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Introducing SOLA’s Young Writer’s Cohort

Beginning next week, we will publish pieces written by members of SOLA’s inaugural Young Writer’s Cohort. The following is a short Q&A with a member of our editorial board, Soojin Park, who leads this initiative. 


How did you get involved with organizing and running this young writer’s cohort?

As part of the editorial board I ended up interviewing Izzy Koo, a young author who published her first book in high school. I reflected with a few SOLA staff about how refreshing it was to speak with her and how we would love to hear from more young Asian-American writers. We talked about how SOLA could play a part in helping raise these young writers and that’s how the Young Writer’s Cohort came about. I have a big heart for mentoring and equipping younger leaders so I ended up taking the lead on this effort for SOLA. 


Can you tell us a little bit about the cohort? 

The cohort consists of eight young college-aged (or recent grad) men and women who want to grow in their ability to communicate, exhort, and encourage through writing. We’ve designed it to be a year-long program that consists of two main parts: (1) short training sessions with guest speakers on topics related to writing and (2) a chance to write multiple articles for SOLA Network with guidance and feedback from me on each piece. The goal is that the cohort members would receive practical training in writing through practice and feedback, as well as an expanded vision for how they can grow as writers. 


What is the most enjoyable part of running the cohort for you?

I personally really enjoy working directly with the members on editing and perfecting their articles. I love being able to witness the process of the members improving and bringing life to the ideas they want to convey. Being on Zoom calls with them to help with brainstorming and shaping their thoughts is always fun for me! 


What are you most excited about for the pieces that will be published? What can readers look forward to?

What I’m most excited about is for our readers to get to know our cohort members. Each piece in this upcoming series carries so much of the writers’ voices. You can really get a sense of each member’s personality and life experiences. I hope many Asian-American believers, both young and old, would be encouraged by the honesty and thoughtfulness of our young writers. In addition to this first series we have a few more planned for the year, including a series on suffering and reflections on Holy Week. Readers can definitely be looking forward to seeing how our cohort members grow in their writing over the year.