Transcripts

Youth Writers

MS. REBECCA SHEIR

13:41:49
Welcome back to "Metro Connection." I'm Rebecca Sheir and as we continue our exploration of "House and Home," we head now to a community that's home to a bunch of nationally and internationally acclaimed writers. From Alice McDermott to David Brooks to Steve and Cokie Roberts, some of whom will be featured in the upcoming 12th Annual Bethesda Literary Festival.

MS. REBECCA SHEIR

13:42:10
From April 15th through the 17th, you can hobnob with authors, hear them talk about and read from their books. You can even meet the next generation of superstar scribes as the festival presents the winners of its Youth Writing Contest.

MS. REBECCA SHEIR

13:42:24
This year's topic was "A Beautiful Place," and hundreds of students in Montgomery County submitted essays about the most beautiful place they've ever seen. What it looks like, how it feels to go there and where exactly it is. Be it a place in the real world...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE #1

13:42:40
"I jumped back to it and happily ran across the front yard until a large, dark tree loomed above me. My favorite tree on the face of the earth was right here in my front yard. Reaching out, I grabbed hold of its large base. 'You're the most beautiful place I've ever known,' I whispered and gave a gentle hug."

SHEIR

13:42:54
Or a place in the imagination...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE #2

13:42:56
"The most beautiful place in the world, to me, is not beautiful as picturesque Hawaiian beach, the moon or snow-covered evergreens. It is the place where the characters of my favorite books and stories live. The most beautiful place in the world is the place of "Once Upon A Time.""

SHEIR

13:43:14
Those are two winners of this year's contest and I had the pleasure of meeting them recently at a bookstore in Bethesda. Emmy Lindzter...

MS. EMMY LINDZTER

13:43:20
I go to Burning Tree Elementary School, I'm in fifth grade.

SHEIR

13:43:23
And Francesca Faccone.

MS. FRANCESCA FACCONE

13:43:25
I got to school at Stone Ridge, I'm in the eighth grade and I'm turning 14 this week.

SHEIR

13:43:31
Francesca says she's always been an avid writer. What kinds of writing do you like to do?

FACCONE

13:43:35
Fantasy and historical fiction is fun, too.

SHEIR

13:43:39
While Emmy is just starting to get into it. Have you always enjoyed writing?

LINDZTER

13:43:44
Well, not really. I sort of started writing in fifth grade now.

SHEIR

13:43:48
Her favorite thing to write about, she says, is nature.

LINDZTER

13:43:51
The trees, sky. I study my surroundings a lot.

SHEIR

13:43:54
And as her father...

MR. LINDZTER

13:43:55
Theolophilus Franwrenzsberg Lindzter, that's my full name.

SHEIR

13:43:59
...is quick to point out the surroundings Emmy studies in Bethesda are far different from the ones she and her younger brother grew up with.

LINDZTER

13:44:06
Emmy was born and grew in Sweden so up to four years ago...

SHEIR

13:44:10
When the family left Stockholm for Bethesda.

LINDZTER

13:44:13
...everything was done in Swedish. I always spoke English to them but they figured out early in life he understands Swedish. So although I spoke English they always on said on said (sounds like) in Swedish.

SHEIR

13:44:27
So Theolophilus says he and his family are especially proud of Emmy's achievement.

LINDZTER

13:44:31
We knew she had entered, but we felt the fact that she had the courage to actually do that it was in itself an amazing prize.

SHEIR

13:44:39
Emmy's family leaves the U.S. this summer. Theolophilus says they might wind up in Rome.

LINDZTER

13:44:44
So that maybe Emmy will have a new part of the world to paint pictures with her words.

SHEIR

13:44:50
And a whole new language.

LINDZTER

13:44:51
Possibly too, possibly, too.

SHEIR

13:44:54
In the meantime, Emmy says she has some advice for any aspiring authors out there.

LINDZTER

13:45:00
To study close details.

SHEIR

13:45:02
That's the secret?

LINDZTER

13:45:03
Yes.

SHEIR

13:45:04
You're giving away your secret.

LINDZTER

13:45:06
I guess, it's a good secret.

SHEIR

13:45:09
And eighth grader, Francesca Faccone, has some words of wisdom, too. She's actually working on a book of her own. How long have you been mulling it over?

FACCONE

13:45:17
I don't know, maybe, like, a year and a half.

SHEIR

13:45:19
And is reading another handful.

FACCONE

13:45:21
"Gone With The Wind," that was (unintelligible) and "To Kill A Mockingbird" for school.

SHEIR

13:45:25
So just a couple of little picture books basically?

FACCONE

13:45:28
Kind of.

SHEIR

13:45:30
Not really. So she encourages all young people out there to do one basic thing.

FACCONE

13:45:36
Keep reading, just keep reading every chance you get. don't go watch TV, just read.

SHEIR

13:45:43
The Bethesda Literary Festival kicks off on April 15th. The winners of the Youth Writing Contest will read their stories and receive prizes at 10:00 a.m. on April 16th at the Double Tree Bethesda. For a list of all festival events visit our website, metroconnection.org.
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