Today, Avonworth fourth-grader Andy Chrvala will become a published author.

So will the 703 other children at Avonworth Elementary School, not to mention thousands of other people of any age across the country.

All have submitted works to the National Gallery of Writing, which will go live online today as part of the celebration of the first National Day on Writing.

The gallery and the special day devoted to writing are the brainchildren of the National Council of Teachers of English, which is trying to encourage and celebrate writing in all of its forms, even the humble Post-it note or e-mail message.

"We know people are writing in new genres all the time," said Kathleen Blake Yancey, past president of the NCTE and Hunt professor of English at Florida State University.

"In general, people are writing more than ever. So much of our daily lives rely on writing," she said.

The National Gallery of Writing, which will be available at least through June next year, offers individuals and groups the chance to apply to set up galleries, each of which can contain a collection of writings.

About 1,800 galleries have been set up so far, each with a "curator" who reviews materials before publication. More than 8,000 entries -- some with multiple writers -- were ready to go online today at www.galleryofwriting.org. Several thousand other entries are in the pipeline.

The writings come from people of all ages, even children as young as 2 whose observations were tape-recorded and then transcribed at Fifth Avenue Family Child Care at The Ellis School.

Elizabeth Claytor -- an English composition instructor at the South Campus of Community College of Allegheny County and professional development student teacher and field placement coordinator at Chatham University -- has set up a gallery for teachers, students and friends.

She thinks the National Gallery will show "that people from all walks of life, people of all ages, are writing and have an interest in writing."

And don't think it takes a lengthy, heavily researched piece to get into a gallery.

Danielle Koupf, a doctoral student in English at the University of Pittsburgh, is trying to collect "scrap writing" in her gallery, including lists, sticky notes, homemade signs, letters and journal entries in order to "showcase the unacknowledged, ephemeral writing the pervades ordinary life."

All of the Avonworth Elementary School writings are in one gallery.

"We're writing every day," said Marnie Arnold, school literacy coach and curator of the gallery. "Being on the National Gallery gives them a much wider audience than we normally have."

"It's going to make me feel proud that my work is on the Internet and people can see it," said Andy, the fourth-grader.

He was assigned to a haiku poem about geography. He chose the source of a river:

beautiful water

where a great river begins

cold and very wet

Avonworth fifth-grader Whitney Brown is proud of her poem about a bus ride, which was required to use only two words -- a subject and predicate -- on each line. She began with "tires squeak."

At The Ellis School, Emily Kuzma of Point Breeze, an eighth-grader, said she thinks the gallery and special day are good ideas. "I love writing. I think it's pretty cool they have a Web site."

She is submitting the first chapter of a story she's writing about 12 teens who get a mysterious letter.

Her classmate, Inori Sakai of Wilkins, is submitting a story on a girl with supernatural powers. "I think it's really nice that it can be seen by a lot of people because right now I either read it myself or let my friends read it at school. It's pretty interesting to share it with the public."

Their teacher, Amy Rigsby, said the effort involves more than simply posting writings. The writers are also asked to tell what tools they used and reflect on the purpose of the writing.

Shaler Area High School teacher Anne Loudon has opened a gallery for both former and current students. She plans to add a reflective essay she wrote.

"I think it's important for my students to see me as a writer as well," she said.

If the writers give permission, their writings may be used for research that is approved by the NCTE.

"There have been almost no studies on how people have written in the United States. We know a lot about how people read. We know much less about how people have learned to write, about the kinds of genres they in fact practice," said Dr. Yancey.

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