Each spring since 1980, the Department of English and the Creative Writing Program host the Young Writers’ Conference for area high school students, with support from the College of Arts and Humanities and more than a dozen campus and community sponsors. The conference provides a valuable opportunity for young writers to hear a professional author read their work and answer questions about the creative writing process and profession. It also allows young writers to meet and interact with other student writers from across Central California, to get a taste of what a university-level writing workshop might be like, and to receive feedback on their own writing. Our department’s graduate students, as part of their commitment to community service, teach the creative writing workshops. Our undergraduate editing and publishing students serve as the editorial board of the conference’s youth journal, Spectrum, which celebrates the best work submitted by participating schools. The conference also provides excellent training and an opportunity for an exchange of ideas among creative writing and English teachers. The conference stands as an excellent example of an ongoing collaborative effort between local school districts and the university.
