tophat Carmela Martino

Carmela Martino
Carmela Martino is an author and teacher based in Naperville , Illinois. She holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College.  Carmela has taught writing classes at the College of DuPage since 1998.  She also teaches workshops for third through eighth-graders at the Hinsdale Center for the Arts.  Carmela writes for both children and adults.  Her first children's novel, Rosa , Sola, (Candlewick Press) was named to Booklist magazine's "Top Ten First Novels for Youth:  2006" and was included in the Chicago Public Schools 2007 Summer Reading List.  She has also been published in the children's magazine Pockets.

Before writing for children, Carmela worked as a freelance journalist for the New Catholic Explorer.  Her articles and essays also appeared in the Chicago Tribune and several national magazines, including Writer's Digest and Catholic Parent.  She currently writes a column for the SCBWI-Illinois online newsletter.  Visit the "For Writers" page of her website for a link to her latest column.

Carmela enjoys sharing the story of her writer's journey with audiences of all ages.  Her basic presentation, "My Winding Road to Publication," describes her roundabout route to publication.

Carmela also offers writing workshops for students in grades 3-12 and adults.  In her children's programs, she uses games and group activities to "make writing fun."  She is happy to incorporate the 6 + 1 Traits of Writing into her presentations, and to tailor her talks to fit the curriculum.  Her most popular workshops are:
  • Transforming Life into Fiction:  explains how she transformed people, places, and events from her life into fiction.  Students practice using their own magic wands (or trusty pens) to turn their life experiences into spellbinding stories.

  • Re-Visioning---Seeing with "Fresh Eyes":  describes the many revisions Rosa, Sola went through prior to publication and presents specific techniques to help students "re-vision" their own writing.

  • Markets for Young Writers:  presents a step-by-step process for submitting work, along with tips for finding markets open to students in grades 3-12. 

For more information, visit http://www.carmelamartino.com or email Carmela directly.

Contact Information:
Email: carmela@carmelamartino.com
Website: http://www.carmelamartino.com

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