YAWP Summer 2019 Playlist Series: Wannabe

In anticipation of 75-degree-or-higher weather, endless waffle cones of ice cream, and later curfews, we’ve asked teen instructors to describe their upcoming teen class as a pop song. Our first instructor in our YAWP Summer Playlist series is Katie Bayerl, author of A Psalm for Lost Girls.

My song would have to be “Wannabe” by Spice Girls. Because with YAWP, “the friendships never end.”

Collaborative, upbeat, sometimes awkward, always energizing and fun? GrubStreet and the Spice Girls have a surprising amount in common! (Or do they?) I chose this terrible, terrible theme song mostly in jest but also because I believe all of us writers “gotta get with our friends”—and that’s exactly what happens in the YAWP writing workshops! In my upcoming classes, you’ll write a lot and learn a ton (I’ll invite you to “tell me what you want, etc” so we can make the most of each day), and you’ll also spend lots of time sharing stories and inspiration with your peers. That's where the best ideas are born. You'll come away with many promising pages written and a sassy band of writer pals who are ready make the creative magic last forever… or, you know, at least until your next YAWP class.

Instructor Katie Bayerl’s So You Want to Write a Novel? begins Monday, June 24th and Crafting Scintillating Scenes begins Monday, July 29th. Sign up today! Scholarships are available.

Young adult author Katie Bayerl has built a career around words and teaching. She has taught writing in high schools, nonprofits, detention facilities, and online; served as Features Editor of a youth-generated magazine; directed the communications efforts of a Boston-based education nonprofit; and helped to capture the stories of dozens of schools and nonprofits in Boston and across the country.

She currently teaches classes for teens and adults at GrubStreet, with a focus on the novel. Katie holds two degrees in education and and a Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is a winner of the PEN New England/Susan P Bloom Children's Book Discovery Award and was honored to serve as the 2018 Michael L Printz Author in Residence and the 2018 Lois Lowry Fellow. Her debut young adult novel, A Psalm for Lost Girls (Putnam/Penguin) was named a top pick from Amazon and Book-a-Million, a "can't miss" by Boston Magazine, and a 2019 TAYSHAS selection by the Texas Library Association. Katie will read anything with great sentences, but she's especially in love with haunting literary fiction, atmospheric mysteries, and young adult fiction that tackles big questions with honesty, wit, and heart.

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