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Lanai student to attend writing program

From July 18 to Aug. 1, Lanai High and Elementary School student Jayde Fernandez will travel to Iowa City, Iowa, to take part in Between the Lines, a creative writing and cultural exchange program for promising young writers.

“We are so excited to have a student coming all the way from Hawaii. Jayde’s writing sings with imagination and originality,” said poet and BTL instructor Mary Hickman. “Her dystopian landscapes and her meditations on disaster and loss show great vision and ambition. I’m looking forward to reading more of her work and engaging in lively discussions this summer.”

Fernandez is one of eight American students selected for the newest session of BTL, which will bring together students from Armenia, Turkey and the U.S. With a unique focus on peace-building through the arts, the session will feature special events including a playwriting workshop with Catherine Filloux, an award-winning playwright who has been writing about human rights and social justice for more than 20 years.

“Through world literature classes, writing workshops, and a variety of seminars – including digital storytelling and slam poetry – we hope to explore how literature and writing can lead to empathy, dialogue and a shared understanding of the human condition,” said Lisa Daily, the BTL coordinator.

Fernandez has started a fundraising page through GoFundMe in hopes that she can raise money for travel expenses and, in her own words, “take part in this once in a lifetime chance to meet fellow writers from across the states and world and become the writer I know I can be.”

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