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Named Best Literary Magnet By Atlanta Magazine 2007

This program is funded in part by:

The Literary Center’s Summer 2008
Creative Writing Camps

About our summer writing program:

Summer 2008 marks the seventh year for our very popular Summer Creative Writing Camp at the Margaret Mitchell House & Museum. We have expanded our program to meet demand by adding more variety and two full-day workshops!

Our workshops provide an opportunity for youth to discover the power and excitement of writing. The young scribes will be inspired and encouraged to hone their writing skills in a fun, interactive environment. Because the workshop is limited to 15-18 participants, each youth receives individual attention. Campers learn how to create meaningful prose through a variety of techniques, like stream-of-consciousness writing, journaling, free verse poetry and more.

SESSION 1: Poetry Rocks!
SESSION 2: Mystery in the City SOLD OUT
SESSION 3: Playwriting
SESSION 4: Comedy Writing
SESSION 5: Fiction & Fantasy SOLD OUT
SESSION 6: Mystery in the City
SESSION 7: Write On! SOLD OUT
SESSION 8: Write Your Life

Please Note:  Price includes daily snacks and juice, all writing supplies, and a 2008 “Write On” T-shirt. Camp pricing may vary to cover special field trips. If a field trip is added for your session, details and permission slips will be in a "Welcome Letter” mailed to campers at least a week prior to the start date of each session. Most field trips require an additional but nominal fee (about $5-$8).  Examples of past field trips: lunch at the Varsity; an art exploration at the High Museum; a jaunt to Midtown Cinemas for a "movie critic" activity.

“Performance of Our Written Work”
Each session (except Write Your Life) wraps with a “Performance of Our Written Work” for family and friends on the last day of camp. Mark your calendars!

Camp Descriptions:

NOTE: Instructors may approve campers younger or older than ages specified

SESSION 1 ● June 9-13 ● 9:30am – 1pm ● ages 10-14
Poetry Rocks!: Enjoy poetry as you experiment with its most entertaining forms, from silly limericks to traditional verses. By listening to poems that sound like songs, and songs that sound like poems, writers will learn the possibilities of rhyme, rhythm and melody. Campers will discover that poetry isn’t always gloomy or cryptic, and that writing it can be as fun and liberating as singing your favorite rock song at the top of your lungs.

SESSION 2 ● June 16-20 ● 9:30am-5:30pm ● ages 10-14
Mystery in the City, presented in partnership with Atlanta Preservation Center: Travel to the scene of the crime, imagine the shady characters who might have dwelt there, then craft your own poem, ghost story, news story, etc. This full-day workshop involves morning field trips to historic places in Atlanta, from Westview Cemetery to the West End and the “fabulous” Fox Theater – new locations for Summer ’08. In the afternoon, campers will use their field trip experiences to delve into character, setting, plot and dialogue. Fee includes MARTA pass and camera for field trips. Campers need to bring their lunches.

SESSION 3 ● June 23-27 ● 9:30am – 1pm ● ages 10-14
Playwriting: Setting the stage for the perfect summer. Act One. Enter YOU! This interactive playwriting workshop will offer creative minds the opportunity to explore the world of theater, journeying from an inkling of an idea to the page and from the page to the stage!  Through a variety of theater games, improvisation and writing exercises, students will develop their own unique voices and experience firsthand the joy of hearing their words, characters and situations come to life. The week will also offer a behind the scenes tour of one of Atlanta's top theaters and will conclude with the ultimate finale—a performance of the original work by our budding playwrights. Bravo!

SESSION 4 ● July 7-11 ● 9:30am – 1pm ● ages 10-14)
Comedy Writing: Besides the way your parents dance, what else is funny? Why are things funny? How can you translate that funniness into a piece of humor writing? And could you actually get paid just to write comedy someday? If you have ever asked yourself these questions, our Comedy Writing camp is for you! Our mission will be to investigate why certain things make people laugh, and how we communicate our awesome senses of humor through the written word. Participants will also receive a list of publications to which they can submit their writing for possible publication. The fee for this camp includes a trip to the Zoo Atlanta.

