Sarah Bruhns (Sunset Elementary) graduated in 2010 from San Francisco State University with a degree in Creative Writing and has been roaming the writing world ever since. She is a long-time volunteer and intern at 826 Valencia, where she designed a comic book creation class and taught in the English Language Learners’ Summer Series. She is a huge fan of comics, space, superheroes and secret identities in all forms, and one day aspires to be the first graphic novelist on Mars. She can be found at Borderlands Cafe in San Francisco, drinking way too much coffee.

Maceo Cabrera Estévez (Park Day School) is the playwright and performer of Amor Cubano: In a bottle, a tube and a small packet produced at La Peña in Berkeley, The Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts in San Francisco, The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance and The Brooklyn Arts Exchange. She holds an MA from New College in Writing and Consciousness. Her writing has been published in Hakima Midwifery, InCulture Parent Magazine, Riffrag Journal and Sojourner: The Women Forum.  Maceo is in the process of writing a memoir on her spiritual journey towards Islam. She is a mother, wife and wannabe urban homesteader.

Louise Kraft (El Carmelo Elementary) has always had a passion for creative writing and education. Before moving to the Bay Area this summer, Louise was a Teach for America Corps Member in Boston. There, she taught 5^th and 6^th Grade Writing and English at a KIPP Academy charter school. Louise graduated from Cornell University in 2009 with degrees in English and Psychology, and earned her Masters in Education from Boston University in 2011. Louise grew up just outside of Philadelphia and currently lives in Palo Alto. In her free time, Louise loves to writing, cooking, and reading.

Zeina Nasr (Havens Elementary) is a musician and writer from Beirut, Lebanon. Her passion for creative writing began at an early age, when she composed a poem called “Kiwi” which her third grade teacher pronounced to be “very strange indeed!” She holds an M.F.A. in Music Performance from Mills College and a B.A. in English and Theater from Amherst College. As a volunteer tutor for the Bay Area organization, Refugee Transitions, a reading and writing mentor to students both young and old, a freelance journalist, and a writer of rambling memoirish prose, Zeina is committed to spreading her love of the written word. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, reading, and songwriting.

Ben Wilkins (Oakton Elementary, Virginia) recently graduated from George Mason University in Fairfax, VA with an MFA in Creative Nonfiction where he had his first taste of teaching Creative Writing to undergraduate students. He found nothing quite so thrilling as watching students surprise themselves with their own imagination, and has been hooked ever since.  Currently, he works as a freelance writing tutor and editor in the Washington, DC area.  In addition to writing nonfiction, he writes and draws comics, and is working on a novel for younger readers.  In his spare time, you can usually find him with his head against a tree, Huck Finn style, reading or daydreaming about imaginary worlds and adventures.  He lives with his wife and dog in Herndon, VA.

In several after-school programs, we’ll be partnering with the nationally renowned program, NaNoWriMo to present their novel writing curriculum.

We’ll be rolling out lots of new, creativity-sparking writing activities in all of our classes. Come join us!

Winter classes this year will be offered at the following locations:

East Bay:

The count is in!

This holiday season we wanted to give back to the community by donating notebooks and pencils to *The Museum of Children’s Art’s (MOCHA) Library Education and Art Program (LEAP), which provides arts-based after school programming at four Oakland Public Library branches. For every “Like” we received on our Facebook page, we decided to donate one notebook and pencil to the organization.

We’re happy to report that we will be donating over 30 notebooks and pencils to celebrate the end of the drive!

Thank you all again for your continuous support, and Happy New Year to you and your families!

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* The Museum of Children’s Art’s (MOCHA) Library Education and Art Program (LEAP) provides arts-based after school programming at four Oakland Public Library branches. Weekly workshops employ a range of art and literacy activities that will build children’s academic, social and communication skills; increase their sense of accomplishment and community engagement; develop cultural awareness; and expose them to career and mentorship opportunities.

http://mocha.org/programs/artists-in-the-schools-afterschool-residencies

MOCHA’s Afterschool Art at the Library Program is funded by the Oakland Fund for Children and Youth and the Institute for Museum and Library Services.