We’re Gonna Write!!! A’ight?

UPDATE: CWP-Fairfield’s award-winning Young Adult Literacy Labs and workshops are back in 2025. Incredible instructors are returning to what they’ve always done well: educate, model, entertain, and coach. Once again we’ll be at Fairfield University celebrating the Power of Words with youth, grades 3 – 12, throughout the summer. We assure that POW! The Power of Words, the 12th Edition,  will be sent to the printers once again!

We Gotta Write! A’ight?!

Click Here for Summer Registration!

The one- and two-week writing workshops are taught by professional teachers and writers in grades 3 – 12. Instructors help young people  find their voice, embrace literacy, take part in a writing community, and enjoy numerous writing processes. We love our special guests, too (but always keep these a surprise).

Instructions for attending each lab are emailed as dates get closer.

For more detailed information on why you should register for Young Adult Literacy Labs, click here.

Schedule Summer 2025

ONE WEEK LABS

Full and Partial scholarships available. Please email bcrandall@fairfield.edu to inquire.

Week of July 7 – July 11, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Little Labs for Big Imaginations I (Click Here): Multi-genre writing activities for our youngest writers – Grades 3-5 ($350)

Little Lab for Big Imaginations provides aspiring young writers with the tools to improve their writing skills. This writing lab is for young, aspiring writers going into grades 3-5. Students and teachers draw, write and perform throughout campus, taking inspiration from nature, literature, personal experience and each other. Imagination is sparked with discussion, performance, play and, above all, creativity. (Note: Each Little Lab for Big Imaginations, I & II, offers its own unique theme & flare)

Novel I: Characters Matter (Click Here) – Grades 6-8 & Grades 9-12 $350

Whether an aspiring author or just a creative should who loves to write, this lab transforms creative writing & guides youth to sketch out and begin their masterful piece. Through workshops and writing exercises, small writers’ groups, and guidance from many professional storytellers, young writers in this lab have the opportunity take a character from first sentence to first chapter (and more). Students can sign up for one or two weeks (Novel I/Novel II) to build a writer’s craft. Each has two sections: middle and high school.

Week of July 14 – July 18, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Little Labs for Big Imaginations II (Click Here): Multi-genre writing activities for our youngest writers – Grades 3-5 ($350)

Little Lab for Big Imaginations provides aspiring young writers with the tools to improve their writing skills. This writing lab is for young, aspiring writers going into grades 3-5. Students and teachers draw, write and perform throughout campus, taking inspiration from nature, literature, personal experience and each other. Imagination is sparked with discussion, performance, play and, above all, creativity. (Note: Each Little Lab for Big Imaginations, I-III, offers its own unique theme & flare)

Novel II: Plot Matters (Click Here) – Grades 6-8 and Grades 9-12 $350

This lab builds upon character development in Novel Writing I, but can also be taken as a stand-alone one-week session. Writers will think creatively and critically about the pace and organization of their novel, and how characters are motivated and moved along an imaginative story arc. Students can sign up for one or two weeks (Novel I/Novel II) to build a writer’s craft. Each has two sections: middle and high school.

Week of July 21 – July 25, 9:00 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Who Do You Think You Are? (Click Here) A College and Personal Essay seminar – Grades 9 – 12 $350

Looking to create a standout college essay, but need a little help? We have the experts who are able to guide you. Everyone has a story, even you. And we know—it feels like this essay is the most important story you will every tell, but it’s just a story. Let our gifted and savvy instructors guide you through the process, helping you shape the scene around that funny thing you did, or the amazing event you witnessed, or the time when your life was changed forever.

Weeks of July 21 -August 1, 9:00 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Ubuntu Academy – Grades 7-12. (paid for by supporters of CWP-Fairfield/Invitation Only)- 

This literacy lab is for first-generation Americans who arrive to the United States and are enrolled in English as a Second Language classrooms. Ubuntu – the S. African Bantu word for togetherness and community – translates as “I am, because we are.” The two-week lab provides youth people an opportunity to counter summer literacy loss through vocabulary enhancement, performance, writing, reading, and opportunities to speak. To learn more, please visit  Ubuntu Academy.