Since 2015, we have brought young poets together through this immersive fellowship program. Each fall, Youth Poetry Fellows meet six times for mentor-led sessions focused on generative writing and community building. During these gatherings at Hugo House, Fellows explore new poetic techniques, receive feedback on works-in-progress, practice public reading, and bring their poetry into community—both within the Fellowship, on our stages, and throughout the local literary scene.
The program culminates in an all-Fellows public reading at Elliott Bay Book Company. Co-mentored by Amy Hirayama and Jourdan Imani Keith, the Fellowship honors poetry not only as a personal practice but as a collective, civic act.
