Students are placed according to their English proficiency, based on a short online assessment before arrival. Classes are small and collaborative, designed to meet each learner at their level and to help them advance quickly through means of communication and feedback.

Mornings will focus on developing language through discussion, reading, and writing. In the afternoons, students join arts workshops that connect their English language practice with creative artistic expression.

Evenings will offer community activities, open studio time, quiet study in the dorms, and a chance to relax and make friends. A planned excursion will offer the chance to explore Southern California’s natural beauty and to get out to a major urban destination as well, all while practicing English in genuinely immersive situations.

to see the list of items to bring to Idyllwild

Donald Duffy is an educator specializing in Language Learning and curriculum design. He has experience directing international student programs, teaching English and World Languages in boarding schools, and creating immersive, project-based learning environments. His work emphasizes authentic communication, cultural literacy, and creative expression through art and language.

Check out our Kids & Teens FAQ’s to learn more about our summer programs

Tom Laichas is author of Three Hundred Streets of Venice California (FutureCycle Press, 2023), Sixty-Three Photographs at the End of a War (3.1 Press, 2021), and Empire of Eden (The High Window Press, 2019). He holds a Ph.D. in History from UCLA, and taught U.S. and world history courses for over thirty years at the high school and college levels. His recent work has appeared or is forthcoming in Prairie Schooner, Plume, The Los Angeles Times, The Irish Times, Blue Unicorn, and elsewhere. The featured American poet at the High Window Review (UK), his work has also won awards from Jabberwock Review, Puerto del Sol, and Prime 53. He lives with his family in Venice, California.

Lynne Thompson was Los Angeles’ 4th Poet Laureate and received a Poet Laureate Fellowship from the Academy of American Poets. In 2024, She represented the City of Los Angeles at the Marathon Poétique at the Paris Olympic Games. Thompson is the author of four collections of poetry: Beg No Pardon, winner of the Perugia Press Prize and the Great Lakes Colleges Associations New Writers Award; Start With A Small Guitar (What Books Press); Fretwork, winner of the 2019 Marsh Hawk Poetry Prize selected by Jane Hirshfield; and, Blue on a Blue Palette, published by BOA Editions in April 2024. The recipient of multiple awards, Thompson has taught for the University of Reno Low Residency Program, Napa Valley Writers Conference, and the Central Coast Writers Conference, among others. Recent work appears in Best American Poetry, Kenyon Review, Ploughshares and the anthology Dear Yusef: Essays, Letters and Poems For and About One Mr. Komunyakaa, to name a few. A lawyer by training, Thompson serves on the Boards of The Poetry Foundation and the Los Angeles Review of Books and is the current President of Cave Canem.

Handouts will be issued in conjunction with the workshop with the expectation that students will read in advance and participate in class discussions.

For Lynne Thompson’s workshop: The Making of a Poem (edited by Mark Strand and Eavan Boland), Personal Best (edited by Erin Belieu and Carl Phillips), and any volume of Best American Poetry (pay particular attention to the poets’ comments following the poems).

We will be introducing a new schedule for Writer’s Week 2026! All workshops will begin at 9AM and include a lunch break from 12-1PM, concluding the day at 4PM.

Included in the week-long programming, we will be hosting featured events such as Craft Talks and Lectures. These will be hosted twice a day: the first session starting at 2:30PM and the second session at 7:30PM.

On Wednesday, we will have a rest period. During this time, you will be able to attend optional sessions, an afternoon open mic, and Beat Nite at Middle Ridge Winery and Galleries in Idyllwild’s town center!

Julia Ingalls‘ stories, essays, reviews, and other work regularly appear in Guernica, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Los Angeles Times, Salon, BOOM California, Crimereads, KCRW, and Dwell, among other publications, anthologies, and public radio programs. Her in-person literary reading series, “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” has received rave reviews in The Los Angeles Times and The L.A. Weekly, and features emerging and established novelists, poets, essayists, graphic novelists, and short story writers. As a moderator and host, she relishes facilitating in-depth discussions of books and the ever-evolving role of literature in our contemporary society.

A week before class begins, please email the draft of a personal essay, memoir, or an idea for a subject you’d like to write about to subtextdesign@gmail.com. For the first day of our workshop, please bring something with which to write (a pen and paper is preferable).

