After the success of last year’s program, Key West Literary Seminar (KWLS) is bringing back The Young Writer’s Studio this summer during the week of June 24-28th. This workshop is for high school students who are looking to develop their voice as a writer, better their writing skills, and learn about Key West literary history.

Over the course of five days the group of young writers will explore Key West and learn about the many authors it has housed, including, Ernest Hemingway, Elizabeth Bishop, Wallace Stevens, and James Merrill. Students will visit Fort Zachary Taylor State Park, Ernest Hemingway’s home, Fort Jefferson and Dry Tortugas National Park, and the archives of the Monroe County Public Library. With each visit, students are encouraged to free-write as well as to follow prompts that will be given with each outing. The program emphasizes journal writing, observation, site-specific writing exercises along with constructive, group feedback. KWLS creates an encouraging and positive environment for teen writers to develop their writing style as well as step outside their comfort zone with creative prompts.

In the afternoons the group will attend workshops with Nicole Dennis-Benn, an acclaimed novelist and lecturer in the Creative Writing Program at Princeton University. Students will be guided throughout these sessions by a group of KWLS Faculty and other special guests, helping them explore the relationship between identity and place. The group will become acquainted with the writing process and the excitement and challenges that come with it.

The theme of the Young Writers Studio references James Merrill’s Poem, “Island in the Works”. This poem displays distinct features and vernacular language of Key West, both representative of what the Young Writers Studio hopes to allow students to discover. As students uncover secrets of Key West and learn about writers who have worked and been inspired by its unique character, they will uncover their own writing secrets and gain a newfound appreciation of the island that they and so many others call home.

The Young Writers Studio is open to any Monroe County student who will be starting their sophomore, junior or senior year in the fall of 2019. It is free for all accepted applicants and encourages young writers from any educational background to apply.

Follow this link for more information and how to apply: https://www.kwls.org/young-writers/