Click here to register for a Full-Day Summer Program.

Fiction & Fun

We are excited to welcome full-day campers back to our Upper West Side location at limited capacity! We have planned a new model for our full-day programming so that our writers can enjoy a full day of writing, workshopping, and exploring their unique voices in a safe, physically-distanced environment.

In the mornings, writers ages 9 to 16 work in small age-based groups with a published author or produced playwright on developing and completing a short story, poetry collection, or a one-act play. After the morning workshop, writers will head to Central Park for lunch and fun outdoor activities. In the afternoon, writers will explore various writing genres and forms, such as comedy, mystery, spoken word, poetry walks around the neighborhood, flash fiction, zinemaking, and screenwriting.

Playwriting and Performance

In age-based groups, young playwrights spend the mornings developing brand new plays or musicals under the guidance of a professional playwright. In the afternoons, they dive into the world of performance, with mini-workshops in character creation, theatrical design, voice and speech, and a look at acting fundamentals as they take on roles in their peers’ plays. The week will culminate in a live performance (that family and friends can watch over Zoom) of original one-act plays written and performed by these young dramatists of tomorrow.

Advanced Writing Seminar

Visit the Advanced Writing Seminar page.

Writopia Lab’s Advanced Writing Seminar is open to rising juniors, seniors, and college freshmen. Over the course of two weeks, participants will delve into their craft with published authors, and will meet and share their work with literary agents and editors. Each day will begin with a small author-led fiction workshop (8 - 10 participants) from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM EST. During workshop, writers will have time to develop their own creative pieces, participate in creative writing exercises, and receive feedback on their work from the instructor and their peers. In the afternoons, writers will have the opportunity to take electives in poetry, memoir, ekphrastic writing, and more.

Throughout the seminar, participants will have the opportunity to work closely with published authors, agents, and publishing editors. Writers will also take part in evening readings, salons, and craft talks, as well as unstructured time to connect as a community of writers.

Electives

Electives are offered Monday to Friday each week. Each day, writers choose two hour-long elective sessions. Options include Graphic Novel, Screenwriting, Sketch Comedy, Worldbuilding, Songwriting, Playwriting, Mystery, Horror, Stop Motion, Spoken Word Poetry, and more!