Lawi attends New England Young Writers Conference

Sophie Lawi joined faculty member Matt Altieri, her English Department sponsor, at the New England Young Writers Conference at the Bread Loaf School of English campus of Middlebury College last week. Lawi attended the prestigious four-day conference with about 200 other student writers from New England and New York.

“It was the best,” said Lawi.  “I was impressed by the kids who were there.  I’m definitely going to go back next year.  Even if I don’t get in, I’m going to show up and force them to take me.” 

Given her considerable talents, getting in shouldn’t be a problem for Lawi, who studied at the conference under New York-based memoirist Dylan Raskin.

Raskin’s debut memoir, Little New York Bastard, invited comparisons to J.D. Salinger from some critics. Raskin was one of a group of renowned professional writers that led the conference, including memoirist Jae Coffin (A Chant to Soothe Wild Elephants), poet Martin Steingesser, and novelist Eugenie Doyle. The opportunity to work with these writers is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for many of the students, and the writers themselves were just as impressed with the engagement and talents of the students present. 

Students kept busy throughout the conference, drafting and revising their own pieces, working with peers and leaders in 1-on-1 conferences, and listening to readings from the professional writers there.  Even during free time, students huddled in groups across the bucolic campus talking of poetry and working on drafts.  It seemed many had taken note of poet Ed Whelpley’s keynote address, in which he urged all attendants to “read and write often. In a hundred years your brains will be the same stuff as your toenails. Until then, take the world in like a sponge, and take care to leave the finest mark that you can.”