Young people across Middle Tennessee who enjoy reading and writing can add to their summer adventures by registering now for MTSU’s annual Youth Writers’ Camps, set June 8-19.

Students who’ll be in third to 11th grades can spend two weeks learning to “read like writers” and to tell stories to others with the help of the Middle Tennessee Writing Project.

Click on the logo for registration information.

The Kids’ Camp for third- through fifth-graders will be held at MTSU from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday, while the Teen Camp for grades five to 11 will be held at Stones River National Battlefield on the same days and times.

Registration costs are $200 for new campers and $175 for returning participants.

The Youth Writers’ Camps feature writing-related activities to encourage campers to exercise their creative energy in composing stories, memoirs, comics, songs, poems and more.

Local teachers with the Writing Project lead the camps, encouraging students to explore different writing styles and topics and work with their peers and teachers to become more confident in their own writing, said Dr. Ellen Donovan, director of the Middle Tennessee Writing Project and a professor of English at MTSU.

Matthew Brown

This year’s campers will enjoy a special visit and workshop with poet and filmmaker Matthew Brown, a lecturer in MTSU’s Department of English who works regularly with K-12 writers and founded the MTSU Writers Corps, a creative writing group of student veterans.

During camp sessions, the participants will play word games, write daily, learn to give and receive feedback on their projects and publish their chosen pieces in a camp anthology.

Each student will receive a camp T-shirt, a writer’s notebook, a daily morning snack and a copy of the camp writing anthology as part of their registration fees. Campers should bring their own lunches each day, organizers say.

Campers and parents can get more information and find a downloadable application form at www.middletnwritingproject.org/youth-writers-camps. A limited number of scholarships also are available for campers; you can learn more by contacting the Middle Tennessee Writing Project office at 615-898-5981.

You can learn more about Brown at his website, www.matthewbrownpoetry.com.

The Middle Tennessee Writing Project serves the greater Middle Tennessee region as one of more than 200 networked sites that form the National Writing Project, a professional development effort for teachers of kindergarten through college-aged students.

The project works to improve writing instruction, help teachers use writing as an effective teaching strategy in other areas, and develop teacher leadership to reform and improve education.

— Gina E. Fann (gina.fann@mtsu.edu)