between the lines
Amy You is a writer focusing primarily on poetry and creative nonfiction, including memoir and personal narrative. Her work has appeared in Sky Island Journal (Issue 36), Split Rock Review (Issue 23), and the print edition of The Louisville Review (Issue 98), among other publications. In summer 2026, she self-published her literary collection, Amidst the Seasons. Her writing has earned multiple Gold Keys in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, along with prizes in other poetry competitions. She is an alumna of the Adroit Journal’s Summer Mentorship Program and the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio.
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recognitions & publications & experiences
Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
For the past three years, I've been sending my work to the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Its different categories let me wander through genres: poetry, memoir, critical writing, journalism, and whatever else I felt like trying, and earned multiple gold & silver keys alongside.
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Journalism
I've always been curious about where politics and history collide, so I picked the Russia-Ukraine war, with Türkiye as a mediator, and wrote my first-ever journalism piece. It was a whole new field for me, and I sent it off to the Harvard International Review and earned a silver medal.
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poetry prize & publications
click any image to enlarge ↗I entered my poems in the Elliot Ruchowitz-Roberts Poetry Award, a local prize, and took 1st place out of about 500 submissions. There was a $300 cash prize too, which was a very nice surprise:)
My work has appeared in both print and online magazines, which gave me a first real glimpse of the literary world. I also self-published my first book, the literary anthology Amidst the Seasons.
summer writings
My summers were full of writing. I spent two weeks at the Iowa Young Writers' Studio, where I had so much fun and learned a ton. I also joined the Adroit Summer Mentorship Program, run by the literary journal The Adroit Journal, where I got to work with established poets and writers from all over the world.
iowa young writers’ studio
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with maya, my “color of poetry” instructor
with stephen, the iyws director
with my dorm instructorwith my friends!
The most talented writers I know, all in one place. Some of these photos are of the things we made together, like collaborative poems and visual poems. Half the fun was seeing what happened when we wrote on the same page.
with my friends
with my friends
a collaborative poem
iowa young writers’ studio
with my friends
iowa young writers’ studio
through the windowadroit summer mentorship
I was accepted into the Adroit Summer Mentorship Program and finished the summer with a full poetry portfolio, shaped by rounds of feedback from my instructor, Kelly Grace Thomas, and from my peers.
