This paper looks at young ESL writers in Hong Kong and describes an action research project which involved the implementation of a new ESL writing programme designed to enhance students' motivation and engagement by taking more account of the young learners' own socio-cultural context. The study examined both the students' and teacher-researcher's perspectives on the new programme and looked at its impact on students' engagement and motivation and their writing performance. It was found that the new writing programme enhanced students' writing engagement and motivation, but also resulted in lower writing scores for accuracy and organization, especially among the more able students. However, the enthusiastic way that the participants responded to the new programme suggests that encouraging young writers to write about topics of interest and relevance to them and providing them with genuine audiences, can have a liberating and confidence-building effect. The underachieving students benefited most in this respect, while the high-achieving writers were challenged to reconsider their previous writing strategies which had made them successful test-takers rather than flexible and resourceful writers.