Young Writers’ Camp
Sponsored by:
Gate City Writes
Campers at the UNCG Young Writers’ Camp create 21st century texts using digital tools such as storyboarding, blogging, and movie-making during this two week camp experience. In daily writing workshops, campers work with UNCG faculty, graduate students, NC teachers, and local authors. The camp introduces young writers to the writing process, unlocks strategies of professional writers, and supports development of variety of writing styles. All work is published on our website.
The UNCG Young Writers’ Camp is held for two weeks in July, Monday through Friday, 9:00 am-12:00 pm on the UNCG campus. Enrollment is limited to 100 students. Students will be divided into three different sections based on grade level (3-5; 6-8; and 9-12). Each section will have approximately 30 students and at least two instructors. Enrollment is on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Parent Orientation
There are two options available to attend a parent orientation held via Zoom. Parents may attend on Wednesday, July 6 at 6:00 PM OR Saturday, July 9 at 10:00 AM. During the orientation, you will get to meet our instructors, hear about our daily schedule, and ask questions to our staff.
We will also have two drop in times (Thursday, July 7 from 5:00-6:30 PM OR Saturday, July 9 from 11:00- 1:00 PM) for parents and campers who would like to pick up their camp packet and get a tour of the classrooms. Campers who do not retrieve their camp packet during one of these times will receive it on the first day of camp.
Parking – You may park for free in any parking lot designated for C-permits. There is a C-permit lot across the street from the School of Education Building.
COVID-19 Policy
We are following UNC Greensboro’s COVID-19 protocols. Face coverings are optional. Hand sanitizer will be provided for each classroom. Campers are in large classrooms and we will practice social distancing as much as possible. We ask that staff and campers who are sick, or if someone in their household is sick, stay home. If your child becomes sick in class, we will call you immediately to pick him/her up.
Why Choose this Camp
Why Write?
“When I am writing, I am trying to find out who I am, who we are, what we’re capable of, how we feel, how we lose and stand up, and go on from darkness into darkness. I’m trying for that. But I’m also trying for the language. I’m trying to see how it can really sound. I really love language. I love it for what it does for us, how it allows us to explain the pain and the glory, the nuances and delicacies of our existence. And then it allows us to laugh, allows us to show wit. Real wit is shown in language. We need language.”
– Maya Angelou
Why do young writers choose this camp?
- Campers share their work with other writers
- Authors speak to the campers about their writing experiences and they answer questions about writing
- It’s not like school because it is creative, non-judgmental, and fun Campers create friendships fast
- Writers get to choose what they want to write about
Why would parents or teachers recommend the camp for young writers?
- Campers have opportunities to meet and talk with authors. Past campers have maintained communication with authors and continue to receive advice about writing.
- Campers have the opportunity to engage in 21st century literacies, which are linked to current teaching and learning standards.
- Young writers are given time to work individually, with peers, and with certified NC teachers.
- Young writers will have the opportunity to share their writing during a reading on the last day of camp, at a display table at the Grasshopper’s game, with young writers in Africa, and as an online publication on this website.
What we offer | Author Talks
Elementary
Monday, July 11, 2022
Josh Rowsey
Joshua “Rowdy” Rowsey is an underground North Carolina recording artist, actor/improviser, and writer who has been featured on NPR, DJ Booth, and Indy Week. Joshua is a founding member of the national hip hop collective “No9to5 Music”. He initiated the UNC-Chapel Hill cypher, which was nominated for an Indy Week award for best place to listen to Hip Hop in the Triangle.
Tuesday, July 12, 2022
Landon Ryan Clark is a vivacious 12-year-old young man. He finds joy in basketball, video games, and exploring. Landon is a student at Greensboro Day School and is rising seventh grader. This will be his second published work. His first publication is a result of this very writing camp!
Salina Barksdale-Clark can be best described as a jack of all trades. She serves as a vital member of the community, a mother of three (the youngest of whom is Landon), an entrepreneur, and an amazing wife. Salina is wonderful and this is proven throughout this book, which is her first published work.
