Join us at Martin Luther King\, Jr. Memori al Library on Saturday\, June 8\, from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. for Find Your Stor y\, DC Public Library's annual writers festival. This year's festival will feature poetry\, fiction\, and non-fiction workshops\, led by renowned lo cal writers\, around the theme There's No Place Like Home: Writing About P lace. The festival will be held on the 4th and 5th floors.
\nRegistr ation for Find Your Story is recommended\, but not required. Join us for w hat promises to be a great day of writing and community building! \;\n
More information about the day's sessions is below.
\n| Time | \nSession | \n
| 10 a.m. | \nRegistration | \n\n
| 11 a.m. | \nWorkshops 1 \; | \n
| Noon | \nLunch on your own | \n
| 1 p.m. | \nD ear House of My Heart Home That I Left\, Home That I Built | Daytime P erformance and Open Mic | \n
| 2 p.m. | \nWorkshops 2 | \n
| 3 p.m. | \nWorkshops 3 | \n
Workshop Title: A Traveler's
Guide to Home \;
Presenter: Dubian Campbell&nbs
p\;
Workshop Description: Travel writing is a genre
of nonfiction writing that encompasses a wide array of diverse forms inclu
ding memoir\, \; journalism\, travelogs\, and travel guide books. Trav
el writers visit far-away places and write about them\, but what happens w
hen we do travel writing on the places most familiar to us? In this worksh
op we will be learning more about travel writing and writing our own trave
l guide for the places we call home! \;
Workshop Location
: 401-D \;
Workshop Title: A House i
s Not a Home Without the People \;
Presenters: <
a href="https://verbalgymnastics.com/">John Johnson &\; Courtney Dowe \;
Workshop Description: Bring a pen and pad and come create
a community story about our home on 2024 Washington Street NW or SE or NE
or SW (we will figure out the exact address during the workshop). This wi
ll be an interactive workshop where we will use improv\, music and creativ
e narrative to explore the rituals of places we call HOME. At the end of o
ur workshop\, we will create an original story celebrating home using live
d experiences and stories from attending participants. \;
Workshop Location: 401-E
Workshop Title: \;I am a Might
Ocean: A Poetry Writing Workshop on Biography and Place
Prese
nter: Regie Cabico<
/a> \;
Workshop Description: We will look at the
construction of poetry word by word\, image by image and explore our up-a
gainst-the wall moments in our life to create image-rich I AM poems. We wi
ll look at place as an anchor for our truth telling stories of resilience
and survival. We will look at the works of former U.S. Poet Laureate Joy H
arjo and Button Poetry's Yesika Salgado to create evocative testimony to o
ur courage. This workshop is for the beginner poet and the advanced writer
. \;
Workshop Location: 401-A \;
Present
er: Rachel Coonce&nbs
p\; \;
Workshop Description: \;Whether it se
rves as the setting of a story\, the driving force for the protagonist\, o
r as a character in itself\, the idea of home can be a powerful tool in wr
iting. Home is a place\, but it could also be a person\, a pet\, an object
\, a food\, a song\, a feeling&hellip\; or some combination of these thing
s. Work with an award-winning memoirist to unlock distant memories of home
\, describe them using all five senses\, and build a clearer picture of ho
me from memory fragments. \;
Workshop Location:
401-D \;
Workshop Title: Write Where You Are&
nbsp\;
Presenter: Shannon Sanders \;
Workshop Description
: In this 50-minute workshop\, we will study a piece of published
fiction and begin working on something new. We'll start by examining a wo
rk that closely engages with place\, discussing the details the author use
s to situate us in the world of the story\; then we'll brainstorm similar
details that help to establish place in our own fiction. We'll finish by d
rafting the beginning of a new piece of work. Participants will be invited
(but not required!) to share and receive feedback from the workshop leade
r! \;
Workshop Location: 401-E
Workshop Title: Home is Where the Heart Is: Setting Your Romance
Presenter
: Timothy Janovsky
\;
Workshop Description: From outer space to a
contemporary\, small town\, Timothy Janovsky\, author of four published ro
mance novels (Sourcebooks Casablanca and Afterglow Books by Harlequin)\, l
eads an interactive workshop discussing the role of setting in romantic fi
ction. Participants will look at various romance stories from pop culture
and beyond to dissect how setting influences tropes\, character developmen
t\, and sizzling on-page chemistry. Through short exercises\, writers will
come away with the first sparks of their own romantic story. Instagram ha
ndle: timothyjanovsky \;
Workshop Location: 401-
A \;
Workshop Title: Crafting Compelling Narr
atives: Mastering the Three-Act Structure \;
Presenter: Dr. Khadijah Z. Ali-Col
eman \;
Workshop Description: Join Dr. Khadi
jah Z. Ali-Coleman\, Poet Laureate of Prince George's County\, Maryland\,
for an immersive workshop on leveraging the power of the three-act structu
re in your storytelling. In this session\, Khadijah will guide participant
s through the essential elements of the three-act structure and demonstrat
e how to effectively apply it when crafting short plays for the stage or s
creen. Drawing from her experience as a 2020 Quadrant Playwright Fellow wi
th Theatre Alliance and a recent residency at the Kennedy Center's REACH w
ith her arts group\, Liberated Muse\, Khadijah will share practical tips a
nd techniques for creating engaging narratives with clear progression and
dramatic tension through outline work and discussion. \;
Workshop Location: 401-D \;