Welcome to the Summer 2020 Writers Academy
For youth in grades 5-12
The UNH Writers Academy is a place where students are treated as writers. They can put their creative juices to work and improve their skills in a relaxed yet challenging environment. Students will write daily and exchange ideas with other young writers. They will discover various writing styles and meet professional authors who will share their own experiences about becoming successful writers.
Students are grouped according to the grade they will enter in the fall. Each middle school section (5/6 and 7/8) is limited to 20 students with 2 teachers; multiple high school sections (9-12) are offered each week in groups of 10 per instructor. Look for the instructor’s name when selecting a high school section for enrollment.
All sessions meet 8:30 a.m. – 2:15 p.m., Monday-Friday, in Hamilton Smith Hall, 95 Main Street, Durham, NH. Parking information will be provided after enrollment.
Note: Before- and aftercare is not available. Please plan accordingly. Carpooling is strongly encouraged.
Offerings for 2020
Guest author Shelley Girdner
Shelley teaches at the University of New Hampshire. Her poems have been published in several journals, including most recently Hunger Mountain and Painted Bride Quarterly, as well as The Indiana Review, Mid-American Review, Poet Lore and others. She’s been a featured poet in the Aurorean, a finalist for the Slapering Hol Chapbook Prize, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize in poetry. More recently, she was featured for PBS News Hour’s Poetry spotlight.
June 29 – July 3
Grade 6 – 8
Instructors: Tomasen M. Carey and Mark Holt-Shannon
High School
Instructors: Kristina Peterson and Dennis Magliozzi
High School
Instructor: Shelley Girdner
High School
Instructor : Lauren DeConstant
July 6 – 10
Grade 5 – 6
Instructors: Ashley Healey and Maryellen Webb
Grade 7 – 8
Instructors: Karen Atherton and Pam Murphy
High School
Instructors: Clark Knowles
High School
Instructor: Christian Gompert
High School
Instructors: Sarah Fenerty
July 13 – 17
Grade 6 – 8
Instructors: Ashley Healey and David McCormick
High School
Instructor: Lauren DeConstant
High School
Instructor: Sarah Cook
High School
Instructors: Kristina Peterson and Dennis Magliozzi
Cartooning
Instructor: Branden Wood
For question please contact Tomasen M. Carey, Director
Photography: Mark Holt-Shannon
History
The University of New Hampshire is internationally known for its work in writing. Beginning in the 1960s, Donald Murray urged teachers to treat all students as writers: they need subjects that engage them and helpful responses from other students and the teacher. Murray’s colleague and friend, Donald Graves, extended those ideas by showing how the elementary classroom could become a writer’s workshop. His book Writing Teachers and Children at Work has transformed how writing is taught in schools.