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SWEET 16 AND FREQUENTLY KISSED. . .BY THE MUSE
U.VA.'S YOUNG WRITERS WORKSHOP CELEBRATES RITE OF PASSAGE

 	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., July 30 -- Sixteen years ago this
summer, the University of Virginia's Young Writers Workshop welcomed
its first summer workshop of 75 teenage aspiring poets and novelists.
On July 30th it will open its doors to 100 of its alumni for a
five-day reunion celebration. 
	Workshop graduates from 21 to 35 will experience days much
like those they remember as students.  They'll stay in dorms, attend
master workshops in playwriting, poetry, songwriting, fiction and
magazine journalism in the mornings, and participate in discussion
groups and small workshops led by visiting writers and fellow alumni
in the afternoon. 
	The first evening will feature a jazz/poetry performance by
poet Cornelius Eady, author of "You Don't Miss Your Water" and
"Victims of the Latest Dance Craze," which won the Lamont Prize for
the best second book by an American poet. Eady has taught in the
program and will be appearing with Code Magenta, a local jazz band.
	For old times' sake, the "Writer's Cafe," held on Thursday and
Friday evenings, will feature readings and performances by some of the
more illustrious alumni including 10 career writer alumni; Ingrid
Stack, founder of D.C.'s first all-girl punk band, Peyote Circus; and
Jeff Miller, musician and lyricist, who recently released his first
CD.  On Saturday alumni will attend another Young Writer's Workshop
tradition, a banquet in the Rotunda at which Rita Dove, U.Va.
professor and former U.S. poet laureate, will read.
	"Kids remember this as a transforming experience," said Margo
Figgins, program director. "Students who do this program become
life-long friends."
	"I'm eager to see people I knew and who interested me," said
Jennifer Buxton Haupt, who studied fiction writing as a student in the
program and went on to receive her master of fine arts in creative
writing from U.Va.  "The Young Writers Workshop was the first time I
was really taken seriously and was in a real group of people who were
serious about writing." Haupt is in her second year of teaching in the
program. 
	Alumna-turned-workshop-teacher Liz Ahl, a poet, started
attending the program as an eigth-grade student. She later became a
counselor, then teaching assistant while pursuing various degrees in
creative writing and poetry. "Teaching here is a lot of fun. Each time
I come back, it's like connecting to a part of myself that is younger,
and I'm refreshed by the feeling of being amazed at the possibilities
of poetry." Ahl is looking forward to taking a workshop in song
writing at the reunion, something she never did as a student.
	The nationally acclaimed Young Writers Workshop was started in
1982 by U.Va. Curry School of Education professors Margo A. Figgins
and Joe Strzepak. Guided by a staff of published and professional
writers, 192 teenagers each summer live and work as artists in a
supportive, noncompetitive environment. Teaching writers have included
Gregory Orr, director of U.Va.'s MFA Program in Creative Writing and
winner of the Virginia Prize for Poetry; U.Va. professor Sydney Blair,
author of the novel "Buffalo;" Nick Bozanic, poet-in-residence at
Interlochen Arts Academy and winner of a 1988 P.E.N. fiction award;
U.Va. music professor John D'earth, jazz artist, composer and
arranger. D'earth recently toured with jazz musician Bruce Hornsby. He
is a recent recipient of a National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Panel
grant to record his compositions. 
	Guest writers have included: Henry Taylor, Pulitzer Prize
recipient for poetry; William Hoffer, journalist and author of
"Midnight Express;" U.Va. professor and novelist George Garrett,
awarded the 1989 T.S. Eliot Prize for lifetime achievement in creative
writing; U.Va. professor Charles Wright, whose many volumes of poetry
include "Bloodlines" and "China Trace." He was the 1996 recipient of
the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize for the most outstanding book of
poetry in the U.S. for his book, "Chickamauga."
	###
July 29, 1997
	For more information contact Margo Figgins at (804) 924-0766
or (804) 924-0836.  Television reporters should call our TV News
Office at (804) 924-7550.