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YEW 2026 Open for Applications & for the first time,
Submissions to THE ATLAS 21 are open to all QC area students ages 15-19
For young people in the Quad Cities who are passionate about writing and creative expression, the Midwest Writing Center offers the innovative Young Emerging Writers (YEW) Summer Internship Program. This selective seven-week program will be held Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from June 8 through July 22, 2026. Applications are due Friday, May 15, 2026.
Download the 2026 Young Emerging Writers Application:
YEW 2026 Application – MS WORD
**For the first time in 2026, The Atlas literary magazine is accepting submissions
from any QC area students, ages 15-19!**
For 20 years, The Atlas contributors have been the YEW interns each summer; now, we are inviting submissions from any & all students in the Quad Cities between the ages of 15-19. Please download the submissions guidelines & follow the instructions exactly. Submissions are due Friday, May 15.
Submission Guidelines for The Atlas 21
If you will be at least 20 years of age on June 8, and you are interested as working
as a Workshop Leader for the YEW Internship and/or YEW outreach programs,
please follow the link below and complete the Google Form:
YEW Internship and YEW Outreach Staff Application Portal
Please email us if you have any trouble downloading the files: mwc@mwcqc.org
**If you are between the ages of 19-22 and are a resident of Illinois, and you are interested in applying to a YEW staff member, please contact Ryan Collins directly: ryan.collins@mwcqc.org 309-732-7330**
ABOUT YOUNG EMERGING WRITERS
YEW provides writing instruction in a variety of writing styles and processes, and develops professional skills in areas such as editing, collaborative project management, and magazine production/design. In 50 hours of meetings over seven weeks, the interns went from meet-and-greet to producing a high-quality literary magazine published by MWC Press.
**Information on YEW 2026 Meeting Format**
We are planning to meet in-person at MWC. We will be meeting in the Community Room upstairs from our offices in the Rock Island Public Library. We will be set up for people to meet virtually as needed, and we will have a couple meetings on Zoom or at alternate locations that will be determined at a later date. We are planning the public events to be in-person and livestreamed on our various social media platforms.
If you are interested in applying, but have concerns about in-person meetings, internet or computer access, or anything else, please contact us—we will work with all of our interns to make sure they have what they need to participate, and a lack of computer or consistent internet access are not required to apply.
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YEW is for talented graduating and continuing high school students, ages 15-19, interested in creating and publishing works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, and other forms.
Students who work on the school newspaper, school literary magazine or yearbook, or who just love writing and/or page layout and graphic design, are ideal candidates for YEW. The ultimate goal of the program is development of intern writing abilities and the production and distribution of a literary journal representing the best work of the participants.
Young Emerging Writer internships feature intensive seminars in poetry, narrative prose (fiction & nonfiction), and collaborative writing, among other forms of creative writing, in a professional learning atmosphere. Interns will learn about magazine design and layout as well as gain editorial and copy-editing experience. The program culminates with the production of The Atlas, a high-quality literary journal featuring the best work produced by the interns over the course of the program. The journal will be released at The Atlas 18 Release Party, an open house where interns read from their selected works and the journal is made available to the public. The 2026 Launch Party will take place in-person and will be available free to the public (in-person location TBA).
YEW 2026 – Meeting Dates
(all regular meetings are Mon.-Wed., 5:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.)
Week 1: June 8-10
Week 2: June 15-17
Week 3: June 22-24 (SPECTRA Reading Series event June 24 || DRC Conference June 25-27)
Week 4: June 29-30, July 1
Week 5: July 6-8
Week 6: July 13-15
Week 7: July 20-22
Public Reading
Thursday, July 23 (more info TBA)
THE ATLAS 21 Release Party
Thursday, August 13 (tentative) (more info TBA)
15-20 interns will be selected for the program on the basis of their application forms, writing or design samples, and interviews. The writing and editing of stories, essays, poems, and/or plays at home is required, as is reading and responding to work by other interns. Each intern will also receive a small stipend, a free full-conference registration the David R. Collins Writers’ Conference, a one-year membership to the Midwest Writing Center, and three copies of The Atlas.
Please contact Ryan Collins for more information about the YEW Summer Internship Program, THE ATLAS, or other youth programs: mwc@mwcqc.org, (309) 732-7330.
To purchase a copy of The Atlas 19, please use the PayPal button below (please note: you can pay via credit card and do not need to have a PayPal account to purchase this way):
#mwcqc
#WriteMoreLight
#youngemergingwriters
#yewcrew
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| You can support the Young Emerging Writers Summer Internship Program by becoming a YEW/The Atlas Sponsor. You can use the PDF form linked below, or scan the QR code, to send in a sponsorship contribution to MWC, or use the PayPal button below to make a donation online today. All donations over $10 will receive a complimentary copy of the most recent issue of The Atlas. Thanks for supporting YEW! |
Click here to download a Young Emerging Writers/The Atlas Sponsorship Form
Funding and material support for the 2026 Young Emerging Writers Summer Internship Program is generously provided by the Illinois Arts Council Agency, IAC Summer Youth Employment in the Arts Grant, Melvin McKay Trust, Moline Regional Community Foundation, Modern Woodmen of America, Regional Development Authority, Quad Cities Community Foundation, the Rock Island Public Library, and Rozz-Tox.
