Looking for a way to get your kid(s) writing this summer? Here are a few writing camps for youths happening around the Tar Heel State:
The Great American Writers’ Camp
Ages: Grades 4-6
Dates: July 24-29
Location: Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem
Info/Register: http://thegawc.weebly.com
Established in 2011, The Great American Writers’ Camp is back again with even more writing activities, strategies and projects. Young writers will hone their skills and styles as they learn to take ideas and develop them into coherent stories, poems, arguments, speeches and more. We are committed to helping our young writers enjoy camp AND gain new strategies for creating and communicating. Working in groups, individually, and one-on-one with an instructor, students will begin to see how their ideas and words have a place in the world around them.
Summer Writing Programs
Ages: Grades 6-12
Dates: June 19-23, July 17-21
Location: University of North Carolina at Asheville, Asheville
Info/Register: https://professionaleducation.unca.edu/writenow
UNC-Asheville’s summer writing program returns this year with week-long sessions in June and July for rising 6th-8th graders (“All Things Writing”) and rising 9th-12th graders (“Write Now”). The programs offer each participating student experience in different aspects of writing under the tutelage of Asheville’s finest writing instructors. Students will also participate in workshops featuring guest speakers who will address special writing-related topics such as The College Application Essay, Writing for Newspapers, Brainstorming Ideas, Careers in Writing, and more.
Young and Teen Writers Camp
Ages:Â 9-19
Dates: July 10-21
Location: North Carolina State University, Raleigh
Info/Register: https://english.chass.ncsu.edu/youngwriters
Poetry, prose, dramatic writing, graphic novels. ​The Young Writers Workshop offers genre specific small-group workshop environments for children interested in developing their creative writing skills. Our teachers are especially good at working with young writers–nurturing and guiding their enthusiasm and talent by building on skills and craft. Student-to-teacher ratio is low — no more than 12 students per class — so that participants can receive the benefit of the instructor’s expertise and individual attention. Our students are encouraged and invited to explore their own styles of writing in our workshops and beyond. During the two-week program, they read from their own writings, work in small groups and workshops, and receive one-on-one craft-based instruction in plot, character, action, dialogue, conflict, and more. YWW students are grouped by interests and age (older students together with older students, younger students with their age group, as well). Students will be enrolled in two classes. Classes are 60 minutes long with a 30 minute (bring-your-own) snack break in between. Young writers are supervised at all times.
Young Writers Academy
Ages: 9-14
Dates: July 10-13
Location: 9500 Community House Rd., Charlotte
Info/Register: https://www.youngwritersacademy.com/copy-of-seattle-wa-1
Mystery Writing & Detective Science and Graphic Novels: Writing & Illustration. The mission of Young Writers’ Academy LLC is to provide engaging creative writing enrichment opportunities for students that will inspire them to write. We aim to improve their writing through proven teaching and learning methods. Our students have a blast creating original work.
Young Writers Camp
Ages: Grades 6-11
Dates: June 1 – August 4 (three sessions)
Location: Duke University, Durham
Info/Register: https://learnmore.duke.edu/youth/youngwriter
While campers use the term “fun,†we prefer the term “engaging.†Camp engages its participants intellectually, emotionally, physically:
A casual observer dropping into one of our classes might see young people acting out the lives and situations of student-generated characters, rapping and performing poetry and song, walking down Ninth Street in Durham and “listening in on†and recording conversations to develop an ear for dialogue, participating in a round-table discussion of their classmates’ work, taste-testing desserts as a review of the fare at the Mad Hatter Bakeshop and Café. Field trips to local businesses, art museums, gardens, and dance festivals are a regular feature of our classes. While campers are given class time for quiet writing, they also draft, revise, and edit collaboratively.After an academic day of writing classes, many of our extended day and residential campers choose physical afternoon activities such as sports and drama.
Young Writers Workshop
Ages: Grades 9-12
Dates: July 11-15
Location: University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Wilmington
Info/Register: http://www.uncw.edu/writers/youngwriters.html
The Young Writers Workshop (YWW) is an annual five-day camp that brings together up to 45 high school students to study the craft of writing on the UNC Wilmington campus. The workshop is organized and operated by UNCW’s Department of Creative Writing, and camp participants have the opportunity to study with published, working writers-faculty members and graduate students in the department’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program. The Young Writers Workshop provides a place for aspiring writers to experiment, meet other writers, and follow their creative interests in a safe, nonjudgmental environment. YWW participants take part in daily creative writing exercises, craft lectures, writing workshops, and readings. The week offers a valuable and exciting experience for young writers interested in learning more about their craft. Although YWW students are asked to submit a work of creative writing in one genre (poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction), they receive instruction in all genres. Participants spend approximately six hours every day in writing exercises, peer workshops, and craft presentations. Students also have time to explore the UNCW campus, visit the bookstore and library, and get to know other young writers.