INSIDE JOB:The Art of the Personal Essay--A Workshop for teens ages 14 through 17

Everyone, even teen girls-- or maybe especially teen girls--have stories to tell. Esther Productions Inc., a nonprofit based in Washington, DC, is presenting a writing workshop designed to help each participant discover her inner story while presenting it for public appreciation.

INSIDE JOB: The Art of Personal Essay Writing will be held on Sept. 21 at Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library—3310 Connecticut Ave. NW—10:30 am to 12:30

Award-winning journalist and author jonetta rose barras will lead the workshop. She has expertly used the art of personal essay to take readers inside her world, hoping to help them understand and assess important local and national issues. Her writings have appeared in the Washington Post, the Washington City Paper, the Washington Examiner, Essence Magazine and the New Republic. She has written three nonfiction books and two collections of poetry. Her fiction and essays have appeared in numerous anthologies and journals.

“The personal essay is not just a high school writing assignment or one more item for a college application. When executed with thoughtfulness, skill and passion, it can be a powerful work of literary art,” says barras, citing the works of Joan Didion, James Baldwin, Annie Dillard and Virginia Woolf as classic examples. More contemporary examples might include Mindy Kaling and Zadie Smith.

Participants in the INSIDE JOB: The Art of Personal Essay Writing may not be on the best-seller list yet, but the stories they tell can be just as compelling and engaging. No one will know for certain until they craft that first sentence, the first paragraph, the first essay.

INSIDE JOB: The Art of Personal Essay Writing is free, but registration is required, and seating is limited. (The workshops are being presented in conjunction with Esther Productions Inc. essay writing contest—DISCOVERING ME…WITH YOU)