Creative Writing Classes For Youth Near Me

Scribes Workshops & Summer Camps

Whether you are just starting to explore your writ ten voice or are looking to learn new skills and forms of writing, Youth Workshop s and Scribes Summer Camps will inspire creativity and nurture your writing life!

During Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters, Hugo House offers new workshops for youth grades 5–12 to grow and develop as writers in a safe and nurturing environment. Our instructors—all accomplished writers, out-of-the-box thinkers , and experienced educators—create fun, engaging sessions to keep you writing and connecting with others . Classes are offered in a variety of writing genres, so that writers can explore new forms of writing and/or practice their favorites! To look through workshops only, select "Youth Workshop" in the Course Filter below.

Scribes Summer Camps provide young writers the opportunity to extend and build upon how they've grown in these workshops – students participate in week-long, all-day camps in which they can focus on, dig deep into, and nurture their inner writer. Students work alongside instructors who are published writers and educators themselves, as well as guest teaching artists – members of the local writing community who offer additional expertise and perspective to help students improve their writing! To find out if a specific camp will be hosted online or in-person, be sure to read the camp's 'location'. Camp age distinctions are for students who are entering those grades in Fall 2021. Check out our Scribes FAQ page to help answer any further questions you may have about Scribes Summer Camps!

To make our programs more accessible for all youth, registration is scaled at 30%–60%–90%–100%-110% so that families choose to pay what they can. If you choose to pay 110%, the extra funds will support other students who pay at a lower rate. If you have any questions , please call 206-322-7030 or email youth@hugohouse.org .

Scholarships

To apply for a scholarship for Youth Workshops, please fill out this form.

Slam Poetry for Everyone

Creative writing workshop for youth in grades 7-9. Slam poetry is often a protest poetry, and there is an intensity that is not present in most other poetry readings. Students will watch slam poetry videos, talk about what defines the writing and power of the visual performance, and write their own. Takeaways: Students will leave this class knowing how slam poetry works as a form, how is used to convey intense messages and emotions, and at least one fully realized slam poem.

Val Gryphin is an author, editor, educator, and EIC of Typehouse Literary Magazine. They earned their MFA from Spalding University, and their published work spans fiction, poetry, and research on Queer literary history seen through an intersectional lens.

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Rebel Poet: Flipping the Script & Using Negation

Youth creative writing workshop for high school students. Let's explore poems that imagine what isn't and what doesn't happen – for example, Ada Limón's "The Conditional" and Victoria Adukwei Bulley's "This Poem is not about Parakeets." We'll also use the text of other pieces to "flip the script" on what they have to say and create our own poems. Through prompts provided and context built out of discussion, we'll dive into more writing, aiming for a second piece. Feedback will focus on the positive. All levels welcome.

Kathryn Petruccelli holds an M.A. in teaching English language learners. A former slam host, she's taught young people through California Poets-in-the-Schools and Mass Poetry. Kathryn was a Best of the Net nominee and finalist for the Omnidawn Broadside Poetry Prize.

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Setting: It's More Than Just a Backdrop

Youth creative writing workshop for grades 7-9. Setting is one of the most important aspects of storytelling. It can help writers do everything — create the perfect mood, develop characters, establish backstory, etc. Through various exercises focusing on images, sounds, POV, unusual objects, and more, students will develop unique settings, with an understanding of how setting impacts other story elements. We'll also spend a little time looking at model texts, such as excerpts from George Orwell, Rita Williams-Garcia, Kacen Callender, and Lois Lowry, to learn how they use setting to create a variety of effects.

Grade: 7-9 | Instructor: Tina Tocco

View Details

Start Date: 12/04/2021
Location: Online
Duration: 1 session

Tina Tocco is a Pushcart Prize nominee. As a writer for both children and adults, her work has appeared in kiddie magazines, such as Highlights, Cricket, Humpty Dumpty, AppleSeeds, and Odyssey, and in literary journals, including New Ohio Review, River Styx, Sou'wester, Roanoke Review, Potomac Review, Portland Review, and Italian Americana. Her children's poetry collection, The Hungry Snowman and Other Poems, was released by Kelsay Books in 2019; her grown-up work was selected for The Best Small Fictions 2019 (Sonder Press, 2019), Best Nonfiction Food (Woodhall Press, 2020), and other anthologies. A recipient of multiple awards, Tina was a runner-up for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrator's Work-in-Progress Grant and a finalist in CALYX's Flash Fiction Contest. She earned her MFA in creative writing from Manhattanville College, where she was editor-in-chief of Inkwell. Tina has taught for GrubStreet, Hudson Valley Writers Center, Arts Escape, Kids Short Story Connection, and other organizations.

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Shapeshifting: Writing the Mixed-Race Experience for Teens

As multiracial people, it can feel hard to know where we belong. In conversations around race our perspectives are often overlooked and/or we may feel pressure to simplify our experiences. Even in our own families, we often experience race differently…

Anne Liu Kellor is a mixed-race Chinese American writer based in Seattle. Her memoir, Heart Radical: A Search for Language, Love, and Belonging, traces her migrations between China and America in her twenties, and will be published in September of 2021. Anne is the recipient of fellowships from Hedgebrook, Seventh Wave, Jack Straw Writers Program, 4Culture, and Hypatia-in-the-Woods. Her essays have appeared in publications such as Longreads, Fourth Genre, Witness, New England Review, Seventh Wave, Entropy, The Normal School, Literary Mama, and many more. Anne works as an editor, creativity coach, and workshop facilitator across the Pacific Northwest. Learn more at www.anneliukellor.com

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