Sherry Rosenthal

A seasoned teacher of creative writing in both community and classroom settings, Sherry Rosenthal’s approach to teaching is to first encourage owning and honoring one’s unique impressions and perceptions of one’s environment and society, whatever one’s age or experience. In her workshops and classes, she uses writing prompts in order to facilitate group discussion and a free flow of ideas. She also encourages participants to read aloud their writing and remain open to response, as a way of knowing what others “hear” in their written work.

Rosenthal considers critiquing, and being critiqued, crucial to learning to write well and to helping others reach their potential as writers. In group critiques, she uses the “sandwich technique” of both starting and finishing with a positive comment (the “bread” of the sandwich). The “meat” of the sandwich may consist of constructive comments intended to help a writer strengthen a piece of writing. Her approach to presenting her own writing is that she describes her goal or intention for the work and the process, including any challenges or setbacks experienced. Then she reads from the work and invites audience response.

Rosenthal earned a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of California, San Diego as well as a bachelor’s and master's degree in Literature. She is a tenured English professor at the College of Southern Nevada, where she earned the prestigious Excellence in Online Teaching Award and co-authored two Holocaust memoirs. A published author of short stories, essays, and poems, she is an active member of the Henderson and Sin City Writers Groups. A former Fulbright Lecturer at the University of Barcelona, she is fluent in Spanish.