Save-A-Date July 27

· Save-A-Date July 27: Young Writers ·

On Saturday, July 27, 2019, young writers from the Reno County community will be highlighted in a panel format at the monthly meeting of the Kansas Authors Club (KAC), District 6. 

The creative artists from high school—Annika Smith, Allison Bomgardner, and Iris Rees—and Hutchinson Community College—Dylan Kohls and Tabitha Barr—will share their motivation and passion for writing.

Prior to questions from club members and guests, panel members will read some of their literary work.

Here is additional information about our guest speakers.

Annika Smith, Buhler High School senior, stands out for self-publishing her book of poems. Lungs & Liver, earlier this year at Lulu https://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?keyWords=annika+smith&type= when she was sixteen. Smith had a book-signing at Bookends https://www.bookendshutch.com in Hutchinson, KS. She has read her poetry at Metropolitan Coffee https://metrocoffeehutch.com, Hutchinson, as part of “A unique evening of poetry, music, and art.” Annika is a member of the KAC, District 6.

Allison Bomgardner, senior high school student, states: “My interest in writing stems from sixth grade when I found that I had a knack for descriptions and my teacher recommended creative writing to me. I’ve been writing ever since. My favorite genres to write in are fiction and poetry. For fiction, the subcategories are fantasy, science-fiction, and real-life. For poetry, I mainly write free-verse. My goal is to become a published author.”

Iris Reese (photo unavailable), high school senior states: “I like most genres but when I write it is usually more mystery sci-fi if it’s a short story, and I do write a lot of poetry. I originally started with poetry and had every intent on publishing a book of poems. I hope to one day still do that. The poems I originally wrote were in place of journal entries because I was so bad at ‘normal’ journaling. The poems helped me a lot and still do, but recently I have started short stories or little excerpts. Most of what I write has a lot of personal meaning so it always helps to get it out on paper. I almost always have a notepad on me or at least a pen so I can write down ideas that come to me. I enjoy it so much and do it a lot so I guess that would make me pretty passionate about it. Haha. Other than writing I am a runner, I do track and cross-country. A lot of the times my running is time to think and process what to write next. So it’s excellent for writers block. I am also very passionate about gardening and plants. My room tends to be fairly green all year round.”

Dylan Kohls, freshman at Hutchinson Community College http://www.hutchcc.edu, worked long and hard on his senior high school project. He said it fits under the Young Adult and Sci-fi genres. The premise of the novel sounds well-developed. “The setting is that of Kansas in the year 2200, a hundred years after the world was inflicted by an illness that breaks down the body and turns the skeleton metallic.” Kohl said the adventure in the unsettled world has “Emme and Alex, two teens who meet by chance . . . mistakenly taken across the state by a mysterious group. So they must make their way back, along the way they encounter other travelers, towns, and both of them grow to find their place in the world around them.”

Dylan’s father teaches creative writing at the high school level. I wonder how much he’s influenced Dylan’s career choice. The younger Kohl states: “. . . I have a major interest in writing as a career and plan on becoming an English teacher in the future.”

Tabitha Barr, sophomore at Hutchinson Community College, is studying media communications with film and journalism. She’s Editor in Chief of the college’s The Hutchinson Collegian http://collegianweb.com, a part-time programmer and writer for Eagle Communications online newspaper, HutchPost.com https://hutchpost.com.

While Barr currently works in journalism, she considers a future in journalism and/or film. Last month her short film, “Train Tracks,” showed at the 2019 Doc Sunback Film Festival http://www.docsunbackfilmfest.com.

Tabitha’s passion for journalism started in her high school creative writing class. It really sparked when she got to write for the Hutchinson News https://www.hutchnews.com her senior year.

She found her niche in writing as she took hold of her feministic ideals and ran with it. Barr wrote a weekly opinion column called, “The Women’s Corner” that focused on topics that affect women in today’s society. She is a proud feminist and wants to change the world, where women will be equal to men in every aspect of life.

Tabitha enjoys writing empowering and information pieces but also dabbles in poetry in her free time.

The upcoming meeting, held at Hutchinson Community College Parker Student Union, Classroom #10, begins at 1:30 p.m.  It’s free and open to the public. Bring a friend.

Questions? Contact Jim Potter at jim@copintheclassroom.com or 620-899-3144.

Until next time, happy writing and reading!

The Kansas Authors Club http://www.kansasauthors.org is a statewide organization that encourages and supports great writing. It’s divided into seven districts. In Hutchinson, Reno County, (part of District 6) we have monthly meetings at Hutchinson Community College. http://www.hutchcc.edu You’re invited. Questions? Contact Jim Potter, jim@copintheclassroom.com