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LIFESTYLE
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The Champion, Thursday, April 14 - 20, 2016
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Members of the Decatur literary community gather at Decatur CoWorks on Church Street to celebrate the launch of Decatur Writers’ Studio.
Shlii lilts writers‘s place to iirk ill iriw’
by Kathy Mitchell
Since its launch in 2009, the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution De
catur Book Festival (AJC DBF)
has grown beyond even the ex
pectations of its founder and ex
ecutive director Daren Wang. “I
had no idea it would get this big,”
Wang said of the event that now
bills itself as “the nation’s largest
independent book festival.”
Festival organizers are build
ing on that success to give Atlan
ta something many other major
American cities, including San
Francisco, Minneapolis and New
York, have developed into re
gional assets—a writers’ studio.
AJC DBF on April 1 launched
Decatur Writers Studio (DWS),
which Wang said provides writ
ers a place to work and grow.
Despite the name, Wang said
he expects the writers’ studio to
be a resource for writers not just
in Decatur but throughout the
metro Atlanta area and beyond.
“The festival enters its 11th year
in September,” he said. “We
keep looking for ways to expand
on what it has already accom
plished in carving out a larger
slice of the Southern literary
scene for Decatur and the metro
Atlanta area. We continue to
look for ways to support the liter
ary community.”
Calling the DWS “a natural
extension of what we’ve been
doing for the past decade with
the Decatur Book Festival,”
Wang said the studio is designed
to “forge new tools for writers
to learn from and support each
other.”
Through DWS, aspiring and
established writers will have the
opportunity to attend workshop-
style creative writing classes led
by some of the area’s most ac
complished authors. “This is an
opportunity for local writers to
connect with some of the best in
the nation—writers reviewed by
the New York Times,” he said.
Flome base for the Decatur
Writers Studio is Decatur Co-
Works on Church Street, where
the studio’s classes will be held
and a limited number of mem
berships are available for writers
who need space to work. Those
purchasing memberships get
workstations, access to printing,
scanning and copying, wireless
Internet connections, conference
rooms with audio/video capacity
and other amenities.
“Possibly the greatest ben
efits,” Wang said, is exposure to
other writers—“colleagues who
are going through or have gone
through some of the same pro
fessional challenges. The shared
comradery, the exchange of in
formation and ideas is priceless.”
DWS classes, which will be
limited to approximately 12 par
ticipants, will cover a range of
literary endeavors, including
poetry, narrative nonfiction and
specific genres, such as ro
mance and fantasy. The studio’s
future plans include boot-camp-
style courses on weekends.
One of DWS’s first ventures
is an eight-session workshop for
young writers that sprang from
“a desire to do something unique
for the students,” according to
Wang. Sponsored by the Deca
tur Education Foundation (DEF),
the DEF Young Writers Work
shop started April 13.
Participants in the workshop
are Decatur High School stu
dents selected based on their
aptitude, their passion for writ
ing and “certain diversity criteria
such as socioeconomics.”
Fully funded by DEF, the
workshop will be led by Terra
Elan McVoy, a nationally known
author of young adult fiction,
who lives in Decatur.
“Workshopping is valuable
for writers at all levels, because
focusing on the strengths and ar
eas of growth in someone else’s
work helps you—with practice—
locate improvement areas in
your own writing,” McVoy said.
“Similarly, sharing your work with
others helps illuminate what’s
working and what isn’t in a way
you may not be able to see on
your own, since you’re so close
to the material.”
DEF Executive Director Gail
Rothman commented in a news
release that she is excited about
the opportunity the workshop
provides for Decatur students.
“Most high school kids don’t
get to work with a nationally re
nowned author,” she said.
McVoy, whose Being Friends
with Boys was named among
“10 Books All Young Georgians
Should Read” in 2015 by the
Georgia Center for the Book,
said, “I’m always excited by see
ing what other writers are doing,
because it informs my own work,
but young writers are especially
interesting, since they have so
many different sources of inspi
ration and outlets of expression.
It’s fun to see what they’re riffing
off of, inspired by, and wanting
to mimic. Also, now there are
many more ways to collaborate
and share, so seeing how young
people are doing that opens
up interesting avenues for me,
too—if I’m brave enough to take
them.
“Mainly I hope these young
writers will develop their creative
writing in ways they may not
have other outlets for right now.
Also, to enhance their critical
reading skills, and expand their
own sense of what’s possible
through reading each other’s
work and doing in-class prompts.
Writing can be a solitary gig, so I
hope they’ll make some connec
tions with a few trustworthy and
inspiring colleagues, as well,”
McVoy said.