SESSION 5 ● July 14-18 ● 9:30am – 1pm ● SOLD OUT
Fiction & Fantasy Writing: This camp is for writers who have ever read a book and said “I can do that, too!” We’ll explore different ways to create stories and poems, build compelling characters and develop interesting plots.  This session focuses on story development, fantasy writing, poetry, revision and more.  We’ll play games to help us construct characters, and we’ll take a field trip to hone our observation skills and gather fodder for stories.  In small groups, we will work together to write and perform skits.

SESSION 6 ● July 21-25 ● 9:30am-5:30pm ● ages 10-14
Mystery in the City, presented in partnership with Atlanta Preservation Center: Travel to the scene of the crime, imagine the shady characters who might have dwelt there, then craft your own poem, ghost story, news story, etc. This full-day workshop involves morning field trips to historic places in Atlanta, from Westview Cemetery to the West End and the “fabulous” Fox Theater – new locations for Summer ’08. In the afternoon, campers will use their field trip experiences to delve into character, setting, plot and dialogue. Fee includes MARTA pass and camera for field trips. Campers need to bring their lunches.

SESSION 7 ● July 28-Aug. 1 ● 9:30am – 1pm ● ages 9-12
Write On! Creative Writing Workshop: Our popular "intro to creative writing" camp is for kids who like to write and want to make new friends with other young scribes. Campers will learn the "ingredients" of the story: character, setting, description, plot, and "learning to think like a writer." These topics will be explored through writing games and exercises, as well as group brainstorming.  There will be times when campers will split into smaller groups for activities to suit their interests, as well as working on individual writing projects.

SESSION 8 ● July 28-Aug. 1 ● 2pm – 5:30pm ● grades 10th – 12th
Write Your Life: Get a head start on your college essay! Incorporating personal experience and creative non-fiction techniques, participants will create essays about formative experiences in their lives. We will use personal photos, ‘soundtracks of your life,’ and a casual outing or two to focus our thinking. We will  learn how to use precise details to create stories, and understand the ways in which writing can help us maintain memory. This is a perfect choice and opportunity for the college-bound student who aims to create a dynamite essay for the college admission application.

Meet Our Instructors:

Elly Bookman (Session 1): Elly Bookman will be a senior at Colby College in Maine, where she is an English and Creative Writing major with a concentration on poetry. While this is to mark her first time as instructor, she has spent the past two summers as lead teaching assistant for our many writing camps. Earlier this year, she taught poetry workshops in schools in Maine. Just prior to that, for her semester abroad in fall ‘07, Bookman spent four months in Madagascar, where she completed an in-depth study of the traditional poetry of that African country. She has also recently spent time in Senegal; Italy; France; and The Netherlands. In spring 2007, she was awarded the Katherine Rogers Murphy award for the best sophomore poet at Colby, whose literary magazine, The Pequod has featured her work several times. Also an accomplished musician, she continues to delve into poetry in all of its forms.

Rebecca Roberts (Sessions 2 & 6, morning leader): Rebecca Roberts, who has lived most of her life in Atlanta, will lead the morning excursions for Mystery in the City, a camp that proved mighty popular in summer 2007. Since childhood, she has explored Atlanta on foot, bicycle, and by public transportation, learning the city’s story by visiting its many historic places. She aims to share her love of Atlanta’s historical sites with her students. Roberts holds a Masters of Science in Education and Special Education. After many years in the corporate world, Ms. Roberts joined the staff of the Atlanta Preservation Center (APC) in February 2003 as the Director of Programs responsible for the APC’s education programs and management of all aspects of the APC’s eight historic guided walking tours. 

