.png)
PHOTO BY JEREMY RASHAD BROWN
Youth author Santiago Garcia-Malcom reads his book to the audience.
PHOTO BY JEREMY RASHAD BROWN
Harper Sigur works her booth at the fair, with copies of her book “Dotty and the Giant.”
PHOTO BY JEREMY RASHAD BROWN
Author Steven Morris talks with a visitor at the Story Maker Fair.
PHOTO BY JEREMY RASHAD BROWN
Sabina Gonzales reads her book, “We Love You Liza.”
Eleven young writers came together last Friday to share their work at the Story Maker Fair - an event organized by the Dripping Springs Community Library and hosted by Beerburg Events. They were joined by a number of local authors, who showed up to help support a future generation of creative spirits.
Jessica Sigur, program manager at DSCL, said the event went really well. The kids, who ranged in age from 8 to 13, each had a booth to showcase their newly published stories, and they also got on stage to do readings for the crowd.
“I’m so incredibly proud of those kiddos,” Sigur said. “For two months, they met every other week for a Story Studio, and they worked really hard.”
Sigur said some of the kids just started out with an idea, while others already had a story written that they wanted to work on. During each Story Studio, they would go through an editing and revising process.
“They got feedback from each other, and then they also got feedback from me,” Sigur said. “And then at the end, we had a publishing party. We got together and we actually published the book into a hard cover and got to glue it.”
The Story Maker Fair was the culmination of their project.
“What made it extra special was the local authors that showed up to not only support them, but also to make it a big event that celebrated our community’s talent,” Sigur said.
A lot of the authors participate in DSCL’s author spotlight, attend the writing clubs and also come to other DSCL events. Several also had booths and did readings at the Story Maker Fair.
“We’re slowly making this really sweet writing community, and I’m really hoping that it continues to grow,” Sigur said.
Sigur said that while there is community interest in having more Story Studios and Story Maker Fairs in the future, right now DSCL is still evaluating the idea.
“This was a lot of work on everyone’s part - the family, the library,” Sigur said. “I’ve had multiple people come up and ask me when the next one is. I’m hoping to grow this into something where I can get a lot of volunteers and maybe kick off another session this summer.”
Because writing, editing and revising stories is a long process, Sigur said they would need more volunteers to keep the program going. In the meantime, anyone who is interested can follow DSCL on social media to keep tabs on upcoming events. There is also an event calendar on their website at www.dscl.org.
