The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

The Teaching Librarian 25.3 15 angela Thompson people who I know have much to offer our young writers. I also should mention our youthwrite® supervisors who are themselves established and emerging artists and/or practicing professionals in writing, theatre, improvisation, dance, filmmaking, songwriting, music, playwriting, and/or teaching. They are the heartbeat of the camp; a number have been with youthwrite® for ten years or longer. our amazing team sets the tone for the camp and mentor, by their example, how to live the dream of a working artist. we accept youthwrite® applicants from all over the country and the world, but predominantly our writers come from alberta. each must submit a sample of writing, a letter of reference and a statement about interest in our program. Based on these application requirements, a young writer is accepted to youthwrite®. Do you have any projects in the works right now that you would be willing to discuss briefly? Currently, I'm working on a very fun new work: a tale set in new orleans, featuring a slightly mad scientist who dreams of reanimating dead chickens, and his helpmates, Priscilla the spider and Claudie, a young girl of acadian descent. oh yes, there's voodoo. I've also just finished a novel for adults, Songs from This and That Country, an intergenerational narrative that examines the age-old ethnic conflicts between Serbs, Croats, and Muslims, and explores how these divisive and acrimonious relationships are revisited by second-generation Canadians. In large part, the story is based on realities of new immigrants to alberta as well as the Bosnian conflicts in the 1990s. Songs is a historical novel interlaced with memoir and elements of magic realism. I weave historical Second world war events with 1990s Bosnian war with family records as well as elements of the fantastic. What advice do you have for young writers? read. read. read. and write. write. write. and in this age of instant everything with endless, mindless, online and self- absorbed occupation, bear in mind this lovely quotation from henry Miller: "Develop an interest in life as you see it; the people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. forget yourself." read more at: brainyquote.com/quotes/henry_miller_140615. You have published works in many different genres - fiction, poetry, graphic novel - which is the most challenging for you? finding time is the real challenge, as noted above. once I do, I love to leap into new forms to be playful. I suppose the two adult books, which took seven years each to write, have presented the greatest challenge. This is not because ya doesn't deserve and require an investment of significant time and energy. It's just that the nature of my subjects for adult continued on page 16