Young Authors’ Conference: 45th Anniversary

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  Marg van Dusen Award winners.

Story provided by Literacy Coordinators,Tricia Persad and Mike Carson

In the 2022-2027 District Strategic Plan, we are committed to supporting students to develop foundational literacy skills and to develop a passion for multi-literacies—reading, writing, speaking, listening, and composing in the fine arts.

We learned how successful a virtual launch of a Young Authors’ Writing Conference could be on February 14, 2024 when we had 70+ classes take part in online workshops with celebrated BC and Alberta writers. Teachers shared that even reluctant writers were engaged. Our hope was that even more students might submit a composition and attend the in-person conference later in the spring. And they did!

On May 3, 2024, 320 Grades 4-12 students, representing thirty-seven Kamloops-Thompson School District schools, participated in the Young Authors’ Conference at Thompson Rivers University. Students attended three writing workshops, each facilitated by a highly regarded author. This year, we were pleased to host Sean Campbell, Lee Edward Fodi, Kel-c Jules, Miranda Krogstad, Braden Hallett, James McCann, Emily Seo, Tamara Vukusic, Holman Wang, Andrew Buckley, Finnian Burnett, and JJ Lee.

After a brief virtual Opening Ceremony, students got to work learning strategies from authors, collaborating with peers, and honing their writing skills.

Grades 4-5 students made storybooks with Sean and mini-brooms that transported school acceptance-letters in colourful envelopes with Lee. They created pictographs with Kel-c and learned how to avoid cliches and say things differently in juicy sentences with Miranda.

Grades 6-7 students created story maps with Braden and designed stories inspired by Dungeons and Dragons with James. They re-imagined stories with sticky notes with Tamara, created in-depth characters with Emily, and learned how to structure stories step-by-step with Holman.

Our secondary students had a blast mapping out (almost) perfect flash fiction with Finnian Burnett and sharing their creations with one another. Laughter (and the odd scream) could be heard emanating from Andrew Buckley’s horror writing workshop as students teamed up to create their own terrifying tales, and JJ Lee showed students how to draw upon personal experience to create engaging nonfiction stories.

Lloyd George Elementary student Siena Vincenzi shared, “It’s a good environment. I like the authors who present. I liked my workshop with Emily Seo because we got to create the character. My character’s name was Emily. She had orange hair and was shy.”

South Kamloops Secondary School (SKSS) student Ryder Dobson, “really enjoyed getting jump-scared six times,” in the horror writing workshop, and Ava Lunn, also of SKSS, concisely summed up the feelings of so many of our attendees: “I really like how everything was fun and not too serious. I learned a lot and the teachers were funny.”

This was a day about writing, learning, and sharing the power of words with people who are truly passionate about language and storytelling. It culminated in a Closing Ceremony that highlighted exceptional writing. While there were MANY excellent submissions, the following students were recognized for their creative compositions.

Honourable Mentions:

Piper Caputo, Lacey Herman, Elliette Brookes, Brooklyn Ruemper, Yelyzaveta Savych, Ananya Bhamidipalli, Miriam Meyers, Hannah Ezedebego, Charlee Hoye, Libby Tucker, Gabriel Jennings, Ryder Dobson, Samaya Lidder, and Riley Sharp.

Marg Van Dusen Awards:

Sydnie Westran (elementary) and Ashlee Crawford (secondary).

“Instill a love of story and literacy comes from that.” - Lee Edward Fodi