A few weeks ago, Portland State University held an event that pulled students and teachers from over 60 districts into the heart of Portland. This event was the thirty-second annual Oregon Writing Festival, where aspiring writers went to learn, write, read, and give and receive feedback. The day started with a massive gathering of almost 1,000 people to open the festival. Students were separated into groups based on ages, and went off to presentations given by one of three authors. Bart King presented to the fourth and fifth graders, Roland Smith talking with the sixth, seventh, and eighth graders, and the high schoolers enjoyed a presentation with Cat Winters, titled “Write Fearlessly”. During her presentation, Winters talked about her experiences in the writing and publishing world, and also imparted some inspirational and motivational wisdom.

After meeting with the authors and asking some questions, the students were then directed to two different workshops where they got to hone their skills and also had the opportunity to share their work. When the workshops and lunch were through, individual groups went off and shared their work with others. Many of the groups even exchanged contact information so they could continue to work together and ask each other for feedback on projects. Then when the sharing was over, so was the festival. The students who participated not only walked away with more writing knowledge under their belt, but they also walked away with new connections.

If you would like to learn more about the writing festival, or the authors who presented, please visit:

http://www.octe.org/oregon-writing-festival.html

http://www.bartking.net/

http://www.rolandsmith.com/

http://www.catwinters.com/