When people ask Stephen King how he writes, he answers, “One word at a time.” King also says, “the scariest moment is just before you start.”
Wittenberg University wants to help students write, one word at a time, and will host the inaugural writers’ camp titled Champion City Write Now (CCWN) for rising high school students in grades 9 through 12 from June 19-23.
An immersive writing program open to high school students in Clark County, attendees will participate in four days of workshops from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Wittenberg’s campus. Led by CCWN’s team of instructors, participants will learn about four different genres, including fiction, poetry, narrative nonfiction, and graphics to create stories, poems, essays, and comics.
The writers’ camp will conclude with a final evening of celebration and showcasing as campers will read their best work at a public event. All participants will also publish their selected pieces in the printed CCWN Anthology.
“Our vision for Champion City Write Now at Witt is to provide a literary community for young and adolescent writers in Clark County,” said CCWN Director Erin Hill, professor of practice, secondary and English education at Wittenberg. “If you like to write, no matter the genre, Champion City Write Now is where you will find your people. We want to help you connect with each other, and we want to celebrate you and your writing.”
Hill’s background as an essayist and former high school creative writing teacher informs her work. At Tippecanoe High School in Miami County, she and poet-colleague Aimee Noel assembled a student editorial team of writers to found Inferno, a literary journal of student writing. They also hosted off-campus literary events for adolescent writers, including coffee house readings and Night Writes. Hill says, “After each event, students would ask us, ‘When can we do this again?’”
The Champion City Write Now team at Wittenberg knows students want to connect with other writers and publish their work. The team is eager to provide that opportunity for young people in Clark County. They plan to eventually expand the camp experience to grades three through 12 and to host other literary events on and off campus.
The Champion City Write Now instructors are all published authors. Andy Graff, associate professor of English and director of the creative writing program at Wittenberg, is the author of the 2021 novel Raft of Stars. After a tour of duty in Afghanistan, he earned an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and his fiction and essays have appeared in Image and Dappled Things. Marlo Starr, assistant professor English at Wittenberg, earned her Ph.D. in English from Emory University and an MFA in poetry from Johns Hopkins University. Her poems have appeared in The Threepenny Review, Ghost City Review, Napkin Poetry Review, and elsewhere. Nora Hickey has worked as an instructor at Colorado State University, Santa Fe University of Art and Design, and the Columbus College of Art and Design, and holds an MFA in poetry from the University of New Mexico. Her poetry and nonfiction have appeared in Guernica, Electric Literature, Narrative, the Massachusetts Review, and other journals. Hill teaches in both the education and English departments at Wittenberg and earned her MA from New York University. Her creative nonfiction has appeared in The Sun, The Brevity Blog, The Under Review, and Words and Sports Quarterly.
Champion City Write Now applicants should submit a short writing sample of their best work in their preferred genre (fiction, poetry, nonfiction, graphic work/comics) to be considered for the workshop. Applications are due by May 15 but will be considered on a rolling basis until all spots are filled. Candidates will be notified of their acceptance by June 1.
To be eligible to participate, applicants must be enrolled in a school district in Clark County or must be residents of Clark County if enrolled in an online or home school. Only one entry per student is necessary and only a single author writing sample is required.
The writers’ camp registration fee for the week is $100, and includes on-campus meals, instruction, and materials. Students may apply for a partial need-based fee reduction if eligible. All accepted students must pay a $50 nonrefundable deposit no later than June 10. Participants are responsible for their own transportation to and from campus each day.
If you would like more information on the summer workshop or to apply, click here. If you have any other questions, please contact CCWN Director Erin Hill at hille3@wittenberg.edu.
