{"id":903,"date":"2025-12-22T11:05:31","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T16:05:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.writopialab.org\/writopiaspeaks\/?p=903"},"modified":"2026-02-10T13:21:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T18:21:02","slug":"dc-fall-reading-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.writopialab.org\/writopiaspeaks\/dc-fall-reading-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"DC Writers Share the Accomplishments They Are Most Proud Of"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written by Rita Feinstein, D.C. Regional Manager<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the evening of December 11th, 2025, DC families braved the cold to come support their young writers at our Fall Reading at the Tenley-Friendship Library. Co-hosts Gabe and Mason\u2014members of our advanced teen Creative Portfolio program\u2014brought flair, humor, and natural charisma to the event. We had a great lineup of readers who shared a diverse array of original fiction and poetry, from the dark and satirical to the humorous and whimsical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These readings are not only a warm, celebratory showcase; they\u2019re also a reminder of the strength of our community and how much incredible support our writers receive from their workshop leaders (shoutout to instructor Bailey for showing up for her writers!), their families, and each other. We can always count on parents, grandparents, siblings, and friends to ask thoughtful questions, and for our writers to light up with eagerness to give equally thoughtful responses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We usually close the Q&A by asking all the writers what they love about writing, but this time around\u2014knowing how self-critical they can be and how perfectionism can be so paralyzing\u2014I asked them to share one writing accomplishment they\u2019re proud of from this fall. Their answers ranged from submitting to the Scholastic Writing Awards to compiling a vast amount of research for a historical fantasy story to pivoting to a different project when they felt stuck. It was great to hear everyone celebrate their own hard work, and an important reminder that all aspects of the writing process\u2014planning, drafting, revising, submitting, and sharing\u2014can be equally joyful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Readers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nina, Age 9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alessa, Age 11<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sully, Age 14<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Theo, Age 14<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ellen, Age 16<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cindy, Age 17<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GiGi, Age 17<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Viraaj, Age 17<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brian, Age 17<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Rita Feinstein, D.C. Regional Manager On the evening of December 11th, 2025, DC families braved the cold to come support their young writers at our Fall Reading at the Tenley-Friendship Library. Co-hosts Gabe and Mason\u2014members of our advanced teen Creative Portfolio program\u2014brought flair, humor, and natural charisma to the event. We had a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events","entry entry-center"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9aRpX-ez","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":665,"url":"https:\/\/www.writopialab.org\/writopiaspeaks\/dc-scholastic-ceremony-2025\/","url_meta":{"origin":903,"position":0},"title":"DC Scholastic Ceremony 2025","author":"Rita Feinstein","date":"March 18, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"By Peter Quinn-Jacobs, Operations and Scholastic Awards Affiliate Manager, Writopia Lab and Rita Feinstein, Regional Manager, Writopia DC On Sunday, March 9th, we celebrated the regional winners of the Scholastic Writing Awards in the DC Metro Area. The ceremony, held at the UDC Theater of the Arts, opened with a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Events"","block_context":{"text":"Events","link":"https:\/\/www.writopialab.org\/writopiaspeaks\/category\/events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":724,"url":"https:\/\/www.writopialab.org\/writopiaspeaks\/dc-end-of-year-reading\/","url_meta":{"origin":903,"position":1},"title":"Celebrating a Year of Writing with our DC Community","author":"Rita Feinstein","date":"June 12, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Written by Rita Feinstein, DC Regional Manager Date: Tuesday, June 3rd, 2025Location: Tenley-Friendship Library We were blown away by the turnout for our End-of-Year Reading! We invited all our young writers to share an excerpt of their work with a supportive audience of friends, family, and fellow writers. Tara Prakash,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Events"","block_context":{"text":"Events","link":"https:\/\/www.writopialab.org\/writopiaspeaks\/category\/events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":981,"url":"https:\/\/www.writopialab.org\/writopiaspeaks\/my-many-firsts-at-the-first-ever-dc-winter-retreat\/","url_meta":{"origin":903,"position":2},"title":"My Many Firsts at the First Ever DC Winter Retreat","author":"Madeline Arcaro","date":"April 29, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Written by Madeline Arcaro, Administrative Associate and Assistant Instructor In the spirit of winter relaxation and renewal, on the weekend of February 13th we held our first-ever DC-area winter retreat at Camp Hanover in Mechanicsville, Virginia! 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