WRITER'S WORKING

Those who prefer to express themselves with words can do so at Guilford Art Center this summer, through two workshops with noted authors from the New York Writers Workshop. Novelist and essayist CHARLES SALZBERG and poet MARY STEWART HAMMOND will conduct workshops sharing their ideas, strategies, and expertise.

Salzberg's class, THE ART OF THE PERSONAL ESSAY, will explore ideas for essays, how to construct them, and various markets for publication. He describes essays as a combination of a letter and a short story, that can tackle weighty subjects or lighter moments alike. "Using what might seem to be an insignificant or ordinary event and then making it universal in scope, the best personal essays illuminate and transcend the subject," says Salzberg. "The reader-and often the writer-learns something important about him or herself." Salzberg has written for Esquire, New York, GQ, The New York Times Book Review, and is the author of over 20 books, including his novel, Swann's Last Song, published last fall. He was cited by New York Magazine as one of New York's Great Teachers. (Saturday, June 28, 10am-4pm).

"In some corner of everyone there is a poet," says Hammond. "The purpose of this workshop is to bring that poet to the center of one's being." In her class, FINDING THE POET WITHIN, participants will be encouraged to take risks, generate new poems, and revise previously written ones. The class will explore subject mater and technique necessary to bring vision to fruition and help each writer discover his or her voice. Hammond's poems have been published in magazines including American Poetry Review, The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, and The Paris Review, among others, and her book, Out of Canaan, received the Best First Collection of Poetry Award from the Great Lakes Colleges Association. (Sunday, June 29, 10am-4pm).

The New York Writers Workshop is the teaching division of New York Writers Resources, providing instruction in all forms of written expression. Working, published, professional writers conduct their workshops, consultations, conferences, and mentoring arrangements, striving to help writers at all stages of their development to reach their full potential.

"People create in all different ways," says Lisa Wolkow, the Center's Education Coordinator. "Writing is a fascinating avenue to explore, and we are thrilled to have these veteran authors here to work in our community."