People Across the Nation Celebrate National Day Writing

Date: October 20, 2009

Summary: Writers from all walks of life are celebrating the National Day on Writing to show the significance of writing in the nation's everyday life and draw attention to the remarkable variety of writing we engage in.

If you hear the tap, tap, tap of typing going on in the background, the scrawl of a pen on paper—or even a tweet or two—it might be the sound of people across the nation celebrating the National Day on Writing.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives passed a resolution declaring October 20 the National Day on Writing. Created by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) "to help make writers from all walks of life aware of their craft," the National Day on Writing is being celebrated in a number of ways across the nation—including a wealth of activities at schools and writing project sites planned by NWP teacher-consultants and site leaders.

"Across the country, writing project sites will be holding writing marathons, celebrating the best in student writing, and opening local galleries as part of the National Gallery of Writing," said NWP Executive Director Dr. Sharon J. Washington in a podcast to commemorate the event.

NWP is a partner in the National Gallery of Writing—a digital archive of compositions from across the United States that was created by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) as one way to celebrate the National Day on Writing. NWP's gallery features writing from this summer's E-Anthology, and many writing project sites have also set up galleries of their own.

The National Gallery of Writing opens on October 20 and will stay up for everyone to view a wide variety of pieces until June 1, 2010.

Organizers hope that in an age when technologies are expanding the possibilities of composing in multiple media and allowing writers to reach wider audiences than ever before, more Americans will be encouraged to write and enjoy and learn from the writing of others.

"At the National Writing Project, we believe that writing is the signature means of communication in the 21st century," said Washington. "More people are writing than ever before, in a broader range of forms and with an ever-growing set of tools."

Webcast of National Event

To see many of the things going on, be sure to watch a real-time webcast of the national event, which airs from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time, on Tuesday, October 20. The webcast features authors and writers, audio/visual presentations, highlights from local celebrations, and more.

To find out more, download the National Day on Writing flier (PDF) and share it with your colleagues, students, community members, and friends, and visit the official National Day on Writing page , which offers a variety of resources.

You can also swap ideas with other sites on a discussion dedicated to the National Day on Writing on NWP's Site Leaders Ning and through Twitter. Mark your tweets about the NDOW with the hashtag #nwpndow to have them show up in NWP's ongoing Twitter feed about the National Day on Writing.

NWP Twitter Feed for National Day on Writing

Related Resource Topics

• Being a Writer