this virtual workshop, we’ll explore the landscape of the poem. How to enter, set up camp, light a fire. We’ll learn how to invite metaphors, description, whole new ways of thinking.
Rumi said “Out beyond wrong doing and right doing, there is a place. I will meet you there.” We’ll read poets who meet us there, too—who help us to explore inner and outer wilderness: Ada Limón, Nickole Brown, Mark Doty, Javier Zamora, Tracy K. Smith, and Dorianne Laux. These are some of the poets who will act as our guides.
Together we will read, write, and share poems with a mind of curiosity and wonder.
Danusha Laméris’ first book, The Moons of August, was chosen by Naomi Shihab Nye as the winner of the Autumn House Press poetry prize and was a finalist for the Milt Kessler Book Award. Some of her poems have been published in: The New York Times Magazine, The Best American Poetry, The American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, and
Prairie Schooner. She is the 2020 recipient of the Lucille Clifton Legacy Award. Her second book is Bonfire Opera (University of Pittsburgh Press). Danusha teaches poetry independently and is the 2018-2020 Poet Laureate of Santa Cruz County, California.
PERSONAL ESSAY CAMP FOR TEENS
Speaking Your Truth
July 27-31
1-3pm
We all have stories to share, but we don't always have the time or support to share those stories. During this course, we will respond to structured prompts and study various techniques that will help us write about our experiences in a way that will highlight our unique voices and provide a powerful message to share with our readers.
Whether composing our narratives for a college application, or simply learning how to write personal non-fiction for fun, this class will allow you to explore and discover more about yourself through your language, deep reflection, and a few laughs along the way. Join this class if you're interested in professionally and artistically speaking your truth!
Alan Chazaro taught high school English and writing for 9 years in New Orleans, Boston, and Oakland. He is the author of This Is Not a Frank Ocean Cover Album and the forthcoming Piñata Theory. He is currently a creative writing adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco, and is a writer and editor of NBA stories at HeadFake.