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Symphony Space’s Composers Now Week

By Rob Blatt
Published on February 23, 2011

“New music has lately been a special focus at Symphony Space…perhaps because its new Artistic Director, Laura Kaminsky, is a composer with an ear for the new and interesting.” -The New York Times

What a quote to start our week at Symphony Space! We are halfway through a series of events that make up Composers Now, a week-long celebration of the music of now, best captured by Laura in her own words:

“I think most of us are curious about what motivates someone to create something new – be it a novel, a painting, a poem, a three-course meal, a piece of music. And we also want to know how that something was made. Writing music is the hardest for most of us to wrap our heads around – many of us can imagine writing a story or even painting a landscape, but most of us can’t really imagine composing a piece of music – and maybe it is partly for this reason that people are generally wary of hearing new music. Composers are story-tellers in sound, just telling it as they hear it – reflecting the times they live in through their musical language. For the musicians who play new music, there’s an exciting journey of discovery – and also a certain pride of ownership – that make some of the committed new music performers among the most compelling artists of our day. When a composer or performer talks about the work, it lends an immediacy that makes the experience even more special, giving the performance an intimacy and accessibility that is unique. That’s the point of Symphony Space’s Composers Now week, currently underway after a gorgeous opening marathon event on Monday and an inspiring and intimate evening with my dear friend Meredith Monk last night.”

Laura definitely captured the spirit of this week of music at Symphony Space. On Thursday, Ireland’s Fidelio Trio – three intrepid musical adventurers on their first US trip – will be joined by Evan Ziporyn for a Salon event, and we close Composers Now week on Saturday with a spirited performance by Arturo O’Farrill and his Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, along with special guest Donald Harrison, as they explore the roots of jazz from Cuba to New Orleans.

Stay tuned for more posts from the people at Symphony Space who bring you the programs and artists that make this place so unique.

In the meantime, check out today’s New York Times review of our Music of Now marathon. Composer Waddy Thompson (whose dog Charlie is our unofficial staff mascot) gets a special mention for the world premiere of his “Winter Morning by a Lake.” Congratulations, Laura and Waddy! It’s been quite a week, and we’re only halfway through!

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Thalia Book Club Camp comes to the end (sob)

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Published on August 20, 2010

Happy and sad emotions fill me as I write the final post for book club camp -summer 2010. I’m sad that camp is over, but it’s been a wonderful week, with many fascinating and fun author visits, lots of great writer’s tips learned, many new friends made, laughs shared – and of course, books read. I hope all the campers and their families have a wonderful end of summer and please come visit in the fall!

Just a quick recap of our day: Author Barry Lyga came by around 10. Barry told us that since childhood he has been a comic book nerd (surprise, surprise). He always wanted to write comic books and novels. His last job before he became a full-time writer was as a marketing person at a comic book distributing company and he in fact started Free Comic Book Day in 2002. Here are some of the great tips he shared and important things he’s learned in his writing life:

*Always keep learning, trying to get better and don’t be discouraged. He said that new writers have to write and write and write before getting to the good stuff. He told us that he wrote many short stories and 3 1/2 novels — none of which were published — before he wrote Fanboy and Goth Girl, his first published book.

*It’s important to have people you trust to whom you can show your work and who will be honest with you. It turns out he and Tuesday’s star visiting author, Libba Bray, are friends and early readers of each other’s work in progress.

*With dialogue, you know it’s good when it sounds right.

*Write what you know. Sounds cliched, but it’s true. Barry explained we should take what we’ve experienced and use that to build something authentic. For instance, if you’ve been the captain of your school baseball team, you could write a book about a starship squadron leader. He told us that his life in high school was his starting point for Fanboy, but there are invented characters (such as Kyra) and situations etc. We were amused to hear that Barry came up with the Great Tortoise Blight idea when he was in high school and used it on his own teacher!

*He told us he hates when he’s asked where he gets his inspiration. Ideas are everywhere; you just have to be open to them. Just look around you. He suggests that if you try to see things “the wrong way” you may find an angle that no one’s ever considered.

