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YouthWrite River Valley Experience 2023

$655.00 CAD

July 2 - July 7, 2023

Day Camp For Ages 8-12
A unique opportunity for kids to expand their writing horizons. Campers will receive guidance from published authors and learn writing techniques for specific genres.

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$655 Subtotal
       

River Valley Experience 2023

Registration is now open!

PLEASE NOTE: REGISTRATION CLOSES ON JUNE 23, 2023

Day Program with option to stay overnight on Thursday, July 6th.

  • Ages 8-14 
  • July 2nd - July 7th, 2023
  • 8:30am-4:30pm
  • Bennett Centre, Edmonton, Alberta
  • Tuition - two options
  1. Daycamp only - $655.00
  2. Overnight Camp - $695.00

YouthWrite Fees Include

8 hours of daily instruction/activity led by highly qualified instructional and supervisory staff, supervised lunch and break times. All supplies are provided as are daily lunches and snacks (and Friday breakfast for the Thursday night overnighters). Each participant is required to dress for the weather, bring PPE, indoor and outdoor shoes, and will receive a complimentary copy of YouthWrite: the Magazine.

For those of you new to YouthWrite:

Registration steps continue after registration on this site. After you complete the registration on this site, we ask that you proceed to Campfax, a secure camp database and:

  • fill in important details
  • provide a letter of reference from a teacher/mentor
  • provide the answers to the four YouthWrite questions
  • provide a short sample of writing

You are not fully registered until all steps are completed.


Please note

All fees include $100 non-refundable fee.  No refunds will be made if registration is cancelled after June 23, 2023.

A full refund will be possible in the event an applicant is not accepted into the program or if COVID restrictions require that we cancel or reconfigure camp. YouthWrite Society Canada reserves the right to cancel courses and restrict enrollment. Courses, instructors and supervisors may be subject to change.





When

July 2nd - July 7th, 2023

Full Week

Where

Bennett Centre

Edmonton, Alberta

Who

Guest instructors:

Elena Belyea

Natasha Deen

Mark Kozub

Tololwa M Mollel

Mary Pinkoski

Elsa Robinson

Daniel Schneider

Masani St. Rose

Amazing Instructors TBA soon!


Blue Pencil Café Editor:

TBA


Our Special Guest Presenter:

TBA


Our Super Supers:

Andraya Diogo

Becky Collins - Lead Super

Amanda Erickson

Mark Guererro

Mason Repka

Mackenzie Trofimuk

More Supers TBA soon!


Client Services

Tania Gigliotti


River Valley Experience Coordinator

Marla Albiston


YouthWrite Director-Coordinator:
Gail Sidonie Sobat



Guest Instructors



YOUTHWRITE INSTRUCTORS: THE CREAM OF THE CROP!


Throughout YouthWrite's history, we have prided ourselves on the calibre of our fine instructors.


YouthWrite invites superbly talented and reputable instructors who represent the many facets of the performing, visual, musical, dance, film, and written arts. 


MORE AMAZING INSTRUCTORS TBA SOON!

 Elena (Eli) Belyea


Bio

Elena (Eli) Belyea, is a queer playwright, performer, producer, arts educator, and Artistic Director of Tiny Bear Jaws. She was born and raised in amiskwaciwaskahikan (colonially known as Edmonton) on Treaty 6 territory and has had work produced across Turtle Island and internationally (including Hungary, Austria, Berlin, New York, Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa, Quebec, and Wells). They're also half of queer sketch duo "Gender? I Hardly Know Them".


Course

Eye Say - Yes, and! Join us in Eye Say, where you’ll develop and personify as a new character over the course of the week, and improvise a world together! Anything is possible, in this zero-gravity edition of Eye Say, where one wrong move can make the difference between the extinction of all human-kind, or a millennia of peace and prosperity. 3…2…1… Blast off!



Natasha 2022

 Natasha Deen  Twitter


Bio

Guyanese-Canadian Natasha Deen is a best-selling author and a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal. Natasha’s novels include In the Key of Nira Ghani (Amy Mather Teen Book Award), Spooky Sleuths: The Ghost Tree (School Library Journal Best Books of 2022). Her most recent YA title, The Signs and Wonders of Tuna Rashad was a Globe & Mail's Top 100 Books for 2022. When she’s not writing, she teaches Introduction to Children’s Writing with the University of Toronto’s SCS and spends an inordinate amount of time trying to convince her pets that she’s the boss of the house. Visit Natasha at www.natashadeen.com.


Course

Character Crush - Getting To Know All About Your Characters - Think you know everything there is to know about your character? Looking to create a new character but not sure where to start? Join Natasha for a week of character creation and crushing great heroes and villains! From turning your character into an alien or throwing them back in time, we’ll look at your character from all angles and create someone who your readers will love (or love to hate!)





