SALEM — A group of Salem State University students will be giving back to their northern neighbors this week by organizing a virtual statewide writing festival in New Hampshire.
Peabody natives Miranda Hughes and Jennifer Puzzo, along with Beverly’s Brooke Delp and Hampton Beach native Mae Fraser, will lead the charge in an event — scheduled to run on May 14 and 15 — that has been dubbed The North Country Young Writers’ Festival.
The free festival is designed for students in seventh to 12th grade with an interest in creative writing, whether it be as a career path, college major or hobby.
Hughes will be conducting a workshop on flash fiction, while Puzzo will host a book discussion on New York Times bestseller “A Curse So Dark and Lonely.” The festival will include a reading and a question-and-answer segment with the book’s author, Brigid Kemmerer.
“My hope is that, after expressing themselves through writing with these workshops, we’re creating a lasting space that students can return to on their own,” said Hughes. “When I was younger, I thought there was a correct way to write. Going to college has shown me what a variety of voices there are in the literary world, and that all you need to get started are your life experiences. I want students to be empowered with the idea that they belong in the writing realm.
“You don’t always get this opportunity,” she said. “By meeting published authors and talking about their work, students may be inspired to write their own book.”
New Hampshire Poet Laureate and Salem State University Professor Alexandria Peary will be helping the students run the festival.
Peary is also a 2020 recipient of an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship which recognized her mindful writing workshops for survivors of the opioid crisis and her work with the North Country Young Writers’ Festival. Over the past year, she has put on dozens of workshops for youth and caregivers in New Hampshire.
“I want to make sure that young people in the northern part of New Hampshire are afforded the same writing opportunities as students elsewhere in the state,” said Peary.
The festival will also include a screenwriting workshop run by Delp, while Fraser will be organizing a workshop on processing the COVID-19 pandemic through poetry.
The festival is made possible through the support of the Academy of American Poets, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund, and the New Hampshire Humanities Collaborative.
Participants must register by May 12 at https://www.wmcc.edu/north-country-young-writers-festival/ to participate.