Wednesday, July 13, 2022
Clay was born and grew up in Chapel Hill, NC. She attended Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, and graduated summa cum laude in creating writing from the University of NC Chapel Hill. Her picture books and novels have been translated into many languages. She lives, writes, and illustrates in Carrboro, NC with her sculptor-husband Mike Roig and an ever-growing number of animals. Each year, she and her husband open their art studios to the public the first two weekends in November.
Thursday, July 14, 2022
Carole Boston Weatherford, a Coretta Scott King Award-winning author, has over 60 books, including the Newbery Honor winner, BOX: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom, and four Caldecott Honor winners: Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre, Freedom in Congo Square, Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, and Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom. Recent titles include R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Aretha Franklin, The Queen of Soul, and The Roots of Rap: 16 Bars on the 4 Pillars of Hip Hop. A two-time NAACP Image Award winner, she holds an M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro and teaches at Fayetteville State University.
Friday, July 15, 2022
Christen Bass
Christen Bass is 24 years old and a recent graduate from UNC Greensboro. She is a published author and continues to write. Her writing reflects on introspection and human feelings to help herself and others understand their inner world more and the way it relates to the outer world we see. She has recently competed as a spoken word artist at the Women of the World Poetry Slam in Baltimore, Maryland. She loves reading, skating and meditating outdoors.
Monday, July 18, 2022
Caroline McAlister
Caroline McAlister’s father was an English professor and she grew up in a house full of books. On weekends for fun the family went to used bookstores. When a burglar broke into the house, he opened every cabinet and found –books! Like her father, she now teaches English to college students, but as a young child she wanted to become an author of children’s books. Now in her second career she has returned to her earliest aspirations. When she is not reading or writing you may find her playing tennis, cooking strange vegetarian meals, or quilting some of the fabric scraps she has hoarded. She is married to a philosophy professor. They have two fierce, smart daughters, and a large, loopy Labrador retriever. Her books include John Ronald’s Dragons and Finding Narnia. A book about Black Mountain sculptor, Ruth Asawa, is in the pipeline.
Tuesday, July 19, 2022
Lauren Riehle
Lauren Riehle is the Executive Director of Red Dog Farm, an animal rescue network in Guilford County. The actual Red Dog Farm is a 21-acre refuge for animals to rehabilitate and rejuvenate. However, the vast majority of the animals do not live on the farm. Animals in our care are spread out across Guilford, Forsyth and Rockingham counties in the care of individual foster families. Foster families care for everything from kittens to horses in their private homes (or barns) and Red Dog Farm Animal Rescue Network pays all of the bills for those animals while we find their forever homes.
Wednesday, July 20, 2022
Nathan Kotecki
Nathan Kotecki is the author of the young adult novels THE SUBURBAN STRANGE and PULL DOWN THE NIGHT, both published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. He has an MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction) from North Carolina State University. His poetry has appeared in ‘New Letters’. He has taught creative writing workshops at dozens of middle and high schools across the state, as well as serving as a creative writing instructor for Duke TIP.
{for kids}
Nathan Kotecki keeps a notebook by his bed, where he writes down stories before he goes to sleep. When he was young, he read ‘The Phantom Tollbooth’, ‘Bridge To Terabithia’, and ‘The Hobbit’ over and over again. He likes to read and write books in which characters are a little bit strange, but you feel like they’d be your friend anyway.
Thursday, July 21, 2022
Janet Allard
Janet Allard is a playwright, musical-bookwriter, lyricist, and video game narrative writer. Her work has been seen at The Guthrie Lab, The Kennedy Center, Mixed Blood, Playwrights Horizons, Yale Rep, The Yale Cabaret, The Women’s Project, Perseverance Theatre, Joe’s Pub, Barrington Stage, with P73 Productions, and internationally in Ireland, England, Greece, Australia and New Zealand. She is a Fulbright Fellow, has an M.F.A in Playwriting from the Yale School of Drama, has studied at the NYU Musical Theatre Writing program and teaches at UNC Greensboro.
