Now in its 12th year, the annual Summer Writers Institute is offering something new for aspiring scribes.
This year, the institute — held June 18-29 — will include a Young Writers Institute geared toward high school juniors and seniors. The program allows students to study with working writers, become acquainted with the St. Louis literary community and choose an option to earn three college credits.
The Young Writers Institute is a two-week intensive writing workshop designed for high school juniors and seniors to develop their talents in prose and poetry writing.
“We’re thrilled to offer the Young Writers Institute this year,” said Michael Nye, director of the summer institute. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for students to work with an established writer and get patient, thoughtful guidance on their writing.”
In the mornings, participants will attend workshops in writing poetry and fiction, focusing on techniques and craft, as well as receiving helpful guidance on their own stories and poems.
In the afternoons, the young writers will join the rest of the institute participants at craft talks and panels with published writers who will focus on specific craft issues in fiction, poetry and nonfiction and discuss aspects of the writing life, such as publishing and editing.
The Young Writers Institute is one of several intensive writing workshops, including beginning fiction, advanced fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction, offered through the summer institute. In addition to craft talks and panel discussions, the two weeks include personal conferences and readings.
“Every year, we feel the Summer Writers Institute has improved,” Nye said. “There is great attention to a student’s writing in the workshop, and we bring in the very best teachers from the bi-state area. There isn’t a better writing environment in the region.”
Registration deadline for the summer institute is May 1.
The keynote speaker this year is poet Albert Goldbarth, the Adele Davis Distinguished Professor of Humanities at Wichita State University. He is the author of more than 20 collections of poetry and a two-time winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Faculty for this year’s summer institute are:
• Anne Sanow, fiction writing: Sanow teaches at the Montserrat College of Art.
• Mike Magnuson, advanced fiction writing: Magnuson is associate professor of English at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
• Kathleen Finneran, creative nonfiction/memoir: Finneran is a lecturer in English in Arts & Sciences.
• Richard Newman, poetry writing: Newman is an adjunct instructor in University College in Arts & Sciences.
• Steven Schreiner, Ph.D., Young Writers Institute: Schreiner is associate professor in the Department of English at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
For more information, including application forms and fees, call 935-6759 or visit ucollege.wustl.edu/summerwr.php.