Writing the Radio Essay
Monday, July 26
There is a reason why good radio essays keep you plugged in or ear-to-the-speaker until they are over. The best radio essays can be like the bedtime stories from our childhood – that rare combination of story and voice that has us not only remembering a line, but its delivery and its emotion. They are also shorter than essays in print and can therefore pack a punch like a potent poem. We’ll read and listen to examples, mostly from National Public Radio and its affiliates, and talk about the relationship of spoken voice with the written word, as well as other qualities of the spoken word essay versus the ones we read.
StoryStudio classes are typically limited to 15 participants or fewer. This intimate setting allows for greater interaction and personal attention.
Writer’s Roadmap
Writers at every level will benefit from this class.
About the Instructor: Ellen Blum Barish has a masters degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Her feature articles have appeared in Newsweek, Self, the Chicago Tribune’s Sunday Magazine, Health and Womanews sections and North Shore magazine and in a collection of essays published in 2007. She is author of a collection of award-winning essays based on her syndicated newspaper columns on women’s issues and family life. Her radio commentaries have been heard on WBEZ-Chicago Public Radio since 1999.
www.ellenblumbarish.com/publishedwork.html.