Writopia Lab Offers Writing Workshop For Kids In Mount Kisco

Writopia Lab, a three-year-old, unadvertised, Manhattan gem that imbues confidence in students and improves their grades in school, has successfully made the trip up to Mount Kisco.

The local lab will be run by Léna Roy, a published author and Writopia Lab teacher who just moved from New York City to Westchester.

Writopia Lab is open to local students from ages 8 to 18 and provides groups of three to six "serious competitive writers," "kids who need help writing" and anyone in between with creative inspiration and intellectual stimulation. Students are grouped based on age and not ability. Over a total of 15 hours and under the guidance of a published author, Writopia participants use provided laptops to give and receive feedback on novellas, poems, college essays or any other chosen piece of writing.

Roy believes that kids are creative, and that writing can help them get a better grasp of the world around them. She thinks that "creativity feeds our souls" and that "the younger [creativity] gets encouragement, the better." Students do not need to be masters of the rules of writing, she argues, while kids "cannot be bogged down by rules" and instead are encouraged to learn through doing.

Although students are learning, extensively trained instructors maintain a decidedly non-school environment and have historically seen the same faces enroll in workshops again and again. Many of Writopia Lab's former students have entered their pieces in, and have won, regional and national writing competitions such as the Scholastic Writing Awards.

Roy's first northern Westchester workshop, a teen group held in the afternoons, begins on August 23 and has room for three more students. She plans to recruit more authors and arrange more sessions, including a morning workshop for younger students, according to demand.

Workshops cost $525 per 15 hours and Writopia Lab is proud have adjusted pricing, based on need, for at least 40 percent of workshop participants.

Those interested can email Roy at lena.roy@writopialab.org or stop by Borders in Mount Kisco in September to watch two of Roy's students recite their polished pieces at an open mic night. Roy will be in attendance to support her students, introduce herself to the community and carry on the legacy of her grandmother, Madeleine L'Engle, the author of the childhood literary staple A Wrinkle in Time.