Barry showed us some alternate cover designs for a few of his novels, including Fanboy. He was asked to weigh in on the cover design and one of his favorite designs was picked. He loves the cover for its companion, Goth Girl Rising.

He told us that he thrives on juggling several very different projects at once. That way, if he’s having trouble writing one, he can switch to another. Among his many current projects are a graphic novel (a teen romantic comedy with supernatural elements), a film script and a book for 9-12 year olds, about a 12 year old with superpowers who decided to kill the local superhero, called Archvillain, which will be released in the fall.

His favorite comic as a kid was The Legion of Superheroes, which he was happy to see has recently been revived and the original writer Paul Levitz will be writing it again.

He talked about how much he enjoyed writing Goth Girl Rising from Kyra’s perspective, his first time writing from the female point of view. That is his favorite of his books.

He gave us a few writing challenges that helped us to get past our internal censor (by free writing for 10 minutes), be inspired to avoid cliches in our descriptions, and open all of our senses when we’re writing (so that our stories will be very rich and readers will be able to experience them with all their senses). For our last exercise, we had fun brainstorming ideas for updating athe Romeo and Juliet story, showing us that you can start from a story you know and create something very different.

Finally, Barry told us to keep in mind that we have lots to write about. He quoted the great Southern writer Flannery O’Connor, who said that anyone who has lived and survived elementary school has enough material to write about for the rest of his or her life.

After getting our books signed and assembling for our group picture, we waved goodbye to Barry and headed to the park for lunch. The afternoon included some fun games on stage (including many rounds of The Big Wind Blows, during which we found out some new fun facts about each other, and Ninja).

Back in the camp room, we enjoyed some treats at the party and laughed a lot. We traded contact info so we can keep in touch through the year.

Finally, we all trooped into the Thalia Theatre to listen to actors Matt Cody and Jen Regan perform some wonderful stories and poems by the campers. The actors brought the stories and poems to funny, sad, wacky, moving and dramatic life. It was a great way to end the week.

Happy End of Summer, All!

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Thalia Book Club Camp: Week 3, Day 4

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Published on August 19, 2010

I can’t believe camp is coming to a close. After a week of reading and writing, this morning’s drawing exercises proved to be an exciting change of pace. Each camper was given an excerpt from Three cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson‘s memoir. We discussed different methods used in creating visual representations of stories and then went about illustrating segments of the memoir. By the time our guest speaker, graphic novelist George O’Connor, had arrived, each student had produced a page-long pictorial interpretation. Although each student was given the same materials to work with, their comics were very varied..

At 10:00, George O’Connor started his slideshow, presenting his Journey into Mohawk Country. He began by discussing his passion for graphic novels, and his belief in their ability to be more than just entertainment. Wanting to impart some of his own fascination with the American Indians, George was excited when asked by his editor to illustrate a historical graphic novel. He immediately began working on a pitch for Journey into Mohawk Country. He began his vast research of the subject, traveling to many museums with relevant artifacts, and reading books that further fleshed out detail s Van den Bogaert omitted from his journal. When he had images of period garb, tools, and weaponry, he finally began his illustrations. After his proposal was accepted, he started his thumbnail version of the book, mapping out not only the scenes for the novel, but also the corresponding text from Van den Bogaert’s journal. After creating pencil sketches and finally inkings, he sent the pages in to his editor to be formatted and colored. The cover was created as an afterthought, a last-minute change inspired by the story of a French boy kidnapped by Indians. We talked to George about his other books and discussed titles for his current project, deciding that Hades the Wealthy One was the most attractive possibility.

Together with our guest we went to the Natural History Museum and visited the Native American wing. As he gave us a tour, George pointed out the artifacts which he had used in his novel, as well as giving us a historical overview of many others. He showed us the beaver which he had sketched in anticipation of the book, as well as the long houses he had styled his own after. He also explained how the close proximity to European settlements had a large impacts on many tribes, affecting everything from their style of dress to methods of housing. During our walk, he differentiated pre-colonial artifacts, and those with European influence. He then sent us on our way to do our own work. Although many campers complained that they weren’t great at drawing, that didn’t stop onlookers from mistaking us for art students. Although the drawing was challenging, there seemed to be a general consensus of accomplishment. Many campers who had originally doubted their own skills realized their own abilities.

