Big Blue Marble Bookstore

Classes at the Big Blue Marble

Would you like to hold a class in our community room? For queries and scheduling, email events@bigbluemarblebooks.com or call 215-844-1870.

Minter Krotzer's Winter/Spring Writing Workshops at Big Blue Marble

Life Stories - Now in its fourth year! Learn to shape life experiences into various forms of prose: memoir, personal essay, flash fiction, the short story, nonfiction shorts, and the prose poem. In this workshop we will focus on all phases of the writing process: generating material, writing first drafts, and revision. Selected readings will be provided for discussion as well. Open to beginners and to those who already have a bulk of writing based on life experiences. This workshop is usually offered several times a year.

Tuesday evenings from 7:00pm-9:00pm, for six sessions, from February 28th through April 3rd - $200

Advanced Life Stories - This workshop is for those who are ready to hone and shape material into manuscript form (both nonfiction and fiction) or for those who would like to work towards a specific project. It is a revision-based workshop, however new assignments are also given along with literary readings and discussion of craft. Publication and query letter advisement is included. Note that there is a heavier reading load than the other workshops and admission is based on a writing sample. This workshop is usually offered several times a year.

Tuesday evenings from 7:00pm-9:00pm, for six sessions, from May 1st through June 5 - $200

Poetry Workshop - A popular workshop led by renowned poet Hal Sirowitz (with Minter's accompaniment). We will mostly read and write poems in free verse, in particular poetry drawn from one's life, although at times we will explore other forms. Selected poetry texts will also be read and discussed and there will be in class writing and optional sharing. This workshop is usually offered two to three times a year.

Saturday afternoons from 3:30pm-5:30pm, for six sessions, exact dates TBA - $200

E-mail Minter: minterk(at)gmail.com if you have questions about these workshops or are interested in registering. A $50 deposit will be required to secure a spot. All workshops are also offered electronically for those who cannot attend in person. Note: a minimum of five participants is required for workshops to run.

About Hal: Hal Sirowitz is the author of four books of poems, Mother Said, My Therapist Said (Random House), Father Said, and Before, During & After (SoftSkull Press). His work has been translated into nine languages including Icelandic and Turkish. Garrison Keillor has read his work on NPR's Writer's Almanac and he has included Hal's poems in his anthologies, Good Poems and Good Poems for Hard Times. Hal has performed and appeared on MTV's Spoken Word Unplugged, PBS's Poetry Heaven, NPR's All Things Considered, and Fresh Air with Terry Gross. Awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship, Hal is the former Poet Laureate of Queens, New York.

About Minter: Minter Krotzer's prose has been published in Many Mountains Moving, the Saint Ann's Review, the Arkansas Review,Upstreet, Night Train, Before and After: Stories from New York(WW Norton 2002), Louisiana in Words (Pelican Press), God Stories (Random House 2008), and in Hint Fiction (WWNorton). She has received writing fellowships at the New School, where she received an MFA in Creative Nonfiction, Bennington College, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Squaw Valley Writers Conference. Last summer she was a Visiting Fellow at the Moulin a Nef in Auvillar, France.