The National Endowment for the Arts is offering free writing workshops for war veterans.

They will be at the VA hospital campus at Jefferson Barracks. As a release by the NEA says: “Who better to tell the story of the armed forces than the U.S. troops and veterans who have served?”

The workshops are part of the NEA’s Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience, a program that documents and preserves the wartime experiences of men and women in uniform and their families. For the first time in 2008, Operation Homecoming workshops will be open to veterans as well as active duty troops at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers, military hospitals, and affiliated centers in communities around the country. Operation Homecoming is made possible by The Boeing Company.

The first, four-week writing workshop series will take place on Thursday evenings from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. in Building 50 starting on October 23. The Thursday evening writing workshops will be open to veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. A second, four-week writing workshop series begins on Friday, October 24, 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. in Building 65, and will be open to veterans of both current and past conflicts. The Operation Homecoming writing workshops are free.

To register for the workshops, contact Rita Reichert, Community Living Center, VAMC, 314-652-4100 x63286.

For the full press release, see www.arts.gov/national/homecoming/pressreleases/StLouisWorkshop.html