“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” So said Dr. Seuss, and it couldn’t be truer today, surrounded as we are by sound bytes, clickbait, and impassioned online comments that escalate even as they make painfully clear that the ranter in question never paused to actually read the offending story.
Which makes encouraging young writers, who are inevitably also readers, all the more important. Cosmic Writers, a nonprofit organization that teaches literacy skills for children using storytelling, is providing a chance to celebrate the upcoming generation of literati with their 4th Anniversary Young Writer Showcase, at the iconic independent children’s bookstore Books of Wonder.
The Cosmic Writers program was seeded in the initial months of the Covid pandemic, when executive director Rowana Miller, then a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania, realized that lockdown would severely limit students’ opportunities to stay mentally active and interact with others. With a grant from Penn’s Kelly Writers House, she developed Word Camp, a virtual creative writing camp, during that first pandemic summer. Eventually it became clear that Word Camp wasn’t just an important pandemic opportunity but, according to involved educators, just a generally great idea that remains, among the org’s other curriculums and mentorships, the flagship program.
Keynote speaker Nancy Krulik, author of more than 200 books for children and young adults, including How I Survived Middle School, will be followed by young writers reading stories written during Cosmic Writers programs. Says Miller, “We’re so proud of how our young writers have grown over the past year and beyond, taking on ambitious projects from horror story collections to realistic-fiction novels.”
Maybe giving literacy, and eager young writers, a hand and a helpful ear is a good way to start this anxious new year off with promise. ❖
Cosmic Writers 4th Anniversary Young Writer Showcase
Wednesday, January 14, 5:30–6:30 p.m.
Books of Wonder, 42 West 17th Street
Free and open to the public