Budding authors explore the art of writing

Student Brittanie Meredith participated in the summer writing camp sponsored by the UC Denver Writing Center and the Metro Denver Promotion of Letters. [Photo by Integrated University Communications/University of Colorado Denver

Two dozen children between the ages of eight and 15 spent part of their summer learning how to become better writers through a partnership between the University of Colorado Denver Writing Center and the Metro Denver Promotion of Letters.

UC Denver and its partner played host to two writing campus in July, one for youths between the ages of 12 and 15 and the other for children between eight and 11.

One of the assignments the children took on involved following a fellow participant around for a week to observe their behavior, and then using that information to write a fictional piece set in locales such as New York City, the Grand Canyon and Africa.

The students also took field trips to the Denver Public Library, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, and the Flobots Community Center to inspire them for future storytelling.

"We have offered weekend workshops and have collaborated with local schools on writing projects, but we very much wanted to offer an intensive, fun, experiential summer experience for local kids," said Amanda Lueck Grell, director of the Metro Denver Promotion of Letters board.

The summer writing camp was free to the young writers, who worked with UC Denver graduate students and instructors.