The first episode of Shark Week premiered on July 17, 1988—when our Editor-in-Chief was less than a month old!—and the goal of the week was to increase awareness of the truth about sharks, to celebrate them, and to boost conservation efforts.

What came of that pilot episode was an annual tradition for many—practically a week-long holiday!—where viewers sat down every night to watch the next round of episodes.

Being Lit Shark, it would hardly be right not to reference Shark Week in some way!

Every year in July or August when Shark Week airs, we will share some coverage of the event and fun shark facts specially tailored to our younger audience.

We’re also going to offer a variety of writing prompts—questions, images, lines to start a story or poem, and ekphrastic material to write from—that writers can use to have a more interactive experience with Shark Week: to watch the episodes and to write their own creative pieces inspired by those episodes.

Writers will have an opportunity to be featured on the site by sharing their results of completing a writing prompt, or they can write other shark-related works that are inspired by the week. All of the submitted works will be considered for a special Shark Week issue that will appear during the week after the “holiday” has been completed.

Happy watching, happy writing, happy submitting—and happy reading!