SLWG Summer Writers Camp

4th - 8th Grade Camp | June 17 - June 21
9th - 12th Grade Camp | June 24 - June 28

Registration Information for SLWG SWC 2024

Week 1 - Monday, June 17th - Friday, June 21st - 12pm to 2pm CT
For young writers in 4th-8th grades

Week 2 - Monday, June 24th - Friday, June 28th - 12pm to 2pm CT
For young writers in 9th-12th grades

Price: $20 per camper for the single week.
Attendees get one-year Associate Members with St. Louis Writers Guild

All the workshops and events are online using Zoom.
A link will be sent to everyone who has registered for the SLWG Summer Writers Camp

Camp Schedule for Both Weeks

Monday: Writing Workshop, 12 - 2pm CT - Online using Zoom

Tuesday: A Writing Day! - no workshop - work on a story you’ve been working on or start a new one with the Young Writers Awards Prompt. (announced at camp)

Wednesday: Writing Workshop, 12 - 2pm CT - Online using Zoom
Wednesday Night, 7 - 8pm - SLWG Young Writers Open Mic

Thursday: An Editing Day! - no workshop - use the time to improve your story… or write another.

Friday: Meet the Authors, 12 - 2pm CT - Ask questions and hear from a panel of Authors. Plus, read your story if you want. Online using Zoom.

Special guests will join throughout the week

Special Guests
Zach Chopchinski
Autumn Green
Shannon A. Thompson
Laura Stewart Schmidt

Workshops at SLWG Summer Writers Camp

Titles will be announced soon!

Zach Chopchinski

Zach is a USA Today bestselling author of fantasy and science fiction. He is a bow tie wearing, formal vest rocking, pocket watch using, sarcastic monster of a writer and spends his days trying not to kill himself with lethal levels of caffeine. Currently residing in Orlando, Florida, he can be found working, writing and procrastinating. Zach is the author of the Gabrielle series, a young adult fantasy with a paranormal-historical-time traveling twist (try saying that five times fast), and the Hall of Doors Series, a cross worlds adventure with snarky yet loveable characters.

Jody Feldman
Award-winning author Jody Feldman had early thoughts of working as a treasure hunter, a codebreaker, a movie director, and an inventor. Through a series of happenstances, however, she enrolled in the Mizzou School of Journalism and discovered she really could write. Her middle grade novels—The Seventh Level and The Gollywhopper Games series (HarperCollins/Greenwillow)—have appeared on 26 state reading lists and have won, among other honors, the Georgia Children’s Book Award and the Grand Canyon Readers Award. In regard to her first thriller and debut YA novel, No Way Home (Sourcebooks, 2022), School Library Journal says, “Fans of mystery/thrillers with puzzles…will devour this book." Jody lives and writes in St. Louis, Missouri, where she discovered she can explore all her passions through the characters in her books.

Autumn Green

Autumn Green is the author of The Keepers of Aris, as well as an Language Arts English Teacher for Middle and High School. She has spent the last few years writing YA novels. In her writings, Autumn enjoys crafting characters with a tangible spark and designing an escape for readers. Autumn lives in Kansas City, Missouri, and spends her summers exploring the world with her family and friends.

Laura Stewart Schmidt

Laura Stewart Schmidt is the author of Until Proven Innocent (Black Rose Writing, 2018), and Don't Fear, My Darling (Black Opal Books, 2019). She has degrees in Political Science and Public Policy from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and an MFA in Fiction Writing from Lindenwood University.

Laura’s eclectic career includes stints as a community education coordinator, grant writer, drug court advocate, youth mentor, preschool teacher, and special-needs support counselor.

She is a member of the SCBWI and Sisters in Crime. She was a reviewer and a judge for Killer Nashville’s Claymore contest from 2018-2021 and for the St. Louis Writers Guild Young Writers contest in 2023. Her short story “The Longest Chase” appeared in Archer Publishing’s Dark & Stormy anthology in 2023, and her short story “Going Under” won the St. Louis Writers Guild Short Story contest in 2023.

Shannon A. Thompson

Shannon A. Thompson is an author, speaker, and habitual chatterbox. She is represented by Gallt & Zacker Literary Agency.
Thompson is the best-selling author of the Timely Death trilogy and the Bad Bloods series. When she is not writing, she is climbing rooftops, baking cookies, or watching KDramas in the middle of the night, often with her cats by her side. Between writing and befriending cats, Thompson graduated from the University of Kansas with a bachelor’s degree in English with an emphasis on creative writing, and her work has appeared in numerous poetry collections and anthologies. She currently resides in Kansas City. 

Visit her blog for writers and readers at www.ShannonAThompson.com.

Summer Camp Director - Cherie Postill, author and VP of SLWG Contests

Summer Camp Operations - Brad R. Cook, author and SLWG Historian

Camp Schedule for Both Weeks

Monday: Writing Workshop, 12 - 2pm CT - Online using Zoom

Tuesday: Writing Day - no workshop - A Writing Day!

Wednesday: Writing Workshop, 12 - 2pm CT - Online using Zoom
Wednesday Night, 7 - 8pm - SLWG Young Writers Open Mic

Thursday: Editing Day - no workshop - use the time to improve your story… or write another.

Friday: Meet the Authors, 12 - 2pm CT - Ask questions and hear from a panel of Authors. Plus, read your story if you want. Online using Zoom.

Special guests will join throughout the week

Week 1
Monday - Esme Symes-Smith
Wednesday - Elizabeth C. Bunce

Week 2
Monday - B.B. Swann
Wednesday - Shana Youngdahl

Camp Schedule for Both Weeks

Monday: Writing Workshop, 12 - 2pm - Online using Zoom

Tuesday: Writing Day - no workshop - A Writing Day!

