By Jenna Baker, Natalie Hanna, & Karma Paez

Junior Amber Tran is a rising star in the world of creative writing. Amid intense competition, Tran has been selected to join several extremely competitive and prestigious programs. Guided by mentors and fueled by her own ideas, Tran has the power to capture the essence of life in her writing.

After attending the California State Summer School for the Arts (CSSSA) and receiving the Herb Alpert Emerging Young Artists Scholarship, Tran applied for the Kenyon Review Young Writers Workshop and the Iowa Young Writers Studio.

“In my applications, I talked about how in childhood, I used writing as a form of preservation, but as I’ve grown older, it’s shifted into a way to manage the pressures of the world around me,” Tran said. “I use it to look to the future and the life that I want to lead.”

Tran submitted a recommendation letter from Rosa Boshier González, a Columbian-American writer she met during her time at the summer program.

“I look up to Rosa so much because of her dedication not only as a writer but as a teacher,” Tran said. “It’s one thing to be talented at writing, but to be able to uplift and inspire people with that talent, to guide them towards their own passion is an entirely different thing.”

Both Kenyon College and the University of Iowa are schools well-known for their creative writing programs.

Tran received a full-ride scholarship to the Young Writers Summer Residential Workshop at Kenyon College as well as admission into Iowa’s program.

The teachers at Kenyon are university-level creative writing professors who have long-standing affiliations with the Kenyon Review, one of the world’s most prestigious literary journals.

The workshop is also a two-week residential program where core classes are supplemented by daily workshops, readings, as well as open mics.

Iowa University is also extremely selective and has one of the most prestigious creative writing programs in the country. There were 1700 applicants this year and only 25 students were chosen per discipline in each of the five disciplines. The staff at the Iowa workshop are Masters of Fine Arts (MFAs) students in the University’s writers program.

“I’ve had a hard time balancing writing and schoolwork, so I’m most excited to go to Iowa and Kenyon to just write, uninterrupted,” Tran said. “I’m excited to surround myself with writers.”

Even though Tran has always had a love for the English language, she only recently began thinking about pursuing writing as a future during the summer program she attended in 2023. To experience her dream job, Tran has submitted anthologies and series of essays to numerous literary magazines, which are all influenced by her life.

“I write creative nonfiction a lot, and most of it is from my one life, like a memoir,” Tran said. “I also mix elements of poetry and prose which is like a hybrid style of writing.”

Tran’s work has recently been accepted for publication in Salt Hill Journal, which has an acceptance rate of below 2 percent. Despite her obvious talent, Tran admitted that often she finds herself having writer’s block, just as other writers do.

When I have writer’s block, I sit outside and journal. I write about the small things that move me. Documenting them reminds me of why I write. I also like to go out and do something because it is the experience that leads to creation.

Amber Tran

Tran also keeps in contact with a group of poets and writers from CSSSA. When she struggles with her creative writing, she turns to them for inspiration and to help her persevere in her writing.

One of the ways Tran puts her writing skills to practical use is in her work with the Model United Nations (MUN) team. Tran is the Model United Nations (MUN) captain for the TK-8 campus.

“The performative aspect of writing has helped me most in MUN,” Tran said. “Writing is about performance as much as it is language— it’s tonality and emotion that gives any type of writing impact when read aloud. I apply those same concepts of voice when I give a speech in MUN, and I think that’s good at heightening impact.”

With each page she writes, each debate she enters, and each workshop she attends, Tran prepares to enter the next chapter of her life. She is an inspiration to aspiring writers everywhere, illustrating the power of storytelling and the pursuit of your passions.