The first incarnation of Young Writers Camp appeared in northwestern Wyoming in the 1980s. Sponsored jointly by Northwest College and the Wyoming Arts Council, it was enormous: forty campers, eight teachers, eight chaperones, and cooks. It was too unwieldy to survive in that form. It folded. The second attempt was more successful. In 1989, Young Writers Camp reappeared as a weekend camp at Ucross in 1989, under the guidance of Jane Wohl, Dainis Hazners, John Lane, David Romtvedt, and BJ Buckley. It was much more manageable this time: only sixteen kids, and no cooks.

In 1991, the camp session was extended to one week for the first time. Camp continued at Ucross through the summer of 1993, but it didn't start looking the way it does now until the following year, when it moved up to the Thorne-Rider Youth Camp in Story. Jane and Dainis, along with Jim Rowe, comprised the faculty that year. Writer's Camp continued to grow through the nineties, adding another faculty member (Karen MacDowell) and gradually increasing enrollment. Dainis and Jim left the faculty; Jason Cooper and Jesse Loesberg joined it, in 1999 and 2000 respectively.

After thirteen wonderful years, Jane handed the directorship over to former camper Micah Wyatt, who has now led Young Writers Camp since the summer of 2004. Jane, who really can't get enough no matter how much she says otherwise, still makes annual appearances as a guest teacher. Micah, his sister Danica, and Jesse now comprise the regular faculty. To learn more about them, visit the faculty page.