This workshop is for youth in the 6th-12th grade age range.

The US has no official language, though almost every facet of the American Educational system neglects the languages of many students. Students that were bilingual or monolingual in one language before entering school, sometimes lose or fail to develop their home language. This workshop will provide prompts and exercises to encourage students to use their home/heritage languages in their creative writing whether it is in their stories, poems, or personal essays.

Cecilia Rodríguez Milanés’ work has appeared in South Writ Large, Acentos Review, LitWrit Bangladesh, Azahares, The Antonym, Guernica, Kweli Journal, Literary Mama, and The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature. Her short story collections, Oye What I’m Gonna Tell You from Ig Publishers which released Marielitos, Balseros, and Other Exiles in 2009, were #4 and #5 on the Guardian’s list of 10 of the best books to help understand Cuba. Everyday Chica, winner of the 2010 Longleaf Press Poetry Prize, was followed by Everyday Chica, Music and More, a poetry CD set to Caribbean folk music and released in 2011. She is Professor of English at the University of Central Florida, where she teaches Latinx literature, the work of Women Writers of Color, and creative writing.