REDBIRD NEWS - MAY, 2005

 

An insider's update on Redbird people and plans.

For more info contact Judy Bridges, 414-481-3195

jb@redbirdstudio.com   www.redbirdstudio.com

 

 

1. Shut Up and Write! Has Room For You

2. Kids Camps Get Boost From CWW

3. News About Redbird Writers

4. Other Faces/Places

5. How to: help/contact/report/get off the list

 

 

1. SHUT UP AND WRITE!  has room for You

 

If you've been holding off on registering for SHUT UP AND WRITE! now's the time to do it. We have space available in the class starting May 9. You don't have to be a beginner or pro, this is one course that takes you where you're at and helps you get where you want to go. The class is always small, and there's plenty of learning and support. The common comment at the end of this course is, Aw, do we have to quit? (Re-takes are welcome, by the way.) Schedule: Mondays, May 9, 16, 23, (Memorial Day off), June 6, 13, 20, 6:30-9 p.m.  Fee: $295 includes materials and all the tea you can drink. Description and registration form on the web site, but call or email first.

 

Note: ROUNDTABLE CRITIQUE GROUPS are currently full. If you would like to join a roundtable group, put your name on the waiting list as soon as you are sure you'd like to attend. Spaces are offered in the following order: 1) current participants, 2) long term Redbird Writers, 3) graduates of Shut Up and Write!, 4) other writers.

 

Please: Avoid wearing scented products to the studio. 

 

 

2. KIDS CAMPS GET BOOST FROM COUNCIL FOR WISCONSIN WRITERS

 

Once again, we owe a huge Thank You to members of the Council for Wisconsin Writers for sponsoring young authors to the Redbird creative writing camp. CWW is a statewide organization dedicated to promoting Wisconsin writing through awards, education and media recognition. This is the second year the group sponsored deserving youngsters who would not have been able to attend without the help. (For information about the Council, see www.wisconsinwriters.org)

   

 

***KIDS CAMPS/YOUNG AUTHORS - Registration open***

A full week of inspiration, creative writing and fun for kids who like to write

Monday thru Friday, 9:00-2:30, $295

 

Grades 2-3         July 11-15

Grades 4-6         July 18-22 and July 25-29

Grades 7-8         Aug 1-5

Grades 9-12       Aug 8-12

 

Details and registration information on web site, or call for flyer.

 

Can you Contribute?  Our scholarship fund is small and informal. When we receive contributions, we use them to help deserving young writers who have been recommended by teachers. We try to help at least one or two kids per class, and do so quietly. We appreciate any amount you can send. You can also help by telling young writers, teachers and parents about the program. As for flyers to distribute, or tell us where to mail them. Thanks.

 

 

 

3. NEWS ABOUT REDBIRD WRITERS AND FRIENDS

Note: "R.W. and Friends" either attended Redbird workshops, or taught them, or support the studio in some special way. If you sent information and it did not appear, please forgive and send it again. Web sites are listed but not necessarily linked.

 

Sharon Hart Addy's new picture book is in the design stage at Houghton Mifflin. It's due out in fall, '06. Sharon is now living the middle of a wildlife wonderland that only distracts her a little from teaching and revising the children's novel she wrote last summer.

 

Shannon Jackson Arnold is teaching a workshop on paper craft at the Paper Giraffe in downtown Delafield, Saturday, May 7th, in honor of National Scrapbook Day. The class shows how to make mini "squash" (or lotus) books that might include quotes or other artistic items. For more info call The Paper Giraffe, 262-646-5222.

 

Ludmilla Bollow knocked everyone's socks off at the Council for Wisconsin Writers Awards Banquet, when she read a mere three minutes of her play, "Flickering Fireflies." It's amazing what duo-talent (writing and acting) can do for a reading. Her play, "Bungle of Joy" is being read by Cornerstone Theatre Company at the Brumder Mansion on Monday, May 2.

 

Judy Bridges sends sincere appreciation to the dear friends who nag her to write Shut Up and Write! (You know who you are, and Yes, I am.)

 

Claudia Burns has had her plays performed by community theaters near her now-full-time home on Sanabel Island, Florida. She will be coming to Wisconsin this fall to attend Writers' Wellspring at The Clearing.

 

Mary Brill is accepting reservations for a seminar/tour she is leading to "Mystical, Magical Ireland" in April-May, 2006. (Mbrill4444@aol.com)

 

Christie Clancy will be teaching "The Craft of Fiction," a writers-as-readers course at UWM School of Continuing Education, Oct-Nov, 2005.

