Writopia Lab

"I came to Writopia without ever having been in a writing class outside of my school. I was scared that I would not be as good as the other members, but as soon as I stepped in I felt right at home. For the first time I was excited and passionate about my writing. Every week I was eager to learn from my friends and writing instructor how to improve my work. In the end I felt that it all paid off. Writopia gave me a chance to think about hard and personal subjects in a different way, and also gave me the chance to express myself in a free manner."

--Gabe Fisher, 8th Grade
Scholastic Regional Gold Key Winner, Memoir, 2008

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What They're Saying

"Living in Europe, our experience with Writopia, and especially Rebecca, has been wonderful for Jakob, an American 6th grader, attending a full-time school in Spanish. His lessons via Skype are exciting and above all creative. He's loving it!"

--Leslie Zabala
mother of Jakob Zabala, 11

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Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Gold Apple Teacher Award--Rebecca Wallace-Segall

Writopia Lab is a New York City-based national community of young writers, ages 8-18. If you love the idea of developing your first short story or memoir, or if you are already a prolific writer who is thrilled by the idea of polishing exceptional short stories, journalistic pieces, personal essays, poetry, and dramatic or comedic scripts, join our year-round after- school, weekend, and school-break intensive creative writing workshops.

Our students enter at different levels...and leave with at least one piece of polished, original prose!

Why Writopia Lab works: our workshops meet daily in the summer and weekly during the school year; we limit enrollment to a maximum of six participants per workshop; all of our teachers are published writers who have been extensively trained in our workshopping methodology; and we place a strong emphasis on developing, completing and polishing stories, often using exciting events such as the Scholastic Writing Awards to inspire us.

Writopia Lab's 2010 Bestival

“The actors are professional, the director is professional, and the playwrights—well, they’re aspiring professionals. ”
-- New York Times

What They're Saying

"Working with Rebecca Segall at Writopia was among the most rewarding intellectual adventures my children have ever had... She cultivated a love of language and ideas, and made them feel safe to write with real honesty about their passions and their inner life... They spent hours with her in small seminars of their peers, and left hungry for more."

--Barton Gellman, Pulitzer Prize Winner, 2008 and 2002, Washington Post Reporter, and Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University

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The workshop environment is always fun, creative, and friendly. We all immensely enjoy reading one another's pieces, and receiving the great feedback we get from Rebecca and each other. In just five days of three-hour sessions (sometimes running a little late due to the fact that we were so engrossed and did not want to leave), I have been able to hone my humor and science fiction stories... perfect poems... and have been so enthusiastic about gaining constructive responses that I have written memoirs from scratch... I will definitely be coming back for more seminars.

-- Lily Gellman, 8th Grade, Heschel Middle School, 2008 Scholastic National Gold Keys Winner for Humor, Science Fiction, and Poetry, and Silver Regional Key Winner, Memoir

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"When Rebecca makes a suggestion, she is not offended if you don’t agree. She listens and considers your perspective as the writer... Rebecca is an awesome (for lack of a more specific word of praise) editor and writer, and an equally amazing person. The gift of working with her is a double bonus – her amazing skill as a writer and editor, and her warm, smiling, funny personality."

--Noa Bendit-Shtull, 15, Bard College High School, Scholastic Silver Keys Winner for Short Story and Poetry, 2008 and Scholastic National Gold Key Winner for Short Story, 2006. Check out Noa's story HERE

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"My daughter loved learning to write with Rebecca...Rebecca inspired her to write award-winning fiction. Long after working with her, my daughter continues to write with great enthusiasm."

-- Ora Shtull
Mother of Scholastic Writing Competition 2006 National Gold Key winner

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