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Authors of Tomorrow Attend BOCES Writer's Conference
Caption: Mahopac High School student Rebecca Levine talks to a student from Yonkers High School during a workshop at the Young Authors' Conference hosted by Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES earlier this month.
Armed with random words, one per sticky note, students created communal sentences on a huge piece of paper spread out on the floor. It took some time before everyone had found a suitable place to fit their word. "If you gave as much thought to every sentence you write," said English teacher Diane Sarna, "your work would be that much more powerful." It was one of many powerful messages that the 406 students - each chosen for their strong writing skills - was to hear during the Young Authors' Conference presented by Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES at Westchester Community College last week.
Ms. Sarna's "Word Play" workshop was one of 15 that the students from 29 area high schools could choose to attend during the day-long conference. Also working with the students was a poet, a biographer, a storytelling coach, a newspaper editor, a sports writer, novelists, and the executive editor of LIFE magazine, Robert Sullivan. The Journal News columnist Phil Reisman was the keynote speaker and also hosted a "Writing for Newspapers" workshop.
Writing in his column after the event, Mr. Reisman remarked on how impressed he was with the young authors. "Reading samples of their work in a specially prepared anthology restored my faith that the next generation's commitment to writing extends far beyond the lazy shorthand of text-messaging and Internet chitchat."
For lovers of English, as the select group of students all were, it was a veritable feast. Their dilemma? How to choose between workshops covering "The Limits of Fantasy," "The Poem as Party," "Reality Explodes," "Resurrecting the Dead," and "What's So Funny?"
The Young Authors' Conference is an annual event organized by the Curriculum and Instruction Department of Putnam/Northern Westchester Board of Cooperative Educational Services.
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