High School Literary Festival
We write. We read. We share.This day-long event celebrates the writing and reading high school students and faculty engage with in creative writing, literary magazine, and book clubs. The festival brings together students and faculty to write and read, to explore best practices in the fields of writing, literature, and publishing, and to learn from experts and each other. Features Faculty from University of Indianapolis, Franklin Community High School, and Portage High School.
Saturday, February 28, 2026
- Time: 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. ET (Registration table opens at 9:40 a.m.)
- Location: Good Hall, 4001 Otterbein Ave, Indianapolis, IN 46227
Schedule
Welcome session located in Good Hall (GH) 302, followed by a short break.
| Location | Workshop |
|---|---|
|
GH 300 & online |
Reading Movie Adaptations Movie adaptations of books translate literature for a new audience and in a new medium; they also represent a critical (and sometimes totally different!) interpretation of the story. In this session, we will compare and contrast movie adaptations and their literary sources and try to figure out why the book and its movie are often so different. Maybe we'll even decide which is better: the book or the movie. |
|
GH 302 |
The Image in Poetry: This Place Could Be Beautiful In this session, we’ll dig into the ways poets use images, from haiku to extended metaphor, and then roll up our sleeves and use these building blocks to make poems of our own. |
|
GH 302 |
Short Story, Big Tension In this fiction session, we'll explore and practice ways of adding layers of tension to your stories. |
BREAK
| Location | Workshop |
|---|---|
|
GH 300 & online |
Digital Storytelling Workshop This workshop will guide us through the creative process of crafting digital narratives with multimodal techniques. Through guided brainstorming, we will learn how to develop story concepts while combining various visuals and text to create engaging digital stories. Collaborative fun exercises encourage feedback and promote creativity. By the end of the workshop, we will create a digital story that reflects our unique voices and personalities and talk about how to share them on social media platforms. |
|
GH 302 |
What Editors Want: Literary Magazine Focus This publishing discussion, led by editorial staff of FCHS’ Bear Attack and UIndy’s Etchings Magazine, will guide conversation that focuses on literary magazine editors’ expectations of writers and how writers can set themselves up for success when they submit creative work. |
|
GH 308 |
Read a Poem, Write a Poem, Share a Poem: The Art of Modeling In this creative writing session, we will read Ada Limón’s poem, “Before.” After sharing our observations, time will be devoted to writing our own poems based off Limón and a writing prompt. Participants will also share their drafts with each other and the group. The goals are threefold: 1) Read something new, 2) Write something new, and 3) Share your voice out loud. |
Lunch in UIndy cafeteria.
| Location | Workshop |
|---|---|
|
GH 300 & online |
Hindsight: Developing Resilience Writing Poetry In this poetry workshop, we’ll explore how writing to your younger self can develop resilience and interesting poems. |
|
GH 302 |
Make It Happen: Maintaining Your Writing Practice This discussion, led by high school faculty, will guide conversation that focuses on how we can maintain our own creative writing practice in the midst of busy schedules. |
|
GH 308 |
Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks: Reading Modern Takes on Medieval Stories Modern takes on medieval stories are often fun and accessible, and are found across genres; these adaptations also tell us about ourselves, as writers have crafted the medieval material for the |
BREAK
| Location | Workshop |
|---|---|
|
GH 300 & online |
Suddenly, Story: Fiction in 1000 Words or Less In this fiction writing session, we will look at examples of flash fiction—i.e., stories under 1000 words—to dissect and marvel at how they tell a story in such a compressed space. And then we will write a flash story of our own, from beginning to middle to end. |
|
GH 302 |
Advisors Connect! In this session, club advisors are invited to connect and have a conversation about getting creative writing, book, lit mag, etc. clubs started, as well as best practices for maintaining engagement and growth. |
|
GH 308 |
Sidekicks are People Too: Reading Sidekick Stories You can find sidekicks almost anywhere! Star Wars, Marvel, DC, Stranger Things, even the Great British Baking Show!(?) In this session, we'll do a deep dive into why so many stories have sidekicks and what it means to have a fully developed sidekick in your story. |
BREAK
Shout-outs and share-outs: networking, photos, and farewells
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