Middle/High
Monday, July 25, 2022
Audrey Smith
Audrey Jennifer Smith is a nonfiction writer from Greensboro, NC. She holds a Master’s degree in Secondary English Language Arts Education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a Master of Fine Arts in Nonfiction Writing from Oregon State University. Audrey’s nonfiction writing has previously appeared in Hippocampus Magazine and Nat. Brut, and is forthcoming from the North Carolina Literary Review. She was awarded the 2022 Alex Albright Creative Nonfiction Prize for an excerpt from her book-in-progress, a true crime memoir centering one of Virginia’s most notorious cold cases. Audrey works as a producer for North Carolina Public Radio WUNC and as a bookseller at Scuppernong Books in Greensboro.
Tuesday, July 26, 2022
Molly Haille
Molly Sentell Haile has taught middle school, high school, and college English and creative writing as well as community creative writing classes. Her writing has appeared in The North Carolina Literary Review, Oxford American, O. Henry, and elsewhere. She was awarded the Doris Betts Fiction Prize, is a Pushcart and O. Henry Award nominee, and her work received a Notable designation in The Best American Nonrequired Reading. She holds a B.A. in English from Davidson College and an M.F.A. in Fiction Writing from UNCG and currently teaches creative writing classes for people with cancer, survivors, and caregivers at Hirsch Wellness Network in Greensboro.
Wednesday, July 27, 2022
Emily Morris
Thursday, July 28, 2022
Brian Lampkin
Brian Lampkin lives in Greensboro, NC. He founded Rust Belt Books in Buffalo, NY, and is an owner of Scuppernong Books in Greensboro, where he also writes and performs with the band The Difficulties. He was a columnist with The Daily Southerner in Tarboro, NC.
Friday, July 29, 2022
Steve Mitchell
Steve Mitchell, a writer and journalist, has published in CRAFT Literary, entropy, december magazine, Southeast Review, among others. His novel, Cloud Diary, is published by C&R Press. His book of short stories is The Naming of Ghosts from Press 53. He is a winner of the Curt Johnson Prose Prize and the Lorian Hemingway International Short Story Prize. He has a deep belief in the primacy of doubt and an abiding conviction that great wisdom informs very bad movies. He’s co-owner of Scuppernong Books in Greensboro, NC. Find him at: www.clouddiary.org
Monday, August 1, 2022
Courtney Wallen
Courtney Wallen joined Spectrum News 1 in 2019. She started as an intern while finishing up her undergraduate studies at High Point University.
After graduating, she started as an associate producer, building newscasts, coordinating coverage and writing news stories for anchors. In August 2020, she became a reporter.
Courtney is originally from the small town of Oxford, Connecticut. While she enjoys the quintessential New England landscapes, she calls North Carolina home as well.
Tuesday, August 2, 2022
Stephanie Grant
Stephanie Grant is the author of two novels, The Passion of Alice (Houghton Mifflin) and Map of Ireland (Scribner). Disgust: A Memoir is her first work of nonfiction; it was published in October 2021 by Scuppernong Editions, which is located here in Greensboro.
Grant writes about female embodiment, which is to say she writes about women’s and girls’ bodies, including their sexuality and race, and how their bodies are frequently the place where struggles personal and political, existential and social get expressed in American culture.
Her writing has been nominated for Great Britain’s Orange Prize, the Lambda Award for Best Lesbian Fiction, and the Massachusetts Book Award. She’s received fellowships and awards from the Rona Jaffee Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Revson Fellows Program for the Future of the City of New York at Columbia University. Although Grant directs the MFA program at American University in Washington, DC., she lives in Durham, North Carolina with her partner and twin daughters.
