To highlight the importance of writing in all our lives, The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) has created a National Day on Writing (October 20), which will be highlighted by the opening of a virtual National Gallery of Writing.  NCFL is a national partner in the celebration.  
 
As champions of family literacy and NCFL, your stories should be told on NCFL’s Family Portrait Gallery.  Let’s create portraits that will be intricately painted through the notes, essays, drawings, poems and stories of parents, other caregivers, children, grandparents and other family members as they write to, for and about each other.
 
These family contributions to the writing gallery reflect the ties that bind families together -– the importance of families are in transmitting education and culture between, among and across family members and generations -- and the essential role that families play in creating strong communities.
 
You can submit your contribution here.

The writings can be submitted anytime, but will not be visible for the general public to view until October 20. Writings may be submitted through next spring and will be on view in the virtual gallery for national and international audiences to view until June 2010.  If you would like to know more about the project, visit http://www.ncte.org/dayonwriting/about.

Recently, NCTE released some useful “tips” for writers of any age, at any level of sophistication . For those who are curious about what has already been submitted to the National Gallery, here is a sneak preview of some sample pieces . And there is a growing list of well-known authors or celebrities who are speaking out in support of writing and the National Day. You can hear from them at http://www.ncte.org/dayonwriting/testimonials.