06/23/2026
It's Unbelievable! The 2026 Swift Youth Writers Workshop is FIVE YEARS OLD!
Held in partnership with the Ames Public Library, this week-long writing workshop has touched the lives of at least 65 youth ranging in grades from 6 to 12. We do not limit access by school year. What we have found is that the kids don't care about age, gender or race. They come here to write in the company of other writers. Together they write poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. They create poetry collages and Exquisite Co**se stories—an old parlor game similar to Consequences in which participants write in turn on a sheet of paper.
Last year's cohort published an anthology titled, Swift Youth Writers Summer 2025 (available on Amazon). Graduates of the program have gone on to study writing at the University of Iowa. For the past two years, the workshop has been co-led by Swift Youth Writer, Adela Solano Osmundson, who is currently studying English at DMACC. She plans to teach middle school English. We are so proud of her and all the participants who join us each year. These writing workshops are funded by grants and generous donors so that participants may attend for free.
http://ameswriterscollective.org
