Writopia Art Designer Wins the Jury Prize at the Indy Awards in Indianapolis

Andrea Listenberger, currently a senior at Vassar, spent a semester abroad last spring in Prague producing, co-writing, and co-directing the film, "In Memoriam." The film was was selected for the Indy Awards in Indianapolis, was shown last Saturday, and won the Jury Prize at the prestigious event! Congratulations Andrea!

While I am thrilled and continually impressed by Andrea's determination and talent, I am not at all surprised by her most recent and most public success. Andrea spent the summer of 2007 interning for us, designing our blog (yes, the one you are currently reading) and helping to organize our public readings and Iraq-US Teen Writing Exchange Project. Best of all, she now works for us, designing all of our fliers and the newest images that appear on our website (including the Gold Apple Teacher Award logo). We do not know what we would do without her!!
Read more!

Congratulations Rachel Ephraim!

Writopia Lab teacher, Rachel Ephraim, has been published this season in
"The Apple Valley Review," an online, biannual publication.

The Apple Valley Review has won much exposure lately as two of its pieces, "Pageant Queen," an essay by J. W. Young, and "Island Fever," a poem by Edward Byrne, were selected by series editor Nathan Leslie and guest editor Steve Almond for Best of the Web 2008. The journal only accepts 1-5% of its unsolicited submissions for publication. Congratulations Rachel!

The photo (above) was taken after the Housing Works reading at which Rachel's students read their wonderful prose to those of us lucky enough to hear. (Rachel is seated front, right.)

Please celebrate Rachel's success by reading her riveting short story,
“Please Send a Published Copy to 101 Harris Road.”
Read more!

Fall Reading # 1 at Housing Works Bookstore!!

Seven writers from Writopia Brooklyn and Downtown Manhattan stole the spotlight at Housing Works Bookstore last Tuesday at Writopia's first 2008 fall reading!

All summer writers who completed and polished a short story, memoir, or script have been invited to read their work at a local bookstore in front of an audience of family, friends, teachers, writers, and fans!

Congratulations: William Bauman, Annie Loucka, Alice Markham-Cantor, Olivia Pinney, Amelia Pinney, Vanessa Pinney, Robert Sanchez, and Sandy Vingoe for developing and polishing fabulous pieces, all published in Writopia Lab's Anthology: A New Generation of Writers and Thinkers, Volume III. Read more!

Writopia Brooklyn Partners with Starting Artists!

Thank you Rachel Ephraim for spearheading a new chapter of Writopia Brooklyn, now located at Starting Artists, a nonprofit organization that benefits Brooklyn teenagers through hands-on training in the arts and entrepreneurship, at 211 Smith Street.

Writopia workshops run on Sundays, beginning September 21st! Read more!