ACC Writers Studio held the 11th Annual Spring Literary Festival at Arapahoe Community College on Saturday April 23, 2016, proving, once again, that serious writers should never miss an ACC Writers Studio event.

Kathryn Winograd and Andrea Mason hosted the festival which included award presentations to the winners of the 2016 Writers Studio Literary Contest and an added bonus of readings from the authors.

The morning began with light refreshments, followed by the awards and readings, leading to the assembled breaking into groups to attend either the creative nonfiction workshop with Steve Harvey, author of a memoir, “The Book of Knowledge and Wonder” or the young adult novel workshop with Rebecca Taylor, author of a number of Young Adult novels.

Lunch was served in the Half Moon hall at the college to the 50 participants at the end of the morning workshops. As everyone digested their lunch and the valuable information from the morning workshops, workshop instructors shared readings from their published works. After-lunch-lethargy never stood a chance once the authors began reading.

Engaging prose and poetry from Rebecca Taylor, Steve Harvey, Laura Pritchett, Joel Warner and Nicky Beer revealed why these writers are published authors. Each had a unique style and all left the audience wanting more, but relief was at hand with their books for sale in the back.

Having seen how writing should be done, the group once again retired to a fiction workshop with Laura Pritchett, author of “Stars Go Blue,” a poetry workshop with Nicky Beer, author of “The Octopus Game” or a feature writing workshop with Journalist Joel Warner, author of “The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny.”

Saturday ended with Juliet Hubbell, an ACC instructor, briefly outlining some of the steps to publication, but the process requires more than the few minutes she had to present. Hubbell teaches Publishing Your Work at ACC, and it takes a semester to fully explore the road to publication. Her class will be offered in the Fall at ACC.

The first place for the Writers Studio Literary contest, a state-wide contest open to any Colorado resident, means $250, publication in Progenitor Art & Literary Journal,  guest reading at the Writers Studio Festival and nomination for the Pushcart Prize.  Second prize is an invitation to attend the festival as a guest.

Winning the Writers Studio Club  Student Literary contest means $50, publication in the Progenitor and an invitation to attend our festival as our guest.  Second place is an invitation to attend our festival as our guest.

Contest winners this year were: Fiction, Laura Farnsworth, “Wyoming”; Quinn Elise Rennerfeldt; Poetry, “But What if the Blood is a Bone Thing”; and Nonfiction, Kristin Leclaire, “Portraits.”

Winners of this year’s Student Literary Contest for ACC students included: Sarah VanDermyder for her poem, “Redemption” and Charles Coleman in prose for “Otters.”

The Writers Studio Literary Festival lived up to its name. It was a community celebration showcasing some of the best literary talent Colorado has to offer and a tribute to those who shared their expertise so willingly.

As one participant was overheard to say, “I have been to many workshops that cost must much more, but this one was really solid.”