Morris Park Library enlists Craft of War Writing Workshop

Morris Park Library enlists Craft of War Writing Workshop
Photo by Yana Kusayeva

A new writing workshop is teaching the essentials of writing, and the similarities veterans and civilians share.

The Craft of War Writing is a two-hour weekly writing workshop consisting of ten sessions running Saturday, April 2 through Saturday, June 11, noon to 2 p.m. inside the Morris Park Library at 985 Morris Park Avenue.

Offered in partnership with Voices From War and the Morris Park Library, this free writing workshop for veterans and civilians emphasizes reading war narratives while considering how participants can pen their own tales. No prior writing experience is required.

Each week, the class will read published war writing works from classic and contemporary authors while searching for literary elements to aid them in understanding the essentials of writing.

These aspiring authors will proceed to compose their own short pieces, read each other’s work, offer feedback and edits as well as suggest revision strategies to aid their peers in realizing the vision for his or her own stories whether fiction or creative non-fiction.

Serving as instructor is Jeremy Warneke, a United States National Guard veteran who served honorably in Iraq from May 2003 until July 2004.

A Sarah Lawrence College graduate, Warneke has attended and participated in numerous writing workshops since 2009 to better hone his craft.

“Writing is an art form and it’s important that war stories are told,” he expressed. “However, it’s important they’re told in a way that makes them interesting.”

A published writer, Warneke’s works have appeared in ‘Task and Purpose’, ‘Proud to Be: Writing by American Warriors’, ‘Afterwords’, ‘Scintilla’, ‘The Bronx Times Reporter’ and ‘The Bronx Chronicle’ among many others.

The workshop is made possible through funding provided by the Bronx Council on the Arts through the Department of Cultural Affairs’ Greater New York Arts Development Fund program.

Warenke’s ‘Standing Down: From Warrior to Civilian’reading and discussion series for veterans was held at the Morris Park Library last year.

Various authors have agreed to visit the workshop including Phil Klay, Iraq War Marine Corps. veteran and 2014 National Book Award winner; Kristina Shevory, peacetime Army veteran and freelance reporter for the New York Times and other publications; Matt Gallagher, Iraq War Army veteran, ‘Kaboom’ author and co-editor and contributor to ‘Fire and Forget: Short Stories from the Long War’; Nicole Goodwin, Iraq War Army veteran and published poet; Maurice Decaul, Iraq War Marine Corps. veteran and published poet; Emily Brandt, daughter of Vietnam Air Force veteran and co-founding editor of ‘No, Dear’ magazine; Brandon Caro, Afghanistan Navy corpsman veteran and author of ‘Old Silk Road’; Kara Krauze, Voices From War founder and published writer; Nathan Bradley Bethea, Afghanistan Army veteran and published writer and Steven Volynets, Ukrainian immigrant and published writer.

According to Warneke, light snacks have thus far been provided by La Masa and Big Deal Supermarket during the weekly workshop. Big Deal, Captain’s Pizzeria and Dr. David Stevens all contributed to the ‘Standing Down’ series.

To register for the Craft of War Writing workshop, visit www.voicesfromwar.org.

For more information, contact Voices From War at info@voicesfromwar.org or Tellez-Cardona at (718) 931-0636.