Category: Press

July 9, 2019 Is teaching writing as important as teaching reading? When we think of literacy, we tend to think of reading. Schools, literary nonprofits and philanthropists often focus on encouraging students to be strong readers with solid comprehension skills. While those skills are crucial, many experts say critical and creative writing skills are equally…

August 14, 2019 HEALING THROUGH STORY (First published by the Columbia University School of Social Work) Danielle Sheeler (in red T-shirt) with a group of her writing students at Writopia (taken with their permission). At Writopia Lab, Danielle Sheeler (MSW’19) has created an innovative narrative therapy program for youth. It’s late afternoon, and inside a…

May 20, 2010 Writopia Lab’s Best Playwrights’ Festival, which featured plays by Writopia Lab students produced and performed by professionals, was mentioned in the New York Times!

11/14/2022 CUNY TV Writopia Spotlight on CUNY TV

06/28/2022 The Village Voice Writopia Gets Kids to Tell Their Stories By Rebecca Wallace-Segall In 1997, I interned at the Village Voice for Ron Plotkin, the legendary longtime Letters page editor. Within a few weeks, I was pitching and writing pieces about New York’s culturally rich but marginalized, mistreated, or stereotyped children and communities. I…

03/30/2022 Afterschool Matters Partnering for Literacy Impact By Susan Matloff-Nieves & Rebecca Wallace-Segall All young people have stories to tell. Yet when children and teens declare that they hate writing or are too embarrassed to admit they like it, elevating their voices becomes challenging. It is urgent that educators, policy makers, youth development workers and…

06/01/2021 Ridgefield’s HamletHub Ridgefield Resident Sofia Schaffer is Writing a Name for Herself Written by Eric Freed Sofia Schaffer, a Ridgefielder who recently completed her sophomore year at Hopkins School in New Haven, earned top honors by being recognized among the 2021 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards national Gold Medal recipients. The awards program, now…

September 14, 2011 By Gidon Belmaker NEW YORKWritopia Lab is located in a home-like office in the Upper West Side, nearly unnoticeable from the outside. Only a few placards in the windows indicate that something special is happening behind the door. Writopia is a community of young writers, aged 8-18, who learn together to bring…

June 15, 2011 Last Saturday the Voracious Reader, Larchmont, N.Y., celebrated the grand opening of its new café, called “a proper cup.” Owner Francine Lucidon and Mayor Josh Mandell cut the ribbon as readers/tea drinkers looked on. Besides free chocolate, free posters and craft making, events included signings by Rob Sharenow, author of Berlin Boxing…

May 16, 2011 By JAMES BARRON Dan Kitrosser said the dress rehearsal had gone well. “I knew because the lighting designer asked how old was the kid who wrote this play, and I got to say, ‘12,’ ” he said. “Every single show we go through, it’s the same question: ‘How old was the person…