On August 12, seven Young Willamette Writers members will attend the Willamette Writers Conference, ready to hit the ground running. These great young writers took the extra step over the last year to join our membership program. They have attended at least four meetings during the last school year, have worked on their skills with a writing mentor, and now are prepared to tackle Community, Craft, and Career at their first major literary conference.

Field Trip Preparation

The YWW group met a couple of weeks before the Conference at the IPRC (Independent Publishing Resource Center) to have a little field trip, plus get down to the business of planning their approach to the big day. Haji, our guide at the IPRC, showed them around the center and taught them how to use an old-fashioned letterpress. After a little practice, they were thrilled to be able to take home bookmarks with “Young Willamette Writers” inked by their very own hands.

Later, they gathered to choose which particular conference workshops to attend. This required some discussion and voting, since they will be navigating through the day as a group. So many great classes to choose from and so hard to decide! They also heard about the amazing faculty members willing to take time out of their busy days to sit down with them and talk about the writing life. The YWW’s have lots of great questions for them.

Our Very Own VIP

At the Conference Awards Banquet, one of our own YWW’s, Elizabeth Keller, will be honored in the Kay Snow 1st-5th grade awards division. Her short story “Ira’s Creatures” won second place. We’re all proud of her!

Up Next

Our next school year is shaping up well. Many talented and supportive writers have said they’d love to come share tips and ideas with the Young Willamette Writers. Watch this space for announcements.