Young Writers’ Workshop provides an in-depth introduction to all four genres of creative writing: fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and writing for stage and screen. Modeled on Gettysburg College’s highly successful gateway course, Introduction to Creative Writing, and taught by the college's own senior faculty in creative writing, Young Writers Workshop offers a constantly engaging, hands-on experience in how to write and how to talk about writing.
We believe talent can be taught! Developing writers need technique and inspiration. This is why we, at Gettysburg College Summer Young Writers Workshop, have created an intellectual and physical space for high school students to gather around texts, to study with publishing writers, to learn the art of inspiration, and to write and perform their own work with new friends and peers.
Overview
Each afternoon is divided into varied sessions, to offer students brief models in each of the four genres of creative writing, to provide ample opportunity to write in these genres, and to give helpful and inspiring feedback to their new work.
The first four days are divided by genre, with the first day’s instruction focusing on writing poetry, the second on writing nonfiction, the third day on writing forstage and screen, and the fourth on fiction writing. A fifth day will offer the students a chance to give and receive feedback on their written work. Throughout the week, students will write creatively, share work in class, and obtain essential inspiration and encouragement.
Cost: $400 for 20 hours of instruction.
Dates: July 12-16, 2021
Application: Apply online.
There is a $50 application fee due upon submission of your application.
Workshop Directors and Faculty
Fred Leebron, Gettysburg College Professor of English since 1997 and an award-winning novelist and short story writer, is a co-director of Young Writers’ Workshop, for admissions and outreach. Professor Leebron has published three prominent novels and fifty stories in most of the country's top literary magazines, and he regularly presents at national and international conferences on writing. In addition he has designed more than a half-dozen graduate, undergraduate, and continuing education writing programs, and has taught creative writing in Europe, Latin America, and across the United States. Read some recent examples of his work: Epithalamium, 1989 on the Barcelona Review, On Craft: Escaping the Paradigm on Superstition Review, and Mr. Hysteria on Superstition Review.
Nadine Meyer, Gettysburg College Professor of English since 2007, and an award-winning poet, is a Co-director of programming for the Young Writers’ Workshop. In 2017 Nadine Sabra Meyer’s second book of poems, Chrysanthemum, Chrysanthemum, was published by New Issues Poetry and Prose, winning the Green Rose Prize. Professor Meyer’s first book of poems, The Anatomy Theater, won the National Poetry Series and was published by HarperCollins. Read some examples of her work in Blackbird, Project MUSE, and Verse Daily.
Kathryn Rhett, Gettysburg College Professor of English since 1997 and an award-winning memoirist and essayist, is a co-director of Young Writers’ Workshop, for programming. Professor Rhett has published a memoir, an essay collection, and a poetry collection. A 2007 Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellow in Nonfiction, and 2018 Fellow at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, she has published essays in Creative Nonfiction, Harvard Review, Massachusetts Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, and elsewhere. Read more at http://kathrynrhett.com.
Fred, Kathryn, and Nadine teach the workshop method of creative writing, where students learn as much from responding to each other’s work as they do from writing their own poems, stories, essays, and screenplays. This constantly interactive experience helps all writers learn their craft and take their work to the next level.
FAQs
Workshop Life
- Does my child need to do academic preparation for the workshop?
- No. We welcome participants with varying levels of creative writing skills.
- What does my child need to have?
- We will provide a “room” on Zoom for all activities. Your child will need a laptop, with a built-in camera and microphone, for optimum participation, with internet capability. In order to share creative writing, your child will need access to MS Word or Adobe, to share work as an attachment.
- What does a typical day look like?
- Sessions will run 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. daily. We will take a few short breaks. Special guests will include a magazine editor and an undergraduate admissions officer from Gettysburg College.
- Will this workshop help my child get into college?
- The Young Writers’ Workshop is designed to give your child an insider view into creative writing and a glimpse into what college life is like. Our curriculum is designed not only to increase your child's knowledge of creative writing, but to increase skills and abilities in the field. While any one experience is not a guarantee of admission to an institution, we do believe that this workshop can be a great part of a comprehensive college preparatory experience.
College Preparation
