Young Poets Workshops is an international, Discord-based community focused on providing free and accessible opportunities to all young poets.All poets 13-22 are welcome!

Our Team

Ivi Hua
Co-Founder & Co-President

Ivi Hua is an Asian-American writer, dreamer, & poet. A Pushcart & Best of the Net nominee, her work has received recognition from the Pulitzer Center & the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. In 2022, she co-founded Young Poets Workshops. Ivi believes in the initiation of change through language, & you can find her @livia.writes.stories on Instagram.

Fiona Jin
Co-Founder & Co-President

Fiona Jin is a Chinese American writer in the Chicago Metro Area. A 2024 YoungArts Winner with Distinction in Writing (Poetry), her work is also in CHERRY MOON: Emerging Writers from the Asian Diaspora (GASHER Press), amongst others, and recognized by NCTE, the Pulitzer Center, and Columbia College Chicago, and more.

Jenna Nesky
Co-Founder & Co-President

Jenna Nesky is a senior at Carver Center for Arts and Technology. From Maryland, she is seventeen years old. She is a 2022 graduate of the Adroit Mentorship Program, and has been writing poetry for three years.

Kyla Guimaraes
Executive Board Intern

Kyla Guimaraes is a writer and high school senior from New York City. Her work can be found in SUNHOUSE Literary, The Penn Review, Aster Lit, the aurora journal, and elsewhere. Kyla is a poetry editor at Eucalyptus Lit and 2024 Adroit Journal Summer Mentee in Poetry. In addition to writing, Kyla likes puns and going on walks in the rain.

Julia Liu
Executive Board Intern

Julia Liu is a Chinese-American poet currently living in New England. A Pushcart Prize nominee and an American Voices Winner, her work has received recognition from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, Pulitzer Center, and the Connecticut Poetry Society. Her work also appears or is forthcoming in Eunoia Review, CUTBOW Quarterly, Hot Pot Magazine, among others. When not writing, she enjoys cafe hopping, completing crossword puzzles, and watching too many films. Find her on Twitter @byjulialiu.

Ela Kini
Executive Board Intern

Ela Kini is a writer, student, and daughter of immigrants based in New York. She has been recognized by YoungArts, the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers, and the Nancy Thorp Poetry Prize. Her work appears in Palette Poetry, AAWW, Rust & Moth, and other corners of the literary world.

Helen Gu
Executive Board Intern

Helen Gu is a writer based in San Jose, California. An alum of the Iowa Young Writers Studio, her work appears or is forthcoming in Eucalyptus Lit, Eunoia Review, Scapegoat Review, Inflectionist Review, and others. She has been recognized by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, Bay Area Creative Foundation, and Bow Seat Ocean Awareness program. Aside from writing, she loves milk tea, cats, and obsessing over Pride and Prejudice. She is the editor-in-chief of Winged Penny Review.

Alumni

Anna Liu
Graphic Designer

Anna Liu is a poet and creative nonfiction writer from the Greater Boston Area. Their work has been recognized by the New York Times, the National Alliance for Young Writers, Bennington Young Writers Awards, and The Poetry Society, among others. Their work is also published or forthcoming in Copper Nickel, West Branch, and more. You can find them on twitter @cyoxyx.

About Us

Young Poets Workshops is an international Discord-based community (est. 2022) of high school and college-aged writers regularly hosting events open to any young poet (aged 13–22) via Zoom.Founded by teen poets Ivi Hua, Fiona Jin, and Jenna Nesky (learn more about our team here), YPW recognizes the inaccessibility of writing resources and community within the teen writing world and beyond. We are committed to cultivating a community without barriers, making quality events, connections, and resources free and accessible to all. In the past, we have hosted book talks with young authors (providing free PDFs of the book), open mics, themed and unthemed workshops, and more. Past guests include Daniel Liu, Saturn Browne, MJ Gomez, Fiona Lu, Natalie D.C., Helena Brittain, and Rho Bloom-Wang.

Young Poets Workshops is a 100% volunteer-run organization.

Despite this, YPW believes in compensating creatives for their work, and pay writers we collaborate with (unless specifically requested otherwise) for their time. As an independent collective, we are proud to have received substantial grant funding from the We Are Family Foundation's Youth to the Front Fund, the GripTape Learning Challenge, and the Incandescent Review Microgrants.

Join our Discord here!

Additionally, feel free to reach out with any questions, comments, or ideas about collaborations at [email protected]! Our Instagram is @youngpoetsworkshops and our Twitter is @YngPoetWorkshop.

Summer Workshop Series!

Recent Events

Selected Past Events