Stetson professor seeking 12 student writers
MARK HARPER
The Daytona Beach News-Journal
EDUCATION WRITER
 News-Journal 2005 file photo
Cindy Oliver, shown here with a Huckleberry Finn doll in her Stetson University office, has announced plans to fulfill one of her dreams, the Mark Twain Young Authors Workshop. |
A mighty river, dark caverns and a spooky old cemetery — the world that inspired Mark Twain — still has the power to spark young writers, Cindy Oliver believes.
Oliver, a Stetson University professor who runs the school’s High Achieving Talented Students summer program, has announced plans to fulfill one of her dreams, the Mark Twain Young Authors Workshop. It will debut in Twain’s hometown, Hannibal, Mo., on June 25, 2007.
Twelve students in grades 5 through 8 — six boys and six girls — will be selected through a competitive process for the expenses-paid seminar.
They will spend five days inspecting Twain’s boyhood home, spelunking and rafting along the river — and crafting words.
Oliver, a DeLeon Springs resident, is such a big Twain fan she bought a home in Hannibal, which she calls “America’s Hometown.” Before earning full tenure at Stetson, she received a doctorate degree from the University of Iowa, whose famous Writers’ Workshop will serve as a model for the Twain workshop.
“They believe people are great writers and they are there to nurture and guide them to become better,” she said.
Oliver wants to take a similar approach, allowing the student writers to write about anything they want, not necessarily Hannibal or in Twain’s voice.
“Our purpose is to show them how he took his experiences and turned them into stories,” she said. “Kids today have their own versions of adventures. We want them to reflect on their own lives. They have their own characters, settings, their own adventures. We want to help them turn those into writing fiction.”
Students will stay in residence halls at Hannibal-LaGrange College. They will meet at the Mark Twain Museum.
The HATS program will absorb the workshop’s costs, and Oliver is seeking corporate sponsors.
Henry Sweets, curator of the Mark Twain Museum for the last 28 years, said writers and academicians from around the world visit Hannibal seeking inspiration and information.
“Cindy Oliver is one of the most passionate people for sharing her love of Mark Twain that I’ve met,” Sweets said. “Last summer, she came to Hannibal and volunteered as co-director for a teachers’ workshop. We had her at the museum to equip teachers to better teach Mark Twain in the classroom. Watching her enthusiasm was a wonder.”
Applications for the program are due Jan. 15, 2007. They may be found at the program’s Web site, stetson.edu/hats/MarkTwainYoungAuthors.php.