Writers' World: 2003
Photo by Herb Goldberg
Writers' World included an Exhibit, open during Festival Exhibit hours; a series of Workshops, at scheduled times; and the associated Literary Arts Café. The juried exhibit featured original, previously unpublished adult and student short fiction, essays, and poetry. All accepted entries were available for public reading. The award-winning entries were published in the Writers' World booklet, A Collection of Winning Entries, available for purchase at Writers' World.
Chairpersons: Chuck Scheffreen, Carol Thompson
Committee: Jean Rostron, Pierre E. Soom, Sandra Winter
Marcia Littlehales Doehner was an accomplished poet and an English teacher at Marblehead High School. Her poem, Arachne, won the 1988 Best of Show award in the Writers’ World poetry category. In 1989 and 1990, she served as Co-Chairperson of Writers’ World. The following year, the Marcia Doehner Writing Center at Marblehead High School was dedicated in her honor.
Her poems, many of which were published in Marblehead Magazine, are filled with vivid imagery and revolve around themes of childhood and family, nature, and travel. They reveal a keen understanding of human connections and an ever-present sense of humor. She died in June of 1991 at the age of 53 from cancer. A collection of her poems, A Season for Flying, was published posthumously.
The Marcia Doehner Award was founded by her parents, sister, and friends as a lasting tribute to the beloved teacher and poet. It was given first during the 1992 Festival of Arts and is now awarded annually to a poet as part of the Writers’ World Exhibit.
The 2003 Marcia Doehner Award was presented to Claire Childs for her poem, Touching My Father.
Photo by Chuck Scheffreen
Safety in Numbers: The Value of a Writing Group
Facilitators: Pic Harrison, Betsy Morris (in absentia), Charlotte Tannheimer, Sandra Winter
Members of the group will relate their personal experiences as members of an on-going group. This interactive workshop will guide participants through the process of creating a writing group. Questions of membership, frequency of meetings, format and time sharing, number of members, genres of writing, confidentiality, support and resources for publication will be addressed. Participants will have the opportunity to form small groups, do a simple writing exercise and get a brief feel for what a writers group is all about
History Stories — Bringing the Past Alive
Judith Black
When we are engaged, through our hearts and imaginations, in a story, its facts, faces, and philosophy pour in, making an indelible mark on our minds. By engaging students on all these levels we ensure success in the teaching of history and in binding it to a language arts curriculum. Using historic reference materials, workshop participants will learn how to cull and shape them into a dramatic tale.
Judith Black is a nationally renowned artist whose stories have received standing ovations on stages such as the Montreal Comedy Festival, the Smithsonian Institution, The National Storytelling Festival, and the Disney Institute. She is the recipient of awards from Parents Guide to Children’s Media, Parents Choice, and The Springfield Cable Endowment Fifth National Invitational Storytelling Championship. Judith has been honored with the National Storytelling Networks’ Oracle Award, placing her in the Circle of Excellence with America’s finest tellers.
Writing About Music
Susan Butterworth
What does “writing about music” consist of? This workshop will cover Music in Fiction, in Memoir, in the Essay, and in Poetry. Writing reviews and promoting community interest in music, music and healing, music in the news, and jazz poetry will be discussed. The tools of the writing trade, vocabulary, style, purpose and audience, and level of musical expertise will be considered. Considerations of writing for the ear as well as the eye will be explored. The workshop will include a presentation, recorded and live music, and hands-on writing session.
Susan Butterworth is a freelance writer and teaches writing at Salem State College. She is an experienced amateur musician who has been exploring the relationship between writing and music. She has presented workshops on Travel Writing and Marblehead in Literature at previous Writers’ World exhibits, and she was a judge in 1999.
Marcia Doehner
Amy Dengler
In this workshop we will explore the poetry of Marcia Doehner and learn more about Marcia Doehner the person. Join Amy Dengler as Marcia’s poetry comes alive, and see how her vivid imagery , wonderful sense of humor and gentle style of writing inspires the poet in others. You can read more about Marcia Doehner, and the Award established in her memory on page 39 of this Program.
Amy Dengler has been awarded many Writers’ World ribbons, and was a triple prize winner in 1999. She has judged the Marcia Doehner Award for the past four years.
Writing Your Life? Or Someone Else's
Phyllis Karas
This workshop will focus on collaborative nonfiction writing: how to write a book about your own life or about someone else's life. We will discuss the strategies of writing a life story, the techniques for telling your own life story, the crucial elements for selecting a story with universal appeal, how to find the right agent for your project, and how to begin to organize such a nonfiction project.
Phyllis Karas is adjunct Professor of Journalism at Boston University and a widely published author of both fiction and nonfiction. Her work has been featured in People Magazine, Vogue, Inside Magazine, and Moment Magazine. Her fiction includes A Life Worth Living, along with four young adult novels, The Hate Crime, Cry Baby, For Lucky's Sake and Spellbound. Nonfiction works include The Onassis Women (written in collaboration with Aristotle Onassis' secretary) and her most recent work, Street Soldier: My Life As An Enforcer for Whitey Bulger and the Boston Irish Mob, written with Bulger "leg breaker" Eddie MacKenzie. Published in May, it has spent four weeks so far on the Boston Globe's bestseller list, been reviewed in the New York Times Book Review and received rave reviews in Library Journal, Kirkus, and Publishers Weekly.
As they have done since Writers’ World started, the Mugford Street Players read selections from the winning entries.
Photo by Herb Goldberg
Adult Essays
Best of Show: Ill-Fitting Shoes, by Julie Whitlow
Outstanding Work: The Day the Music Died, by David Connelly
Honorable Mention: Make Baseball! Not War, by David Connolly
Honorable Mention: Failure, by Elaine Miskins
Honorable Mention: Seeking Home, by Jena Shaier
Honorable Mention: Screwed, Redux, by Laura Smith
Honorable Mention: Coming of Age in China, by Charlotte Tannheimer
Honorable Mention: Narcissus Dead, by Joseph Taylor
Adult Fiction
Best of Show: Evolution, by Dan Carsen
Outstanding Work: Wrack Line, by Betsy Morris
Honorable Mention: Christmas Eve, by Margaret Eckman
Honorable Mention: Moving On, by Elaine Miskinis
Honorable Mention: Sometimes When You Get What You Want You Don't Need it Anymore, by Betsy Morris
Honorable Mention: Dog Eared, by Timothy Quigley
Adult Poetry
Marcia Dohner Award: Touching My Father, by Claire Childs
Best of Show: Touching My Father, by Claire Childs
Outstanding Work: coup d'etat, by Rachel Palleschi
Honorable Mention: I Try and Talk with Him About the War, by Claire Keyes
Honorable Mention: Classic Shoe Shine, $3.00, by Clemens Schoenrock
Honorable Mention: My Easy God is Gone, by E. Russell Waldron
Student Essays
Best of Show: Seeking Home, by Jena Shaier
Outstanding Work: Guide to Girly Girls, by Devra Bergman
Honorable Mention: Writing Metaphor, by Rachel Smith
Student Fiction
Best of Show: I Write Like..., by Leslie Shribman
Student Poetry
Best of Show: Love's War, by Jena Shaier
Outstanding Work: My Life as a Writer, by Lindsay Brown
Honorable Mention: A Lesson Learned, by Leslie Shribman
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