Hollis Seamon wins "Ippy" Gold Medal

Hollis Seamon, this year's featured guest author at the New York State Summer Young Writers Institute for high school-aged writers, tied for the 2014 Independent Publisher Book Award ("Ippy") Gold Medal for Short Fiction for her story collection, Corporeality.

More 2014 "Ippy" results here:  http://www.independentpublisher.com/article.php?page=1791

Students at the Young Writers Institute will read Seamon's 2013 young adult novel, Somebody Up There Hates You, about a 17-year-old battling cancer.

Booklist said, "Seamon’s first young-adult novel is a tender, insightful, and unsentimental look at teens in extremis. It brings light to a very dark place, and in so doing, does its readers a generous service."

More about Hollis Seamon:  http://www.skidmore.edu/youngwriters/guest-author.php

More about the New York State Summer Young Writers Institute:  http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/programpages/nyssywi.html

Read More......

Mentors Muses & Monsters: 30 Writers on the People Who Changed Their Lives

"A mesmerizing book of essays by famous pens who themselves were once helped -- or hurt -- by established talents as they tried to climb their way up the literary ladder. [Mentors, Muses & Monsters] beautifully captures the experience of being a literary aspirant -- wide-eyed, enchanted by words, and eager for the tutelage of a mentor -- one who's already scaled the temple wall and emerged, shining, in a turret." -- The Christian Science Monitor

The featured text of the Summer Young Writers Institute at Skidmore this year will be Summer Institute faculty member Elizabeth Benedict's Mentors, Muses & Monsters: 30 Writers on the People Who Changed Their Lives, reissued in a new paperback edition by SUNY Press in February 2012.

Read More......

Our Summer Program for Teen Writers

The next session of the New York State Summer Young Writers Institute will be held July 1-7, 2012.

2011 participants in the Summer Young Writers Institute for teenage authors write about their experiences:

"This was my first time away from my parents, so I was kind of nervous, and I wasn't sure I was going to make friends, but I did, despite being somewhat socially awkward. From all different parts of the country, everyone was friendly talented and unique." --Cynthia Gerber

"This past week I have learned to open up to others about my writing whether I was confident about my piece or not.... It's truly amazing how passionate we all are about writing and it's clear how tightly woven by this passion we are." --Erin Carden

"The instructors here, instead of pushing a set curriculum, help to build upon the students' creations, turning ideas into works of art." --Matteo Mobilio

Read More......

Summer Writing Workshop for High School Students

In summer the song sings itself....--William Carlos Williams, "The Botticellian Trees"

The New York State Writers Institute is pleased to announce the 2009 New York State Summer Young Writers Institute for high school students, which will take place July 19-25, 2009 at Skidmore University in Saratoga Springs, New York. The Summer Young Writers Institute is a not-for-profit, New York State-funded summer program for gifted writers entering 10th, 11th or 12th grade in September, 2009. The program, which offers workshops in poetry, prose and screenwriting, is open to both public and private school students who reside anywhere in New York State.

The New York State Summer Young Writers Institute permits student writers to interact with published writers, practice craft and meet other young writers from around the state.

Our website features an application, a brochure and a financial aid application.

Read More......