THURS., JUNE 3, 2010

LEARNING LEADERS
ROOM TO WRITE CELEBRATORY READING AT BECA

Bronx Early College Academy (BECA)
250 E. 164 St., Bronx, NY

Room to Write volunteers and participating students gathered at BECA on June 3 for a celebratory reading and award ceremony. Families, schools staff, and volunteers were entertained by students’ reading of original short stories and poetry.

  Perla Troncoso (r) & Jasmine Morales, storyteller winners.

Principal John Barnes welcomed parents and volunteers, and congratulated the students for their hard work and dedication this year. Lead volunteers, Elizabeth Evans and Caren Estesen, introduced the eighth and ninth grade classes, and Claire Campbell, Specialist for Literary Programs, presented two individual students with the Storyteller Award for demonstrating a passion for books and a dedication to reading and writing. Editors from Slice Magazine, Celia Johnson and Maria Gagliano, announced the winners of the Short Story Contest, awarding four student writers with publication in the Fall 2010/Winter 2011 issue of Slice. All other entries will be posted on the magazine’s website: www.slicemagazine.org. Finally, Assistant Principal Max O’Casey closed the reading, thanking Learning Leaders and the lead volunteers, Ms. Evans and Ms. Estesen, for their commitment to BECA. Students expressed their own gratitude to the volunteers for inspiring them to keep writing! For more info visit: www.roomtowrite.net and www.slicemagazine.org

 View pics here: http://tinyurl.com/28scqu2

ROOM TO WRITE

Room to Write at Learning Leaders is a New York City based volunteer group of publishing professionals. In conjunction with Learning Leaders, literary agent Elizabeth Evans created the group in May 2009 as a way to use the unique resources of the publishing community to inspire local students to read and to embrace writing as a creative outlet. Fellow agents Caren Estesen, Michelle Brower, and Brandi Bowles came on shortly thereafter to help shape and implement the program. Inviting friends within publishing, Room to Write quickly grew to 25 members, comprised mainly of book editors and agents.
Room to Write focuses its efforts by working closely with two schools: the Bronx Early College Academy (BECA), and the Secondary School for Journalism in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Evans and Estesen oversee weekly creative writing classes for eighth and ninth graders at BECA. Brower and Bowles lead a series of career-building publishing workshops in Park Slope.
The mission of Room to Write is to help kids become more confident in their writing skills and to encourage them to think critically about writing. And of course, to help them form a fun, supportive community that is passionate about books.

SLICE MAGAZINE WRITING CONTEST

The editors of Slice Magazine asked students to submit short stories of two to four pages on the theme Villains—theme of the Fall 2010/Winter 2011 issue. Of the entries submitted, the editors have selected four stories to appear in the print version of the Fall/Winter issue. All other entries will be posted on the magazine’s website: www.slicemagazine.org.

THE LEAD PARTICIPANTS

Claire Campbell
Specialist for Literary Programs
As Specialist for Literary Programs at Learning Leaders, Claire Campbell employs extensive experience as a writer and instructor. She holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Sarah Lawrence College and is a prose editor at Storyscape Journal, a Brooklyn-based literary journal. She has taught writing at Concordia College and was recently an artist-in-residence at the Ox-Bow School of Art.

Elizabeth Evans
Volunteer
Elizabeth Evans is a literary agent with the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency, Inc. Previously, she worked for Kimberley Cameron & Associates in their San Francisco office for five years. Elizabeth moved to New York in January 2009 and formed Room to Write with Caren Estesen. She is an avid reader and sometime writer of her own fiction. Her twin passions are for books and the outdoors. Although she finds reading on a picnic blanket, row boat or mountain top difficult, she'll never give up trying. Elizabeth holds a BA from Hamilton College and an MFA in Writing from the University of San Francisco.

Caren Estesen
Volunteer
Caren Estesen owns and operates her own literary agency—the Caren Johnson Literary Agency. She previously worked at Firebrand Literary and the Peter Rubie Literary Agency, now FinePrint Literary Agency. Caren holds a BA from City College of NY. Books have always been at the center of Caren’s life. After a fateful conversation about her future (You're not going to become a teacher? But what else would you use a degree in English Lit for?) she decided to figure out a way to work in the book world. She found her calling as an agent and still grins knowing that she reads for a living.