Wednesday, August 3, 2022
Ashley Lumpkin
–OR–
Alexis Orgera
Ashley Lumpkin is a Georgia-raised, Carolina-based writer, editor, actor, and educator. She is the author of five poetry collections: At First Sight, Second Glance, Terrorism and Other Topics for Tea, #AshleyLumpkin, and Genesis. Her book “I Hate You All Equally.”, is a collection of conversations from her years as a classroom teacher. A lover of performance as well as the written word, she has been a competing member of the Bull City Slam Team since 2015 and currently serves as its coach. She is one-fifth (and only Slytherin member) of the Big Dreams Collective and currently serves as a member-at-large on the board of the North Carolina Poetry Society.
Above all else, Ashley considers herself a teacher, poet, and fryer of food. She is a lover of mathematics and language. She loves you too.
Thursday, August 4, 2022
Josephus Thompson
Josephus Thompson is a poet, teacher and lecturer who founded The Poetry Project, where he works in both the educational and corporate setting focusing on “Education through Correlation.” He uses poetry as a catalyst for literacy, leadership and service.
What we offer | Advanced Courses
Science in 3D; 3rd-5th graders
July 11-22; 1:00-4:00 PM
Instructors: Dearing Blankmann and Teena Martin
Campers will engage in a study of macro and micro aquaria in the UNCG wetlands and nature journaling around the UNCG campus. This will serve as inspiration for students to share the wonders of the natural world with others through the creation of virtual reality environments.
Writing and Robotics; 3rd-12th graders
**NOTE: To sign up for this workshop, go to the Writing and Robotics website.**
July 18-22 (Week 2 of 3rd – 5th grade camp) 1:00-4:00 PM
August 1st – Aug 5th (Week 2 of 6th – 12th grade camp) 1:00-4:00 PM
Instructor: Matt Fisher
Writing and Robotics is an afternoon companion program for campers who are rising 3rd grade – 12th grade. This camp works in conjunction with the School of Education Young Writer’s Camp. In this robotics program, we will give students an opportunity to design and construct a working cardboard and craft robot based on the writing they create in the Young Writer’s Camp. The tool we will be using is called the Hummingbird Robotics kit. Students will also have access to 3D printers, laser engraver, sewing supplies, and other arts / craft materials.
Podcasting Course; 6-12th graders
July 25-Aug 5; 1:00 – 4:00 PM
Instructor: Audrey Smith
Do you have a story to tell that doesn’t fit on the page? Through podcasting, we are able to tell stories using the power of our own voices, and then publish these stories for a wide audience. During our two weeks together, we will read widely, write creatively, and listen actively as we explore the connection between story and voice. We will become practiced in the art of active listening as we immerse ourselves in the ways podcasters use their voices to communicate to their audiences, and we will explore the influence of sound and voice on our own personal narratives. You will end the course with two finished podcasts and knowledge about how to publish your work for others to hear. Through this course, you will learn to engage with, reflect upon, and manipulate sound, developing proficiency in technologies for podcast production as well as confidence in your unique storytelling voice.
Making and Writing; 6-12th graders
July 25-Aug 5; 1:00 – 4:00 PM
Instructor: TBA
TBA
Spoken Word Poetry; 6-12th graders
July 25-Aug 5; 1:00 – 4:00 PM
Instructor: Josephus Thompson
Spoken word poetry is a catalyst for young voices and the building of self esteem. Students will learn to create work that describe who they are and the things that make them unique. In addition to writing, students will also learn to present and memorize their work.
Fiction; 9-12th graders
July 25-Aug 5; 1:00 – 4:00 PM
Instructor: Molly Haile
How do stories draw us in and make us want to keep reading? In this class we’ll discuss the things writers do to create a compelling story—like set up a potent conflict, develop complicated characters, and show us vivid details. Then we’ll learn how to bring these narrative elements to the page. The class will take you through the major steps of writing fiction: finding story ideas, drafting, revising, and editing. In the first week, we’ll do a range of fun activities and exercises to generate ideas. Then you’ll move on to drafting a story or novel chapter in any genre of fiction you like (realistic, fantasy, historical, science fiction, etc.). In the second week, you’ll finish your draft and practice revising and editing. You’ll have the opportunity to share your work in a friendly, supportive environment and to help your fellow writers take their work to the next stage. By the end of camp, you’ll have a polished work to publish on our website. And you’ll go home with some tools you can use to write your next great work of fiction.
