For those young people in the Quad Cities who are passionate about creative writing and/or magazine design, the Midwest Writing Center offers the Young Emerging Writers (YEW) Summer Internship Program. This selective seven-week program is for talented graduating and continuing high school students, ages 15-19, interested in creating and publishing works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and/or drama. Students who worked on the school newspaper, school literary magazine or yearbook, or who just love writing or page layout and graphic design, are ideal candidates for YEW. The ultimate goal of the program is the development of intern writing abilities, editorial acumen, professional skills, and the production/distribution of a literary journal representing the best work of the participants called The Atlas.
Young Emerging Writer internships feature intensive seminars in poetry, narrative prose (fiction & nonfiction) and collaborative writing among other kinds of creative writing in a professional learning atmosphere. Interns will also 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 Launch Party on August 13th, an open house where interns read from their selected works and the journal is made available to the public.
Twelve to fifteen 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 (no less than $125), a free full-conference registration the David R. Collins Writers’ Conference at St. Ambrose University June 25-27 (a $225 value), a one-year membership to the Midwest Writing Center, and three copies of The Atlas, Vol. 10.
The 2015 YEW program schedule is as follows:
June 8-10, 6:00 – 8:30 p.m.
June 15-17, 6:00 – 8:30 p.m.
June 22-24, 6:00 – 8:30 p.m.
June 29-30-July 1, 6:00 – 8:30 p.m.
July 6-8, 6:00 – 8:30 p.m.
July 13-15, 6:00 – 8:30 p.m.
July 20-22, 6:00 – 8:30 p.m.
August 13, The Atlas Launch Party 7 p.m., free & open to the public
Applications are available now at the MWC website at http://www.mwcqc.org/events-opportunities/youth-programming/young-emerging-writers-internship/.
The deadline to submit an application is May 20th. Interviews will be conducted via telephone. If you have any questions, please contact Ryan Collins at (563) 324-1410 or via email at mwc@midwestwritingcenter.org.
Funding and material support for the Young Emerging Writers Summer Internship program generously provided by Total Printing Systems; the Mary Iva Gittens Knouse Trust; the Melvin McKay Charitable Trust; the Illinois Arts Council Agency through federal funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts; and Quad City Arts Dollar$ funds, provided by Hubbell-Waterman Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, the Doris and Victor Day Foundation, and Deere & Company.