Finally at 1pm, we left the Museum for a late lunch. We all agreed to go into Central Park to eat with George O’Connor. At the 86^th street benches we finished well deserved lunches, played Apples to Apples, and pet a few dogs. On our way out of the park, we said goodbye to our disheartened guest, who had lost his game of Apples to Apples by a large margin. By the time we returned, it was already four, and time to say goodbye.

Tomorrow we’ll be meeting with Barry Lyga, author of The Amazing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl.

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Thalia Book Club Camp — Week 3, Day 3!

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Published on August 18, 2010

Wow! What a jam-packed day! This morning we began by talking about the Civil Rights Movement, in preparation for a visit by Kekla Magoon, author of The Rock and the River. Madeline brought in transcripts from the 1986 PBS documentary series, “Eyes on the Prize,” and we all read aloud selections about some of the defining moments and people of the Movement, including the Little Rock Nine, the lunch counter sit-ins, the Freedom Riders, and the march from Selma to Montgomery, and discussed their importance and what lead up to the creation of the Black Panther Party, a focus of The Rock and the River.

Then we all selected postcards depicting scenes from the Movement, picked a person in the photo and wrote first-person scenes — answering the questions, Why am I here? What’s going on? This helped us imagine what it must have been like to take part in the protests and sit-ins or to observe them. We read aloud some of our writing.

When Kekla arrived, she told us a little bit about her history: she grew up in Indiana, near Chicago, and lived there until she went to college at Northwestern in Chicago, and then she moved to New York City, in 2001. Her friends and others have asked her why write about something that happened long before she was born? She explained that she was trying to understand the Movement, which she felt very removed from, but felt echoes of in our world now. In particular, she wanted to go beneath the obvious lead characters to focus on the many ordinary people who put their lives on the line. There were lots of kids 10-12 or 15-16 who took part in the protests. She wanted to tell their stories. She wanted young people to know now that we have the power to change our world.

She showed a montage of images of the Civil Rights Movement. We saw lots of ordinary peoples’ faces in the midst of these events. We listened to the soundtrack of “The Times They Are a Changin’” by Bob Dylan as we looked at the pictures, and discussed the feelings these images evoked in us.

We then took part in a Readers’ Theatre version of a scene from The Rock and the River, after which we dicussed whether reading/hearing the scene aloud brought out anything for us, made us think more strongly about what we would do in a similar situation.

Then we did some creative writing. Kekla handed out objects — a candle with drippy wax, a tiny plastic purse, a tiny parasol to put in a drink, a battery, etc. — and invited us to pick one of these objects or another on the tables and write about it as if it was a person. It was fun to hear what some campers came up with! Kekla suggested that using an object as a prompt is a good way to break through a creative block — and even to develop a character profile for a story.

Finally, Kekla let us brainstorm with her about plot and character development for her new novel, companion to The Rock and the River. What a wonderful visit, leaving us with lots to think about.

It was off to the park for lunch and a game of Apples to Apples.

Then back to the theatre before heading off for a visit to the Colbert Report! This was a treat. We got a mini behind -the-scenes tour, sat on the set, heard the stories behind some of the set pieces from the audience coordinator, Sasha, and took this picture on the set:

We met with one of the show’s comedy writers, Max Werner, who told us about a typical day at the show. He begins his day by plowing through the papers, looking at news blogs and watching Fox news and making some notes about possible sketches. At the studio, the team of 12 comedy writers and a head writer meet to brainstorm ideas and begin to sketch them out. At 10:30am, they meet with Stephen and his producers and pitch their ideas. Stephen chooses which ideas to develop and the writers go back to their desks to write scripts in pairs, with one person typing and one talking out the ideas. Later scripts are reviewed and then go back for edits. At 5pm there’s a rehearsal and then more edits, based on comments from the run-through. At 7pm the show is taped before a live audience. Whew! Max seems to thrive on the breakneck pace and the creative collaboration. It all sounds like a lot of fun — and hard work! Max told us that this is his dream job. And off we went out onto 54th street buzzing with all we’d learned about TV comedy writing.

