The Kenyon Review Young Writers Workshop: Applications due March 1, 2012!

 Young Writers is an intensive, two-week workshop for intellectually curious, motivated, high-school students who value writing. The goal of the workshop is to help students develop their creative and critical abilities with language and to become better, more productive writers and more insightful thinkers.

Young Writers takes place at Kenyon College, a leading liberal-arts college renowned for its tradition of literary study. The Young Writers Workshop program is sponsored by The Kenyon Review, one of the country’s preeminent literary magazines.

At Young Writers, students write to explore ideas, then develop those ideas through further writing. Because good writers are also avid readers, students read short stories, poems and essays, which they discuss, write about and use as inspiration for their own work.

 

Workshop groups (with no more than twelve students in each group) meet for five hours a day. In addition to freewriting exercises and responses to “prompts,” students write stories, poetry, personal narratives, dialogues, reflective passages and experimental pieces. They also use writing to explore, creatively and analytically, short works by established authors. While traditional expository essays are not assigned (nor is any work at Young Writers graded), a number of our exercises help students approach difficult texts and develop skills that will serve them well in writing papers for school and college.

Workshop sessions are complemented by informal interchange during free time as well as by a series of public readings by visiting poets, fiction writers, and essayists.

Nestled among rolling hills in the village of Gambier, the Kenyon campus is known for its striking beauty. Students have full access to College recreational facilities, including basketball and tennis courts and a swimming pool. Weekend activities include social events and field trips.

Young Writers is a two-week residential program. The total cost, including tuition, accommodations, all meals, and activities, is $2,275. Kenyon is committed to socioeconomic diversity and some scholarship aid is available for students who demonstrate financial need as part of their application. To apply for scholarship aid, please check the box on the application form and send in the scholarship application form by March 1, 2012.

In addition to the online application form, each student must also submit a brief story or essay (not to exceed 300 words) that illustrates why he or she is interested in participating in the Young Writers program and what he or she might contribute to it. A teacher’s letter of recommendation, a high school transcript and the optional financial aid application must also be postmarked and/or submitted electronically no later than March 1, 2012.