If your child is a figure skater, a hockey player, gymnast, video game player or even a budding artist, you won’t have much of a challenge finding a summer camp for them.
But if your child happens to be an aspiring writer, summer camps are few and far between. Unless you happen to know about B.C. Youth Write, a week-long event organized by Penticton Writers and Publishers.
“There are a lot of good creative writers and there is nothing for them,” said Yasmin John-Thorpe, co-founder of the group, which was established in 1994.
“If you are a hockey player you can come to hockey school, there is band camp, there are camps for everything else, but there is not a camp for good writers.”
Youth Write got started seven years ago, with 41 students. Last year, the number had grown to 91, welcoming kids aged 10 to 18 years.
“We used to do it just for the Okanagan,” said John-Thorpe. “This is the third year we have opened it up to all of B.C.”
The young writers get put through the whole process of authorship during the week, with writing, editing and critiquing sessions. There is even a chance to get published, for those who send in their work early enough, though Thorpe cautions that deadline is already past for this year’s camp. “They can send us a piece of their writing and we will publish it in the anthology and part of the camp will be a book signing,” she said. Though there is still room to attend the camp, the publication deadline ended in December.
“I wish I had something like this when I was growing up because I always knew I wanted to write,” said John-Thorpe. “We didn’t even have creative writing in the schools.”
There is one similar camp in Alberta, according to John-Thorpe, but that one costs $600 for the week.
“There is no way we would do that to the kids,” she said. “We don’t want the parents to think it is a drain on them for the kids to come to camp.”
There is also a bonus for local attendees whose families are willing to billet an out-of-town young writer.
“If they will take a billet, they get $100 back, so the parent is paying $25 for a whole week for the kid to come to camp,” said John-Thorpe. “It doesn’t take that much food to feed a kid, it’s just a matter of giving them a bed. They feed them breakfast and dinner and we feed them lunch and snacks.”
The camp draws more students from outside the Okanagan, according to John-Thorpe, because their parents are so keen on what they offer. That leaves several opportunities for local young writers to come to the camp for the low price.
“Right now we have nine students from outside that want to be billeted,” she said, adding that other families make a vacation experience for the whole family out of the trip. “I had one parent ask ‘I am bringing my son to the hockey school, can my daughter come to the camp?’”
Along with a range of authors and other representatives from the publishing industry who offer seminars and workshops at the camp, Youth Write also offers a special keynote speaker to inspire the youth.
John-Thorpe isn’t ready to release the name of this year’s speaker, but in 2009 they featured an address by Lieutenant Governor Steven Point and last year brought in actress turned author Meg Tilly.
More information on the B.C. Youth Write Camp is available through the Penticton Writers and Publishers web site at www.penwriters.com.
I’ve got quite few older ones, who want to come back — those she said do come pack and help out getting fed lunch in return.
Two years ago, we had an eight-year-old. She is such a writer that the following year, Penticton Writers and Publishers heaped her to get published.
I come in with her and they all think it is me.
She stands up and talks to them about creative writing. She has written a story about two girls who are competing to get the lead role in the school play.
Celeste is the youngest we have helped get published. She goes out on her own and promotes her own book and she is nine.