We’re looking forward to meeting with graphic novelist George O’Connor tomorrow.

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Thalia Book Club Camp: Week 3, Day 1!

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Published on August 16, 2010

Today was the first day of the brand new Thalia Book Club Camp teen session. It was great to see some old friends and meet the newcomers. We started off the morning decorating our journals, getting to know each other’s names and sharing our favorite books. After a short discussion of what to expect at camp we broke into small book groups to discuss the novels for the week. It was interesting to hear what other campers thought about the plots and characters, and it was a good chance to think about what we want to discuss when we meet the authors later in the week.

To get ready for our afternoon visit with Krista Marino (editor of Jennifer Donnelly’s Revolution) we were each given pieces to multiple puzzles related to the book. Each person had pieces from a variety of photographs, so we had to introduce ourselves to other campers and swap puzzle pieces to complete them all. After we discussed the images on the photographs and how they relate to the book, we paired up into groups to do some writing inspired by Revolution. To start off, each person created a modern day teenager with an issue or problem that he or she is facing. We then passed the character forms on to our writing partners to create a related journal entry set in another time period.

Because it was still wet outside from the rain, we ate our lunch indoors and played card and board games including Set and Clue, two favorites from last summer.

In the afternoon Krista shared background information on Revolution. She explained that Jennifer got the idea for the novel ten years ago when she saw an article in The New York Times called “Geneticists’ Latest Probe: The Heart of the Dauphin.” The article showed a picture of a glass urn with a heart in it. It said that a human heart, very small and very old, that had been in a glass urn in the Basilica of St. Denis in Paris, had just undergone DNA testing and had been found to be the heart of Louis Charles, the son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. As heir to the throne, he was seen as a threat by the revolutionaries and was killed at the age of ten. She has always been interested in history and was working on another historical novel at the time, but immediately felt drawn to the story. The article stuck with her and continued to haunt her even more when she became a mother. Over time she realized that she wanted to know more about what really happened to Louis Charles and decided to incorporate the story in a book. She spent time researching in Paris and met many locals who were eager to help her with her research.

A photograph of the heart (by Jennifer Donnelly)

As the editor of the book, Krista worked very closely with Jennifer for three years so she was able to give us a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the editing process. She said that the most difficult part of working on this book was making the circumstances of the novel believable while keeping the elements of mystery and fantasy. As the editor she wanted to be sure that there wasn’t too much coincidence so the pair worked together to make the story seem natural. Because Drista spent so much time on the novel she was able to answer most of our questions about the characters and plot. When a camper asked if there was any debate about the title of the book, Krista explained that Jennifer chose the title and felt strongly that she didn’t want to change it. The title works so well because it is not only about the French Revolution, but it’s also about the revolution inside, about the changes we human beings go through as we struggle to make sense of our world.

After answering all of our questions about Revolution, Krista talked to us about the job of an editor from acquiring books to working with the authors to getting the publishing team excited about the book. She explained how book jackets are chosen and gave us a general overview of the editorial process. She left us with some galleys for upcoming books from Random House that we are looking forward to reading. Tomorrow we are excited about spending the day with Libba Bray.

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Thalia Book Club Camp: Week 2, Day 4!

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Published on August 12, 2010

Is it really the second to last day already?! Today Linda Sue Park, author of Keeping Score and Newbery winner A Single Shard came to talk to us about her background, baseball, and writing in general.

We prepared for her visit by playing some theater games, including a partner game in which an established relationship changed because of a change in one of the characters. This reminded us of how the relationship between Jim and Maggie (main characters in Keeping Score) changed after he got PTSD from experiencing a horrific event in the Korean War.