Wednesday: Writing Workshop, 12 - 2pm - Online using Zoom
Wednesday Night, 7 - 8pm - SLWG Young Writers Open Mic

Thursday: Editing Day - no workshop - use the time to improve your story… or write another.

Friday: Meet the Authors, 12 - 2pm - Ask questions and hear from a panel of Authors. Plus, read your story if you want. Online using Zoom.

Special guests will join throughout the week

Gail Carson Levine will appear on June 20th of Week 1
Catherine Bakewell will appear on June 22nd of Week 1
AG Howard will appear on June 27th of Week 2
Michelle I. Mason will appear on June 29th of Week 2

Summer Writers Camp 2021

Schedule for Summer Writers Camp

Week 1 | 4th-5th Grade
Monday, June 14 - Writing Craft Workshop
Tuesday - Writing Day
Wednesday, June 16 - Q & A with New York Times Bestselling Author, Ridley Pearson
Thursday - Writing Day
Friday - Workshop and Readings

Week 2 | 9th-12 Grades
Monday, June 21 - Q & A with author, Meredith Tate plus a Writing Workshop
Tuesday - Writing Day
Wednesday, June 23 - Writing Craft Workshop
Thursday - Writing Day
Friday, June 25 - Meet the Authors:
Alechia-Dow-Hirt, Michelle Mason, and Jody Feldman

Gateway Con Summer Writers Camp 2020
Registration Fee: $20
One-year SLWG Associate Membership is included with registration.

Registration is handled by Eventrbite please click the button and it will take you to the event page.
Returns are possible until 7 days before the event.

Registration is open until Monday, July 13, at 9am CST

Authors Appearing

Jody Feldman – Her middle-grade novels, The Seventh Level and The Gollywhopper Games series (all from Greenwillow/HarperCollins), have won a number of honors and have appeared on 26 state reading lists. Twitter & Instagram @jodyfeldman |jodyfeldman.com

Cole Gibsen – Because of the reprieve library books gave her as a homeless teenager, Cole vowed to become a writer so she could provide the same escape to readers who needed a break the reality of their own lives. Her titles include Risen, Seared on My Soul, Life Unaware and Written on My Heart. Twitter at www.twitter.com/colegibsen | Facebook at www.facebook.com/colegibsen

LaShaunda Hoffman – She turned her love for books into an award-winning online magazine for readers and writers of multi-cultural literature, Shades Of Romance – SORMAG. Her mission in life is to help promote writers by introducing them to readers. LaShaunda is currently working on a Christian romance and is on the hunt for a literary agent.

Meredith Tate – A New Hampshire girl at heart and a former Zurich expat, Meredith now lives in Houston and spends her days traveling the world and writing stories about characters much braver than she is. Her books include The Last Confession of Autumn Casterly, The Red Labyrinth, Freedom Trials, Missing Pieces, and a currently untitled romcom coming from Penguin Teen in summer 2021. https://meredithtate.com

Jamie Krakover –After her day job as an Aerospace Engineer, Jamie writes middle grade and young adult science fiction and fantasy. Her debut novel is Tracker220 (October 2020). Jamie’s work appears in the Brave New Girls anthologies and in Writer’s Digest’s Putting the Science in Fiction. https://twitter.com/Rockets2Writing | https://www.instagram.com/jamiekrakover/

C.L. Postill – Her debut novel, CORY SUMMERS-A New Beginning, was born out of a story she has been creating and telling her boys and their friends before bedtime, around campfires, and at sleep-over parties for over 25 years. www.clpostill.com | @postillc on Twitter.

Phyllis Wheeler set a goal at age 13 to write a children’s book, a journey with lots of detours that has taken many years. She’s written for daily newspapers and spent five years publishing and editing other people's books. You can sign up for her occasional newsletter at PhyllisWheeler.com

Gateway Con
Summer Writers Camp

July 13-17, 2020
Monday 9-11am, Wednesday 9-11am, Friday 9-11am

The Gateway to Publishing Conference & Convention is back for a special event. The Gateway Con Summer Writers Camp is a week-long online camp for young writers in 4th-12th grade. Space is limited, please register in advance.

Registration Fee: $20
Registration comes with one-year SLWG Associate Membership

The links for the event will be emailed to each attendee before the event.

JUST ANNOUNCED! Author who will be speaking
Meredith Tate, The Last Confession of Autumn Casterly
Jamie Krakover, Tracker220

This summer, join St. Louis Writers Guild for three workshops and two writing days, where young writers can learn to improve their writing skills, and learn about the publishing industry and writing career options. St. Louis Writers Guild has aided writers for a century, and the Gateway Con Summer Writers Camp is a way of continuing that tradition. Speakers and Workshop Titles to be announced soon.

Monday, July 13 - Story Structure with Cherie Postill 9-11am
Guest: author, Jody Feldman
An online workshop to improve a young writer’s storytelling.

Tuesday, July 14 - Writing Day, time to work on a story (No online workshop)
Write a 200 to 500 word story, doesn’t have to be perfect, but you can’t edit a blank page

Wednesday, July 15 - Editing& Revising Workshop with Cherie Postill 9-11am
Guest: Writers and Magazine Publisher LaShaunda Hoffman and editor Phyllis Wheeler
An online workshop to improve a writer’s skills.

Thursday, July 16 - Writing Day, time to work on a story (No online workshop)
Edit or rewrite the story we’ve been working on.

Friday, July 17 - Author Panel 9-11am
Authors, Meredith Tate, Jamie Krakover, and Cole Gibsen
An online workshop to meet a few authors and find out how they write. Maybe even read your story. More authors will be announced soon.

Space is limited, please register in advance.
The fee is $20 and comes with a one-year SLWG Associate Membership.