We will be introducing a new schedule for Writer’s Week 2026! All workshops will begin at 9AM and include a lunch break from 12-1PM, concluding the day at 4PM.

Included in the week-long programming, we will be hosting featured events such as Craft Talks and Lectures. These will be hosted twice a day: the first session starting at 2:30PM and the second session at 7:30PM.

On Wednesday, we will have a rest period. During this time, you will be able to attend optional sessions, an afternoon open mic, and Beat Nite at Middle Ridge Winery and Galleries in Idyllwild’s town center!

I will create a packet (in PDF form) for each class that features relevant examples of excellence from a diverse group of writers. We will review the readings from the packets in class together.

Esinam Bediako is a Ghanaian American writer from Detroit. She is the author of the Ann Petry Award-winning novel, Blood on the Brain (Red Hen Press, 2024), as well as the essay/poetry chapbook, Self-Talk (Porkbelly Press, 2025). Her work has appeared in Porter House Review, Cathexis Northwest Press, Great River Review, North American Review, and Southern Humanities Review. She has worked as a high school English teacher and administrator, a creative writing and journalism instructor, a textbook editor, and, during one nerve-wracking summer, a pharmacy technician. Esi writes and edits for the Spondylitis Association of America, a nonprofit supporting people with spondylitis, a chronic inflammatory spine condition. She lives with her family in Claremont, CA.

Website:

Instagram:

The lab fee covers all course readings and handouts.

A laptop or notebook and writing utensil for in-class activities.

We will be introducing a new schedule for Writer’s Week 2026! All workshops will begin at 9AM and include a lunch break from 12-1PM, concluding the day at 4PM.

Included in the week-long programming, we will be hosting featured events such as Craft Talks and Lectures. These will be hosted twice a day: the first session starting at 2:30PM and the second session at 7:30PM.

On Wednesday, we will have a rest period. During this time, you will be able to attend optional sessions, an afternoon open mic, and Beat Nite at Middle Ridge Winery and Galleries in Idyllwild’s town center!

No portfolio required. Open to all levels, from enthusiastic beginners to emerging and established writers.

Brendan Constantine is a poet based in Los Angeles. His work has appeared in many standards, including Poetry, The Nation, Best American Poetry, Tin House, Ploughshares, and Poem-a-Day.  A popular performer, Brendan has presented his work to audiences throughout the U.S. and Europe, also appearing on NPR’s All Things Considered, TED ED, numerous podcasts, and YouTube. He currently teaches at the Windward School, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Midnight Mission. Since 2017 he has been developing workshops for writer living with Aphasia and Traumatic Brain Injuries. His fifth collection of poems, ‘The Opposites Game,’ is forthcoming 2026 from Red Hen Press.

The lab fee covers all workshop materials and printed handouts

Bring your preferred means of writing – pen and paper, laptop, etc.

Poetry:

• Fear, Some by Douglas Kearney (Red Hen Press)
• Alive Together by Lisel Mueller (Louisianna State University Press)
• Selected Poems of Gwendolyn Brooks (Harper Perennial)
• Song by Brigit Pegeen Kelly (Boa Editions)
• The Oblivion HA-HA by James Tate (Carnegie Mellon)
• Cold Pluto by Mary Ruefle (Carnegie Mellon)

On Writing Poetry:

• The Uncertain Certainty by Charles Simic (University of Michigan Press)
• Glitter in the Blood by Mindy Nettifee (Write Bloody Publishing)
• Figures of Thought by Howard Nemerov (D.R. Godine)

We will be introducing a new schedule for Writer’s Week 2026! All workshops will begin at 9AM and include a lunch break from 12-1PM, concluding the day at 4PM.

Included in the week-long programming, we will be hosting featured events such as Craft Talks and Lectures. These will be hosted twice a day: the first session starting at 2:30PM and the second session at 7:30PM.

On Wednesday, we will have a rest period. During this time, you will be able to attend optional sessions, an afternoon open mic, and Beat Nite at Middle Ridge Winery and Galleries in Idyllwild’s town center!

Writers will start at their own levels and no experience is necessary. Each session is designed to challenge and inspire students in an atmosphere of encouragement and inclusion. Brendan Constantine, the workshop’s faculty leader, has worked for years to develop a unique teaching style which both empowers new voices and allows seasoned writers to flourish. Sufferers of ‘Writer’s Block’ are strongly encouraged!

