The Southern Colorado Writing Project at Colorado State University-Pueblo sponsored three writing events along with All-Pueblo Reads.
All-Pueblo Reads is a program through the Pueblo City-County Library District that tries to promote reading within the community by focusing on one book a year, said Katherine Frank, director of the Southern Colorado Writing Project.
This year, the library chose “The Joy Luck Club,” by Amy Tan.
On Oct. 11 the writing project sponsored a writing marathon. About 30 participants came together at the Robert Hoag Rawlings Library on Abriendo Avenue, Frank said.
All community members were invited to attend the writing marathon.
The large group was given a writing prompt and began writing at the library. They then broke into groups of six or seven and traveled through different restaurants and businesses along Union Ave., where they wrote a little in each place. Each writer then shared his or her writing with the small group before moving on to the next business.
Frank said the event is great because it supports local businesses while promoting literacy in the community.
At the end of the afternoon, the writings were all collected and are to be made into an anthology for each participant to keep, Frank said.
There were two writing workshops led by CSU-Pueblo instructors who both attended the writing project’s summer institute.
Juan Morales, director of creative writing, led a workshop which focused on using family experiences in writing. The workshop was open to writers at least 18 years old. There were about 35 people at the workshop, Frank said.
Shawn Vidmar led another workshop for fifth through eighth graders on writing stories about themselves. There were eight students who attended that workshop, Frank said.
Amy Tan, Author of “The Joy Luck Club,” will host another workshop Monday on creativity. The workshop will be in the Occhiatto University Center Ballroom at 4 p.m.