AMANDA WEST LEWIS is a writer, theatre creator, calligrapher and teaching artist who grew up in New York City and Toronto. She has published eight books for young readers and holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts, with a specialist certificate in writing picture books. She is the founder and Artistic Director of the Ottawa Children’s Theatre, where she teaches and runs drama programs for children and youth. Her latest middle grade novel is These Are Not the Words (Groundwood Books). Amanda lives with her husband, writer Tim Wynne-Jones, in the woods outside Perth, Ontario.
“Two Sides of a Coin” tells the story behind the story, revealing the true events and people that inspired the novels September 17 and The Pact. Slides show the children from England and Germany that are represented in the books, illustrating the challenges faced during wartime. The focus is on an empathetic understanding of World War 2 from a child’s perspective view. Topic discussed include propaganda, indoctrination, racism, and survival. Readings from both books are followed by a Q & A.
“The Look and Sound of Words”: Working with sound and visual clues, and drawing on aspects of theatre improvisation, writing games and exercises move participants into character creation, point of view and dialogue. The workshop focuses on playing with words as the basic building blocks of writing.
“Two Sides of a Coin” tells the story behind the story, revealing the true events and people that inspired the novels September 17 and The Pact. Slides show the children from England and Germany that are represented in the books, illustrating the challenges faced during wartime. The focus is on an empathetic understanding of World War 2 from a child’s perspective view. Topic discussed include propaganda, indoctrination, racism, and survival. Readings from both books are followed by a Q & A.
