‘Writer’s Voice’ Class With Jane Herschlag Being Offered By YMCA

DANBURY — ESCAPE to the Arts/The Center for Arts and Humanities is launching “The Writer’s Voice” with Jane Herschlag. She is an award winning New York poet who fell in love with Danbury, “where city meets country.” Ms Herschlag, curator of The Writer’s Voice at the West Side YMCA in New York, is a new resident in our community, bringing her expertise to ESCAPE to the Arts. In September she will teach poetry and prose classes for all ages, from beginners to advanced.

All classes have an emphasis on poetry but include prose for those who prefer it. Class size is four to eight students. Word and visual prompts are used to energize imaginations and let thought flow feely to tour the landscape of fantasy and reality.

Ms Herschlag has won a number of awards including the 1999 Geraldine Griffin Moore Award, the 1998 Jerome Lowell DeJur Manuscript Award (second place), The 1998 Poet in New York Prize (honorable mention), The 1998 Audre Lorde Award (second place), and second place in the 1998 N.O.W. nonfiction essay contest. Her work has been published by many university presses.

Ms Herschlag has taught creative writing at public school, high school, and given semi-private classes. She ran a reading series at The Gourmet Deli on Fifth Avenue (The New York Times ran a story on it), and for seven years she curated the open mic reading series for the Writer’s Voice at the West Side YMCA in New York City.

“The Writer’s Voice” classes will be offered at ESCAPE to the Arts on Tuesday from 4 to 5 pm for ages 6 to 10 years, and from 6 to 8 pm for adults, on Wednesdays from 3 to 4:30 for middle school students, and then from 5 to 6:30 pm for teens.

Thanks to the vision, leadership and support of community leaders and philanthropists, the YMCA assumed the leadership and management of ESCAPE to the Arts in 1995. ESCAPE has become one of the most sought after and influential arts and humanities programs in the area. In October 2002 ESCAPE opened the YMCA’s Center for Arts and Humanities at 293 Main Street in Danbury.

To register or for more information call ESCAPE to the Arts at 794-1413.