Jason Katz of West Hartford, a student at Watkinson School, will attend the retreat for emerging writers.

Jason Katz. Submitted photo

Submitted by Stacy Routhier, Watkinson School

Jason Katz, 17, of West Hartford was recently accepted into the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference at Middlebury College in Vermont. Katz is a junior at Watkinson School in Hartford.

According to Katz, the conference is a four-day retreat in which emerging writers gather to attend various writing workshops led by diverse and experienced faculty.

Each applicant submits a piece of work to apply, and if accepted, submits a second work to develop over the four-day weekend.

“The opportunity was presented to me by Ms. Mohler and I thought it was interesting,” Katz explained. “It’s always good to be able to have a chance to be in an environment where you have a group of like-minded people with a passion for writing. I thought it would be both stimulating and intriguing.”

Katz’s teacher at Watkinson, Patti Mohler, says she is very happy for him. “What I like about Jason is if I suggest a book, he’ll literally go read it,” Mohler said. “He’s curious, an intellectual learner and a self-starter. He’s a really good writer and just a delightful kid.”

Katz says he is extremely excited to head to Vermont. He described what was running through his mind the moment he discovered he was invited to attend.

“Excitement at the prospect of being able to share my work in a setting that is different from one I’ve been in previously, and excited at the idea of hearing the perspective of other young interested writers,” he said.

Katz says that even though he doesn’t know the specifics just yet, he wants to pursue writing as a career in one way or another.

“I would say this is hopefully just the beginning,” Katz said. “Now that the ball is rolling I can maybe hit the ground running and begin to explore more publishing opportunities and presenting my work to a larger audience.”

Watkinson School is Hartford’s oldest independent day school serving students in grades 6-12/PG.