News - - Oakland University

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Member News

Mary Cox was accepted to the Room of Her Own Writing Retreat at the Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico. Mary will attend the retreat from August 10th through the 16th. During that week, Mary and a group of sixty-four women writers will gather at Georgia O’Keeffe’s famous ranch where they'll develop texts alongside award-winning writers and professionals in the publishing field.

We're pleased to announce our first Young Writers Camp, which will be offered for three weeks in July at the Meadow Brook Hall and Gardens. We are offering this unique summer camp experience to young writers in grades K-2nd for the week of June 29th-July 1, and for young writers in grades 3-6 for the weeks of July 6-10th and July 13-17th. The cost of the camp is $179 if you apply before June 6th, and $200 per week if you apply after June 6th. Young writers will discover the wildlife of the Meadow Brook Gardens on daily excursions, explore the history of the hall, and write poetry, fantasy, mystery and historical fiction in a relaxed, but inspiring, camp setting. At the end of each week, students will publish their writing in an anthology. Contact Laura Amatulli for more information, and check the MBWP website for the camp registration, which begins in May.

Informal interviews with candidates for our Invitational Summer Institute began the week of April 14th. There are still 2-3 spaces available for participants in this year's institute, which will be held at Oakland University from July 6 - July 31, 2009, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. each day. Teachers in all content areas K-12+ are encouraged to apply for the ISI or to nominate their colleagues for consideration. For more information or to apply for the 2009 institute, visit the MBWP website.

Mary Cox and Laura Amatulli will present at the Urban Sites Network Conference in Louisville, April 24-25. Mary will present a paper on "The Neighborhood Essay," and Laura will talk about her work creating Writing Across the Curriculum sessions for the MBWP. More information about this annual conference is available online at the NWP website.

Make plans to attend the Professional Writing Retreat from August 7-8. This overnight retreat in the cultural center of Detroit is co-sponsored by the MBWP and the Wayne State Writing Project. The retreat offers time for writing, professional consultations, and the support of writing groups. The retreat is affordably priced at $45.00 per person, with participation limited to eight TCs from each writing project. TCs will focus on writing memoirs or narratives of school and teaching life; inquiry pieces about practice; and works examining best practices. Be sure to look for more information about and applications for this writers retreat on the MBWP website in May.

Toni Gibson and Laura Amatulli were accepted to attend Inside Inquiry: A Teacher Inquiry Communities Network Institute from July 29 to August 1 in Wellesley, Massachusetts. This four-day summer institute is designed to support writing project sites that wish to develop and sustain inquiry communities. Please join us in congratulating Toni and Laura for having their proposal to attend the institute accepted and be on the look out for information about the inquiry communities they hope to create for MBWP members.

Visit the MBWP website to listen to the podcasts from the first Advanced Institute on Podcasting. Last month's featured podcaster, Laura Gabrion's non-fiction narrative about sledding with her children, "Freezing Time," is still available online, but we've also just added two short poems by Mary Cox, "Spring" and "Today I Met Someone Who Knows You." Check back to the website regularly for new podcasts, and be sure to sign up for our second podcasting institute and for our first digital storytelling institute in the fall.