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Wright Thompson Returns to Woodberry as White Family Writer-in-Residence and Encourages Students to “Enjoy the Chase”
When acclaimed author Wright Thompson returned to campus as Woodberry’s White Family Writer-in-Residence, he expected to spend his days guiding students through ambitious storytelling exercises. What he didn’t expect, he admits with a laugh, was having to buy a non-orange hoodie from the school store after underpacking for December in Virginia.
The visit marks Wright’s second return to Woodberry. His first was last school year, a deeply personal trip during which he reconnected with his younger self and the place that helped shape him. This visit, however, is something else entirely.
“This time it wasn’t nostalgia,” he said. “It was really simple. Ben called my bluff.”
Wright and English Department Chair Ben Hale jointly designed this week’s intensive creative writing project: deep histories inspired by the “biography-of-a-place” concept made famous by novels like Absalom, Absalom!. Students choose a location on campus, write about it in the present tense, and then uncover a historical event linked to that same ground, allowing past and present to speak to each other.
“I selfishly think the whole country should be doing this,” Wright said. “We forget (every fifty years) what happened on any given patch of land. Woodberry is so rich for this kind of work.”
Though he spent a year at Woodberry as a student in the early 1990s and has spoken to groups/students around the country, this is Wright’s first teaching experience. On Monday, he stepped into a third-form English class taught by Olivia Berntson, an experience he described as both thrilling and intimidating.
“I don’t remember being 15 or 16,” he said, “so I have no idea if something I’m saying is too simple or too complex. So, I just decided: treat them like adults.”
It worked. He was struck by the way students engaged with difficult material.
In Ben Hale’s upper level English courses, “It’s very cool to say something complicated and see everyone nodding,” he said. “These seniors — those sixteen kids in the creative writing sections — are sharper than most college classes I speak to.”
Walking across campus in falling snow, Wright said, brought back memories, but with a different energy. Some things, he added, haven’t changed at all. “Firm handshakes. ‘Yes sir, no sir.’ Mr. Wright,” he laughed. “In many ways, this place is completely different, and in many ways, it hasn’t changed at all.”
When asked what he hopes students get from the week, Wright didn’t hesitate. “That the boys realize they can write at a very high level. This isn’t magic—it’s work. And they’re capable of doing the work and making a good living at it.”
For the strongest pieces, he even plans to go a step further. “I haven’t told them yet,” he said, lowering his voice almost conspiratorially, “but the ones who are really good, I’m going to try to place their work in magazines.”
Still, he hopes students don’t lose sight of joy. “A lot of them are apex predators in the classroom,” he said. “And I kind of want to tell them: you also need to skip class and go to the river. Live a life. Enjoy the chase, not just the destination.”
Beyond Ben Hale’s persistent persuasion, Wright said he returned because Woodberry’s students—those here for extraordinary opportunity and those here by obligation—are all capable of shaping their own experiences.
“There is no such thing as one Woodberry,” he said. “It’s 400 school experiences. Every boy builds his own version of this place.”
He also admitted to a writer’s ulterior motive: the quiet. “This is the best place in the world to work,” he said. “I’ve gotten more done here in two days than in weeks at home.” He is deep into a new book, one he can’t reveal yet, as some key figures still don’t know they’re in it, but promises Woodberry an early copy once it’s announced.
Wright will return in February or March to workshop students' completed pieces. “If we’re doing this, we’re really doing it,” he said. “I don’t do half-measures.”
As for advice to future writers-in-residence? “Do it,” he said without hesitation. “The kids are smart enough for anything you throw at them. The classes are small. The work is meaningful. And The Residence… well, the water pressure alone is worth it.”
Before heading off to his next class Wright summed up the experience simply: “I’ve had a really good time. These kids make me feel more like a writer than a businessman. And that’s a gift.”
Learn more about Wright’s published works, his interview with Byron Hulsey on the Woodberry Podcast, and his earlier visit to campus.
Woodberry Forest School is an exceptional private school community for high school boys in grades nine through twelve. It is one of the top boarding schools in the United States and one of the only all-boys, all-boarding schools in the country.
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