ELLEN JAFFE ON TEACHING WRITING -rescheduled to Nov

TUES MAY 11, 7.30p.m. 27 King William Street
Can it be done? How and why?” Ellen S. Jaffe talks about her writing workshops with children and adults, and invites people to share their own experiences – of teaching they have done and workshops they have taken. What works and what doesn’t? How has taking a workshop, teaching a writing course, or mentoring/being mentored affected your own writing?
Ellen is a Hamilton writer, who came to Canada from the U.S. in 1979. She writes poetry and fiction (including y/a novels), and drama, and has also written a book on writing, Writing Your Way: creating a personal journal. (Sumach Press, 2001). Ellen has worked with “Learning/Living Through the Arts” and has received Artist in Education grants from the Ontario Arts Council, as well as doing other teaching in Hamilton, Toronto, and elsewhere in Ontario – including the Six Nations Reserve and Moose Factory. She has studied with bill bissett, Patrick Lane, and Jane Hirshfield. She also had a grade two teacher who commented on her drawing: “That is not a tree. Make yours as nice as Linda’s!” (at least, that’s how she remembers it) – and this has influenced her teaching