Turn your classroom into a creative writing lab. During Young Writers Publish residencies, 826NYC teaching artists collaborate with educators to develop creative, impactful, curriculum-aligned projects that transform students into published authors. School and community partners highlight their students’ learning goals, needs, and interests for projects ranging from science fiction to social justice poetry to journaling for social-emotional resiliency, while 826NYC develops content to meet young authors where they are and support them in leveling up their craft. Residencies run from six weeks to a full year, depending on the project.

Each Young Writers Publish project culminates in a book, chapbook, or zine, because we know the power of sharing your story, and the young authors of New York City have important, hilarious, beautiful, and remarkably original stories to tell.

826NYC prioritizes work with Title I schools and youth-serving organizations working with young writers from historically underserved communities. The fee for this program varies depending on factors such as number of sessions, number of participating classes, and expenses associated with the culminating project.

Recent projects include:

• I am Finally a Piece of Wood, a collaboration with 7th and 8th grade classes at the Academy for Young Writers. 826NYC designed this project to connect with a unit on local Brooklyn history that the classes were working on, and the resulting book of poetry captures the young authors’ personal journeys, their connections with their communities, and their hopes for the future.
  
• You Might Can’t Come Back is the enthralling, energetic guide to the universe you never knew you needed. When 5th grade classes at P.S. 316 Elijah G. Stroud needed to infuse their argumentative writing unit with some creative flair, we turned to travel writing and students created this hilarious and adventurous guide to the authors’ favorite places, both real and imagined.
  
• Here in the New World speaks to a unique moment in time: 11th graders at the High School of Fashion Industries returned to in-person schooling in the fall of 2021 with a mixture of excitement and anxiety, and the certainty that they were entering a new era. This cross-genre collection, ranging from personal essays to expressive and dramatic scenes, captures that moment with vigor.