Silver Voices in Ink

"I loved every minute of it!" Josephine "Joki" Gonzalez, age 84

Badgerdog’s creative writing program for senior citizens helps older adults to strengthen language skills in order to reflect on and articulate personal experiences through memorable poetry and prose. By following the activities of a practicing, professional writer—analytical reading, writing, editing, revising, publishing, and public performance—participants in our Silver Voices in Ink (SVI) program have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the writing process, from the germination of ideas to the shaping of their work to publication in the SVI anthology. We know this union of language skills and lived experience is the key to helping older adults continue to grow intellectually, creatively, and emotionally and to maintain fulfilling lifestyles.

Each workshop:

Accommodates up to 18 participants
Offers 12 hours of writing instruction and practice with flexible scheduling
Meets once per week—for eight weeks—for a 90-minute session
Includes publication of participants' work in an end-of-program chapbook; editor’s choice selections from workshop chapbooks will be republished in the library-quality anthology, Transcend, each December
Donates a chapbook and anthology to each participant and host facility
Culminates in one site reading celebration as the final session of the workshop
Offers a community-wide reading each December conducted at a public venue, coordinated with other local SVI workshops
Includes writing journals and Badgerdog T-shirts (as well as a copy of the workshop chapbook) for each participating writer

Program/Teaching Philosophy

Successful creative writing workshops for students of any age are first and foremost successful and supportive communities. Every workshop instructor is trained in the practice of creating a safe classroom environment where students can explore challenging personal issues and share the responsibility of maintaining each other’s trust.

Our teaching philosophy goes far beyond the fundamentals of the writing process to include the full range of best practices exhibited by successful poets, novelists, and essayists. For example, all good writers begin as good readers. We believe the notion of the spontaneously inspired writer is a myth in need of revision. Successful writers must read broadly and critically in order to develop a repertoire of skills that make it possible to harness inspiration. To this end, our workshop instructors use a variety of classic and contemporary reading selections to start off each workshop session. Concurrently, students are taught to apply the literary strategies to their own drafts as well as the drafts of their peers.

Current and Upcoming Workshops

YMCA East Communities Branch (Yellow Room)
Mondays, January 30 through March 19
11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

To reserve a spot, contact Education Programs Coordinator Jessica Wigent at jessica.wigent (at) badgerdog.org or (512) 538-1305, ext. 103.

Austin Public Library, Yarborough Branch
2200 Hancock Drive, Austin, TX 78756
Tuesdays, February 7 through March 27
10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

To reserve a spot, contact Education Programs Coordinator Jessica Wigent at jessica.wigent (at) badgerdog.org or (512) 538-1305, ext. 103.

YMCA Town Lake (The Great Room)
Thursdays, February 16 through April 5
2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Cost: $120 for YMCA members/$180 for nonmembers, payable to YMCA Town Lake

To reserve a spot, contact Laurie McDaniel at (512) 799-3426 or Laurie.McDaniel (at) austinymca.org.

If you would like to bring Silver Voices in Ink to your facility or have additional questions please contact Sasha West at (512) 538-1305 x101 or sasha.west (at) badgerdog.org.