Mark Kozub


Bio

Mark Kozub, loves writing weird stuff. He is author of the bestselling non-fiction book Weird Edmonton: The Odd, Quirky and Wonderful People, Places, History and Hauntings. But he also loves writing weird fiction too, like his latest book, King Boing. When he’s not writing, Mark draws illustrations, writes and records music, and works as a professional editor. Oh yeah, and he’s been teaching at YouthWrite since 2002.


Course

Let's Get Weird - Do you like to write “weird stuff”? Great! You’ll love this class! It’s all about having fun being creative. Dream up your wildest, weirdest idea for a novel, then write the first page, come up with eye-catching copy for the back-of-book-jacket, and if you like drawing, draw your book cover… even come up with ideas for a movie trailer for it!




 Mary Pinkoski


Bio

Mary Pinkoski, 5th Poet Laureate of the City of Edmonton (2013-2015), is an internationally-recognized poet, arts and museum educator, and doctoral student at the University of Alberta. In 2019, she was Edmonton Public Library Regional Writer in Residence. Mary's poetry has appeared in multiple anthologies. She was the 2011 Canadian National Spoken Word Champion and the national winner of the 2008 CBC National Poetry Face-off. In 2015, Mary was recognized as an Edmonton Top 40 Under 40 and was awarded a University of Alberta Alumni Horizon Award for her poetry work in the Edmonton community, in particular for facilitating poetry workshops and her creation of the City of Edmonton’s Youth Poet Laureate role. 


Course

What If... Writing As An Imagination Station - What if you could speak with a cloud? What if you had dinner with a famous person? What if you wrote a letter to a piece of art? What if you responded to a favorite song? What if you filled in the spaces between lines of a poem? What if the fairytale ended differently? What if the news story predicted the future? What if you found yourself on Mars?

Explode your imagination with “what if” prompts! Explore the grounds and spaces of the Bennett Centre and write creatively about what you discover. Choose your genre and/or format; choose to share your writing daily (or not). Write (A LOT!) about everything without stopping to worry about the rules of writing or the boundaries of possibility.





Tololwa M Mollel


Bio

Tololwa M Mollel writes stories and plays for all ages. He has published over 20 books for the young in English and Kiswahili (Swahili), the national language of Tanzania where he was born. He also writes stories to tell and perform. When he isn’t writing, Tololwa, a former actor, performs stories for audiences in schools and communities, at times by himself and at other times with other performers and artists.


Course

Take a Trip With Your Idea! -  An idea can be suitable for a poem, a short story, a play, something funny, something serious, a comic, or any of many other kinds of writing possible, or more than one kind. What kind of writing will your idea be good for? So take a trip with your idea–from the past or one from the workshop–to whatever kind of writing your idea is best suited for. Get the most out of your idea and have fun on the journey!




 Elsa Robinson


Bio

Elsa Robinson (aka Auntie Elsa) is a multimedia visual artist whose art practice includes acrylic painting, sculpture, textiles, and collage. Since 2004, her work has been featured in numerous art exhibits. Elsa’s art addresses themes of identity, family, history, and spirituality. She started her art career as a self-taught artist, and now holds the degree of Master of Fine Arts in Visual Arts. Elsa is also a highly experienced Alberta certified teacher. She combines her love of art and teaching to develop and facilitate art workshops for participants of all ages and abilities.


Course


Colour & Cut and Paste + Paint Your Words - I Hope is powerful. It keeps us inspired and motivated in the most difficult times. Hope cuts across all cultures. It is a part of being human. Across all cultures, symbols have been used to represent hope and serve as a source of inspiration and encouragement.
In this workshop you will first create a piece of writing that presents the theme of hope. Then, you will explore using mixed media images top create your own symbol of hope that responds to the theme of hope in your writing. 




Daniel J Schneider


Bio

Daniel J Schneider is a comic artist, illustrator and storyteller hailing from his family's cattle ranch near Edmonton. He holds the honour of being the first Comic shop Artist in Residence at Happy Harbour Comics and has been privileged to be teaching students about how to create comics for the past 9 years. You can find his work in comics such as Gamesworkshop’s “Reforged”, “The Saga of the Jack of Spades”, “Ape Court” and soon the webtoon Sire & Cub.


Course

Visual Storytelling - Explore how people have told stories with pictures throughout history. Enrich your stories using visuals and art and experiment with storytelling through comics, character creation, and environment. 





Masani St. Rose


Bio

Masani (she/her), is born and raised in Mohkinstsis (Calgary, AB). She immersed into learning about her ancestral roots at the tender age of 3, specializing in West African and Caribbean Dance. Upon the introduction to dance, Masani found passion for the West African culture and style. It was through training under Michèle Moss-Johnston at Decidedly Jazz Danceworks, she was able to build her foundation. Still working very closely with Michèle Moss-Johnston and various other artists from Guinea, West Africa, she finds every opportunity to take master classes from artists from various regions of Africa including, Congo, Uganda, Ghana, Mali, Guinea and Zimbabwe. Throughout the years, Masani has worked with various studios and professional groups across Canada. It is her mission to keep the art and culture alive from soul to sole!


