Lake Erie Ink (LEI) released its seventh annual teen anthology last Wednesday, June 7 with 147 contributions of nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and art, as well as a selection of poetry by LEI’s Writers in Residence—making it the largest collection of area teens’ creative works yet.

The writers came from 27 unique public, private, parochial, virtual school settings and range in age from 12 to 18.

More than 75 family, friends, and community members came out to support and celebrate the launch of the anthology last week, with 15 writers reading their pieces. The teen editors and Spencer Dolezal from Writers in Residence spoke to the group.

This year’s anthology, titled “Keys & Locks” is entirely led by a group of eight teen editors who lead the project—from determining the theme and collecting submissions, to editing and publishing. The editors also made a list of prompts for teens to follow to spark their creative processes.

“We were trying to come up with a theme where everyone could write about the same thing with it being broad enough that writers could still go different ways,” says Julie Pentasuglio, one of the “Keys & Locks” teen editors. “There wasn’t really any specific inspiration.”

This year’s anthology process started back in October with brainstorming sessions. The group began accepting submissions in February until about a month ago, and then the editors began working hard to put together the finished product.

LEI also partnered with Writers in Residence, a program that teaches writing to youth who are incarcerated to include submissions from them for this edition.

“The hardest part was getting comfortable critiquing some else’s writing,” says Pentasuglio. “I loved getting to read everything so that was the easy part.”

However, LEI executive director Amy Rosenbluth says “Keys & Locks” is about more than just publishing an anthology.

“This anthology is about having a space for youth to have their voices heard,” she says. “It’s about the opportunity to be published and to be a part of a creative community of other teens.”

Rosenbluth maintains that the experience both fuels and encourages young writers.

“I hope that through this publication, we see a recognition from our community that young people have an incredible collective imagination and response to the world around them,” she says. “I think it’s easy to dismiss younger writers, so having this type of professionally published work is sort of saying we value our teens in this community and lives.”

Pentasuglio says her involvement in the anthology has been valuable. 

“I would 100% recommend others be a part of this,” she says. “I think it’s such a great experience to practice editing skills and be a part of a group of editors. It’s really cool to be a part of something that I’ve put a lot of work into.”

“Keys & Locks” can be purchased for $15 at Mac's Backs Books and Made Cleveland on Coventry Road and Heights Arts on Lee Road in Cleveland Heights; Visible Voice Books in Tremont; and Loganberry Books on Larchmere, or through LEI website.

LEI now moves on to its 2024 Teen Book Project, which includes yearlong sessions with the teen editors who ultimately publish the yearly anthology. The initial meeting is at the end of August.  Teens interested in getting involved in next year's Teen Book Project should contact Lake Erie Ink staff.