A home for young writers
Our Mission
We create a community of support for Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS) students through in-school, after-school, and summer programs that build literacy and communication skills.
Our creative writing programs work toward racial and economic equity, breaking the cycle of multi-generational low literacy by giving students a smaller, more participatory setting to immerse themselves in reading and writing.
By empowering the voices of BCPS students, we help them transition from middle school to high school, complete high school, and enter higher education and/or career-oriented employment.
Our Vision
The core principle of WBS is the belief that the communal study and practice of creative writing equips students with the tools necessary for meaningful self-reflection and, in turn, self-expression.
Through our programs, students come to see themselves as writers whose work is worthy of being heard and celebrated. Students get in touch with who they are and what they think and feel, empowering them to make positive change in their classrooms, communities, and beyond.
Our History
WBS was founded in 2008 to provide BCPS students with an opportunity to hone their reading and writing skills. With experienced writers and instructors, and in spaces where they can express themselves authentically, students learn about different modes of writing, such as poetry, fiction, journalism, and essays. Students produce their own work, publishing it in our literary magazines, as well as mainstream publications, and performing at open mics.
Over the past 15 years, WBS has held no-cost creative writing groups at 12 schools. We have served 1,600+ Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS) students through 68 in-school courses, 69 after-school writing clubs, and 13 residential summer programs. WBS currently operates in 5 BCPS Title I elementary and middle schools and serves students from 11 BCPS high schools. Courses are taught by WBS alumni and Baltimore undergraduate/graduate students.
WBS’s young writers have seen their creative writing published and highlighted in many settings, including our annual anthologies, the Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, Baltimore City Paper, Poetry Foundation’s blog, Real Pants, and Seltzer Zine. Poems by WBS young writers are featured on the back cover of the biweekly Baltimore Beat.
WBS students have been invited to participate in a variety of literary events around Baltimore, including the Hey You! Come Back reading series; the Writers & Words reading series; the CityLit Festival, and the Baltimore Book Festival. In 2018, WBS alumni Jamesha Caldwell (Pennsylvania State University Dickinson Law '25) and Bryonna Reed (Davidson, '20) served as Student Delegates to the first annual International Congress of Youth Voices. Since 2013, eight WBS writers have received full scholarships to attend the prestigious Iowa Young Writers’ Studio and Kenyon Review Young Writers Workshop.
