Children's Writing Workshop

September 21-23, 2007

Stories for Children in Words and Pictures

Bring a story with you– or create one while you are here! This workshop will be about developing stories for children in words and pictures. Workshop leaders are author and illustrator Debra Frasier, and poet and storyteller Ed Edmo.

The workshop will begin with dinner on Friday, September 21 at the Fishtrap House in Enterprise, Oregon, and run through brunch on Sunday morning, September 23. There will be stories, demonstrations, talks on story and book building, and hands on time with both artists. You are welcome but not required to bring books and stories you are working on. Enrollment is limited to 25, and is on a first come, first served basis.

The cost for the workshop is $165, which includes Friday dinner, Saturday lunch, and Sunday brunch. Rooms are available at the nearby Ponderosa Motel for $60 per night for a single with the Fishtrap discount. There are other motels and bed and breakfasts in Enterprise and nearby Joseph, and campsites at Wallowa Lake. For more information on lodging–and on other Wallowa County activities, go to the Chamber web site at www.wallowacountychamber.com.

Presenters:

Debra Frasier is one of the outstanding writers and illustrators of children’s books in the country. Her first book, On the Day You Were Born, became an instant classic, and has welcomed hundreds of thousands of newborns into the world. We know Debra at Fishtrap because she illustrated a Bill Stafford poem, The Animal That Drank Up Sound, and one of Kim Stafford’s, We Got Here Together, and did a half day workshop here years ago (that workshop filled quickly with folks driving from miles away). Most often Debra does her own writing to accompany her incredibly rich art work.

Debra is a Florida ocean girl who has lived for years in Minnesota and longed for water. Big water and big sky are prominent in her books– e.g., Out of the Ocean and The Incredible Water Show-- and she is now embarked on an incredible project of canoeing rivers across the country. Her own pictures and words are too good to summarize briefly; go to your local bookstore, or to www.debrafrasier.com and see for yourself!


Ed Edmo is a Native American with Shoshone-Bannock tribal affiliation, a performer, traditional storyteller and lecturer on Northwest tribal culture. Since 1986, he has narrated the production “Children of the Raven” for the Eugene Ballet Company. He performed his play “Grandma Choke Cherry” at Fishtrap in 1994 and at The Newberry Library, Chicago in 1996. In 1995, he joined the Eugene Ballet Company’s world tour performing “Through Coyote’s Eyes: A Visit with Ed Edmo,” in Syria, India, and Jordan. Ed adapted the Klickitat legend, “Bridge of the Gods” for the Tears of Joy Puppet Theatre in 1997, with a National Endowment for the Arts Grant. In 1998, Ed taught “Legend as Drama” at the Longhouse of Evergreen State College. His poetry, short stories, and plays have been published widely, and his new book, Color: Ethnic Racialized Minorities in Oregon, is just out. Ed’s poem, “Indian Education Blues” appears on Portland's Tri-Met Busses in the program "Poetry in Motion," and in stone at The Valley Library, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon. Learn more about Ed Edmo here.