About Tennessee Young Writers

Humanities Tennessee presents to Tennessee's young people four programs that promote and nurture the love of reading and writing:

The Letters about Literature contest encourages students in grades 4–12 to read a book and write a letter to the author about how the book impacted their lives. For the 2010 contest, 1,721 students from across the state submitted letters.

The Tennessee Young Writers' Workshop is a week long writing workshop for students who have completed grades 7–12. The instructors, published authors, are skilled writing teachers. The students all share a love of writing and desire to develop their craft that cannot be found in a regular classroom. Many students return for another year at the workshop because it makes such an impact on their lives. In the words of one student, "The workshop absolutely changed my life."

Student Reader Days bring young readers and writers together around the Southern Festival of Books. Authors are sent to elementary, middle and high schools for outstanding presentations and discussion, and some classes (depending on age level) are offered the opportunity to come to a free, student only author event field trip before the Festival. Each student participating in Student Reader Day events is given a free copy of the visiting author's book to encourage further reading and discussion.

The Statewide High School Reading Initiative began as an effort to promote a one state/one book program for teenagers. In 2010, Humanities Tennessee invited high school students from across the state to request free copies of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz. Many teachers incorporated this book or Díaz's other work into their curriculum.

If you would like more information on any of these programs, please contact Lacey Cook, 615-770-0006, ext. 19.

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