Dear Friend of Alpha,
The Alpha SF/F/H Workshop for Young Writers is truly one of a kind: a ten-day residential writing workshop that trains teens from 14 to 19 years of age in the craft of writing genre fiction. Alpha has run every summer since 2002 in Pittsburgh, PA, and the upcoming workshop may be the most exciting yet!
Alpha is still young but we’ve achieved some notable successes:
- Many of our graduates have published in major markets. You can read works by former Alphans in Boys’ Life, Realms of Fantasy, Writers of the Future, Fantasy Magazine, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, Fantastic Stories, Corpse Blossoms, Aberrant Dreams, Fantastical Visions, and other publications.
- Over 150 teenage writers have learned the tools of the trade from established professionals. Writers-in-residence including Tamora Pierce, Harry Turtledove, William Tenn, Bruce Holland Rogers, Leslie What, and Wen Spencer have shared their ideas and suggestions with up-and-coming teens.
- Alpha has introduced talented young SF/F/H authors to other people like themselves. If you love genre fiction, you probably know how hard it can be to find others who share your passion. Many first-time Alphans have never met anyone else who writes SF — until they reach Pittsburgh and are suddenly surrounded by 19 of their peers! It’s extraordinary to watch, like a summer camp where love of science fiction is an entrance requirement.
Ever since Alpha began, we’ve made it our mission to ensure that no teen accepted into the workshop must decline to attend for financial reasons. We start by limiting our tuition to the lowest possible level — a job made easier because Alpha’s entire ten-person on-campus staff volunteers their time! Even so, some students simply cannot afford the workshop fee.
That’s where you can help.
We offer a limited number of need-based scholarships each year, and rather than raise this money by increasing the tuition burden on our other students, we rely on the science fiction community to help us out. I know that you probably can’t afford to fund an entire scholarship on your own, but if you contribute $100 and a few of your friends do the same, together you can extend a full scholarship to a talented young writer.
Our goal is to fund two full and two partial scholarships this year. Can you help us reach it by contributing $50, $100, or $250 today?
Please send in your contribution through the Paypal link above! We’d like to recognize your generosity by printing your name on this website as an “Alpha Angel,” but if you’d prefer anonymity, please mention that in the “notes” section of the Paypal screen.
Update: Alpha now has 501(c)(3) status! Contributions to the workshop are now tax-deductible.
If you would prefer to help via cheque please make it payable to “Alpha.” Please enclose a note, either on the cheque or as a separate enclosure, indicating that the cheque is a donation to the Alpha scholarship fund. Mail your donation to:
Alpha, the SF/F/H Workshop for Young Writers
P.O. Box 3681
Pittsburgh, PA 15230-3681
Thanks so much for helping Alpha teach the craft of genre fiction! I can’t tell you how much Alpha appreciates your generosity.
Sincerely,
Diane Turnshek
Alpha Director
