TEACHING WRITING - Can it be one? How and Why?

TUES NOV 9, 7.30p.m. Bread & Roses Cafe, 27 King William Street
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