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NEW YORK STATE
SUMMER
YOUNG WRITERS
I N S T I T U T E

July 1-7, 2007

Program / Tuition / Faculty / Sponsors / Application

Sponsored by the New York State Writers Institute
In Association with The Writer's Voice of the Silver Bay Association

The New York State Writers Institute is pleased to announce the ninth statewide writing workshop for New York State high school students. This program will be held at the Silver Bay YMCA Conference Center on Lake George from Sunday, July 1, 2007 through Saturday, July 7, 2007. The professional writers who comprise the teaching staff at the New York State Summer Young Writers Institute (SYWI) have not only taught creative writing at a number of colleges and universities but also have many years of experience conducting arts-in-education residencies in elementary, middle, and high schools throughout New York State and Massachusetts.

The Summer Young Writers Institute (SYWI) is open to all high school students in grades 8-12 in New York State. While care will be taken to have all regions and populations of the state represented, admission to the SYWI will be based on the quality of work submitted by students applications.

Program Details

Student participants will immerse themselves in poetry, prose, creative nonfiction, and critical evaluation of each other's work. There will be three workshops per day: one hour-and-a-half workshop in the morning and two hour-long workshops each afternoon. In addition, young writers will attend evening readings and presentations by nationally known writers who are a part of the Writer's Voice Program Readings by the Bay series at Silver Bay and major literary figures at the NYS Summer Writers Institute's Program at Skidmore College.

Participants will write extensively and complete pieces of work. Computers will be available for writing, revision, e-mail and Internet access. Work produced during the SYWI will be published in a magazine in which all students will be represented. The magazine will also be published on the Internet.

The New York State Summer Young Writers Institute (SYWI) does not discriminate on the basis of age, color religion, creed, disability, marital status, veteran status, national origin, race, gender or sexual orientation.

This program will be held at the Silver Bay Association, YMCA Conference Center on Lake George from Sunday, July 1 through Saturday, July 7, 2007.

Questions about SYWI may be addressed by e-mailing Bill Patrick at [email protected].

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Tuition

The tuition fee will be $450 and covers the cost of room and board, workshops, all fees and transportation costs associated with readings and campus activities. Admission and participation will be determined by evaluation of creative writing selections submitted by student applicants.

By bringing 25 of the top student writers in the state together to work intensively with professional writers, the Summer Young Writers Institute gives young artists recognition and respect, artistic development and peer support.

In addition, the Silver Bay Association YMCA Conference Center offers the relaxation and inspirational surroundings of Lake George located in the spectacular Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York. The conference center's recreational options include swimming, boating, hiking, tennis, and strength training.

We want any talented young writer selected for the SYWI to be able to attend regardless of ability to pay tuition. We, therefore, offer financial assistance based upon individual need. Please check the box for financial assistance information on the application form if this is a consideration.

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Faculty

Kathleen Aguero

Kathleen Aguero is the author of two volumes of poetry, The Real Weather (Hanging Loose Press, 1987) and Thirsty Day (Alice James Books, 1977) and co-editor with Marie Harris of An Ear to the Ground: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry (University of Georgia Press, 1987). She is the editor of Daily Fare: Essays from the Multicultural Experience (1993), also from the University of George Press. She has taught writing to students grade K-12 in the Poets in the Schools Program in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Presently she is an assistant professor at Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill, MA.

Robert Miner worked at Newsweek first as an editorial assistant then as a reporter in their Boston bureau. He worked as a freelance writer for over twenty magazines and newspapers. His first novel, Mothers Day, was first published in the U.S. by G.P. Putnam in 1978, and was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award. It was then published in England in 1980, followed by publication in Germany and France. His second novel, Exes (E.P. Dutton, 1987), followed as the second book in the trilogy on modern love. In addition to teaching at UAlbany and Empire State College, he is currently working on two novels and a biography of his family.

Bill Patrick with SYWI studentsBill Patrick's newest book, We Didn't Come Here for This, is a memoir in poetry that was published by BOA Editions in February, 1999. An earlier collection, These Upraised Hands, a collection of narrative poems and dramatic monologues was published by BOA in 1995 and, and his novel, Roxa: Voices of the Culver Family, won the 1990 Great Lakes Association New Writers Award for the best first novel. He has also written screenplays and plays for, among others, ABC-TV. His newest non-fiction book, Saving Troy (2005), takes place in Patrick's hometown where he spent eighteen months riding with professional firefighters and paramedics accompanying them to emergency medical calls, rescues and fires.


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Sponsoring Organizations
New York State Writers Institute Logo

In 1983, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist William Kennedy founded the New York State Writers Institute (NYSWI) with part of a fellowship awarded him from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. A year later, legislation was signed into law giving the Institute goals and responsibilities to conduct a broad range of cultural and educational activities. With support from the University at Albany, which houses the NYSWI, the Writers Institute follows its state mandate to provide "a milieu for established and aspiring writers to work together to increase the freedom of artistic imagination," and "to encourage the development of writing skills at all levels of education throughout the state." Writers Institute programs include the NYS Summer Writers Institute at Skidmore College, panels, conferences, the Visiting Writer Series, the Classic Film Series, numerous year round workshops, and the Writers Online Magazine.

Further information about the Writers Institute activities may be obtained from their web site at: www.albany.edu/writers-inst, e-mail at: [email protected] or call 518-442-5620.


of the Silver Bay Association YMCA

The Writer's Voice of the Silver Bay Association YMCA is a member of the National Writer's Voice network of literary arts centers located at YMCA's across the country. Established in 1991 through a major Lila Wallace Reader's Digest grant, the Writer's Voice has created a permanent literary arts center in the Adirondack region of New York State. The Writer's Voice provides public programs that enrich all sectors of its community. The Readings by the Bay reading series, The Silver Bay Children's Literature Award, The writer's Community Writer-in-Residence Program workshops with accomplished writers, and Writers-in-the-Schools arts in education program are the main components of the Writer's Voice. The Silver Bay Association is a YMCA Conference and Training Center in its 98th year of operation on a 600-acre site on the western shore of Lake George in New York State's Adirondack Park.

Further information about Silver Bay Association may be obtained from its web site www.silverbay.org

NYSCA

The Writer's Voice of the Silver Bay Association receives significant funding from the New York Council on the Arts.

A special thank you to Senator Michael Balboni and the NYS Legislature for their generous support of the New York State Summer Young Writers Institute.

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Application Form

Applicants should be in grades 8-12 in the 2006-2007 school year. There is an administrative fee of $15, which should be included with each application and made payable to The Silver Bay Association/NYSSYWI. Applicants should submit a selection of their best writing, any grenre(s), up to a maximum of 15 pages. Completed application form must be post marked by April 15, 2007. If you wish work returned, please include a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Writers accepted to the Summer Young Writers Institute will be notified by May 5, 2007.

Application Form
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Summer 2005 Participants
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William Kennedy at the first Summer Young Writers Workshop William Kennedy at the first Summer Young Writers Workshop