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According to its concept of “Plain Living, High Thinking”, the camp environment let participants live simply and close to nature, allowing them to focus on in-depth analysis10 second runners-up won 60,000 baht and 40,000 baht respectively.The activities took place in Wongsanit Ashram, Nakhon Nayok. According to its concept of “Plain Living, High Thinking”, the camp environment let participants live simply and close to nature, allowing them to focus on in-depth analysis. The camp instructors helped partici- pants build up their basic comprehen- sion in literary criticism from the ground up, from title to essay struc- ture.Participants were separated into two groups depending on the genre of book they selected in the first round. The two categories, non-fiction and fiction, require different critical approaches. Non-fiction is based on factual events, so criticism focuses on the reliability of the facts and the techniques the author uses to narrate the story. Fiction, on the other hand,deals with the imagination and symbols, and requires deep analysis to read between the lines and understand the underlying themes.Once students were taught the fundamentals, they were brought into the essence of the critical process.“Literary criticism is similar to tasting a curry, even though it’s a mixture of flavours and ingredients,” said Chamaiporn Sangkrajang, a literary critic and university lecturer appointed as National Artist in Literature this year. “After the first sip we must be able to tell how it tastes.”As one of the instructors, Ms Chamaiporn explained that criticism is not a space to express personal opinions but represents analytical thinking supported by academic theories in order to guide readers as to the value of a piece of writing. To complete the process of learning, the three steps of reading, writing and30 Elite+