The Adirondack Center for Writing (ACW) will host a free, eight-week Legacy Writing Workshop, “What I Want You To Know,” for adults over the age of 55 from Sept. 6 through Oct. 25 at Heaven Hill Farm in Lake Placid.

The workshop will be led by experienced educator and author Elaine Handley. Students in this workshop will be introduced to prompts, texts, and a supportive community. No prior experience with creative writing is necessary. The workshop is first come, first serve; save your spot by registering at adirondackcenterforwriting.org/event/legacy-writing-2024.

“Legacy writing, sometimes referred to as an ‘ethical will,’ encompasses what we wish for our loved ones to know about us and how we have navigated our lives,” said workshop leader Elaine Handley. “It’s a way to preserve our values, stories, opinions, history, and experiences through a creative lens.”

This workshop is also offered at the Adirondack Correctional Facility in Ray Brook to a population of older adults, led by ACW Program Director Tyler Barton. At the end of both workshops, participants will be invited to contribute a piece of their writing to a class anthology produced and distributed by ACW. This anthology will debut in Spring 2025 with a launch event open to the public, where copies will be available by donation.

ACW hosted a similar workshop in 2022, which led to the publication of a prison writing anthology titled I’m Telling You Now Wherever You Are.

“Legacy writing is important for everyone – a person’s story does not end when they become incarcerated, nor does that person’s past cease to speak,” said Barton, who led the 2022 prison writing workshop. “ACW has been leading writing workshops at North Country prisons for over two decades and I’m proud to continue that work through the Creative Aging initiatives spearheaded by Lifetime Arts and supported by the New York State Council on the Arts.”

You can learn more about the 2022 Prison Writing Workshop and read the anthology online at adirondackcenterforwriting.org/preview-our-2022-prison-writing-anthology.

ACW’s 2024 Legacy Writing workshops are funded through a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts and Lifetime Arts, whose mission is to embrace all older adults as creative and social learners. This funding allows ACW to offer these workshops free of cost to all participants.

The Adirondack Center for Writing has been bringing people and words together for 25 years through provocative events and meaningful programs. For more information about ACW, visit adirondackcenterforwriting.org or follow @adkctr4writing on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.