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Valuable Resources

There are many classes, workshops, and programs available for creative writing teachers. If you have any particular favorites, we'd like to know. For now here a just a few of our favorites.

Taking a trip? Here is a good CD collection. CLASSIC HUNDRED POEMS: All Time Favorites, edited by William Harmon (ISBN: 1598875787). Just enough explanation and analysis to make this highly enjoyable.

You can learn more about Young Chicago Authors by visiting the Web site at youngchicagoauthors.org.

A good CD: "How to Read and Understand Poetry" by Professor Willard Spiegelman of S.M.U. (The Great Courses, The Teaching Company)

We will hold off on recommending particular MFA programs, but if you don't know it already, there are many courses you can take on line. The courses offered by the University of Iowa are especially good as are the summer workshops offered on campus.

A wonderful resource for creative writing teachers, as you probably know, is TEACHERS & WRITERS COLLABORATIVE. Check out www.twc.org/publications.

If you live in Illinois and need to add to your CPDU credits through a creative writing workshop, call the Glencoe Study Center at 847-835-5430.

Sandi Wisenberg's web site (http://slwisenberg.blogspot.com): Good resources for writers and "How To Books."

Chicago Poetry (http://chicagopoetry.com): Keep up-to-date with local Chicago poetry happenings.

Chicago Poetry Center (www.poetrycenter.org): Find out about monthly poetry events and readings.

Neighborhood Writing Alliance (www.jot.org): A local not-for-profit offering adults in low-income neighborhoods the chance to write, publish and perform works about their lives.

Facets Multi Media, Inc. Reel Poetry Program (www.facets.org/asticat?function=web&catname=facets&web=kids&path=): Learn about Facets year-round poetry appreciation program and other youth writing programs.

Chicago Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org): A great site -- check out their "Find a Poem/Discover a Poem" section.

Humorous Children's Poetry (http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/poehumor.htm#c): LOL -- a site for librarians, teachers, parents and students.

Powell's Books (www.powells.com/psection/Poetry.html): Great bookstore.

NarrativeMagazine.info (www.narrativemagazine.info): Carol Edgarian and Tom Jenk's on-line magazine, devoted to fiction, non-fiction and the art of story telling.

NarrativeMagazine.com (www.narrativemagazine.com): Mission is to bring great literature into the digital age, and to provide it for free. Stories, poetry, essays, novel excerpts, articles, and interviews are available -- without subscription -- to readers everywhere.

Poets & Writers Magazine (www.pw.org): If you're looking for grants and awards, or literary magazines and small presses that welcome both new and established writers, begin here.

Here are some creative writing contests for youth that have been recommended ...

The Special Summer Writing Tutor Young Authors Writing Contest is open to students in who will be entering grades 5 through 12 in the fall. Manuscripts will be judged in four categories: grades 5 & 6, grades 7 & 8, grades 9 & 10, and grades 11 & 12. Three winners will be selected from each age group. The winning entries from each writing contest will be published online and will be archived as examples of quality student writing to which other young writers may refer. The DEADLINE for submitting an entry to the Special Summer Young Authors Writing Contest is August 31, 2008. All entries must be received no later than 10:00 p.m. CST on this date. Entries received after this deadline will not be considered.
www.thewritingtutor.biz/contests/specialcontest.php

The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, in partnership with Target Stores and in cooperation with affiliate state centers for the book, invites readers in grades 4 through 12 to enter Letters About Literature, a national reading-writing contest. To enter, readers write a personal letter to an author, living or dead, from any genre -- fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic, explaining how that author's work changed the student's way of thinking about the world or themselves. There are three competition levels: Level I for children in grades 4 through 6; Level II for grades 7 and 8, and Level III, grades 9 - 12. Winners, announced in the spring of each year, receive cash awards at the national and state levels. For information contact the LAL Project Director at lal@epix.net, phone/fax: 570-675-3305.
www.loc.gov/loc/cfbook/letters.html

Gwendolyn Brooks Center
Deadline: September 15
Categories: Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction
Fee: NONE
Prize: Various
Details: Various prizes for poetry and prose concerning Black culture open only to high school students in the state of Illinois
URL: http://www.csu.edu/GwendolynBrooks/literaryawards.htm
Contact: gbc@csu.edu

O. Henry Short Story Competition for Young Writers
Deadline: September 22
Categories: Fiction
Fee: NONE
Prize: $100 and submission to publications
Details: Short shorts have been written for centuries, even if they haven't been called by that name. To write a short short, find a story that wants to be told. Strip it down to what's needed. Use language to give it life: Simple and direct. Or suggestive and metaphorical. Give it a voice all its own. The story must be a maximum of 1,000 words long, double-spaced; previously unpublished; and written in English. Only entries submitted via e-mail will be accepted. Only one entry per person. This contest is only open to residents of the United States between the ages of 14 and 22.
URL: http://www.randomhouse.com/anchor/ohenry/competition.html
Contact: ohenryprizestories@yahoo.com

All-American Sports Poet National Contest
Deadline: October 15
Categories: Poetry
Fee: NONE
Prize: honor rolls
Details: This national sports poetry contest is for elementary, middle, high school and college students. Poems must feature sport as a motif.
URL: http://www.internationalsport.com/cspoetry/

TooWriteCom Contest
Deadline: October 19
Categories: Fiction, Nonfiction
Fee: NONE
Prize: Variety of prizes for each age range.
Details: Submit up to five true or fictional short stories that are no longer than 1,500 words.
URL: http://youngwriters.toowrite.com/

http://www.springfieldlibrary.org/YA/teen_writing.html

http://www.teenink.com/

http://www.artandwriting.org/index_page6.htm

http://www.davidbarrkirtley.com/teenwriter/TeenResources.html

http://ezinearticles.com/?Writing-Contests-for-Teens--
Something-to-Do-With-a-Boring-Summer!&id=237227

http://www.grandmajam.com/luv2kids.htm#writers

http://www.piercecountylibrary.org/kids-teens/teens/teen-writing-contest/Default.htm

http://www.poetryamerica.com/teen-poetry-contest.asp

Would you like information about:

An on-line course for eager sixth-graders?

Ways to use Friday Night Lights and Veronica Mars in the classroom?

Creative alternatives to senior year?

Discussing creative approaches to the ACT or SAT essay?

Send us an e-mail. We can help you out.

Interested in Historical fiction? Contact us. We have material and ideas for writing about many Chicago figures and events. The material invites students to remember, discover, decide, and create.