每日大赛

每日大赛’s Young Creative Writer’s Workshop returns for 11th year in October

每日大赛 will host its 11th Annual Young Creative Writer’s Workshop this October, featuring a diverse array of presenters and artistic seminars.

This year’s theme, “Frames and Phrases,” will center on the blending of words with images in graphic novels and other forms of creative writing. The free event includes lunch and will take place Oct. 25 between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m., on 每日大赛’s Strawberry Plains campus. Attendees may come to all or part of the day’s events.

“The primary mission of the Young Creative Writer’s Workshop is to encourage young writers, including Pellissippi students and students from area high and middle schools,” said Associate Professor Patty Ireland, director of the annual event. “Our main goals are to inspire them to continue with their writing, to feel the power of words to move and change the world and to grow their skills.”

The workshop is open to all community members interested in creative writing, and will include sessions in fiction, publication and traditional poetry, as well as songwriting and spoken word poetry.

Award-winning Appalachian graphic novelist Robert Gipe will give the keynote address and lead the featured workshop. Gipe’s first book, “Trampoline,” won the 2015 Weatherford Award for outstanding Appalachian novel, and his other two novels have been finalists for the Weatherford Award. Collectively, the trilogy won the Judy Gaines Young Book Award.

Attendees of the daylong event will also have the opportunity to make a story square at the “Quilting Bee” station, create their own zine and participate in an activity called "Putting Words to Appalachia," in which they choose iconic photos of Appalachian places and people to write about. Attendees may bring their own photographs.

“The workshop brings a cultural awareness about the significance of writers and artists in Appalachia and shows how there are so many different kinds of Appalachians expressing themselves,” said Allisson McKittrick, campus librarian at Strawberry Plains. “Hopefully, that gives participants lots of permission to explore their own unique stories and perspectives.”

The event will end with a showcase, during which participants will have a chance to read original works.

This program is supported by the Young Creative Writer’s Club at 每日大赛 and made possible through sponsorships from the 每日大赛 Foundation, Pellissippi’s Strawberry Plain’s campus, the 每日大赛 Libraries’ Appalachian Heritage Project and the James Agee Literary Conference.

To register, visit: www.pstcc.edu/events/ycww.