““One of the most challenging parts of being a writer, is… writing. Not actually putting words on the page, though that also proves to be a rather difficult task at times, but finding a moment to shut life off long enough to hear the story within. This is what the Rhode Island Writers Colony provided me with — some solace, a bastion of silence. At the time, I was working on the most challenging piece of fiction I had ever embarked on — a complicated, frustrating tale to write, that now proudly lives on the shelf, entitled, AS BRAVE AS YOU. I worked on two different iterations of the same story, two separate years at the colony. To know that I could get up, work and work and work (and cry), and then decompress with other brilliant writers who would quickly become family, as we shared meals and ideas, backstories and plans, was nothing short of a marvel. RIWC, for me, served and serves as a modern-day Algonquin Roundtable, a meeting ground for like-minded bibliophiles, and an incubator for both established writers and new voices. I will always, ALWAYS be immensely grateful for my experiences there.”
~Jason Reynolds, RIWC Artistic Director
2014 & 2015 Writer-in-Residence”