The Vista Grande Public Library Creative Writing Contest is an ongoing monthly contest where children write stories at the library’s Creative Writing Station. Each monthly winner gets his or her picture taken and placed on the Creative Writing Hall of Fame, receives a free book of his or her choosing from the creative writing cart and gets the winning story published in Golden Corridor LIVING Magazine.
Youth can also write stories at home and submit them to the library. Winners are selected by library staff members, who read through monthly submissions and choose the one that stands out, based on creative merit.
Vista Grande Public Library has hosted this contest since 2013, and receives hundreds of submissions every year. The Creative Writing Station is a fun way to get kids involved in writing and storytelling by allowing them to write about whatever they want and making it a fun experience.
Have your child stop by the Vista Grande Library in Casa Grande to enter the Golden Corridor LIVING essay contest!
This Issue’s Winner
The Greatest Author of All Time
by Amara Mathew
Hola! I am Juan Sanchez and I plan to be the greatest author of all time, but I have no chance. My mother is a maid and my father left us to pursue his dream as a mariachi. We live on the outskirts of Mexico City, the poor part of town. I have no money for college, and no publisher will ever want to publish me. Even my mom says, “It would take a miracle, mijo.” I don’t even go to school. I work on a farm for Senor Espenosa. He pays me very little.
With my pay, momma and I barely get by. But I do have one joy in life, and that is to read. When I went to the library for the first time, I was amazed. I met a woman there named senora Julianna. She was an old retired woman who came there every day. She taught me to read and write. Every day after work I meet here at the library and we read.
Then I started to write. I wrote many stories about everything. Senora would always tell me, “Muy Bueno.” So I would write another story, and another.
When I got to the age to go to college, I lost faith. We still had no money and I didn’t want to be stuck working on the farm. Senora Julianna told me, “I will make sure the world will read you stories Juan.” She kept her word. She put signs up, and made me do readings, and she sent samples to publishers. Finally, it paid off! A publisher told me that I had a gift. He published every one of my stories.
Before she died, senora Julianna told me I really was the greatest author of all time. I owe it all to her. She taught me all I know about writing and told me to never stop. I won’t. I promise you that.
