On May 15 this year, my novel for ages 9-14, The Finding Place, will be published in both Canada and the States, by Red Deer Press. I’ve been asked quite a few times about my experiences with this novel, so I thought I would share some of those here, with a second blog entry to [...]
Coming Soon at the Centauri Arts Academy: A Masterclass in Writing Creative Non Fiction! Join us at the Centauri Arts Academy in Toronto on Friday 2 January for a one day creative writing workshop! This course runs from 10.30am to 4pm on the last day of the school Winter holidays and the instructor is Glen [...]
A Sneak Peek at a Few of our 2015 Arts Programs! We are now putting the finishing touches to our 2015 website and brochure, ready to launch on 6th November. Registration Day follows soon after, on SUNDAY 16TH NOVEMBER (returning campers) and WEDNESDAY 19TH NOVEMBER (new families)! In the meantime, here is a sample of [...]
New Creative Writing Camp for 2015! Discover how to build a fantastical world so compelling a reader will lose themselves in it. Create rounded characters, learn how to make the incredible credible, and develop strategies for constructing flawless plots. In this genre-writing program we will focus specifically on fantasy, though the skills we'll learn apply [...]
We're Offering a New Collaborative Program at Camp Next Summer! "The People Project" will run in session 2, and is an exciting collaboration between our dance, theatre and creative writing departments, at the end of which a full length show will be staged. Campers will explore human interaction, emotion and conflict, using the medium of [...]
With Session Two now well underway, I took a tour of programs this morning! Our Dancers were choreographing a dance using multicoloured flashlight beams in darkness, which looked spectacular. The Zen of Comedy campers were analysing famous movie clips and discussing how they could use the various styles in their improv work. Mr Hollow's Theatre [...]
THE FIRST TWENTY FOUR HOURS! Programs are all going well. I took a tour around this morning. Our writers were creating pieces based around the concept of 'fear and awe'. In 'Aliens Invade', groups were learning the correct way to set up a professional tripod, and in the film studio next door, campers were learning [...]
Telling Stories With My Hands at Centauri By Jade W. Niagara, a place known for its vineyards, Great Wolf Lodge, and of course the famous thundering falls. Some people may even know there is a boys’ boarding school in the region. Few know that each summer this school transforms into an inspired creative hub. Kids [...]
At Centauri Arts Camp, writers spend 4 hours a day focused on their own work and share their pieces with other writers every day. No wonder many of us feel our most creative under the Centauri Poet Tree! Inspiration and time to write are harder to find when we’re not at camp, but there are [...]
A couple of weeks ago a parent who was dropping his teenager at the Arts Academy said to me, "You know, I have absolutely no idea what you do in a creative writing class". So... this blog is for all those who eagerly support their son's or daughter's passion for writing, but really have no [...]