About the Summer Writers Institute & Young Writers Institute
The 15th annual Washington University Summer Writers Institute will be held in St. Louis June 14-25, 2010. Workshops will include fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and the Young Writers Institute.
Held each June, The Summer Writers Institute consists of two weeks of intensive writing workshops. Choose from fiction (popular or literary), poetry, or creative nonfiction. The two weeks include personal conferences, readings by guest faculty, craft talks, and panel discussions with writers and editors. Participants may attend on a non-credit basis or choose to earn three college credits.
The Young Writers Institute is a Writers Institute workshop for high-school juniors and seniors. Students can study with working writers, become acquainted with the St. Louis literary community, and can choose an option to earn three college credits, as well as receiving helpful guidance on their poetry or prose.
In the workshop sessions that are held every morning at the Institute, teachers provide instruction and constructive criticism of participants' work. Participants give each other feedback within the workshop setting, and have the chance to talk with writers from other genres outside the workshop. In addition to group feedback, participants receive one-on-one instruction in individual conferences with their teachers.
In the afternoons, accomplished writers and editors from Missouri and Illinois read from their work and discuss writing and publishing. Past faculty members include William Gass, Mary Troy, Gerald Early, Marjorie Stelmach, Wayne Fields, David Carkeet, Jane O. Wayne, Ruth Ellen Kocher, Glenn Savan, Jason Sommer, Catherine Rankovic, Rockwell Gray, Donald Finkel, Allison Joseph, Allison Funk, and Qiu Xiaolong, just to name a few.
Traditionally, Institute participants finish up the two weeks with an open mike reading of their own work.
How to Apply:
The application period will open soon. You will then be able to click "To Apply" in the yellow menu at the right. Your writing sample should be work in progress (not published) in the genre of the workshop you are applying for. The submitted writing sample will be discussed by your workshop group the first week of the Institute. Questions? Telephone (314) 935-6720, or email the Summer Writers Institute.