Please join us for this free online reading! It’s taking place next Sunday and features reading of original work by Writers Studio teachers from around the country. Readers will include Betsy Mahaffey, teacher and assistant director in the Tucson branch, as well as Amy Arutt, Doug Crowell, Linda Drach, Gail Ford, and Hani Khalil.
We hope to see you there on Sunday.
Can we recapture the wonder, darkness, and magic of childhood in our writing? This six-week class examines techniques used by established writers such as Ray Bradbury, Sandra Cisneros, Seamus Heaney, and others who successfully evoked that not-so-long-ago childhood realm.
In the class, students will follow the examples set by these masters while applying tried and tested Writers Studio methods. The goal is to help students bring their unique creative material to life in new and vibrant ways. All students are welcome, whether new to The Writers Studio or veterans of our classes. Students can choose to write fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction.
ONLINE WRITING ABOUT CHILDHOOD starts on October 19th and will be taught by Philip Ivory, director of the Tucson branch of The Writers Studio.
For more information or to register: CLICK HERE
If you’re in Tucson and wish to take an in-person writing class, please consider taking a course from The Writers Studio Tucson. Classes start next week.
Beginning and Intermediate level classes are filling up so don’t wait too long. You’ll find all the course information you’ll need in the link below, but please reach out to me at philivory@writerstudio.com with any questions.
In-person writing classes through The Writers Studio Tucson.
This is a free demonstration open to all who are interested in learning about Writers Studio classes. It takes place online on Wednesday, April 3rd at 6:30 PM Tucson time. Please email to pivory@writerstudio.com if interested and we’ll send a link to join the class.
Starting Saturday October 7th, I’ll be teaching another session of my special six-week class Online Writing About Childhood through The Writers Studio.
Your personal memories of growing up can be a treasure trove of ideas for stories and poems and memoir pieces. This class will show you techniques to manage your personal material and bring it to life.
In this class, we examine techniques and voices crafted by celebrated writers of poetry and prose such as Sandra Cisneros, Seamus Heaney, and Ray Bradbury. How did they use imagination and memory to regain a foothold in childhood’s not-so-distant realm, conjuring its wonder, joy, and pain?
Whether working in poetry, prose, or creative nonfiction, can we apply similar voices and techniques to our own unique material? Let’s bring the world and experience of childhood to vibrant life again through our creative work.
For more information, CLICK HERE. Hope to see you in class!
We have some momentous news at The Writers Studio Tucson. Longtime director of the Tucson branch Reneé Bibby is retiring from that leadership position and stepping away from all branch duties, including her role as teacher of Master Class, so that she can pursue other opportunities in the writing realm and elsewhere.
Reneé has been with the Writers Studio Tucson for 11 years. She worked as a teacher for almost 10 years, instructing nearly 350 students in Tucson and beyond. Reneé has set a profound forward momentum for our branch, keeping us going through the pandemic and other challenges, sometimes just on the force of her positive personality alone, but always fueled by her wisdom, experience, and sense of humor.
Separate from the Tucson branch, Reneé will continue to do online teaching work for The Writers Studio, including special six-week classes conducted on Saturdays that any student, no matter where they live, may take. And she will continue to write and publish and further develop her prodigious writing talents. Peruse her web site to learn about her published work and other activities.
The Writers Studio, including its Tucson branch will always be grateful to Reneé for her outstanding leadership, planning, teamwork, and the great inspiration she has always provided as the best possible teacher.
Okay, that’s the sad part. But we have encouraging news, too. Phil Ivory, longtime teacher and assistant director for the branch, is assuming the role of director.
Phil studied English literature at Columbia University and at Cambridge University in the UK and worked for many years as communications professional in the nonprofit world, most notably for the national headquarters of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Phil started as a teacher with the Tucson branch in 2016 on the Intermediate level, was appointed assistant director for the branch two years later and has developed and taught special six-week classes for The Writers Studio including Online Writing About Childhood. His short fiction has appeared in Menacing Hedge, Two Cities Review, Ghost Parachute, The Airgonaut and the anthology, The Writers Studio at 30, and he’s currently in the latter stages of a novel that explores the dreams, darkness, and danger of childhood.
Phil is very grateful for Reneé’s mentorship and advice during this transition and is also very thankful for the amazing work being done by Tucson’s workshop teacher, Betsy Mahaffey. Betsy’s next beginner class starts on Sept. 27th and is already full, although a waitlist is available, and more classes for workshop and other levels will be available in January.
We will keep you informed on all changes in our branch as we strategize for a successful 2024. We hope to schedule a number of fun public events for our students to attend in the year ahead. Amidst all these changes, the Tucson branch of The Writers Studio will continue to strive to provide the best instruction and inspiration for our talented and wonderful students.
NEW AND RETURNING STUDENTS WELCOME!
Hi writer friends! Some of you have taken my special six-week course for The Writers Studio, Online Writing About Childhood, or expressed an interest in it.
The class, which featured exercises based on the work of writers like Ray Bradbury, Sandra Cisneros, and Seamus Heaney has been so successful that I’ve created a followup course featuring all-new exercises.
The new class will feature exercises by V.S.Naipual, J.D. Salinger, Toni Morrison, and others.
This new class can be taken by those who’ve taken the first class, or by those who have never taken any Writers Studio class before. No prerequisite.
CLICK HERE to register. The class starts Saturday, July 22nd and will be conducted online, so you are welcome no matter where you are located.
Childhood from the perspective of an adult writer can seem like “another country,” a strange land where our powers, responsibilities and perceptions were vastly different. And yet it is the place we all come from. And while the lens through which we viewed the world as children may have seemed innocent and magical, our sensibilities were always vulnerable to the hard truths of encroaching adulthood.
— from course description
Join the Writers Studio Reading Series on Sunday, April 23 at 5 pm ET / 2 pm PT for a reading of original work from our faculty.
During this virtual reading, teachers from our New York City, Tucson, San Francisco, and Rome branches will share their poetry and fiction.
I’m excited to be representing Tucson with a new piece, reading alongside talented colleagues including Lorraine L. Babb, Lisa Bass, Stas Gawronski, Kathie Jacobson, and Sally McElwain.
The reading is free. CLICK HERE to register in advance. We hope to see you there.
Write Yourself Sane 