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Welcome, Class of 2k16!
This summer's newest crew of young writers set us on fire with their words. From the open mic to the poetry slam to the Writers Cafe, these young writers took every opportunity to rock the mic—and when we ran out of open mics for them to rock, they created their own. Next time one of those think pieces about the death of literature gets you down, consider this: these incredible young writers organized their own readings on the weekends, and spent hours sharing work, snacks and wild applause. Literature is alive and thriving.
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The imagination and innovation in this summer's young writers speaks for itself. Check out LIT: The YWW Anthology for a peek into the future of the written word. Then, give your ears a treat and head over to the songwriters' SoundCloud. Reading and listening to work this good is like getting a brain massage. Who doesn't need a brain massage? |
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Three cheers for the newest members of our YWW family! We can't wait to see what incredible things they get into next.
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Wild applause for our MacArthur genius
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Huge congratulations to scriptwriting alumnus Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, who was just named a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "Genius" grant. The Foundation praises Branden's work, saying "many of Jacobs-Jenkins’s plays use a historical lens to satirize and comment on modern culture, particularly the ways in which race and class are negotiated in both private and public settings. Although the provocation of his audience is purposeful, Jacobs-Jenkins’s creation of unsettling, shocking, often confrontational moments is not gratuitous; these elements are of a piece with the world he has established on stage and in the service of the story he is telling.”
In addition to the $625,000 award, Branden's play An Octoroon received a 2014 Obie Award for Best New American Play, and his play Gloria was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. His new play Everybody will premiere in January 2017 at the Signature Theatre in New York City.
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Jeff Miller (songwriting alumnus from '95 and '96, and songwriting counselor '99-2001) is now the editor of Thrillist in LA, where he writes and edits stories about everything from the Best Burgers in LA to that time he auditioned to be a zombie on the Walking Dead. He spent the early part of his writing career as a music journalist, writing for publications like Billboard and the LA Times, before transitioning into men's magazines like Maxim, where he interviewed Queens of the Stone Age and a guy who can teach dogs to sing (allegedly). In addition to his extensive and eclectic work as a writer and editor, Jeff has continued to work as a musician, first on the club circuit in LA with his band City Museum, and now as the frontman for Black Crystal Wolf Kids, the world's first indie-rock tribute band. Black Crystal Wolf Kids can be found wherever there's a good time, playing songs by Coachella-era rockers like Arcade Fire and Black Keys at festivals and large venues throughout Southern California and beyond. Jeff's also pivoting into TV: he's been a guest judge on Top Chef and Epic Meal Empire (where he ate a spaghetti-filled "Death Star Meatball"—it was delicious!), and is the host of the new Travel Channel series Advance Team, or at least its pilot—depending on when you read this, he'll either be celebrating that he's going to be a real TV star, or he'll be wallowing in the fact that the show didn't get picked up. Either way, he'll be drinking lots of coffee.
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Emily Hope Price (fiction alumna, 1998) is a New York-based freelance cellist, film composer, singer/songwriter, performer, studio musician, and moonlighting illustrator. She has spent the past eight years writing, touring, and performing in the indie band Pearl and the Beard, who parted ways after releasing their third and final album summer of 2015. Emily is an avid proponent for imaginative art, music and storytelling therapy. She is an active and passionate film music composer, singer/songwriter, writing and performing across multiple genres and disciplines. Emily has performed and worked with many notable musicians including Sting on Broadway ( The Last Ship), Roger Waters, D'Angelo, Ani DiFranco, Rob Thomas, Nadia Ali, the ensemble 9 Horses, harpist Bridget Kibbey, as well as piano prodigy Emily Bear, and currently subs in Something Rotten on Broadway. She received her BFA from Utah State University, MFA from Carnegie Mellon University, and Artist Diploma from SUNY Purchase, all for Cello Performance. A solo project incorporating her experience as a classical cellist and love of electronic and experimental music, voice and ensemble composition is currently in production. She is also publishing a book of her ink artwork: Backhanded Illustrated: odd drawings of painfully honest, strange-looking people who may or may not represent actual events which may or may not have occurred.
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Share your story
Do you have news to share? Time—or dollars—to help advance YWW's future? Find out how you can become a more active part of the alumni community.
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