 

Amy Daroszeski, Kelly Todd and Molly Tennessen are opening a new feminist bookstore in Bay View. Broad Vocabulary is located at 2241 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., Milwaukee. Phone: 414-774-8384

web: www.broadvocabulary.com.

 

John Lehman's publication, "Cup of Poems and a Side of Prose" is now three years old and has extended distribution to Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago's north side. A well-known advocate for Wisconsin poets, John also sponsors www.WisconsinPoet.com and www.WisconsinAuthor.com. "Cup of Poems" is a free publication, but donations are heartily welcomed. Email: santerra@aol.com.

 

Barbara Malcolm is accepting submissions and subscriptions for her newsletter, "Scrapings ... From the Bottom of the Oatmeal Bowl." Here's her note on submissions: "Submissions are always welcome. The selection process is totally subjective and at the mercy of my menopausal whims. At times, I can be swayed by chocolate, but that can be chancy, too. It's my newsletter. And I say what goes. So There." (ed. note: Who can resist?) email: bookie@itol.com.

 

Pat Pollworth, author of "Milwaukee Street Names-Street Games,"  was interviewed on the Channel Six Morning Show.

 

Mara Ptacek is teaching a workshop on "Writing & Bookmaking" at Eagle Public Library, Eagle, WI on Monday, May 2. Mara's poetry and paper art was on exhibit at the library in April. She also received an award from the Milwaukee Public Library for her poem, "Love Letters:Lost and Found," and had two of her poems included in "Threaded Metaphors: Text & Textiles," an exhibit of poetry and fiber art at the Irish Heritage and Cultural Center, Milwaukee.

 

John Rondy's cover story on renewable energy, "Power Play," appeared in Shephard Express.

 

Eva Augustin Rumpf, author of the satiric novel "Prot U," presented a workshop -- "The Promises and Pitfalls of Print-on-Demand Publishing"  -- at the 2005 Spring Writers Festival at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Her opinion columns often appear on the op-ed pages of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Some of her essays have been syndicated nationally on Senior Wire. Information about her books and the texts of several articles can be found at her web site: http://webpages.milwpc.com/evar/index.html.

 

Soulstice Theatre (here at the Marian Center) will present two exciting projects in June: "Virtual Reality" by Alan Arkin, June 2,3,4,9,10,11 and Visit by Sheila Quinn Simpson -- author of "Apology" -- on June 4th. Call 414-431-3187 for reservations.

 

 

4. OTHER FACES/PLACES

 

WISCONSIN REGIONAL WRITERS ASSN SPRING CONFERENCE

Saturday, May 7th at Arrowhead (Best Western) Lodge & Suites in Black River Falls. Registration chair: John Danish, email: registration@wrwa.net

 

GREAT LAKES WRITERS WORKSHOP, ALVERNO COLLEGE

SPECIAL 20TH ANNIVERSARY PROGRAM featuring: Jacquelyn Mitchard, Shannon Jackson Arnold, Judy Bridges, Judith Harway, Carolyn Kott Washburne, Bill Nelson, Jo McReynolds-Blochowiak, John Gile, Susan Larkin and John Lehman.

Friday-Saturday, June 24, 25

Alverno College Telesis Institute

414-382-6218

 

THE CLEARING, DOOR COUNTY

2005 Writing Workshops include: Poetry Camp with Robin Chapman & Judith Strasser; Writing Workshops with Norb Blei; Poetry: Reaching In, Reaching out with Ellen Kort; Season of a Journal with Darlene Cole; Writing From Your Life with Jerry Apps; Make Good Writing Great with John Lehman; Writers' Wellspring with Judy Bridges.

920-854-4088 or www.theclearing.org

 

 

5. HOW TO HELP/CONTACT/REPORT NEWS

 

TO HELP: Distribute flyers. Tell people about Redbird. Contribute to the Scholarship Fund.

May we suggest:

-- A gift to the Scholarship Fund in your name, or to honor your favorite writer.

-- A Redbird gift certificate for your favorite writer (for full or partial registration.)

-- Books by Redbird Writers and Friends. See the list on our website.

-- Books, period. First choice is to purchase from your local Independent bookstore.

-- If you are purchasing books from Amazon, you can help Redbird by ordering through our site.

-- "Redbird Writers" tee shirts for your writer-friends. Available in black with red "bird" logo. M, L and XL. $15.

 

TO CONTACT REDBIRD : See address, email, phone and web address below.

TO REPORT NEWS: email Judy at Redbird

TO GET OFF THE LIST: email Judy at Redbird