Creative Writing Scribes, 5-6th grade
In this exploratory camp, students will develop their creative writing abilities by experimenting in a wide variety of prose and poetry. Students will examine works from carefully curated authors and will participate in writing activities, craft exercises, and artistic experiences designed to inspire their imaginations. Camp sessions will be facilitated by two local artists: Samar Abulhassan and Jay Thompson are both published poets and educators. The week will culminate with a reading and/or presentation of student work.
This camp is for students entering 5th & 6th grade in Fall 2022 and will take place in-person at our facility in Capitol Hill. Be sure to read our COVID-19 Policies before registering for this camp.
Scholarships are available by application. Questions? Please email youth@hugohouse.org.
Samar Abulhassan
Samar Abulhassan is a Jack Straw Writer and holds an M.F.A. from Colorado State University. She’s worked in California public schools for seven years. Born to Lebanese immigrants and raised with multiple languages, she is a 2006 Hedgebrook alum and the author of six chapbooks, including Farah and Nocturnal Temple. Samar has worked with Seattle Arts & Lectures’ Writers in the Schools since 2008. Samar also recently participated in the 2018 Skagit River Poetry Festival. In 2016, Samar received a CityArtist grant to aid in completing a novel-in-poems reflecting on memory, longing, and the Arabic alphabet. Samar often finds inspiration in images and places and replicates these techniques in her teaching. She has explored Pike Place Market and the Seattle waterfront, both of which influenced her work.
Jay Aquinas Thompson
Jay Aquinas Thompson (he/they) is a poet, essayist, and teacher with recent or forthcoming work in Interim, Pacifica Literary Review, Passages North, COAST | NoCOAST, and Poetry Northwest, where they're a contributing editor. Their poem "Poor and Carefree Strangers," published in FIVES: a Companion to Denver Quarterly, was a 2021–2022 Best of the Net nominee, and they're a 2021 Tin House Workshop alum. They've been awarded grants and fellowships from the Ragdale Foundation, the Community of Writers, the Sustainable Arts Foundation, and King County 4Culture. They live with their child in Washington state, where they teach creative writing to public school students and incarcerated women. Twitter @jayaquinas; Instagram @freshwater_merman
