Dear Western Pennsylvania Writing Project Community,

I hope this message finds you well and enjoying the fullness of summer.

I am writing with gratitude, excitement, and a few invitations for the weeks ahead.

First, we are celebrating a wonderful Young Writers Institute. This summer, we welcomed 76 young writers into community, creativity, and exploration. WPWP Fellows Jen Salvatore, Tammy Rullo, and Aimee Firmani led a staff of 12 educators, writers, and interns who supported our young writers with care, imagination, and deep commitment. We are already looking forward to next year’s Young Writers Institute and invite you to save the dates: June 21–30, 2027. If you are interested in working with our team or supporting our young writers in the future, please write to us. We would love to be in conversation.

Our Summer Institute for Teachers is also in full swing. As we wrap up our first week, our educators are already growing together as writers, teachers, and members of a writing community. We are delighted to invite you to join us for our Summer Institute Visitors Day on Wednesday, July 29, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. at the Center for Urban Education at the University of Pittsburgh. Visitors Day is a meaningful opportunity to witness the work of our Summer Institute fellows, hear from teachers about their writing and inquiry, and reconnect with the ongoing life of WPWP.

Finally, we are excited to invite you into a new regional humanities project. WPWP is proud to partner with Pennsylvania Humanities for The Window Keeper, a statewide initiative connected to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. As communities across the Commonwealth reflect on the nation’s past, present, and future, our contributions to The Window Keeper invites us to ask: Whose stories help us understand who we have been, who we are, and who we hope to become?

Through a series of place-based writing experiences in Pittsburgh, Westmoreland County, and at the University of Pittsburgh, participants will explore historically, culturally, and civically significant sites through writing, reflection, conversation, and community. Drawing on the National Writing Project tradition of the writing marathon, we will move through public spaces together, pausing to observe, write, and share in a spirit of generosity and curiosity.

Participants do not need to consider themselves writers to join. The Window Keeper is open to adult educators, writers, artists, students, community leaders, historians, cultural workers, and anyone curious about the stories that shape our communities. Whether you write every day or have not written in years, you are welcome.

Registration Period
July 9–August 10, 2026
Registration will be open for all Window Keeper writing experiences. We encourage participants to consider joining us for all three convenings.

Pittsburgh Writing Marathon
Saturday, August 15, 2026
Locations will include the August Wilson House, Freedom Corner, and additional sites throughout Pittsburgh.

Westmoreland County Writing Marathon
Saturday, August 22, 2026
Locations will include the Westmoreland Museum of Art and West Overton Village.

University of Pittsburgh Gathering
Saturday, September 12, 2026
Center for Urban Education, University of Pittsburgh

Across these gatherings, we will write into questions of belonging, freedom, democracy, memory, and civic life. We will consider how places tell stories, whose histories are remembered or overlooked, and how our own experiences connect to larger civic narratives. 

We hope you will join us for one or more of these upcoming opportunities. This summer reminds us again that writing is not only something we teach or practice alone. Writing is a way of gathering, witnessing, remembering, imagining, and building community.

With gratitude,

Dr. Khirsten L. Scott
Director, Western Pennsylvania Writing Project
University of Pittsburgh School of Education

As always, thank you for taking the time to receive and review this newsletter. We are grateful to be in community with you. Feel free to share this information with others.

If you have any updates, ideas, and/or concerns, we’d like to hear from you. Email us at wpwp@pitt.edu.

If you have an event or opportunity to share with the WPWP community, let us know! We’d love to feature it in our next newsletter. 

We are continually enhancing our communication methods by addressing any gaps in contact information. Please complete the contact form below if you haven’t already. We encourage you to share it with others who might be interested in re/connecting with the WPWP network.