writing programs Archives

The digital magazine Cultural Daily is a free platform that serves as a home for voices that often get excluded in mainstream media and publishing. And this year, the editors launched a writing mentorship program to nurture and publish more young writers.

“We have often been the first place a writer — poets, reviewers, essayists, storytellers — has had their work published,” says Adam Leipzig, publisher and managing editor of Cultural Daily. “One of our favorite parts about approaching our work with this vision has been the sheer number of incredible teens and college students from all over the world who have had the chance to showcase their beautiful and powerful work. All of us at Cultural Daily believe in our hearts that these are the voices of the future, or as we have often referred to them, ‘Tomorrow’s Voices Today.’”

The one-on-one mentorship program is free and will take place over a six-week period. It is open to young people writing in all genres. “This program is our first in our road to completely turning Cultural Daily into a place written and, later down the line, edited by teens,” Leipzig says.

After completing the first round of mentorship, the publication is now opening the next selection round for the Cultural Daily Mentorship Program. Applications will be open until Nov. 12. To apply, email connect@nextecho.org or contact Editor Chiwan Choi at chiwanchoi@gmail.com with basic information (name, age, genre interest) of the teen writer you think will benefit from the program.

The two writing mentors will be the Minnesota-based poet Micah Ruelle (micahruelle.com) and Choi (chiwanchoi.com), an L.A. native, poet and Cultural Daily’s editor. Choi is also copyeditor for L.A. Parent.

Writing in the Schools students Alexa Lopez and Natalie Prado read their poems at a Red Hen event. PHOTO COURTESY RED HEN PRESS

The Writing in the Schools program, a creative writing program that Pasadena-based publishing nonprofit Red Hen Press launched in 2003, is back up and running after a pandemic lull.

Since creating Writing in the Schools (WITS), Red Hen has worked to promote literary independence and community impact for more than 4,500 students in elementary through 12^th grade. The program currently supports around 300 students at five schools in the Los Angeles area.

In creative-writing workshops, students read books developed for the WITS program: “How to Free a Naked Man from a Rock” for middle and high school students and “Did Pirates Rip Her Arms Off?” for elementary students. Published authors lead students in reading poems and other written works and discussing literary devices used in the writing.

After all the reading and discussions, it’s the students’ turn to produce, and workshop facilitators encourage them to draw inspiration from the readings to write their own poems and short stories. By the end of the workshop, students have created enough writing to produce a bound anthology of their written work. You can enjoy their works and learn more about the program at redhen.org/writing-in-the-schools/.

‘Tomorrow’s Voices’ — Cultural Daily Program Mentors Young Writers

Grooming Young Creative Writers

L.A. Parent