Moxie Talk with Kirt Jacobs #241: Angela Burton

Angela has been a devoted teacher of writing to adults for more than 20 years, & even briefly taught rambunctious 5th graders for three years! She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts & excels at providing expert facilitation, energetic encouragement, an infectious laugh & a love of words. So much so, in 2014, she founded Feet to the Fire Writers' Workshops, & in 2015, launched a specially-designed workshop-called Feet to the Fire Writers' Workshops for Seniors, which engages elders in a stimulating writing/reminiscing workshop for those 65 & up! So far, her oldest student was-wait for it-104-not too shabby! To date, she has really grown the program, offering more than 80 workshops to 450 elders in Louisville alone! Going forward she has plans to launch a workshop trainer program so others-as she puts it can spread the fire even more throughout the USA! But let's back up to the beginning when she was only ten yrs. old, & knew she wanted to be a writer & remembers well lying underneath a pink Dogwood tree in her front yard, scribbling & making up stories & her large family of brothers & sisters were willing to listen & encourage her to write even more! Later, in the 8th grade, she had a story of hers published & with the help of her teacher, was paid the modest sum of $25-she was hooked! It had nothing to do with the $$, or publishing, BUT everything to do with the magic of words! Today, a childhood talent has continued well into her adult life as she continues to write fiction, poetry, memoirs & has studied with some of the greats, including Abigail Thomas, Ellen Lesser, Sena Jeter Naslund, & Antonya Nelson. Not to mention she reads like a mad woman & after prompting 100's of people to write their life stories, she believes firsthand in the benefits of engaging the memory & the connection it provides with others, all the while savoring life's moments in a very permanent way! As she puts it, "The Spark" @ age ten has grown into a glowing fire that promises to never die!