GrubStreet is thrilled to congratulate 2023 Teen Fellow Isabella Leith! Two of Isabella’s poems were awarded Gold Keys in the prestigious Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. She crafted these pieces during the Teen Summer Writing Fellowship. Isabella would like to thank GrubStreet’s YAWP (Young Adult Writers Program) team for all their unwavering support, care, and encouragement.

We asked Isabella how her time at GrubStreet influenced her accomplishment:

“Attending the YAWP fellowship genuinely helped me to grow as a writer and an artist, and allowed me to build confidence in the words I create. I am so grateful for my time with the program, and I would not have won these awards without the time and effort put in by all the incredible people at GrubStreet.

I also wanted to add that in December, I got into Harvard College and am enrolled in their class of 2028. In my personal essay, I wrote about how poetry has helped shape who I am and has allowed me to understand my identity in a new way. In the essay, I wrote about the open mic at GrubStreet and how the experience reading there offered a whole new perspective on the power of my words. Thank you all so much for giving me, and countless other young writers, that confidence and sense of self-love that comes with writing from the heart, and having our writing be seen and appreciated.”

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