Divine Literary Publishing (DLP), a San Antonio-based company, in collaboration with the Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities (ZORA! Festival), will conduct a one-day Creative Writing Workshop for High School Students on September 21, 2012, as part of the Their Eyes Were Watching God Conference being sponsored by The Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community (P.E.C.), the organizer of the annual ZORA! Festival. The conference will take place in Eatonville, Florida, Zora Neale Hurston’s hometown and our nation’s oldest incorporated African American municipality, and the literary site of her classic novel loved by readers from around the world. The conference is being held to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the novel’s publication.
The workshop will introduce high school students to the craft of writing fiction, with the goal being to assist them in advancing their writing skills. Elements for discussion will include theme, plot, dialogue, character development, “show-don’t-tell,” and point-of-view characters. Professor Frederick Williams and Ms. Toschia Moffett, Esq., both published authors and principals of DLP, a writers’ collective, will conduct the workshop.
On “Education Day” at ZORA! Festival 2012, Ms. Rhonda Lawson joined Professor Williams and Ms. Moffett to conduct several introductory creative writing workshop sessions. Based on the positive response received from participants, this September program was developed. Invitations have been issued to a select number of ZORA! Festival 2012 participants; and with this call, there is the opportunity for a limited number of new students to join.
On “Education Day” at ZORA! Festival 2013 (February 1), follow-up workshops will be conducted. Once those sessions have been completed, organizers anticipate selecting students whose work will be featured in a published anthology for release at the 25th anniversary of ZORA! Festival, January 25 – February 2, 2014.
If you are interested in your student participating in this very unique writing project, please contact Ms. Cynthia Lee, Office Manager at The Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, [email protected] or 407-647-3131 for registration information and forms. The deadline for response is June 25, 2012.