Linda first discussed stories with us: she explained how all modern entertainments, like video games or TV shows, are based in stories, and are therefore not terribly different from the old-fashioned book – what she used to keep herself amused as a child. As she said, there has never been a culture that did not tell stories. Ms. Park then described how she grew up in a little town outside of Chicago, part of the only Korean family in the town, an avid fan of the Cubs. She explained that all aspiring writers should attach themselves to a losing team in preparation for the hope and following disappointment that writing books often involves. Her family, wanting to assimilate, did not speak Korean at home (though she learned some important phrases later in life), but they did keep certain traditions. One of these was, on a baby’s first birthday, he or she would have to choose from a group of objects in front of him or her: a pen, a book, a bowl of rice, a bag of money, a spool of thread, and a plate of cakes. The choice was supposed to foretell the future fortune of the child. Linda’s mother swears she picked the pen, and is thus a writer (though there is no hard evidence of this), and Linda’s brother picked the bag of money and now makes a great living (there is a very cute picture of this choice, which Linda showed us) . Perhaps there is something to the tradition!

After answering our questions about Keeping Score, Ms. Park had us do a writing exercise to “get the writing part of our brains warmed up.” We (even the counselors and adults this time!) made a list of five things about ourselves that we did not think people would know, but that we would feel comfortable sharing. After we shared some of our lists, Linda explained that we could use the nouns in this list to write a longer assignment or a story. For example, she said, if a teacher told us to write a story about courage, which is a rather abstract concept, using a clear image like “cat” might help get our thoughts flowing. It was a very fun, short exercise and we got to learn about everyone’s peculiar facts – a great deal of them relating to food! (Perhaps we were just getting hungry?)

Due to the rain, we ate lunch inside today. We still got to run around a bit on stage: we played “A Big Wind Blows…” and some other theater games, as well as card games Set and Uno back in our room.

In the afternoon we did some more writing: first Madeline asked us nine questions about our pasts or our likes. Based on our answers we each wrote a poem beginning “I am from…” On a less serious note, we picked a weird or wacky phrase from each of three bags. The stories that came out of trying to combine three strange and unrelated phrases, like “the pickle jar,” “don’t chase my…” and “whales with questions,” were often absurdist and very entertaining.

To end the day, we played a few rounds of Word Symphony – a beloved game from the day Norton Juster visited last week.

We’re looking forward to meeting Dan Poblocki, author of the thrilling book The Stone Child, tomorrow! And of course at 4pm we will all head to the theater to hear two actors read some great writing from the week!

P.S. Happy Birthday to camper Mae! She turned 12 today!

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Thalia Book Club Camp: Wednesday

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Published on August 11, 2010

Another amazing day at Camp!

Today we met Polly Shulman, author of The Grimm Legacy, who took us to the New York Public Library and talked to us about her process as a writer and led us in a few exercises related to her book.

In the morning, we played a game involving grouping small objects to mimic some of the plot of The Grimm Legacy. The kids had a great time making categories for things like pocket watches, buttons, and general knick-knacks and various bric-a-brac. Everyone had a different interpretation of the object groups, which made the experience really interesting and set the kids up for their time with Polly Shulman.

Polly Shulman arrived soon after and we began talking about her novel The Grimm Legacy. She engaged the kids by asking them about their spirits of adventure. She asked if they’d go on an exciting adventure even if it meant facing such horrible dangers as giant pits of molten lava. The kids proved to be quite an adventurous bunch, but what they would do depended on the circumstances of the quest. Next we discussed whom we would bring along on our adventure– siblings and best friends proved popular choices–and even gave one of Polly’s new characters a name (Leo!). Polly led us in a group writing project in which each camper wrote a short fantasy piece about a commonplace object, very much in the style of The Grimm Legacy. The kids wrote some amazing stuff about everything from a calculator to a kaleidescope.

With tummies growling, we headed to the park for lunch. The ritual game of Capture the Flag turned into Sam vs. 16 campers, and even Polly watched the spectacle that ensued.

