Author speaks to young authors
Dave Payne Sr.Article Photos
PARKERSBURG - More than 80 budding young authors were honored Sunday at the 2009 Young Authors Festival at Ohio Valley University.
The event, sponsored by the Wood County Reading Council, honored the winners of the Young Authors Contest in Wood County elementary schools. There were more than 80 winners from 21 elementary schools in the County.
Children's author Cheryl Ware, keynote speaker, encouraged children to read as much as they can, but at the same time remain "imaginative and silly" and connected to the outside world.
"Surround yourself with books," she told the winners. "But sometimes we writers can have more trouble connecting and we need to experience more than books."
Ware, author of "Flea Circus Summer," "Catty Cornered," "Venola in Love," "Venola the Vegetarian" and "Roberta Price Has Head Lice," grew up in a small house with five brothers and two sisters in Barbour County, W.Va., and taught English at Fairmont State University and Alderson-Broaddus College before writing and promoting her children's books full time.
Growing up with such a large family crammed into a small house, she said reading was especially important to her as a child.
"The way I found quiet in that chaos was to open up a book," she said.
Ware encouraged the children to keep journals to hone their writing skills and use real-life experiences with trips, best friends, hobbies or first steps to provide inspiration for their tales. She also suggested they devote as much effort to revising their work as actually writing it.
Every story, she said, must have a beginning, middle and end, but the end is especially important.
"A good ending, that's where you have to give it some whack," she said.
Young Authors Festival Contest were:
- Blennerhassett School: Mason Hughes, Shannon Ruble, Logan Winans, Brooklyn Ash and Alexa Mattson.
- Criss School: Tiffany Tooker, Samantha Vanfossen and Emmy McFarland.
- Emerson School: Sam Blauser, Breana McDonald, Sierra Hoy, Rylee Haught and Tyler Greathouse.
- Fairplains School: Shayna Cooper, Toni Grogg and Samantha Burkey.
- Franklin Center: Briann Jones, Joel Scott and Marisa Wells.
- Gihon School: Rachel Cogar, Kirin Bradley and Katelyn Byrd.
- Greenmont School: Nicole ElChaar, Ciara Miller and Hannah Shaver.
- Jefferson Center: Isaiah Ferguson, Noah Deem, Kelsey Greene, Tyler Lawrentz and Travis Riel.
- Kanawha School: Derek Ballengee, Cayleigh Walton and Dymond Murray.
- Lubeck School: Christopher Hanna, Elijah Buckalew, Cameron Gill, Victoria Price and Hannah Routhier.
- Madison School: Sophia Miller, Jack Johnson and Kate Honey.
- Martin School: Audrey Payne, Devan Wilson and Jenna Horton.
- McKinley School: Malcolm Striblin, Allison Morris and Kendell Leary.
- Mineral Wells School: Trinity Phillips, Isabella Gordon, Wade Powers, Logan Penn and Garrett Gilkeson.
- Neale School: Tori Hoste, Dylan Shaver, Cassidy Wetz, Brittany Huynh and Addie Christie.
- North Christian School: Emily Flanagan, Lily Cunningham and Lexie Florence.
- Vienna School: Skyler Gainer, Maggie Thompson and Reagan Hathaway.
- Waverly School: Kayla Bauman, Ethen Hayes and Alex Keller.
- Williamstown Elementary: Nathaniel Lampkin, India Flores, Savannah Baileys, Jonathan Petty, Riley West and Ashton Chancellor.
- Wood County Christian School: Daniel Thompson, Abigail Robinson, Stacy Browning and Lexi Dakota Gutberlet.
- Worthington School: Emily McElroy, Stevie Florence and Sam Abels.
The entries by Cogar, Horton and Hayes were submitted to the West Virginia Young Writers Contest.
