As a teaching artist with Morris Arts and Arts by the People, I lead creative writing workshops in studio settings and school-based residencies in northern New Jersey. My workshops explore memoir and the personal narrative, zine-making, poetry and short fiction. My teaching is based on the philosophy that we each have the tools for powerful writing already at hand: our daily experiences, memories, feelings and what the late poet Kenneth Koch called “the music of ordinary speech.”

My workshops often culminate in a group project, including an anthology of student writing. Examples of my students’ anthologies can be found here and here. My students have also been published in 826 Quarterly and the New York Times.

Paper Elder is my blog about teaching creative writing to senior citizens.