About Great Lakes Young Writers

Great Lakes Young Writers (GLYW) offers the young a friendly and captivating, placed-based approach to author-mentored learning. It it expands upon the conventional science-based interpretation of 'ecosystem' by also embracing the disciplines of history, poetry, songwriting, and creative fiction and non-fiction.

Christine Manninen, the Communications Director of the Great Lakes Commission www.glc.org, has played a central role in overseeing the development and operation of GLYW's website. And special thanks goes to Tom Occhipinti, education coordinator with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, who organized the founding meeting of Great Lakes Young Writers in the Fall of 2009.

But most appreciation of all, however, goes to the young people who have contributed their creative works!

Isle Royale, photographed by Mike Tremblay

“For in their interflowing aggregate, those grand fresh-water seas of ours,—Erie, and Ontario, and Huron, and Superior, and Michigan,—possess an ocean-like expansiveness, with many of the ocean’s noblest traits; with many of its rimmed varieties of races and of climes.”

 

-- Herman Melville, Moby Dick

 

Who better to tell the story of a young and magnificent freshwater resource than young writers who see through fresh eyes?  The Great Lakes took their current shape only 10,000 years ago – yesterday by geological standards.  This young watershed contains almost a fifth of the world’s surface fresh water, more than 35,000 islands, 11,000 miles of shoreline, and a rich human history.

 

Telling the many stories of the Great Lakes means writing about fish and wildlife, forests and parks, air and water, and human societies from the earliest Native Americans to the latest wave of immigrants.  This multitude of stories leaves room for a multitude of young writers to weave narratives and craft word pictures.  We are looking for you, or young people you know, to take part in this brand-new initiative.

 

Assisted by published Great Lakes authors and communicators, Great Lakes Young Writers will have opportunities to identify the topics and viewpoints they seek to articulate.  Among the initial writing campaigns:

 

·   Wild Writers of Northern Michigan Mysteries

·   Writing workshops aboard Tall Ships, Stories Afloat
 

These imaginative exercises are just the start of a long-term effort to build a community of voices, artists and stewards who will carry forward the legacy of the world’s greatest freshwater resource.

 

Making sure the Great Lakes are healthy and abundant 100 years from now and 10,000 years from now means a lot more than just creating laws.  It means finding and broadcasting the voices of young storytellers who can appeal to our hearts and our sense of stewardship – young people who think every day of the future they will see and enjoy.

 

Dave Dempsey, Great Lakes author, activist, and advisor to Great Lakes Young Writers.

Georgian Bay Sunset, photographed by Kathy Stanczak

Looking Back and Ahead:  Arts Across the Water

In June of 2010, Great Lakes Young Writers was invited to be part of a brainstorming session involving US and Canadians government officials and community groups in Detroit.  The participants discussed ways to commemorate the Bicentennial of the War of 1812, and a significant part of the discussion focused on ways to engage youth in the upcoming celebrations.  Over the ensuing months, Great Lakes Young Writers has taken a leadership role in enlisting the support of a growing number of individuals and organizations from throughout the Great Lakes region and beyond in developing the Arts Across the Waters project.

 

"From the earliest times, the wonderment of the Great Lakes has been inspirational in defining the heritage of her peoples, from the wealth of aboriginal cultural traditions (dance, art, music, and storytelling) to the modern age, where her institutions and artists are globally renowned.  How better to spur on the next generation of Great Lakes artists than connecting them both geographically and environmentally to the artists/mentors and institutions which made the region great?  Thus Arts Across the Waters creates wholly new and fresh dynamics which bring together the basin's historic and arts communities in a way that positively commemorates a dark chapter in our common past--the upcoming commemoration of the War of 1812---- through supporting cooperative, multinational, and community-based heritage/arts projects enriching the lives of our young and also serving to foster a greater sense of overall regional pride."

Tom Leonard, Director, Great Lakes Young Writers

 

MISSION STATEMENT

The mission of Great Lakes Young Writers is to support and encourage youth to express their ideas through the writing arts and other cultural media.

GOALS & OBJECTIVES

• Strengthen the writing arts communities in the Great Lakes states and provinces to construct a proven writing arts model program;
  
• Encourage young writers to develop their unique talents and voices.
  
• Engage youth throughout the process of design, development, and implementation;
  
• Nurture writing arts and cultural programs in the Great Lakes region;
  
• Raise awareness of Great Lakes literary traditions by encouraging a writers network and facilitating writing programs;
  
• Develop and strengthen partnerships with existing writing arts and cultural programs, as well as with academia;
  
• Promote and coordinate writing arts workshops, retreats, and seminars in writing arts and related cultural endeavors; and
• Promote a better understanding between people despite differing backgrounds and customs to encourage compassion and respect for all people