NC State University Young and Teen Writers Workshops

Teen Writers Workshop will host three guest authors this year. Students can enter to win their books (and many other books about writing).

Returning local guest & multi-genre author Frances O'Roark Dowell: https://francesdowell.com/books

Poet Mildred Kiconco Barya joins us from western North Carolina to talk about her work and read from her latest poetry book:
https://bookshop.org/a/109024/9781947175990

And novelist Richard Fellinger joins us to talk about his work and his latest novel An American Girl: https://bookshop.org/a/109024/9781947175921

We're only two months from the start of Young Writers Workshop for grades 5-8. Selected spots are still open for creative writing courses. https://english.chass.ncsu.edu/research-and-engagement/young-writers/young-writers-workshop/

Record breaking enrollment this year!

All full for Teens: Creative Nonfiction, Creating Characters, Fiction, Intro to Creative Writing!

Only a couple of more seats in Drama, Poetry, & Genre Fiction for the Teen Workshop.

Young Writers (ages 10-14) still has some spots left in all classes.

Apply here:

https://english.chass.ncsu.edu/research-and-engagement/young-writers/

Interested in play & film writing + acting? Study Dramatic Writing with Rebecca this summer! Rebecca Bossen is a local voice coach, playwright, actor, and longest serving YWW instructor. YWW has classes for grades 5-12. Register here: https://english.chass.ncsu.edu/youngwriters

For more about Rebecca: https://www.rebeccabossen.com

Register for the following courses here: https://english.chass.ncsu.edu/research-and-engagement/young-writers/

Introduction to Creative Writing – This exploratory workshop will focus on the creation of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Various skills applicable to all genres will be explored. This course is great for beginners or for a student wishing to explore all three areas. Instructor: Patrick O’Reilly

Poetry is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as a “composition in verse or some other patterned arrangement of language in which the expression of feelings and ideas is given intensity by the use of distinctive style and rhythm.” Students will learn and experiment with a variety of poetic forms and techniques in this class. Instructor: Spencer Rico

Creative Nonfiction is factual writing that has the narrative, dramatic, literary elements of novels, plays, and poetry. The tools and techniques for writing fiction and creative nonfiction are very similar. Students in this class will be writing true stories in an artful way, such as in nature writing, travel writing, memoirs, and food writing, for instance. They will not be writing academic essays, reports, term papers, or other nonfiction of that kind. Instructor:

Dramatic Writing – This workshop will focus on playwriting for the stage, as well as screenwriting for film. In this class, students will learn some of the basic techniques of writing plays and/or screenplays, such as setting a scene, creating characters, constructing a plot, and moving a plot forward through dialogue in their own one-act plays or screenplays. Instructor: Rebecca Bossen

Fiction – This workshop will consist of fiction. Students in this class will write narratives in an artful way and learn the fundamentals of fiction such as character development, dialogue, point of view, and construction of plot. Instructor: Peyton Brown

Genre Fiction – This workshop is a specialized fiction workshop that will explore a variety of literary genres, such as sci-fi, fantasy, magical realism, adventure, and mystery. Students will learn the basics of world building, extended metaphor, plot structures, suspense, persona, and how to use different genres as vehicles to talk about complex topics. Instructor: Zenith Riggs

Special Topics: Nature Writing — This course will focus on nature and making observations about the world around us. We’ll look to explore and notice things in our environment, and put that to writing across different forms. Open to students of all genres. Instructor: Spencer Rico

Registration is open for the 2026 summer workshop and it's a special year! Our 40th year is going to be our biggest year yet!

Courses in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, genre fiction, dramatic writing, nature writing, and Introduction to Creative Writing. Ages 9-19!

Apply here: https://english.chass.ncsu.edu/research-and-engagement/young-writers/

ATTN: Young poets!

https://www.youthlaureate.org/

Attn: Young Poets!

Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet Series Open for Applications

Deadline November 15, 2025

Students in middle school, high school, and college as well as adults not attending school are invited to apply for the Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet Series, a free program sponsored by the North Carolina Poetry Society. Four poets (one in each category) will be selected for one-on-one sessions with a distinguished poet in their region of North Carolina. The poets will revise their own poems and learn about the tools and craft of poetry. In spring 2026, poets and mentors will participate in readings and have their work included in an anthology.

The 2025 Distinguished Poet for the NC Central Region is Joe Mills. A professor at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Mills holds an endowed chair as well as the Susan Burress Wall Distinguished Professorship in the Humanities, and has been honored with a UNC Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching. In April 2025, he published his ninth volume of poetry–The Holiday Cycle–with Press 53. His collection This Miraculous Turning was awarded the North Carolina Roanoke-Chowan Award for Poetry for its exploration of race and family. His other work includes the fiction collection Bleachers and numerous pieces of non-fiction and drama.

To apply, please submit the application form and three pages of poetry by November 15, 2025. For more information and to apply, visit

Gilbert-Chappell Mentor Series | North Carolina Poetry Society This mentoring program links established poets in three regions of North Carolina with emerging poets, enabling them to develop and perfect their lyric craft. Students in middle school, high school, and college, and adults not in school may apply to work with a Distinguished Poet during the winter m...

That's a wrap on Young and Teen Writers Workshops 2025! What a final celebration! Poems, plays, fictional stories, nonfiction essays, genre shorts, comics!! Thank you again to all the talented participants and the families who support them in their journey. Congrats to those going off to college. For all the others, we hope you'll join us in 2026 with early bird discounted applications opening on March 1. Next year is our big 40th anniversary!