Young Chicago Authors050

YCA serves 2,500 teens a year through workshops, performance, and publication programs, including:

The YCA Saturday Writing Program, an intensive three-year writing program that accepts students beginning their sophomore year of high school. Over sixty young writers, referred to YCA by English teachers, community centers, and former students, attend small group workshops in poetry, fiction writing, non-fiction forms, playwriting, performance writing, and selected author studies. The best of student writing is collected and published in a magazine at the end of each trimester. Upon completion of the program, students are eligible to receive college scholarships;

Say What Magazine is written by and for Chicago teens. Featuring interviews with established and emerging writers, tips and exercises for aspiring authors, and the latest news on the Chicago writing and spoken word scene, Say What is developed, written, and edited by a group of 12 diverse teens who meet weekly to shape the content for the annual publication;

GirlSpeak Webzine is YCA's first online journal. Created by an editorial board of six committed teen girls, the webzine showcases prose, poetry, book reviews, photos, and features solicited widely from Chicago area teens;

WordPlay is where Chicago's young adult writers congregate on Tuesday nights. Beginning with a drop-in writing workshop facilitated by the month's writer-in-residence, WordPlay brings together diverse teens to generate new writing and share with one another under the mentorship of acclaimed writers. The workshop is followed by an open-mic and featured reading series. Youth artists share original spoken word, poetry, short fiction, monologues, free-styles, and raps in an environment that promotes tolerance and community;

Louder than a Bomb, The Chicago Teen Poetry Festival engages over 300 teens representing 30 Chicagoland schools and community organizations in workshops, showcases, panel discussions, and a teen poetry slam, an Olympic-style poetry competition that gathers young writers to share stories, poems, break stereotypes, and challenge themselves and their audience; and

The Girls' and Women's Collaborative Hip Hop and Spoken Word Performance Project is an ensemble of diverse adult and young women spoken word artists and hip hop lyricists. The ensemble works under the guidance of a director whose background is in theater, and with a DJ who designs and spins music into the piece.