Teen Writers' Conference

Press release from Scarsdale Public Library Teen Advisory Board

Calling all Teen Writers 
   

By Marisa Brown and Emily Yankowitz

Here is a simple math problem for you: book loving teens plus the opportunity to improve the Scarsdale Library equals a multitude of ideas that lead to an awesome event.

There is a club filled with book-loving teens. That club is called the Scarsdale Public Library Teen Advisory Board or TAB for short. TAB’s mission is to improve the library for teens, resulting in an event that will thrill teen writers.

Do you remember the Young Writer’s Conference when you were in elementary school? It is held annually at the Scarsdale High School for students in grades three through five. At the Young Writers Conference, writers travel from workshop to workshop to learn from professional writers and then share some of their own work. Each author leads a discussion about writing, their genre and their work before leading an activity to challenge the young writers and help them improve. Workshops include taste testing, science fiction, sports writing, play writing, journalism, to name a few.

The Scarsdale Library’s Teen Advisory Board feels that those in high school and in middle school should be able to participate in a writing conference of their own. 

The Teen Writers conference will be held on May 13 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Authors will teach workshops to teens interested in fields including (but not limited to) journalism and creative writing. Writers from every field will teach workshops and answer questions. Writers will include Todd Strasser, Alice Coleman, Sheela Chari, Marilyn Johnson, Carrie Gilpin, Barbara Josselson, Henry Fountain, Brian Brown, and Michael Cain, all experts in their fields of writing and valuable sources of information. In high school and middle school large amounts of writing are required from teens, both for school and extracurricular activities. The informal setting of the workshop will allow teen writers to improve without the stress of having to hand an assignment in on time. Whether you are interested in Journalism or novel writing, the Teen Writers Conference is a great opportunity for those who love to write or just want to improve!

 Now for those wondering whom exactly the Teen Advisory Board is, The Teen Advisory Board helps plan and work with the Scarsdale Public Library to create events specifically for teens.

The Teen Writer’s Conference will be the first of many teen events to come.

Information (including registration forms) regarding the event can be found at http://www.scarsdalelibrary.org/about/tab.html

Please contact the Scarsdale Public Library or email scarsdalelibraryteens@gmail.org for more information about the event or joining the Teen Advisory Board.