Lea receives conference scholarship

Thermopolis eighth grade student Karina Lea will be attending the 28th Jackson Hole Writers Conference June 27-29 on a full ride scholarship.

Lea said the conference brings together Wyoming writers, to read each others' work and give critiques. It also provides the opportunity to meet with agents, she noted. "Of course, with these kinds of things there's always a fee to get in."

Last summer, she went to a camp the Jackson Hole Library offered and was able to speak with authors and get advice on how to improve her writing. After that camp, she was approached by a woman who could tell she was excited about writing and invited her to the conference this June. Lea didn't hear anything about it until her mother received an email informing her about the scholarship. In addition to the conference fees, the scholarship also covers housing and some food.

Lea became interested in writing when she created "blurbs" based around one-sentence writing prompts she found on the Internet. "If I found one of those I really liked, I would write a short story about it. It would say something like' Person A is a demon hunter; Person B is a demon.' And that would be where the story came from.

She likes the genres of modern fantasy and realistic fiction, and among her favorite authors are Keezy Young, Katie O'Neill, Rick Riordan and John Green.

As for future plans, Lea would like to write graphic novels for young adults and do her own illustrations as well. She excited for the opportunity to attend the conference this fall. "It's an incredible thing."