Michele Cohen Marill (Session 2 & 6, afternoon writing instructor); is a longtime Atlanta-based freelance writer and contributing editor of Atlanta magazine. She has written for Good Housekeeping, Parents, Redbook, and many other magazines. A graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she also was previously national correspondent for the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. She led our Mystery in the City camp last summer and had such a terrific time, we begged her to return.

Janece Shaffer (Session 3): A native of Atlanta, Shaffer received rave reviews leading our playwriting camp in 2007. Shaffer’s many credits as a playwright include: Managing Maxine (a commission for the Alliance Theatre to be premiered during the 2008-09 season); Bluish (commissioned by Alabama Shakespeare Festival and premiered at the Alliance Theatre in 2006); Hula-Hoopin’ Hannah and Her Hanukah Adventure (commissioned by The Jewish Theatre of the South); and Wishful Thinking (Horizon Theatre, 2003, honored with a nomination for the American Theatre Critic Association’s New Play Award). She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia and a master’s degree from Georgia State University and was the recipient of the Abby Award for Best New Artist in 2000.

Jamie Allen (Session 4): Jamie Allen’s comedy pieces and fiction have appeared in publications such as McSweeney's, Creating Loafing and the Missouri Review. A former
senior writer for CNN.com, Jamie pretends he's Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning in a parody blog at NewsGroper.com. He writes a  fatherhood column for Divine Caroline, manages content for Hundreds of Heads Books, and edits for The Duck & Herring Co.

Anne Nettles Stanford (Session 5): With a master's of fine arts in creative writing from Emerson College in Boston, Anne Stanford has been a big hit leading many of our writing camps and advanced writing workshops. She is currently the associate director of development communications at Georgia Tech, and previously spent four years as communications director for the Margaret Mitchell House & Museum and its Literary Center. She regularly contributes stories to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, including her weekly “Net News” column in News for Kids. Stanford is a native of Birmingham. Some of her short stories have been published in literary journals such as New Moon Rising and Queen Street Quarterly.

Mary Ann Rodman (Session 7): Mary Ann Rodman published her first story at the age of seven and never let up. As a children's author, Rodman has been conducting school visits and writing workshops throughout the Southeast. Her award- winning books for young people include Yankee Girl, My Best Friend, and First Grade Stinks. Rodman’s works scheduled for publication in 2007 include a short story in a young adult anthology, Such a Pretty Face, and Jimmy’s Star, a middle-grade historical fiction set during WWII. Back by popular demand, Ms. Rodman has led three previous creative writing workshops and camps here.

Sarah Dollacker (Session 8): A former International Baccalaureate English teacher at Druid Hills High School, Sarah Dollacker received her Masters of Arts in Teaching from Agnes Scott College and her B.A in English and History from Duke University. When she’s not working at the Margaret Mitchell House as Communications Manager, she can be found reading great books and writing criticism and essays for redroomlibrary.com.
  

To register, please print and complete the registration form,
add payment, and mail to:

Margaret Mitchell House
Attn: 2007 Summer Camps
990 Peachtree St., NE
Atlanta, GA 30309

Information: Programs Manager Melanie Eisenhart: 404-814-2063;
404-249-9388 (fax); Melanie.eisenhart@gwtw.org

Scholarships Available

Interested in a scholarship for your favorite summer writing camp? The Literary Center offers a limited amount of scholarships to campers based on the financial need of the family and the writing ability and interest of the camper. To apply for a scholarship, please fill out the scholarship application form explaining your financial need. Applicants must also write a 2-3 paragraph personal essay, telling about themselves and why they are interested in taking a creative writing camp at the Margaret Mitchell House.

Scholarship application deadline for all summer camps is Monday, May 12.

To donate to our Scholarship Fund: Please contact Julie Bookman, 404-814-2064; Julie.bookman@gwtw.org

Please return scholarship application forms and essays to:

Margaret Mitchell House & Museum
Attn: Camp Scholarships
990 Peachtree St., NE
Atlanta, GA 30309

The registration and scholarship forms are in Adobe PDF format.
You can download the Adobe Reader if you don't already have it installed.