Bookbinding, Readings, and a Week to Remember: Day 5 of the 2026 Young Writers’ Workshop  

1, 2, 3, 4…and just like that, it’s Day 5!   It’s hard to believe we’ve reached the final day of the 2026 Young Writers’ Workshop!   The morning began with our young writers sharing their favorite moments from the week. They reflected on all the memories they had made together, mentioning highlights such as listening to one another’s readings, finding inspiration … Continue reading Bookbinding, Readings, and a Week to Remember: Day 5 of the 2026 Young Writers’ Workshop  

Empathy, Poetry, Art, and Fiction: Day 3 of the 2026 Young Writers’ Workshop 

Day three of the 2026 Young Writers' Workshop focused on empathy, perspective, poetry, art, and fiction as our young writers spent the day exploring different ways of seeing the world through writing.  The day began with the Question of the Day: "What would your character have for breakfast?" The young writers shared creative and often humorous responses … Continue reading Empathy, Poetry, Art, and Fiction: Day 3 of the 2026 Young Writers’ Workshop 

Nature, Poetry, Art, and Imagination: Day Two of the 2026 Young Writers’ Workshop

Day two of the 2026 Young Writers' Workshop was filled with reflection, creativity, observation, and imagination as our young writers explored the connections between nature, writing, art, and storytelling. The day began in the garden with a reflective nature-writing session facilitated by Maranda. Our young writers spent time observing a piece of nature and writing … Continue reading Nature, Poetry, Art, and Imagination: Day Two of the 2026 Young Writers’ Workshop

Character Building, Workshopping, and Play Writing: Day One of the 2026 Young Writers’ Workshop

The 2026 Young Writers’ Workshop is officially underway, and what a way to begin! The day started with a simple question: “What is your favorite book?” Our young writers shared books ranging from fantasy to beloved classics, and the answers gave us a glimpse into the interests and imaginations of our young writers and set … Continue reading Character Building, Workshopping, and Play Writing: Day One of the 2026 Young Writers’ Workshop

Sharing Favorites, Book Binding & Final Reading: Day 5 of the 2025 Young Writers’ Workshop

5 days of hard work, 5 days of creative expressions... and we're done!!! It rained showers of creativity today at the UMB hall of the Beach Museum! Friends and families of our creative writers, faculty of the English department, and other friends all gathered to experience the fruit of our young writers’ diligent work all … Continue reading Sharing Favorites, Book Binding & Final Reading: Day 5 of the 2025 Young Writers’ Workshop

Magic Making, Playwriting… and more writing! – Day 3 of our Young Writer’s workshop

If you were to describe your day in colors, what color would it be? Green for productivity, gray for calmness, or purple for the pride you have in your accomplishments? Yellow for a warm sun glow? Yesterday, I told you that today was going to be a lot of writing; well, here we are! We … Continue reading Magic Making, Playwriting… and more writing! – Day 3 of our Young Writer’s workshop

Visual Thinking, Writing Persona, Character Building, & Collage Poetry: Day 2 of 2025 Young Writers’ Workshop

We started Day 2 of our workshop with a session on Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS). I bet that, at least once, you have seen an artwork described it as “beautiful.” Other times, you might have felt the artist just made scribbles for elementary schoolers; or maybe you’ve had a mix of both experiences! This morning, … Continue reading Visual Thinking, Writing Persona, Character Building, & Collage Poetry: Day 2 of 2025 Young Writers’ Workshop

Map-Making, Imagery building & Dragonalia: Day One of the 2025 Young Writers’ Workshop

We kicked off Day One of our young writers’ workshop today! Dr Karin Westman, the head of our English department at K-State, opened with a brief introduction, thanking the donors who made the workshop possible for their generosity. The director of the workshop, Dr. Ania Payne, welcomed everyone and eased us off into our opening … Continue reading Map-Making, Imagery building & Dragonalia: Day One of the 2025 Young Writers’ Workshop

Final Day Photo-Reel

Last week’s Young Writers’ Workshop was a huge success, and we wanted to give one last thank you to all the awesome, ambitious young writers that participated this year. As a wrap-up post, here are just some of the pictures taken at Friday’s successful reading: The young writers receive a final, well-deserved round of applause. Until next year! ~ … Continue reading Final Day Photo-Reel

The End Of A Journey

This moment was a week in the making. The pieces had been written. And rewritten. And revised, and probably rewritten again. Now it was simply the writers, their completed (and astounding) work, and a sleek wood podium behind which they would complete their journey as participants in the Young Writers’ Workshop. As they did yesterday, … Continue reading The End Of A Journey