Sheldon Gaskell, ’10 Prose Champ, Young Writers Keynoter June 2 At Sunken Garden

Judging Under Way
For CT Young Writers Annual Celebration
June 2 At Sunken Garden

Sheldon Gaskell, the 2010 Connecticut prose champion and student at Cornell College in Iowa, will be a keynote speaker for the CT Young Writers 15th annual celebration June 2 at the Hill-Stead Museum’s Sunken Garden Poetry Festival in Farmington.

Gaskell -- one of the few male state champions of the CT Young Writers Trust competition -- is dissecting French New Wave cinema in college and, for an encore, he's going to throw down at the young writers day!

HARTFORD CLUB, 2010: Julia Albano of Danbury High School, the Fairfield County Poetry Champion, State Prose Champion Sheldon Gaskell of the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts and Carter Brown of Litchfield High School, the Litchfield County Poetry Champion.

Of the 24 state champions in prose and poetry since 2000, just four have been young men.

The Trust has awarded more than $200,000 since 1998, affirming the work of more than 7,000 young poets and writers. The Trust expanded from Litchfield County to cover the entire state in 2000.

State finalists for the 2012 competition will be announced soon.

Gaskell attended Suffield High School and the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts where he studied creative writing. He won the CT Young Writers competition for prose with a short memoir titled "Kineo." He is majoring in English and Creative Writing at Cornell, and is part of the Lyrically Inclined poetry group where he continues to enjoy writing a broad range of subjects in both poetry and prose.

2010 -- SHELDON GASKELL with then Connecticut State University System Vice Chancellor Louise Feroe and Diane Smith

Gaskell recently read his analysis of Truffault’s film The 400 Blows (1959) at Cornell's annual Student Symposium, which highlights the work of some of the year's most accomplished students. He looks forward to his next few years in college, as well as encouraging supporting aspiring writers through the CT Young Writers Trust for many years to come.

The annual celebration at Hill-Stead June 2 will feature the winners of Connecticut's eight state writing competitions, a workshop and performance by 21-year-old award-winning slam poet and international hip hop star B. Yung, concerts by Chorus Angelicus and gospel legend Theresa Thomason, plus MetaFour with guitar virtuoso Jeff Howard and Andy Wrba of Barefoot Truth. Lisa C. Taylor, award-winning poet and educator, will lead a dynamic workshop for teachers in grades 8-12 called "Writing Against the Current." The event culminates in a special featured performance by former U.S. Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Wilbur. The CT Young Writers Trust will collaborate with the Hill-Stead Museum and the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival for an extraordinary day devoted to the literary arts.

Bob Thiesfield Photo Gallery: Wally, Marilyn & Felicity In Young Writers Benefit

Ravi Shankar, chairman,
CT Young Writers Trust
emailravishankar2011@gmail.com
860-938-2139


CT Young Writers Trust
50 Brewery Street #8898
New Haven, CT 06532
http://ctyoungwriterstrust.org
501 (c) 3 Federal Tax ID: 31-1635811

RAVI SHANKAR, Chairman
emailravishankar2011@gmail.com, 860-938-2139

CAROL THIBEAULT, Administrator
CTYoungWritersTrust@yahoo.com, 203-843-1423

LISA C. TAYLOR, Educational Outreach & Development Director
Imagine22@earthlink.net, 860-377-1008

ATTY WILLIAM CROWE, Legal Counsel
wcrowe@mayocrowe.com, 860-275-6801

ANDY THIBAULT, Chairman Emeritus
tntcomm82@cs.com, 860-690-0211