Meeting once a month on Saturdays, our writing club is housed at the Efroymson Center for Creative Writing. Each Saturday session includes Poetry, Fiction, and/or Creative Nonfiction lessons. Students meet with peers and a graduate student mentor who leads the workshop, engaging the students in thoughtful discussion about writing.
Note: This is not class! Workshops will offer a fun, energetic environment for growing creative writers. Writing Club sessions will be split into three age divisions: elementary, middle, and high school.
All sessions run from 1:00-3:00 PM and meet at the Efroymson Center for Creative Writing (530 W Hampton Dr):
Cost: $15 per session. Open to grades 3–12.
Dates
We are pleased to offer Saturday Writing Club for the Fall 2021 semester for a cost of $15 on the following dates:
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Saturday, January 29
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Saturday, February 19
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Saturday, March 19
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Saturday, April 23
Please visit our Eventbrite page for more information and to register for each event. Registration is required prior to attending.
SPECIAL NOTE:
We are happy to continue offering a virtual option for those students who are unable to attend in-person workshops. In these quick, one-hour sessions, students will meet with a mentor or Bridge Director Elisabeth Speckman for prompts and activities that stretch their writing muscles for approximately 45 minutes before having the chance to share their work aloud in an open mic.
All sessions run from 4:30PM-5:30PM EDT/EST and meet via a secure, online videoconference link. Links will be sent to registered students in the days leading up to the session.
Cost: $10 per session. Open to grades 3-12.
Dates
We are pleased to offer Write On Wednesdays for the Fall 2021 semester for a cost of $10 on the following dates:
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Wednesday, February 23
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Wednesday, February 23
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Wednesday, April 27
Please visit our Eventbrite page for more information and to register for each event. Registration is required prior to attending.
The Bridge program offers single-session workshops that engage students in specific writing skills, genres, or topics.
Please check back for our Fall Specialty Writer’s Workshop offerings.
The Booth Tarkington Prize for Young Writers celebrates excellence in poetry and prose in the works of students in grades 3-12.
2021 Prize Submission Information
Submissions for the 2021 Booth Tarkington Prize for Young Writers are now closed. Please check back for 2022 information.
Open to grades 3-12
Prizes are offered in Poetry and Prose for each division: elementary, middle school, high school.
Winners will receive a $25 gift card and have their work published on our blog. Winners, runners-up, and honorable mentions will all receive a certificate.
Beginning in 2021, we are happy to announce that we will be compiling the submissions into a print anthology in addition to publishing the winners on our blog. All submissions are eligible and will be considered for publication. Copies of the anthology will be available for purchase.
Additionally, all students who attend a Bridge workshop are eligible to submit additional material for the anthology.
Students may submit in the following categories:
Poetry (up to 3 poems)
Fiction (up to 5 pages, double-spaced)
Students should submit via email to egiffin@butler.edu with the subject line “Tarkington Prize.”
Each submission must include:
- Student Name and Grade Level
- Contact Email
- Mailing Address
- Title(s) of piece(s) submitted
- Your consent for your work to be included in our print anthology.
Past winners and runners-up may be found on our blog site, with links to the published winning works:
http://blogs.butler.edu/butlerbridgeprogram/
Writing Club Mentors
Bridge Director
Elisabeth Speckman (she/her) received her MFA in Fiction from Butler University, where she also serves as an adjunct instructor, teaching courses in first-year studies, academic writing, screenwriting, and media literacy. As an actor and director, she has been involved in theatrical productions throughout the Indianapolis area. Her work appears in Midwestern Gothic, CHEAP POP, Pidgeonholes, Flash Fiction Magazine, Best Men’s Monologues 2021 (Smith & Krause), and Stage It! 2: 30 Ten Minute Plays. Her plays have been produced throughout the United States as well as internationally. She has developed work with the Yale Writers’ Conference (now Yale Writers’ Workshop), the Kennedy Center Playwriting Intensive, 29th Street Playwrights Collective, The Bechdel Group, The Skeleton Rep(resents), and more. Her play, Brothers on a Hotel Bed, was also recently adapted and sold to an independent LA filmmaker.
Writer’s Workshop Teachers
Workshop teachers are all professional writers: either Butler writing professors, graduate students in Butler’s MFA program in creative writing, Butler MFA alumni, or qualified writers from the Indianapolis community.
Reminder: All Bridge events are held at the Efroymson Center for Creative Writing, located at 530 W. Hampton Drive, unless otherwise noted.