We returned to camp, recharged, and wrote a few quick cinquaine poems about all sorts of topics, including falafel and onomatopoeia. (You will hear samples of all of today’s writing at Friday’s reading!) Next, we headed out for the library. After a quick subway ride, we mounted the historic steps and met up with Betsy Bird, the children’s librarian. She talked to us briefly about the history of the library and the children’s section. Next she introduced us to a teen page. This was extremely relevant to The Grimm Legacy because the author’s own experiences as a teen page inspired a lot of incidents in the book. We got to ask the page lots of questions about the secret life of the stacks (the powerhouse of the library) and the eccentricities of library work. We ended our trip with an insider tour of the library and headed back to camp.

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Thalia Book Club Camp: Week 2, Day 2!

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Published on August 10, 2010

Another fun day at camp! We started the day by reading a scene, in preparation of author George O’Connor’s visit, from his book Zeus: King of the Gods. The scene was about how the Olympians came full-grown out of their father Kronos the Titan’s mouth.

At 9:30, George O’Connor arrived and talked about his longstanding interest in Greek mythology and his love of drawing and comic books. He said that before learning about Greek mythology in 4^th grade, he would always doodle giants fighting monsters so it was fun to actually learn formally about giants fighting monsters. He also discovered a love for comic books around that time. He always wanted to be an author and comic book writer and started his career writing picture books such as Kapow! and Ker-Splash! He recently decided to combine his love of Greek Mythology with his love of comic books to create the Olympians series, two of twelve of which (Zeus: King of the Gods and Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess) are currently available.

George took us through his writing and drawing process. He first researched and sketched a lot – at least a hundred sketches per character! His research included reading histories, The Odyssey, and other sources for myths to compare stories and choose how he would tell his version. He also visited museums and temples in Italy and sketched ancient Greek and Roman sculptures. George does not just use the Disney version of Greek mythology – he really knows his stuff! And, it seemed, so did a lot of campers, as we discussed many of the great characters and stories from Greek mythology today. George shared some early sketches of Zeus with us, which were often quite similar to the finished products, and some sneak previews of drawings for his coming books. After making clear ink drawings by hand, George colors in his books on the computer using Photoshop.

When he signed our books, as all the authors do at the end of their presentations, he did not just write his name, but also made a drawing for each camper next to his signature. Very cool!

We then headed off to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the Greek and Roman galleries. George took us around to certain sculptures, pointing out how the sculpture technique evolved and that the sculptures were originally painted (we even saw some barely visible paint on one relief!). One of his favorite sculptures is a lion that came from a neighborhood in Rome where he used to live. After wandering around a bit, we each chose a sculpture to sketch for a while, as George does for his research. George came around and gave suggestions and encouragement, and did some sketching himself.

Your counselors!

After the Met, we had lunch in Central Park and had yet another game of Capture the Flag, or swung on the swings, or just relaxed (it was hot today!). We said goodbye to George and walked back to Symphony Space. Kudos again for staying with your counselors on field trips and not complaining in the heat! When we got back, we had quiet time for a while, and then read another Greek myth as a scene to end the day – this one was about Athena springing fully-formed from Zeus’s head!

George O'Connor self-portrait inspired by Athena coming from Zeus' head

We are looking forward to visiting the New York Public Library tomorrow with Polly Shulman, author of The Grimm Legacy. Remember water and a snack, just like today!

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Thalia Book Club Camp – Last Day of Week 1

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Published on August 6, 2010

Today was the last day of week one at TBC Camp! Matt Phelan, illustrator and author of the graphic novel The Storm in the Barn, joined us this morning to discuss his work and his longstanding interest in the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. He showed us pictures of the Dust Bowl he first discovered when he was 10 years old, and has continued to learn more about and love. He then took us through his writing process: he writes a script first, describing each panel in words; then he does tiny thumbnail sketches of the entire book; then he draws bigger sketches to show to his publisher; and finally he draws and paints the final version. Showing us a picture of Andrew Wyeth’s Christina’s World, he explained how after visiting the house in the background in Maine, he used the barn as a model for the barn in The Storm in the Barn. Matt even brought his notebook of original drawings to share with us!

