Pittsboro, NC — Some of the up-and-coming writers spanning multiple genres at the Chatham County Schools (CCS) Young Authors Celebration already are ahead of where New York Times best-selling fiction writer Cassie Beasley said she was at their age.
CCS students in kindergarten through eighth grade gathered April 4, 2017, in The Barn at Fearrington Village to receive trophies and bound copies of the stories that afforded them writing wisdom from Beasley. Keaylee Vasquez Perez, Holly Marin Thesing, Liliana Arias and Mason Cook
For 29 years, CCS students have been creating stories toward possible publication, contingent upon their words passing the eye test from judges at both the district’s schools and within Chatham County.
Horton Middle School eighth-grader Liliana Arias earned the Mary Lee Moore Award for generating the best piece of writing in the district with “Imagine.”
The other top winners were:
• Siler City Elementary School kindergartener Keaylee Vasquez Perez, who wrote “Candy Land’s Hero.”
• Pittsboro Elementary School fourth-grader Holly Marin Thesing, who wrote “The Rescue.”
• Margaret B. Pollard Middle School sixth-grader Mason Cook, who wrote “The Dream Man.”
Beasley, who lives in rural Georgia, said she began buckling down as a writer in sixth grade. Her best-seller, “Circus Mirandus,” is a story of powerful magic, family mysteries and invisible tigers.