<p>My 8th grader wants to attend a creative writing program for fiction this summer. She's been interested in creative writing for a few years now. I haven't been able to find too many--most programs are for rising sophomores. Has anyone had experience with the two week Young writer's workshop (UVa)? Any other ideas? The other programs I have seen, but don't seem as suitable for various reasons, are Interlochen, Putney school, and Walnut hill. Also CTY has offers a class. However, I haven't investigated them in too much detail.</p>
<p>You should check out this thread on Creative Writing Programs…a lot of different ones are listed and talked about. You will have to see which ones take rising 9th graders.</p>
<p>My son went to Univ of Iowa’s program the summer between 10th and 11th grade and loved it!</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/summer-programs/645318-creative-writing-summer-programs.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/summer-programs/645318-creative-writing-summer-programs.html</a></p>
<p>Thanks, actually I had found that thread. It’s a little out of date now, and most of the programs are for grades 10 or 11 up; those few I listed were what I was able to extract. </p>
<p>I noticed there isn’t even an English forum here, and hardly any talk about English or Creative writing majors in the “other majors” forum. Does no one major in English anymore?</p>
<p>From that thread you mentioned, I gathered that the Iowa program seemed the most highly regarded, but she’s not old enough for that. It sounds great though, perhaps in a few years…</p>
<p>Amherst College has a summer Great Books program that English oriented high school kids seem to love. Not writing though.</p>
<p>Wofford College in Spartanburg, SC hosts a speculative fiction writing program each summer called Shared Worlds. My son has attended for the last three summers, and he plans to attend this summer as well. </p>
<p>The experience he has had there has been unbelievable, and it is the highlight of his year. I’d be happy to answer questions about the program if anyone has one.</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.wofford.edu/sharedworlds/]SharedWorlds[/url”>Shared Worlds]SharedWorlds[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Bard College runs well-respected workshops for hs students starting after 9th grade. So not this year, but would be available next summer.
[Bard</a> Institute for Writing and Thinking | Workshops | Summer Workshops for High School Students](<a href=“http://www.bard.edu/iwt/workshops/students/]Bard”>http://www.bard.edu/iwt/workshops/students/)</p>
<p>I’ve heard wonderful things about Kenyon’s summer writing workshops. It depends on where your students birthday falls which summer they are eligible as it’s an age requirement not grade (16-18yso). A friends son had an excellent experience here. </p>
<p>[The</a> Kenyon Review Young Writers Workshop](<a href=“http://www.kenyonreview.org/workshops/young-writers/]The”>Young Writers Workshops)</p>
<p>@blueiguana, I gathered from the thread linked in post #2 that the Iowa and Kenyon programs are probably the most highly regarded competitive admission writing programs; kids reported having great experiences in both places.</p>
<p>The Shared worlds program is an interesting idea. Not sure whether it would suit my daughter though. She enjoys writing with some of her friends, but has also had some rather frustrating group writing experiences. It’s hard to know in advance, and rather pricey to find out…</p>
<p>There probably is a reason they don’t want 8th graders in these programs. Consider carefully how the programs are set up, how much supervision there is if they stay in the dorms, if they are allowed free run of the campus.</p>
<p>My kids went to a band camp with their band for several years while they were in middle school. It was rather scary for me even though I knew they were being supervised the entire time and would be in locked dorms each night. Even though it was summer, there were still much older students there, and some people who just hang around colleges.</p>
<p>If she is interested in SciFi/Fantasy, check out the Alpha workshop which accepts students between 14-19. My S attended twice and loved it. An experience there was featured in his common app essay.</p>
<p>@twoin, yes, I am looking for something with more rather than less supervision (more about protecting her from an unfamiliar environment than her own stupidity), and am a bit wary of anything in a large city. She has not been away from home for more than a night or two before and has little experience with big cities. She’s an exceptionally responsible and mature kid, and she handles herself well around older kids, has some experience with that, but she’s still an 8th grader and may not fit in to a program that caters mainly to juniors and seniors in terms of reading history and maturity.</p>
<p>Duke TIP offers a creative writing workshop and has separate on-campus programs for 7th and 8th graders. The Davidson College program site is a particularly good spot in that regard.</p>
<p>D2 (who is an English major now that she’s in college) attended both the Sewanee (summer after 10th grade) and Kenyon (summer after 11th grade) writing workshops. The summer after 9th grade she attended a 2 week course at the Vanderbilt Summer Academy (Literature and Cognitive Theory, I think?) </p>
<p>For a rising 9th grader, VSA is an option. Session 2 is limited to rising 9th & 10th graders and has a number of literature/writing themed courses: [Session</a> 2 | Vanderbilt Programs for Talented Youth | Vanderbilt University](<a href=“http://pty.vanderbilt.edu/students/vsa/2014-course-offerings/vsa2/]Session”>VSA 2019 Instructors | Vanderbilt Programs for Talented Youth | Vanderbilt University) Sewanee and Kenyon were less structured in their free time compared to VSA.</p>
<p>Here are my comments from a related thread - I’ve sent my daughter to two other camps (in Ohio and Virginia), then after her junior year we sent her to the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio. Amazing. She’d never been around such talented, creative, and fun people before. Then the instructors all are part of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop - the best of the best. Iowa is where all great writers come, from high school aged to Nobel Prize winners. We just loved Iowa City, the program, everything. She’s headed to Princeton this fall, studying creative writing/lit and biology.</p>
<p>My son LOVES the Duke Young Writers Camp.
<a href=“http://www.learnmore.duke.edu/youth/youngwriter/”>http://www.learnmore.duke.edu/youth/youngwriter/</a>
He is now a rising HS junior and would give up all other camps and activities to attend this one. This summer will be his third year. The kids have kept in touch since he first attended via Facebook. He gets to choose multiple genres and the best pieces are published in their magazine at the end. Truly a fabulous experience for the creative writer!</p>
<p>For middle and high school girls: <a href=“http://www.hollins.edu/summerprograms/”>http://www.hollins.edu/summerprograms/</a></p>
<p>Well, I can vouch for the CTY program for 8th graders. Many of the other programs cited here sound wonderful. </p>