About Young Writers Programme

The MKWC Young Writers Programme was instituted in 2008 by the late Dame Christine Cole Catley and Ros Ali. Dame Chris was a writer, publisher, a keen advocate of young people’s writing and a founding trustee of the Michael King Writers Centre.

The programme was initially set up to serve talented North Shore teenagers who loved to write, and to hear about the writing life. There was a strong local focus and four weekend workshops were held during the summer months -in the Michael King Writers Centre, and later in the Devonport library. Due to the popularity of the Programme, it was expanded to encompass the wider Auckland region.

In 2010 Jo Emeney joined Ros Ali to run the programme. Both are experienced English teachers and tutors of creative writing.  In 2018 they were joined by Carrie Rudzinski who coordinated workshops in the Waikato.  Throughout the year, the YWP offers opportunities for talented young writers (senior high school age) to be involved in writing workshops with novelists, journalists, lyricists, bloggers, short story writers, poets, editors and comic book artists. Meeting like-minded peers is another vital aspect of the programme in addition to becoming part of a growing alumni.  The workshops entail a collaborative day with tutors and guest writers for groups of up to 25 students. They are usually held on a school day from 9.15am to 3.15pm and there is no charge to the student.

Since the end of 2012, the Young Writers Programme has published Signals, a literary journal that showcases a selection of work students have produced during the year. These pieces may be poetry, prose, comic-art or journalistic writing. *Due to Covid we have not been able to run the programme and produce Signals in 2020-21. Meanwhile we have hosted the Signals Awards and are aiming to publish Signals again at the end of 2022.

For further information about the programme and to register your interest please complete the form below.