Workshops | Speaking Engagements

 

Writing Workshops for Children and Adults

Victoria Zackheim, author and writing instructor, offers two writing workshops:
Turning Your Family History Into Fiction and Documenting Your Family History.

Turning Your Family History Into Fiction
Children’s Program (grades 3-12): Designed for a 45-minute class (length is adaptable) this workshop encourages full participation. The children suggest, and then vote on, the main character’s name, repeating this same process to determine unusual traits, habits, concerns of that character. By the end of the class, an entire short story has been created and the children come away with a sense of how delightful and unthreatening the process of writing can be.

Adults’ Program: This course can be adapted for two hours up to two full days, depending on the needs of the program. The focus is creative writing, critique and group participation. Each participant is asked to share a bit of family lore, some vignette that happened one year ago…or one hundred. Students then write a short piece of fiction around this vignette. Each story is read aloud and critiqued by the instructor (the level of critique based on the age and expertise of the writers). The longer courses permit revisions and additional writing, as well as discussions about voice, point of view (POV), etc.. The goal of this course is to encourage writing and give the participants a feeling of accomplishment.

Documenting Your Family History: This course can be adapted to children and/or adults. Writing is based on the question: Can something happen in your family one hundred years before your birth that affects you today? We discuss methods used to unearth the lore passed from one generation to the next. This workshop deals with how to gather that information, using interview skills and technology, and then writing about it. In the workshop, participants will learn about video techniques, such as photo transfers, montage, and voice-over; photography techniques, including settings and lighting; and audio techniques for interviewing the elderly. The class will discuss audio diaries, art projects, and other genealogy-focused approaches for adults and children. This course works well in the classroom and combines with art projects and discussions of our Jewish heritage.

 

Speaking Engagements

Victoria is a frequent guest speaker for literary and non-profit events. She is available to speak on a variety of topics. Previous keynote speeches have focused on:

The Women Who Came Before Us - our place in the continuum of Jewish history

Documenting Our Histories - the importance of leaving a legacy of information

To Hell and Back - humorous talk about the ups and downs of author book tours

References are available upon request.
Fees are determined on a per-event basis and are negotiable.