“Since I started leading workshops in 2005, it has been endlessly satisfying to help hundreds of adults discover the writer within themselves,” says AWA Affiliate Marian Calabro. Marian’s workshops take place in her native New Jersey, mainly at the Adult School of Montclair and in private groups. While there is no typical participant, many “night…
Market Street Writers, led by AWA Affiliate Lisa Colburn, offers AWA Method workshops and retreats in Virginia and Maryland. Lisa is a leader of Amherst Writers Capital Region, an organization of AWA leaders concentrated in the Washington DC area. She seems to be a natural connector, whether that means she is partnering with other workshop…
Born and raised in the mountains of West Central Maine, AWA Affiliate Suzanne Rancourt’s story is unique. Her rural, woodland upbringing offered her the experiential framework that is now the paradigm from which she draws endless resources. Whether working with artists/recipients, survivors of Traumatic Brain Injury, other life altering traumatic events, or people living with…
Aaron Zimmerman founded NY Writers Coalition Inc. (NYWC) a remarkable 15 years ago after attending the AWA training program in 2001. Today, NYWC is one of the largest community-based creative writing programs in the world. They partner with public and private institutions, social service agencies, and social justice organizations to provide unique, empowering ongoing weekly creative writing…
Jen Cross shares with us her path to writing with sexual trauma survivors and founding Writing Ourselves Whole. She also offers an announcement of some exciting publication news. In her own words: Writing saved my life. Isn’t that true for so many of us? If I hadn’t had that outlet back when I was 20 and…
916 Ink empowers students in the Sacramento region with creative writing, thereby developing strong readers and inspired writers who lead a higher quality of life due to increased literacy skills and improved academics. The organization, founded by AWA Affiliate Katie McCleary in 2011, has affected the lives of many young people. From their website: We have published…
AWA Affiliate and Board Member Bisi Ideraabdullah has a wealth of inspiring work to share. In addition to her powerful work with Imani House (described below), Bisi has run a writing workshop for women of color in NYC since 1999. She has edited and published an anthology of writing from that community, Voices of Brooklyn:…
AWA Affiliate Vicki Pinkerton shared the following account with us. We are grateful to her for offering this writing and for helping us expand the communities into which the AWA Method has reached. “I facilitate writing groups near my home in Southern Ontario. When Yukon College approached me, asking me to travel 200km north of the…
Mary Kim Kaylor, AWA Affiliate, leads an AWA workshop at Oregon State Hospital, a high–security psychiatric hospital with the vision to provide hope, promote safety and support recovery for all. As an Occupational Therapist and AWA Affiliate, she provides writing groups to adults who are recovering from mental illness. Her groups include both male and…
The Story House Ireland was founded in 2014 by AWA Affiliate Margaret O’Brien with Nollaig Brennan. Unique in Ireland, it provides residential writing courses open to anyone who wishes to write. TSH is a fusion of the work of Pat Schneider (USA), founder of AWA, and John Moat (UK), founder of The Arvon Foundation, and is…