E-textiles; 3-5th graders
July 11-22; 1:00-4:00
Instructor: students from TED 647 Teaching and Learning in Makerspaces
Campers will explore simple circuitry as they build and create a puppet that can light up or make sounds. They’ll start with paper circuits and lil bits as they learn how electricity flows. They’ll learn simple sewing techniques and design and sew a puppet of their choosing.
Stop Motion Animation; 3-5th graders
July 11-22; 1:00-4:00
Instructor: students from TED 647 Teaching and Learning in Makerspaces
Campers will work in teams to create short stop motion animation movies from start to finish. They’ll write a script, design background sets, and film their movie using iPads, legos, clay, and green screen technology.
Bird watching and building; K-5th graders
July 11-22; 1:00 – 4:00
Instructor: students from TED 647 Teaching and Learning in Makerspaces
Students will explore birds on UNCG campus and learn about the different species of birds here in North Carolina. Then they’ll have their choice of making projects to build based on their learning about birds. Choices include a simple bird house, a model of a bird, or a book of North Carolina birds.
Movement and Storytelling: 3rd-5th graders
July 11-22; 1:00-4:00 PM
Instructor: Amanda
Students will explore storytelling through movement. Understanding how characters, emotions, and relationships are expressed through movement helps students build richer worlds in their imagination and deeper bonds in the real world. During this workshop, students will explore the movements and messages in nature, popular culture, and nonverbal communication. At the end of two weeks, students will have both a written and performed experience to take back to their creative process.
Movement and Storytelling: 6th-8th graders
July 25-Aug 5; 1:00 – 4:00
Instructor: Christine
Students will explore storytelling through movement. Understanding how characters, emotions, and relationships are expressed through movement helps students build richer worlds in their imagination and deeper bonds in the real world. During this workshop, students will explore the movements and messages in nature, popular culture, and nonverbal communication. At the end of two weeks, students will have both a written and performed experience to take back to their creative process.
Registration & Payment
Campers can attend a general session OR special topics course (half-day) or general session + a special topics course (full-day).
Half-day camp for 2 weeks = $275 | Full-day camp for 2 weeks = $500
Refund Policy: Full refunds will be given by June 6. There will be a $30 processing fee. No refunds can be granted after June 6.
Registration
Tuition includes all materials, snacks, drinks, and a camp T-shirt.
Payment
To confirm your place in the camp, please make an online payment.
- Pay online – You can choose to pay in one installment or three.
Scholarship Information
Consideration for a needs-based scholarship requires that the following materials be submitted to our office no later than June 1:
- Complete the online registration form.
- A $25.00 non-refundable deposit paid online.
Parent Orientation
Parent Orientation is held in the School of Education building at UNC Greensboro. You may park for free in any parking lot designated for C-permits. There is a C-permit lot across the street from the School of Education Building. Please read over the following documents if you are unable to attend.
All parents/guardians, please take note of the following:
- If you DO NOT attend the orientation on Saturday, please review the paperwork in your child’s camp folder and you or your child can return it to their instructor during the first camp week. All forms will be emailed to you as well. They are also posted below. Parents are also welcome to park their car in the Oakland Deck (off of Forest Avenue) and walk their child into the building on MONDAY. We will be in front of room 118.
Accessibility
Campus Accessibility Map
The Office of Accessibility Resources & Services produces a Campus Accessibility Map with clearly marked accessible routes for the UNC Greensboro campus.
Animals on Campus
If you have questions about the UNC Greensboro policy for guide animals, trained assistance animals, emotional support animals, and pet animals on campus groups and in campus facilities, please refer to Animals on Campus webpage.
Previous Event Materials
Click on the links below to review materials from our camp.
Publications
Take a look at our most recent publications, from our 2019 camp.
Contact
If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Amy Vetter at amvetter@uncg.edu