Written by Lena Roy, Head of Writopia Lab’s Creative Portfolio Program Turning the Page (TtP) hosted a Virtual Cozy Crafts event this past Saturday afternoon while many of us in the Northeast were preparing for a snowstorm! TtP is a literary social justice committee started by members of the Creative Portfolio program in 2019, whose …
Written by Shanille Martin, Head of Writopia Lab’s Debate Program Writopia alongside our partner’s Debate Spaces hosted another one of our international debate tournaments on Saturday, February 1st, 2025. Rounds began at 8 AM Eastern Time. Debaters argued topics like whether voting should be mandatory, the sale of unhealthy foods to minors, public service, and …
On Tuesday, November 26th, 2024, we sent our community of young writers, parents, guardians, supporters, and educators a set of prompts and received dozens of lines of poetry in response. From all of that magic, we curated this holiday poem… by you and for you. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. “This Thanksgiving, I Am Not Alone”By …
Welcome to the 2024 Annual Newsletter. First, congratulations to the thousands of Writopia writers, from young and teen writers to instructors and full-time staff, who set out and completed the writing of original pieces this year! A few hundred members of our community also bravely submitted writing to the 2024 Scholastic Awards and to other …
Congratulations to all Writopia writers selected for publication this past school year in this year’s Writopia Publishing Lab’s books. Connecting Across Cultures: A Collection of Writing by Ten Jewish and Muslim American Teens Zoe Becker Dania Bressler Leila Cisse Mahnaz Daud-Basrai Heba Elkouraichi Zara Hai Ilana Horwitz Leonid Metlitsky Millie Nathanson Anniyah Rizvi “Loved Your …
By Matthew Jellison We were losing literary bingo when the thought hit us. We were surprised to be losing. After all, Malcolm and I have spent the better part of a decade working in literacy, and Yael about a decade and a half. We are (affectionately speaking) literary nerds. In the office we share, Yael …
Each July is filled with our longtime deeply meaningful and exciting partnership camps! For a decade now, Writopia has been running a special writing arts camp for dozens of creative and fun-loving children and teens at Homes for the Homeless’ Saratoga Family Inn. Starting seven years ago, we began working with 20-30 wonderful and gifted …
By Rebecca Wallace-Segall Within this essay, I examine the ongoing youth literacy crisis in New York City and, along with it, two long-standing, opposing education policies—progressive and traditional—that have sought to address it. I argue that resisting dogmatic adherence to one or the other of these approaches, coupled with teacher-centered professional development opportunities that emphasize …
Congratulations! Rebecca Wallace-Segall, Chief Executive Officer, published the Writopia founding and impact story in the Village Voice in 2022 and co-authored an article on partnering for literacy impact in the Afterschool Matters Journal. She is completing her Masters in Urban Education Policy at CUNY Graduate Center this winter. Yael Schick, Co-Associate Executive Director, graduated from the Harvard Graduate …
Our graduating seniors wrote dozens of individualistic, beautifully-crafted college essays at Writopia this year that helped college admissions teams get to know—and feel deeply connected to—them as people. I am excited to share two essays below because of the creative format the writers chose to employ and because of the high level of personal reflection …