06As I'm sure most of you know, Misty at The Book Rat and I are gearing up for Fairy Tale Fortnight, and doing all we can to make this event as awesome for you as possible. We've gotten in touch with authors, bloggers, publiscists etc to try and make this event rock. And the participation we have received and the support has been amazing. I'm completely stunned by how many great authors are willing to contribute, and I've worn out my happy dance from the number of times I've checked my email to see even more participation.
One of the authors who has agreed to contribute to the event is Donna Jo Napoli, who has written many, many great fairy tale retellings. Stay tuned, both Misty and I will have some reviews go up for you. She's been great to talk with, and had been very generous with her giveaway offerings. (Just saying here, I wish I was you... Great giveaway!)
She emailed me the other day, asking for my help. And, because she's been so great to work with already, and I definitely support her cause, I was more than happy to agree.
This summer, Donna will be going to Italy to teach a writing workshop for the Siena School of Liberal Arts, which is a non-profit organization that provides significant outreach to the elderly, immigrants, and the deaf community. But, as is the case with, I believe many non-profits right now, the school is struggling financially. Donna has agreed to teach this workshop without pay because she truly supports their cause and wants to assist them in anyway possible.
I've left links all over the place in this post, and you can click on any of them for more information.
Donna is hoping that this post will do three things, in part or in full. She is hoping to raise awareness of both the workshop and the organization. She also wants this workshop to be a success. But for it to really be successful, it needs participants. The workshop will be in Siena, Italy this May and is suitable for writers just beginning their career, or those who have already been published. If this is something you are interested in, or think would be beneficial and would work for you time/money wise I strongly recommend looking into this workshop. It looks pretty great, and I know I'd love to work with Donna in person! And really, it's in Italy. If I had the money and time for it, I'd totally go just as an excuse to go to Italy!
But, because it's definitely not something that everyone is going to be able to participate in, there is also the option to donate something to their cause. They are a non-profit organization, which means they exist on Government assistance and donations from others who appreciate what they stand for. I have never asked my readers for any kind of donations or contributions before, and definitely don't plan to make a habit of this, but this is something I think is worth talking about. If you are at all interested in, willing or able to contribute in any way to this organization, I strongly recommend looking into it! Feel free to follow any of the links within this post for more information, or you can email Donna or myself and we can try to answer any questions.
Although this post is specifically about the Siena School for the Liberal Arts and their writing workshop, I'd like to broaden this up to say donate anything you can (time, money, books, information) to any of the non-profit organizations you support. There are so many groups out there (including your local library!) who support and improve literacy and who are trying to make improvements to your communities. They can only survive if people are willing to support them, so go for it! If at all possible, give a little of yourself and your talents to help support these great programs!
Let's help these great organizations stay alive!
Also, welcome to the hoppers! I posted this today on purpose, in the hopes that more people would see it, with the additional 'hop' traffic to the blog! But, I also welcome you and would love to have you stick around and chat!:)