Programs For Youth

NYWC currently provides free ongoing long-term weekly creative writing workshops throughout NYC. Through partnerships with various social service organizations we operate an Adult Writers Program and the below Youth Writers Program workshops for diverse groups of unheard New Yorkers.  Our young writers also participate in our readings and events, including the Fort Greene Park Summer Literary Festival, The Write Stuff, and the Writing Aloud Reading Series, and their work is published in our online literary journal, Dig Deep, and in NYWC’s high-quality books.

Youth Writers Workshops

Workshop Methods

NYWC’s workshop method is designed to reduce competition amongst writers and allows writers of all backgrounds, ages, experience levels and genres to work together to grow as writers. Workshop size is limited to ensure that each member receives enough time and attention.

Workshop participants write during the workshop and receive positive, supportive feedback. We do not critique brand new writing, because the writer has not yet had a chance to read or revise it. In addition, it is assumed that all writing done in the workshop is fictional. Workshop leaders also write as part of the group, providing a model for taking risks and showing vulnerability in a group setting. These guidelines ensure that participants feel safe to write and read aloud even the riskiest material.

Writers are given the freedom to find and strengthen their individual and unique voices as well as to experiment with form, style and new genres. In addition, the workshop provides a structure for writers to produce new work on a regular basis. Workshop members become part of a community of writers, easing some of the isolation that writers and those in marginalized groups often encounter.