Course

Soul to Sole - Where words meet movement! We are going to explore traditional West African movement from Guinea and connect it to words, emotions and energy. Open minds, bodies and souls are a must. No experience required. Option to dance barefoot to connect to the earth. Bring supportive shoes, no sandals, please.


The Amazing Supers

Handpicked and multi-talented, YouthWrite Supers are the centre of our camps. As artists, teachers and mentors, they bring the X-Factor to YouthWrite.


MORE AMAZING SUPERS TBA SOON!

Andraya Diogo   


Andraya Diogo is an emerging artist from amiskwaciwâskahikan (colonially known as Edmonton). She works mostly in showbiz as a designer/manager, but sometimes as a YouthWrite supervisor, or a high school Technical Theatre teacher. She will graduate from the University of Alberta with a BFA in Theatre Production next April. Andy loves skateboarding, black coffee, and is Gail's favourite




Becky Collins - Lead Super


This year marks Becky's tenth summer with YouthWrite! A drama and humanities teacher by trade, Becky is a current graduate student at the University of Alberta with the Master of Arts in Communications and Technology program. In addition to her graduate studies, Becky has been working with the Faculty of Education as a Research Assistant and Primary Instructor teaching future teachers. Becky is bursting with anticipation for camp this year, knowing full well she is Gail and Marla's favourite Super.




Amanda Erickson

is a photography, videography, poetry, and social media enjoyer! They are passionate about literature, journalism, and queer expression through multidisciplinary art. Amanda is excited to be joining the YouthWrite team for a second time this year, both as a Super and an Office Bee and as Gail and Marla’s favourite!




Mark Guerrero

is thrilled to be returning for another fun week at the River Valley Experience this summer. He is currently an acting student at the University of Alberta. Mark loves reading and performing classical text. He especially loves Shakespeare – the master of wordplay! Mark also enjoys singing, dancing, long-distance running, and playing volleyball. Alongside working as a Super and being Gail and Marla’s favourite, Mark also works as a YouthWrite Office Bee! 




Mason Repka


Mason is a YouthWrite Office Bee, working with Gail and Tania behind the scenes to make sure YouthWrite events go swimmingly. Mason loves to teach writing through Roleplay, whether it be Live Action or Table Top. He is also a Registered Massage Therapist, owns and operates Dark Ascension LARP, and is, of course, Gail and Marla's favorite. 




Mackenzie Trofimuk

Mackenzie Trofimuk has been involved with YouthWrite for her whole life and is thrilled to be returning for yet another joyous summer! She has filled the roles of camper, office Bee, Super, and was a member of the Spoken Word Youth Choir for the past several years. She is currently living in Toronto, enrolled in second-year at Toronto Metropolitan University. While she is now pursuing studies in fashion, dance was her first love, and she has trained intensively in contemporary, jazz, ballet, and tap. This summer you can find Mackenzie as a bubbly barista in downtown Toronto. In her free time, she enjoys going on long adventurous walks, working on passion projects, attending lots of live music and drama, and drinking iced matcha lattes. Mackenzie loves all things fueled by creativity and is so excited to dance, write, sing, laugh, and play with you this summer!




Client Services

Tania Gigiliotti

is the little Hobbit you may have seen previously working in the children's section of bookstores and comic book stores around Edmonton. When she's not working for YouthWrite, she is the Project Manager on the Young People are the Future Project researching youth engagement in living history museums. At YouthWrite, she is Master of Excel and Campfax and also Communications Manager.




River Valley Experience Coordinator

Marla Albiston

has been involved with YouthWrite for approximately 15 years…she can’t remember the exact number, because she’s been having so much fun! She completed her BEd degree at the U of A, and since then has had the wonderful opportunity to apply her love of education with her passion for movement, teaching Dance at various schools with EPSB. She also works as a freelance dance teacher/choreographer, dances with the local Contemporary company ViVA Dance, and performs in aerial circus with Firefly Theatre and Circus. Marla is beyond excited for the magic that once again will be taking place at YouthWrite this summer and to work with Gail who loves her best!




YouthWrite Director- Coordinator

Gail Sidonie Sobat


is a multi-award-winning teacher and author, with twelve books for children, teens and adults, and a number of educational and academic articles. A Global News Woman of Vision and an Arts and Culture Citation Award recipient, she is the YouthWrite creator/ coordinator, an international presenter, an instructor in the professional writing program at MacEwan University and in the Faculty of Education at U of A. Gail was The Writers’ Union of Canada Regional Representative for Alberta, NWT and Nunavut, and writer in residence with the Metro Edmonton Federation of Libraries. 


She has moved forty times in her life from Badlands to Siksika Nation Reserve to hideous suburbs to Istanbul to the Sunshine Coast to her writer’s garret in a century-old temperamental house. She adores all of her Supers & Coordinators equally, and loves YouthWrite like a madwoman!



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