Southampton - What better place for talented young writers to hone their creative voices than at Stony Brook Southampton this summer?

The Young American Writers Project (YAWP) Summer Workshops pair professional writers with high school students for four-day retreats in creative writing and playwriting.

The YAWP Creative Writing Workshop runs July 7 to July 10 and the YAWP Summer Playwriting Workshop runs July 14 to July 17, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Students ages 14 to 17 years-old may apply to one or both workshops. Students who are 13-years-old may only apply to the second workshop.

The YAWP Creative Writing Workshop is the offspring of the acclaimed Southampton Writers Conference and brings teens into the creative world of working writers. This workshop allows young poets, essayists and storytellers to discover and explore new talents and develop existing ones. By the week's end, students will have a body of work to submit or publish and will participate in a final reading open to the public.

The YAWP Summer Playwriting Workshop is led by professional teaching artists who guide students through four days of concentrated instruction in the process of writing a short, two-character play. The final day is devoted to presentation, in rehearsed reading format, of the participating students' work. The reading will be open to the public.

YAWP, created by Stony Brook Southampton's acclaimed M.F.A. in Writing and Literature program, is dedicated to mentoring young people in the development of creative expression and critical thinking through writing.

For further information, contact 631-632-5070.