FORT PLAIN — Beginning June 9, the Fort Plain Free Library, 19 Willett St., will launch a book discussion and a series of summer writing workshops with Siena College Teaching Assist. Prof. James Belflower.
Belflower, an author and multimedia poet/critic, will facilitate the first adult component of the library’s traditional Summer Reading Program with the June 9 book discussion about Laura Sims’ “Looker,” a psychological thriller about a voyeuristic woman whose life is coming unraveled. Copies of the book are available for borrowing at the library. The discussion, which will feature a Skype session with Sims, will take place from 3 to 5 p.m.
This will be followed in subsequent weeks by a series of five “Explorations in Writing.”
The first two writing classes, scheduled for June 13, from 5 to 7 p.m., and June 16, from 3 to 5 p.m., comprise a miniseries: “Writing as Walking Workshops.” As noted by Belflower, these sessions will explore “how walking reveals new rhythms, sensory surprises, and innovative thoughts in our writing.”
The third class, titled “The Lively Object Workshop,” is scheduled for June 23, from 3 to 5 p.m. and “explores how everyday objects seem to have a life of their own and can inspire adventures in perception, flights of fancy, and vivid moments of nostalgia in our writing.”
Belflower said the fourth class explores how “mining your autobiography can be very helpful in finding characters, storylines, and scenes for your fiction.” That session, titled “You Are a Character Too,” will take place from 3 to 5 p.m. on July 21.
“The Short, Short Story Workshop,” the final program in the series, will take place on Aug. 18, from 3 to 5 p.m. “This workshop explores how micro-fiction can lead to major drama as we write stories under 500 words,” Belflower said.
The library has aspired to add adult programs to the SRP for years. Library Director Whitney Hubbard said, “We’ve been working to provide a more dynamic summer reading program and are excited to offer a variety of multifaceted opportunities for adults to get involved with individual and group reading challenges, book discussions, writing clinics, and other programs. We want to pique their interest as well as to connect them with our younger readers.”
Those interested in participating in the library’s book discussion can borrow books through the library. There is no cost to participate in any of these adult-oriented summer reading/writing initiatives.
To reserve a book or for more information, call (518) 993-4646.
