Back by Popular Demand: Teen Writers' Conference

The 4th annual Scarsdale Teen Writers' Conference will be held this year on Friday, May 16, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Scarsdale High School. The event, which has grown in popularity, is organized by the Scarsdale Public Library Teen Advisory Board. Registration is required at the library website www.scarsdalelibrary.org.

The event gives high school students the opportunity to learn from and ask questions of published writers.

The program will include:

Writing Fiction with Sheela Chari. Chari is an author of children's and young adult mysteries. She will teach a class on creative writing. Her novel Vanished was chosen as a 2012 Children's Literature Honor Book by the Asian/Pacific American Library Association and was nominated.

Taste Test with Barbara Josselsohn, a journalist back by popular demand, who will again conduct a class on writing reviews of various products. This year cookies, every kid's favorite treat, are in the spotlight. Josselsohn is a freelance magazine writer specializing in home and family topics. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, Parents Magazine, American Baby, Consumers Digest, Westchester Family and The Scarsdale Inquirer.

For the third consecutive year the conference will have a panel of authors in various fields to answer students' questions about writing. This year the panel will consist of: Erin Foster, a freelance travel writer specializing in Walt Disney World and co-author of The Unofficial Guide to the Disney Cruise Line, published in April; Carrie Gilpin, the education reporter for The Scarsdale Inquirer; and Scarsdale native Jacob Appel, a playwright, bioethicist, and novelist, who has had his acclaimed short stories published in 215 literary journals.

For additional information contact chablatt@gmail.com or vgbeizer@gmail.com.