-Notebook
-Pen
-Laptop (optional)

And here is a list of random things you may also want to have ready:

-a good memory
-a bad memory
-a favorite time of day
-a favorite kind of weather
-a ‘good luck’ charm
-a random phrase or lyric that keeps playing in your head
-a dream
-a poem or story you admire by someone else

Phones and other electronic devices are not allowed during class time in Children’s Center. Day students should not bring a personal device. Residential students should leave devices in their dorm room, or will turn in their device to the teacher during instructional time.

A day in the workshop will include writing, reading, discussion, critique, and a lot of support. Students develop close-reading skills as they examine a variety of styles and approaches to writing. They’ll also develop their most promising pieces and workshop them with their classmates, receiving thorough feedback from peers and the teacher. 

Students should expect to write every day and maintain focus. There will also be plenty ‘down time’ for cultivating new ideas and community.

Your student will be following this basic schedule each weekday:

Day students should be dropped off at Children’s Center between 8:15 – 8:25 am (breakfast is not included for day students)

Residential Students will be walked to breakfast as a group and then to Children’s Center

8:30 am: Morning Sing/Greeting
9:00 am – 11:20 am: Morning Classes (snack provided)
11:30 am – 12:15 pm: Lunch in the Dining Hall (provided for residential and day students)
12:30 pm – 3:45 pm: Afternoon Classes (snack provided)

Day students should be picked up from Children’s Center at 4:00 pm.

Residential students will be walked as a group to afternoon activities with the RA’s.

Day students will be allowed to use the pool on Tuesday – Friday from 4:00 – 5:45 pm with the supervision of a parent or guardian. (Enrolled children only, please. No siblings or friends.) Lifeguards will be present.

Saturday classes are at the discretion of the teacher. Some programs will meet on the Saturday between the two week session. Please watch out for more information from the teacher. Sundays are off for everyone, with no mandatory classes held.

Brendan Constantine is the author of four books of poetry and his work has appeared in many standards including Poetry, The Nation, Best American Poetry, Prairie Schooner, Field, and Poem-A-Day. A popular performer, he has read for audiences throughout the U.S. and Europe, also appearing on NPR, TED ED, numerous podcasts, and YouTube. He holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and currently teaches at both the Windward School and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Since 2017, Brendan has been developing poetry workshops for people with Aphasia.

Website:
X: @poetbrendan
Instagram: @brendanconstantine

Check out our Kids & Teens FAQ’s to learn more about summer programs

Writers will start at their own levels, no experience is necessary. Each session is designed to challenge and inspire students in an atmosphere of encouragement and inclusion. Constantine has worked for years to develop a unique teaching style which both empowers new voices and allows seasoned writers to flourish. Sufferers of ‘Writer’s Block’ are strongly encouraged!

• Notebook
• Pen
• Laptop (optional)And here is a list of random things you may also want to have ready:
• a good memory
• a bad memory
• a favorite time of day
• a favorite kind of weather
• a ‘good luck’ charm
• a random phrase or lyric that keeps playing in your head
• a dream
• a poem or story you admire by someone else

Some (but not all) of our routines:

Be prepared to write during every class. A willingness to experiment and take risks is encouraged. We will also be emphasizing discussions of craft, ways to test its limits (if any), and what it’s like to be a contemporary author. Likewise, students will also gain insight on teaching. Indeed, when our two weeks are over, you’ll be able to lead your own workshop.

A typical day consists of writing, reading, discussion time, and usually a few games or surprises. Students develop their most promising work with their classmates, receiving thorough feedback from peers and the teacher.

Students should expect to write every day and maintain focus. There will also be plenty ‘down time’ for cultivating new ideas and community.

Brendan Constantine is the author of four books of poetry and his work has appeared in many standards including Poetry, The Nation, Best American Poetry, Prairie Schooner, Field, and Poem-A-Day. A popular performer, he has read for audiences throughout the U.S. and Europe, also appearing on NPR, TED ED, numerous podcasts, and YouTube. He holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and currently teaches at both the Windward School and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Since 2017, Brendan has been developing poetry workshops for people with Aphasia.

Website:
Instagram:

Check out our Kids & Teens FAQ’s to learn more about our summer programs