Calling all kid writers - new contests are now up on the RIO website. Also, for your writing pleasure, there is also a new place to submit your work. AND for those not totally impressed yet - there are youth writers' retreats, camps and classes posted too. Check it all out in your RIO Resources.

Drink the Wild Air - youth writing retreat
Come join us at the WordsWorth Winter Retreat! March 1-3 at Camp Chief Hector.  Why there, you ask? “Nature has no outline. Imagination has” William Blake
March 1-3 we’re heading back to the mountains for another Creative Writing Re-treat and of course, we hope you’ll be there!  But why do we keep bringing our writing to the outdoors?William Carlos Williams said things close to the nose aren’t proper subjects.  Not all writing can be direct self-expression.  Looking inward can keep poets and writ-ers from looking outward.  And so we’re taking you outdoors this time to Camp Chief Hector to partner with the outdoor staff to notice evocative new images and to have fresh adventure. And then we’ll  create time to take these new images and experiences
...and collaborate them with language.  So even if you already have a relationship with
the natural world, this one will be new.The locale of the happening always colours the happening, and often, to a degree, shapes it novelist Elizabeth Brown observed. 
So join us and DRINK THE WILD AIR March 1 – 3, 2013 at Camp Chief Hector YMCA in Kananaskis, Alberta. Thaw your brainfreeze with warm words and we hope you will find an unexpected connection between the outdoors and words.
To register or click here: http://drinkthewildair2013.eventbrite.ca/
We will be outdoors, indoors writing, up late writing under the stars, sleeping late -ish.  There will be campfire, music, parlour games, Exquisite Corpse Games...the fun will never end.
Oh, yes it will. On Sunday just after lunch.  But in true Words-worth fashion, we will pack the fun in.  We’re even offering a bus out on the Friday night.

We've been having lots of fun at RIO. We've done our make up (okay, it might have been horror make-up but whatever). We've played with poetry in Space. And now we're going to be learning from RIOites themselves, because that's what we're about. Kid's learning and sharing and exploring with each other. There is no minimum age because age isn't what it's about. It's about being amazing no matter how many years you've been on the planet.
Check out one of our amazing members here: http://www.youtube.com/user/MrsPeaceItOut/videos?flow=grid&view=0
Emma Jones, promoting peace and human rights.

We have our theme song - RIO RULES THE WORLD. Cereal from Valhalla. A story from our latest RIOite. A paragraph poem sort of thing. Reviews for books that never existed. AND lots and lots of pictures. Check it out.

The RIO kids were spotted this past Saturday at the Open Mic hosted by APCWW for Youth Week. Emily, Angela, Olive, and Mary came out to read. James came by to cheer them on and won a door prize in the process. Not only did they do an amazing job of reading their own poetry, they performed commercials (Brought to you by the Company - because there's nothing wrong with you that we can't fix), and even created an on the spot poem which will be posted in the May E-Zine. I am so proud of these young ladies who braved the stage and strutted their literary stuff showing the crowed that they are definitely part of the Calgary writing community.
Congratulations again girls!
Picture below: Jamie Lewis from APCWW with our RIO crowd. Click on the picture to find out more about APCWW