We all got to try out his technique and make our own two-page scene. Matt asked us to break down the moment in Little Red Riding Hood when she sees the wolf in the forest into separate actions that would each become a panel. Starting by writing out each panel in words, as Matt does, we then sketched thumbnails of each panel, and finally drew the panels to scale, keeping in mind which moments might be more important – affecting the size of the panels – and perhaps saving the climactic moment for the next page to build suspense. It was amazing to see the variety of ways to interpret a small part of a well-known story! Some people wrote four panels, some nearly thirty – some had the wolf as the protagonist and some never fully showed the wolf at all.

We were all very happy to hear that Matt has more graphic novels to come, including his next book about three people who traveled around the word each on a unique journey at the turn of the last century.

After lunch and some final great games of Capture the Flag, we played many more theater games, including some favorites: “the big wind blows…” and Word Symphony, this time not just with Phantom Tollbooth words, but also with some of our favorite words in general.

Before going into the theater for the performance, we had a party with cupcakes lovingly baked by our very own counselor Sarah Dash.

To culminate this busy, wonderful, word-filled week, we heard two actors, David Furr and Leenya Rideout, read selections from the campers’ writing from the week. Every camper was introduced with the help of the interviews we did on the first day of camp. We heard selections ranging from descriptions of brushing one’s teeth, to conversations between two unlikely characters (a writer and his writer’s block, a cabbage and a rock at the end of the world…), to very thoughtful reflections on the Civil Rights photography exhibit we saw yesterday at The Bronx Museum of the Arts. It was great fun to hear everyone’s work read aloud – it was a good way to remember the past week and it was a promise of more great stories from these 24 burgeoning writers to come!

We will greatly miss everyone who is not coming back next week, and we look forward to more great experiences starting Monday!

P.S. Check out the great feature on WNYC’s Culture Blog: http://culture.wnyc.org/articles/features/2010/aug/06/authors-and-very-young-writers-convene-camp/

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TKBC Camp, day 4!

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Published on August 5, 2010

A very, very busy fourth day at the Thalia Kids Book Club Camp!

We started off the morning talking about the Civil Rights movement to prepare for our visit with author Rita Williams-Garcia, author of One Crazy Summer. We performed a short dramatic piece taken from a documentary on the subject and brushed up on our 1960s knowledge. We had some very good discussions about segregation, equality, and the message of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Soon Ms. Williams-Garcia arrived. She introduced herself and got right down to talking about her own experiences in the 1960s– her father and Vietnam, her siblings, and her friends, all of which served as heavy inspiration for One Crazy Summer. The novel centers on three sisters and their experiences when they visit their mother in Oakland, California, in 1968. This summer marked the height of the Black Panther movement, and the girls in the book encounter several facets of the Black Panther philosophy throughout. As we learned today from Ms. Williams-Garcia, the Black Panthers led several iniatives aimed at children, including a breakfast program which both the girls in the novel and the author herself experienced in the late 60s. Hearing about the movement from an author who experienced it firsthand was illuminating, fascinating, and a lot of fun. The kids were chock- full of insightful questions for Rita which led to some very advanced discussions about civil disobedience, hippies, and the way we exercise our Constitutional right to protest. Not too shabby for a morning’s discussion!

Next Rita talked about her writing process and gave us some very helpful tips based on her own (vast) experiences as a writer. In her own words, she’s been writing “from the crib!” and had her first publication in Highlights magazine at fourteen. The kids had a ball learning about her earliest work and especially enjoyed the sneak previews she gave us about her upcoming projects, including a book about gaming and a sequel to One Crazy Summer. The campers advised her about which character they thought would make the best narrator of the sequel and we discussed the pros and cons of the different options.

After lunch we headed to the Bronx to see a photography exhibit about the Civil Rights Movement at the Bronx Musuem of the Arts. It was a gorgeous exhibit and the kids clearly enjoyed the more visual approach to the subject. Rita led us in a writing assignment based on the photographs, and the results were truly inspiring. Rita was absolutely floored when the kids read her their work, and we can’t wait for you to hear some of the pieces at tomorrow’s reading!

PS: We received a call from the legendary NORTON JUSTER today about how much he loved being with the kids on Tuesday! You know you’re special when you impress the author of The Phantom Tollbooth…