The Florida Center for Literary Arts: Spring Workshops

Spring Creative Writing Workshops in English and Spanish Starting Feb. 2

Capturing the Muted Voice

Eight Mondays, February 2 – March 23, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.

This writing and performance workshop uses literary and interpretive arts (theatre), activist theatre techniques (theatre games and practices), media images, performance and presentations to stimulate and feed creativity for the seasoned and emerging writer. Students will collaborate on a project.

Instructor: Alexis Caputo

Mining Your Life for Fiction

Eight Mondays, February 2 – March 23, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

You’ve always wanted to write about it, but your mother (sister/best friend/ex-spouse/rich uncle) would kill you. Learn how to turn the untellable truth into fiction.

Instructor: Norma Watkins

Breaking into Magazines...and Staying In

Eight Tuesdays, February 3 – March 24, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Writing for magazines is not just good for your wallet—it’s great for your resume, especially if you are trying to sell a book-length work. Learn break-in tactics and strategies for maintaining a career as a freelance writer, including developing ideas, crafting pitch letters, getting the stories right, building relationships with editors and more.

Instructor: Claudia Forestieri

Big Poems, Little Books: The Ins & Outs of Chapbooks

Eight Wednesdays, February 4 – March 25, 6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.

This workshop introduces writers to contemporary poetry through the framework of chapbooks, mini-collections of poems valued for their tight focus on subject, detail, and voice. In addition to reading sequences of poems from chapbooks by Florida writers, students will look at how poets write verse that is thematically linked. Participants will write a new poem each week, with an eye toward how it informs or inspires the next.

Instructor: Emma Trelles

Writing and Publishing Bilingual Picture Books

Eight Wednesdays, February 4 – March 25, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Bilingual picture books have their own niche and are in great demand because they reflect our diverse society. This workshop introduces students to writing, publishing, and marketing bilingual picture books, and includes writing exercises and discussion on cultural authenticity, character development and storyboarding. No need to be bilingual.

Instructor: Lucia Gonzalez

Diaspora Tales: Capturing the Immigrant Experience

Eight Saturdays, February 7 – March 28, 10:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

This class is for fiction and nonfiction writers seeking to explore the common threads of the immigrant experience. Students will study works by immigrant, exiled and “hyphenated” writers, and writings influenced by literal and emotional states of migration. Participants will be invited to share their own stories.

Instructor: Liz Balmaseda

Writing Your Novel the TV Way
Eight Saturdays, February 7 - March 28, 12:30-2:30 p.m.

The next time you’re wondering how you’ll ever get through the writing of a novel, think about TV producers and writers of original series and even non-fiction shows. They pretty much have to see the whole thing in their heads, and process it all into a readable “series bible” before they can get a green light. Learn to think like the TV executive who sees it, feels it and believes in it–and get your novel written!

Instructor: Anjanette Delgado

IN SPANISH: Talleres de Escritura Creativa

Protagonistas, antagonistas y agonistas: El arte de dar vida, pasión y muerte a los personajes (Character Development -- This workshop in Spanish will focus on creating characters, and believable character interaction.)

8 semanas: Sabados, 7 de febrero – 28 de marzo, 10 a.m. a 12 p.m.

Un taller centrado en la concepción y el desarrollo de los personajes literarios, y en la interacción de éstos para conformar el texto narrativo. Para estudiantes de cualquier nivel.

Instructor: Emilio de Armas, Ph.D.

Misterios y claves del oficio de escribir—Taller especializado de narrativa

(Advanced Narrative Workshop --This advanced workshop in Spanish will help writers deepen their understanding of the craft of creating narratives.)

8 semanas: Sabados, 7 de febrero – 28 de marzo, 10 a.m. a 12 p.m.

Un curso que explora los códigos íntimos de la creación literaria y profundiza en las herramientas fundamentales del narrador. Se propone un acercamiento a las fuentes personales de donde emanan los contenidos de la narración. Estudiantes deben haber tomado una clase de escritura.

Instructor: Chely Lima

For more information on workshops and instructors and to register please visit www.flcenterlitarts.com, or call 305.237.3940. All workshops take place at Miami Dade College, Wolfson Campus unless otherwise specified. Tuition for each eight week workshop is $170. Discounted rates are available for Miami Dade College staff and students currently enrolled in credit courses.

To register, please visit www.flcenterlitarts.com or call 305-237-3940.