Festival Workshops

One of the most exciting aspects of the Get Lit! Festival is the amount of opportunities for members of our community to expand their personal or professional horizons. There is truly something for everyone, from the high school junior panicking about college admissions essays to the small non-profit struggling to write grants. In that vein, there will be workshops throughout the festival addressing aspects of both practical and creative writing. Business writing, poetry, essays, grant writing, screenwriting-- they'll all be discussed in a workshop setting. In addition, various workshops will break down specific aspects of writing, such as how to write believable dialogue in fiction, weaving your personal narrative in non-fiction and revising and editing your work.

You might be asking yourself, "What exactly is a workshop?" Well, if you're wondering whether you'll be quietly listening to a lecture for a couple of hours, the answer is no. Workshops are all about lively discussion, practicing your skills and getting feedback on them. Many of the workshops will include writing exercises that you'll do right then and there, while others will send you home with suggestions for how to practice a particular writing style. Other workshops, such as the "Rewriting and Editing Your Writing" session, ask you to bring a few pages of your work so you can figure out, based on the discussion, what works in your piece and how to improve what doesn't.

Most of the workshops are two hours long, after which you'll probably be inspired to go home and spend another couple of hours working on your piece. The workshops are led by some very impressive professionals in their fields, including authors of various award-winning novels, memoirs, poetry and short-story collections, as well as professors, grant writers and screenwriters. The cost differs depending on the workshop; some are free, while others are $20 with a student ID and $30 for the public. Each workshop has a different date, time and location, so check the schedule at here.

Each of the workshops provide a pretty unique opportunity. When else are you going to have two hours to sit down with a published author, expert grant writer or award-winning screenwriter and pick their brains about what you can do to improve your writing? Parents who want to encourage their child to write a stellar admissions essay or apply for scholarships can listen to Rachel Toor, EWU Professor, explain to students what pitfalls to avoid and how to make their essay stand out among hundreds of others. Aspiring screenwriters can learn how to pitch their story like a pro from Don Caron, who co-wrote Different Drummers, winner of the 2007 Grand Remington Prize at the Houston International Festival. Poets and travel writers can learn from Susan Rich, poet and activist, how to explore other cultures and people in your writing while treating them with respect.

For registration information, go to here.

Spokane's Big Read

Have you read To Kill A Mockingbird yet? If so, when is the last time you have read it? Either way we invite you to participate in this year's Big Read, featuring To Kill A Mockingbird.

The Big Read is a month long celebration hosted by the Spokane Public Library, which encourages people across the city to read, discuss, and attend various events centered around a single book.

This year, The Big Read highlights Harper Lee’s classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the story of lawyer Atticus Finch defending a black man accused of raping a white woman in 1930s Alabama. The book is widely regarded as one of the greatest novels of all time and has long been required reading in many classrooms.

There will be a variety of events taking place during this year's Big Read, including book discussions, film screenings, civil rights discussions, and even a mock trial. To see all of the events that are taking place throughout the month, please visit the Get Lit! Literary Calendar.

We encourage you to visit our message board to discuss To Kill a Mockingbird, and the many ethical and societal issues that it brings up.

Get Lit! Programs has applied for the Big Read grant for March/April 2011 focusing on Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried.

The Things They Carried is a collection of related stories by Tim O'Brien, about a platoon of American soldiers in the Vietnam War. The stories center around the tangible and intangible things that each soldier carries with them throughout the war, and the hardships they endured.

We hope to engage the military community, veterans, college/high school students, as well as the community at large. We'll keep you posted!

Get your Get Lit! Tickets

Every year, we work hard to make festival events more affordable and accessible to our community. This year we are proud to announce lower ticket prices, a hugely discounted Festival Pass, FREE tickets for students with ID, and FREE admission for the whole family to all youth events and many other festival activities. Students can pick up free tickets with their ID by visiting the bookstore at their college in April or come to the ticket counter at the event.

The Festival Pass offers admission to all headlining events listed below at a discount of over 60%. Passes or individual tickets to the following events are now available for purchase through TicketsWest.

*How to Win a Cosmic War with Dr. Reza Aslan

*PRI’s Selected Shorts: Year of the Father
*An Evening with Richard Russo and Jess Walter
*Insight with Author Sallie Tisdale
*In Conversation with Janet Fitch

*Jazz Poetry Performance with Patricia Smith

Registration for workshops will be available through Spokane Parks & Recreation’s Spring Activities Guide ($30 general/$20 students, plus some workshops are free).

Get Lit! Flicks tickets will be available at the Magic Lantern Theatre (25 W. Main) for a cost of $7 for a single showing or $10 for a double feature.

Getting Ready for Janet Wong at Get Lit!

Janet Wong loves interacting with her young audience and she provides many opportunities to do just that.

First, she has an excellent blog, where she interacts directly with students. Janet will post one of her poems and invites students from kindergartens to 8th grade to comment and ask questions. Then comes the exciting part: Janet responds! She gives great insight into her writing style, culture, and writing process. Teachers whose students have participated on the blog report that their students discovered a purpose for their writing through their interactions with the poet who responded to their comments, became engaged in the revising and editing process through sharing their poetry and comments, increased their enthusiasm for writing, and engaged in dialogs with students in other schools by posting their writing and discussing each others’ work.

The other way you can prepare for Janet Wong's appearance at the Get Lit! Festival is by downloading a free advanced copy of her book Me and Rolly Maloo by going to the Charlesbridge website and using the username: Charlesbridge, password: ARC. Here you can download not only the book, but discussion and activity guides, as well as enter to win a free classroom visit with Janet Wong via Skype.

If you know any kids who love writing, get them excited about Janet Wong coming to the Get Lit! Festival through her blog and her latest book. These two activities will get them prepared for the Kids Poetry Workshop with Janet on Saturday, April 17 at 9:30am, and Janet Wong's Essence of Childhood reading at 10:45am, both at the Kress Gallery during the Get Lit! Festival. Janet will also be teaching a free workshop for educators about incorporating social-responsibility into reading and writing lesson plans (Friday, April 16 at 4:30pm, EWU Riverpoint Campus). Advanced hardcopies of Me and Rolly Maloo will be available for purchase at the Festival as well.