Summer camp might seem far away, but if you are a young writer looking to participate in the B.C. Youth Writers Camp, the deadline for application is fast approaching.
The annual summer camp, sponsored by the Penticton Writers and Publishers group, is set for July 2 to 7 this year at the Penticton campus of Okanagan College.
“We held the first one at Glenfir School. We had the kids stay a weekend and Glenfir School was one of the only schools that had showers,” said Yasmin John-Thorpe, one of the organizers.
The camp moved to Okanagan College in 2009, its second year. But this year, the group will be making use of the new facilities at the college’s Centre of Excellence.
“In the morning, they are in the classrooms with the presenters and they get workshops. In the afternoon, we always have a lecture so they are in the lecture theatre,” said John-Thorpe.
“They are there from 1 to 2:45 and they have a break for snacks. We feed them so well, I don’t think they will ever go home. For their little $125 fee, they get all the workshops, they get snacks in the morning, lunch and snacks in the afternoon. They eat us out of house and home, but it’s great.”
Each year, the PWAP invites a keynote speaker to inspire the young writers.
“We had (author) Jack White here last year as our keynote speaker. And he was so blown away when he got here and he met the kids. He was so blown away that he has asked to come back,” said John-Thorpe.
This year, however, she has something different planned.
“I am going to ask Amanda Lewis to be the keynote speaker,” she said.
Lewis, one of the directors of the Agur Lake Camp Society, is confined to a wheelchair and is a published poet.
“I want to show those kids what she puts up with, and she is one heck of a poet,” said John-Thorpe.
“The idea of having the keynote speaker is to inspire the kids. I am hoping if she tells them what is her typical day, what she has to go through, and she can still sit down and belt out some great poetry … hey, you don’t have any excuses.”
John-Thorpe said she has known Lewis since she was in Grade 4 or 5.
“As Penticton Writers and Publishers, we used to go into the classrooms to teach the kids to write creatively,” she said. “I think she was at Uplands at that time and she was in her wheelchair and she was using a computer to write.”
More information on the B.C. Youth Writers Camp is available through the Penticton Writers and Publishers website at www.penwriters.com.