Teenagers sit in inflatable chairs in a dorm lobby, holding cups of fruit punch and trading laptops that are open to short stories and fantasy novels. Before lights out at this summer camp, students co-write haikus, poems limited to 17 syllables.
The McMullan Young Writers Workshop at Millsaps College in Jackson gives aspiring authors a chance to sharpen and share their work.
Fifty high school and 12 middle school students participated in themed workshops taught by published authors. The students submitted short stories, poems and novel excerpts to their instructors and peers for feedback.
Courtlandt Willingham, a Jackson native and rising junior at Mississippi School of the Arts in Brookhaven, described the workshop process as, “listen, ask questions and write.”
Willingham attended a workshop themed around folklore and mythmaking, and that provided inspiration for his poetry.
He said folklore means different things depending on the person.
“Folklore, to me, is a collection of ideas about being a Mississippian — especially a Black Mississippian,” Willingham said.
Nat Mather, left, and Scarlett Rolph, both rising seniors at high schools in Mississippi, participate in a session of the McMullen Young Writers Workshop at the Eudora Welty house in Jackson, Miss. on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. Credit: Courtesy of the Mississippi Department of Archives and HistoryThe residential workshop took place June 9-13. One day, campers attended a private craft talk and keynote speech by Jack Davis, who won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for history for his book, “The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea.”
Keynote speakers in previous years included acclaimed authors Kiese Laymon, Joyce Carol Oates and Angie Thomas.
“These young people will ask keynote authors questions that are not the standard, boring questions that adults ask,” said Jamie Dickson, a workshop instructor. He said the visiting writers are not condescending to young people.
“Someone who is truly invested in literature really understands that there’s a lot of truth to the cliche: ‘This is the next generation of writers,’” Dickson said.
Students attended lectures on screenwriting techniques, the Afrofuturism genre and the connection between artmaking and political life.
They spent an afternoon touring the Eudora Welty House and Garden.
“I’ve been in the garden before,” said Hannah King, a rising freshman at Belhaven University. “I went into the garden and wrote a poem about it. I hadn’t been able to finish it. But when I went back there, I was able to finish it — because I was touring the house.”
Instructors took students to other Jackson cultural sites, including the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, the Mississippi Museum of Art, Lemuria book store and the COFO Civil Rights Education Center at Jackson State University.
Campers at Millsaps cheered and drumrolled as their instructors went up to the podium to read in front of a handwritten poster proclaiming “Open Mic Night.”
“I think Open Mic is everyone’s favorite night,” said Syd Clay, a rising sophomore at Northwest Rankin High School.
“It’s just fun being able to have a community that you can share things with,” Clay said. “My class this year was mainly first-years, and they were all really nervous about the Open Mic. But, at the end of the night, they all loved it.”
Ebony Lumumba, an English professor and chair of the Department of English and Modern Languages at Jackson State University, speaks during a session of the McMullen Young Writers Workshop at Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss., on Wednesday, June 11, 2025. Credit: Courtesy of Liz EganThe majority of students receive merit-based scholarships, funded by donors including Margaret McMullan, a Mississippi native who has published novels, essays and short stories and whose family foundation is a financial supporter of Millsaps. Any student who wins a Gold Key at the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards can attend the camp at no cost, and Silver Key winners and Honorable Mentions receive deeply discounted rates. The camp also gives scholarships based on financial need.
Liz Egan, who heads the Center for Writers at Millsaps, coordinates the McMullan Young Writers Workshop.
“Students who could barely look you in the eye at the beginning of the week are the ones at the stage, at the mic, telling you what they’ve been up to all week,” Egan said. “We’ve helped, but it’s really [the students]. They’ve made this program what it is.”
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