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Written Answers
Statement of Purpose 
Writing Sample 
Additional Requirements 
Online Application From 
Application is closed
Between the Lines (BTL) is cultural exchange program for young writers that focuses on the art and craft of creative writing. BTL: Peace and the Writing Experience brings together international and U.S.-based students. With award-winning faculty as their mentors, participants spend 2-4 hours a day in synchronized creative writing workshops, world literature seminars and individual writing assignments.
Non-credit
Online, live
Online
Accepts International Students
Final project
Since 2008, Between the Lines (BTL) has hosted young writers at the University of Iowa for a cultural exchange program that focuses on the art and craft of creative writing. Participants ages 15-18 come together in Iowa City or online for an intensive two-week session.
BTL 2023 will transcend social distances by offering an intensive creative writing program combined with the exciting discoveries of intercultural exchange. Through honing their craft together and engaging in open-hearted discussions, a new community of young writers will connect the dots between their home cultures, sparking friendships throughout the U.S. and around the globe.
Both sessions will be led by a faculty of prize-winning poets and writers from the U.S. and abroad, who are also experienced creative writing teachers. Guest artists will bring focus to special craft topics, and participants will perform in an open mic reading. Plenty of fun social and cultural activities encourage dialogue and strengthen the bonds we build into a vibrant BTL community. At the program’s end, everyone’s new work will be published in the annual anthology and each participant will receive a graduation certificate.
In a virtual format, BTL holds 1 or 2 meetings per day, lasting 2-3 hours each. Typically, Monday/Wednesday/Friday are writing workshops and Tuesday/Thursday are literature seminars. On days with special guest seminars, BTL meets twice with a short break in between. Including daily assignments, participants can expect to dedicate a total of 4-6 hours a day to BTL activities. Workshops communicate through Zoom (audio and video on!) and writing is exchanged via private BTL groups in Write the World, an online global creative writing platform for teens.
Between the Lines: Peace and the Writing Experience will bring together 30 international (non-U.S.) and 10 U.S.-based students, ages 15–18, for two weeks of intensive BTL summer programming hosted online by IWP and the University of Iowa. The program will be virtual and free of cost for all participants.
With award-winning U.S. and international faculty as their mentors, participants spend 2–4 hours a day in synchronous creative writing workshops, world literature seminars, literary readings and Q&As with visiting authors, plus social opportunities for cultural exchange, group and individual writing assignments outside of class, and more. All programming is conducted in English.
Between the Lines: Peace and the Writing Experience is sponsored through a cooperative agreement with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State. Programming partners include the University of Iowa and Prairie Lights Bookstore.
• U.S.-based students, ages 15-18
• International student living in one of the countries participating in BTL in 2023 (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Ghana, India, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, and Zimbabwe), ages 15-18
Written Answers
Statement of Purpose
Writing Sample
Additional Requirements
Online Application From
US Students:
• Original creative prose (fiction and/or nonfiction) and/or poetry in English (6-8 pages). Book reports and other academic writing will not be accepted. You may submit one piece or several pieces of creative work to make the 6-8 page requirement. Poems may be single-spaced with multiple poems per page.
• Responses to the two Written Prompts
1. Prompt #1, 3 pages maximum:
The 2022 Between the Lines session will include discussion of identity as it relates to creative writing and the life of a writer. Please include your personal response to the following:
In our daily lives, we navigate many different roles—student, sibling, daughter, son, peer. We negotiate family, friends, religious groups, as well as class, gender, race, country, and so many other groups, adjusting the way we speak or behave to fit the demands of each encounter. As we move through the day, we work through how and why we occupy each particular role.
What do you consider to be the strongest, most central aspects of your identity?
What does it mean to you to be a member of (or seen as a member of) a particular group?
In what way does your identity influence you as a creative writer and reader?
2. Prompt #2, 400 words maximum:
An essential component of Between the Lines is encouraging participants to be vulnerable and explore the unfamiliar and unknown in a safe and supportive setting. At many points, whether in workshop or interpersonally, participants may feel out of their comfort zone. Please respond to the following:
Describe a time in your past when you had to engage with a new situation, person, or idea that initially felt uncomfortable or strange.
How did you proceed?
If you had the chance, what would you do the same, and what would you do differently?
• Write a statement of purpose describing why creative writing is important in your life, and what you hope to learn through our BTL program. (250 words maximum)
International (Non-US) Students:
1. Apply through the Cultural Affairs Office at the U.S./American Embassy in your country.
2. If they agree to nominate you, provide them with all the required information (the same as in the US Students Application):
- Creative Work
- Responses to the two Written Prompts
- Statement of Purpose
3. They will submit an application for you, including this information.
Deadline
Applications for both U.S.-based and international Between the Lines applicants have now closed.
Jul 08 - Jul 21
2 weeks
Online
The program is free of cost for all participants.
Written Answers
Statement of Purpose
Writing Sample
Additional Requirements
Online Application From
Application is closed
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