Susan Merson Premieres New Writers Workshops

Master Teacher Susan Merson is founder and moderator of both the Los Angeles and New York Writers Bloc which has supported the work of fiction standouts Janet Fitch and David Bezmozgis; Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Donald Margulies, Emmy winner Jane Anderson, popular nonfiction authors Jamie Cat Callan and Laurie Graff, and YA standouts Kim Purcell and Barbara Bottner will be conducting another series of writing workshops in New York this Spring.

Ms. Merson single-handedly saved the 13th Playhouse from extinction by presenting cutting-edge works and workshops featuring prominent women writers and artists.

VOICING WORKSHOP: UNFOLDING

For writers looking to explore personal issues of growth and development. Participants will respond in class to writing prompts and develop a writing agenda targeting the mysteries they have been looking to unravel. Class is for writers at all levels looking to explore style, substance and inclination. Class will culminate with a public reading and /or Journal of work. Monday evenings from 7-930 p.m.; February 10, 17, 24, March 4, 11, 18 - with a presentation March 25.

VOICING WORKSHOP: ONGOING PROJECTS

This workshop is for those writers with ongoing projects and looking for a place to present and develop their work in a supportive and ongoing and supportive environment. The Writer Bloc Method of development asks participants to read their work aloud with specific questions in mind for the assembled respondents - other writers in the circle. Opportunities for individual script assessment, close reading and editing at discounted editorial rates. All class limited to no more than 10 students and must have at least 5 students to move ahead. Thursday evenings Feb 13, 20, 27, March 5 ,12, 19, 26, April 2.

SOAPBOX WRITERS

Join the Soapbox Writers to develop your own work around the issues of the day. We envision a group of no more than ten writers coming together to develop an agenda of topics about the personal and political and how our times shape us and we shape our times. We will look at our personal journeys and the choices that we have made and continue to make at this time in history. The group will meet for 8 weeks during which we will develop personal essays, writing and responses to the issues we outline. The workshop will culminate with a public performance and or a journal of work to open and spur conversation and action as individuals and a community. Saturday mornings, 11;00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.; February 15, 22, 29; March 7, 14, 21 ,28; April 4 Final Presentation.

Starting as a playwright, Susan has had her plays produced internationally with fiction and nonfiction pieces recently appearing in the Magical Women's Conference Journal, The Worcester Review, and Nice Jewish Girls. Your Name Her: An Actor Writers Guide to Solo Performance is available on Amazon as well as her memoir When They Go and You Do Not. Her novel Dreaming in Daylight ( also available on Audible.com). She taught Playwrighting for ten years at Cal State Fullerton and has been editing and teaching Fiction, Memoir, Life Stories and Flash Fiction for the last twenty.

Recent gigs include teaching at the Cumbria Writers Festival in the UK and upcoming workshops with Angela Locke at Rydall Hall in the Lake District. www.susanmerson.com. All classes limited to no more than 10 students and must have at least 5 students to move ahead.

NOTE: ALL WRITERS IN ALL WORKSHOPS WILL RECEIVE FREE PROMOTIONAL OPPORTUNITIES, EXPOSURE, AND NETWORKING THROUGH Jay Michaels ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT