Young Writers Inspired at March 24 Workshop

The Young Writers’ Workshop drew 439 third through fifth graders to Scarsdale Middle School on Saturday morning March 24th. The talented staff of creative professionals who stepped up to teach the workshops were surely a draw, as kids had the chance to interact with people who are tops in their fields.

According to event co-chair Leesa Chalk Suzman, “The seventeenth annual Scarsdale Young Writers' Workshop was a tremendous success. The 41 workshops for third-to-fifth graders were taught by top children's book authors, poets, playwrights, TV producers, cartoonists, editors, radio personalities, book agents, songwriters and more. About 450 Scarsdale students attended, and learned the many ways that they could be writers. My co-chair Amy Song and I are so grateful to our amazing YWW committee, the 100 plus parent and Scarsdale Middle School and High School volunteers, the Scarsdale Middle School staff, and all the workshop leaders who gave their time and talent to the event. We especially want to thank children's book author and Scholastic editor Lauren Tarshis, who kicked off the morning with a funny, smart, and inspirational keynote address about her journey from being a ninth grader who couldn't read books to a successful author whose books are read by millions. She truly exemplifies the notion that you don't have to be born a great writer to be one some day. I am confident that several future authors heard her message loud and clear.”

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We stopped by to meet a few of workshop leaders and here is what learned:

Bonnie Druker, is the editorial producer of the Nancy Grace Show at CNN where she covers crime and justice. A journalist for 20 years she started out as a fashion student at Parsons, but during a summer internship ended up working in the news department at NBC. She began her career as a local news reporter and eventually morphed into a producer. At the workshop, Druker taught the art of the interview and revealed how she gets her subjects to spill their secrets. Commenting on her job she said, ”I learn something new and different everyday.”

Author, and Scarsdale School Board Member Jonathan Lewis was on hand to teach kids what he knows about investigating history. Lewis has written two books on the history of the CIA and taught students how to use photographs, documents, classified materials and interviews to uncover information and craft a story.

Jordana Frankel, author of the forthcoming YA novel “The Ward” worked with students on the elements of short stories, brainstorming characters, constructing plots and adding twists and a resolution. Frankel teaches at Writopia Lab where she leads creative writing groups for kids ages 8 through 18.

DJ Jimmy Fink of 107.1 The Peak and daughter Lucie ran a workshop on writing for the radio, including creating scripts for radio commercials. He covered what to say and how to make it exciting. This was Fink’s debut at the Workshop.

Beauty Editor Jennifer Laing showed students how to evaluate and write about beauty products. A former editor at Allure, Seventeen and Real Simple, Laing helped young writers select their favorite products and create their own magazine beauty page with their descriptions.

Former NY1 News Reporter and Scarsdale mom Sharon Dizenhuz told kids what it takes to be a television reporter. She showed the kids four different treatments of the same news item and asked them to compare the approaches and how the information was presented.

Christina Chiu, author of Troublemaker and Other Saints was on hand to teach kids how to develop characters and a story line and build a comic strip around them. She worked with the kids on creating dialogue and a plot to create compelling comic strips.

The enthusiasm of the students, workshop leaders and volunteers was evident and it looked like the conference was a big success.

(Pictured at top: Event co-chairs Leesa Chalk Suzman and Amy Song)