Writing for children - learning from a pro
October 17, 2008
“I was thinking I’d write a children’s book about …’’
Who hasn’t had such a thought once in a while?
Now you have an opportunity to stop thinking about it and start writing.
Next month Greater Cincinnati residents will have a chance to explore the challenge of writing for children and young adults – under the tutelage of a widely-published, award-winning author.
Andrea Cheng, a writer who teaches at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College in Clifton, will host a 10-week course, “Writing for Children,’’ during the late fall term Nov. 12 through Jan. 27. The class will meet from 1 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursday.
It is open to both Cincinnati State students and the public at large. No writing experience is necessary.
The course will teach the nuts and bolts of writing picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels and fiction aimed at young adults. Participants will cover such topics as generating story ideas; organizing, writing and rewriting manuscripts; dealing with publishers and finding markets for their work. But the core of the course will be the students’ own writing, which will shared in a workshop format and reviewed by Cheng.
At Cincinnati State, Andrea Cheng is known primarily for her work with international and immigrant students in the English as a Second Language program. In the outside world, she is widely known as a Parent’s Choice Award author and illustrator of more than a dozen books for children and teens. Among her titles are “Anna the Bookbinder,’’ “Shanghai Messenger,’’ “Grandfather Counts’’ and “Marika.’’
To register for the course, call Andrea Cheng at (513) 569-4848.
Cincinnati State offers more than 75 associate degree programs and more than 40 certificate programs in business technologies, health and public safety, engineering technologies, humanity and sciences and information technologies. About 14,000 students are enrolled annually in credit and non-credit classes. Cincinnati State has a 93% placement rate within three months of graduation, and its students have a 91% pass rate on required licensing and registry exams.
Cincinnati State has the largest co-op program among two-year colleges in the U.S.
