The Essays on a West Virginia Childhood project was a complete joy for me.  I found the diversity, talent, honesty, and insight in each submission quite amazing, and worthy of ongoing development.

This year Esse Diem will continue the essay project, as well as maintain the theme of reflections on childhood.  The evolution will be to expand the pool beyond growing up in West Virginia to include any place where the writer spent his or her formative years.

What is unique about the place where you grew up?  How do you as a writer define a sense of place?  It might be a geographic definition (a region of a country, for example), but it might also be the house where you were raised, or even smaller, such as the room you occupied in that house as you grew up.  How has “place” influenced you as you grew into an adult person?

Essays submitted that focus on a West Virginia childhood will continue to be categorized as such; all additional essays will be categorized as Essays on Childhood: A Sense of Place.

Anyone having initial interest, please comment so I will have your e-mail address for future private correspondence as the project develops.  Interest at this early stage in no way obligates you to participation, though I surely hope you will consider it!  Please also share this opportunity with people you know who may have an interest in exploring his or her own writing and expression of childhood experience.

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