Sylvia Gunnery

Readings

Finding Stories Every Day
Often writers are asked: Where do you get your ideas? In this presentation, a simple yet empowering answer is explored: Writers find stories every day: in surprises, in memories, and in daydreams. Sylvia Gunnery shares many of her novels and books for young people, explaining where her ideas originated and making clear connections between her themes and her own life experiences. This one-hour presentation is complemented by a power point slide show.

Special Equipment:

The option for a power point presentation would require an LCD projector and a screen.

Book Sales:

Copies of books can be brought to be sold and autographed if requested in advance.

Workshops

Just Write!
Where do writers find fictional characters? Just Write! In this workshop, you will create your own characters and experiment with ways to get them talking and walking across your page. Each activity in this writing workshop has been used successfully with writers from grades 4 to 12, as well as with adults. (Suggested time is 1.5 hours, with a maximum of 25 participants.)

Focus on Fiction
In this advanced writing workshop, students will explore their own writing voices as well as various techniques in the development of fiction: description, action, metaphor, dialogue, structure, and connection to place. Through a range of writing activities, informal round-table discussion, and opportunities to share, participants will create new stories or focus on getting deeper into fiction already in progress. Students are encouraged to bring a novel they have recently enjoyed reading. (Suggested time is 1.5 hours, with a maximum of 25 participants.)

Book Sales:

Copies of books can be brought to be sold and autographed if requested in advance.

Other Presentations

Keynote address:
Why Fiction? (The truth about what’s real in fiction and why stories count.)
This keynote address explores reasons why and how writers create novels and short stories and how and why readers make meaning in their own lives from these fictions.

Please note: Keynote topics may also be agreed upon in discussion with host.

Professional development sessions:

Please note: Each of the following PD workshops can be adapted to accommodate a 90-minute session, a half day, or a full day. Fees for PD sessions are available upon request.

1. Page by Page: Reading/Writing Connections
   Reading and writing are partners in literacy where both inform and inspire the other. In this workshop, participants will read, write, and explore, Page by Page, significant connections between developing skills in reading and in writing. Each activity is easily adaptable for classroom use in grades 1-4. Follow-up lessons will be suggested.
2. Real Revision
   The first draft has been written…now what? Most students, enjoying a strong sense of accomplishment, will want to stop right there. How can teachers inspire them to keep on going? Real Revision outlines key elements for meaningful revision and offers insightful strategies that encourage young writers to revise thoughtfully and often. Each activity in this workshop is easily adaptable for classroom use in grades 4 – 12.
3. Get Real: Non-Fiction Writing Grades 4 - 12
   This practical workshop gives teachers an opportunity to experience the beginning stages of non-fiction writing. How can students find their own themes and be inspired to explore them through to a completed first draft? When does conversation provide insights to the writer? How do writers balance what they already know with new information discovered through research? How can students see ways to organize their ideas within a paragraph and their paragraphs within an essay? Get Real provides essential answers that teachers will want to take back to their classrooms. Follow-up lessons will be suggested.
4. Just Write!
   Where do writers find fictional characters? They Just write! In this workshop, teachers become student writers, creating their own characters and experimenting with ways to get them talking and walking across their pages. Through personal reflection and group discussion, participants will have opportunities to make connections between these workshop experiences, specific curriculum outcomes, and successful classroom practice. Each writing activity has been used successfully with students in grades 4 to 12, as well as with adults. Follow-up lessons will be suggested.

Fees: a 90-minute session begins at $350.00. Please contact Sylvia for details.

Biography

Sylvia Gunnery is the author of numerous books for teens and children, including Robin's Impossible Crazy Idea (2001), Out of Bounds (2004), and its sequel Personal Best (2005). Many of the themes and characters in her novels have developed from classroom experiences with her junior and senior high school students. A recipient of a Prime Minister's Teaching Award, she has written two teacher resources: The Writing Circle (2007) and Just Write! (1998). She has also created a unique and powerful classroom resource that supports young writers as they work to improve draft writing—Revision Plus (2008).

Sylvia has presented at conferences, libraries, and schools across Canada and works on curriculum development and assessment initiatives with the Nova Scotia Department of Education. Currently, she is the Atlantic Representative on the National Council of The Writers’ Union of Canada. She lives at Crescent Beach on the South Shore of Nova Scotia.