FALL 2012
MATTER Literary Life Beyond the Classroom by Hunt Holman
Like many of the adolescents we serve,
Literary Arts’ Writers in the Schools (WITS) program is changing rapidly. Our core residency program, begun in 1996 at Grant High School, continues to provide Portland public high school students with semester-long workshops taught by professional writers. Poets, playwrights, journalists, fiction writers, memoirists, and graphic novelists help students refine their skills in the fundamentals of the writing process: composing, revising, editing, and publication. Each residency culminates in a celebratory reading at a neighborhood bookstore or café, and many students are published in the annual WITS anthology. While this program remains the foundation of WITS’ engagement with our public schools, lately we have added some new tools to the kit. One flourishing program is the partnership between Multnomah County
Legendary broadcaster Tom Brokaw meets with students at the Literary Arts events space.
Library, the Library Foundation, and Literary Arts to present the Everybody Reads author at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in March. Over the past two years, nearly 1,900 students from throughout Multnomah County have received free tickets for the Wes Moore and Heidi W. Durrow lectures, as well as free copies of the Everybody Reads books, and transportation to the Schnitzer. Another successful initiative is Students to the Schnitz, which is helping teens become a regular presence throughout our Portland Arts & Lectures season. This year Literary Arts donors will give school groups 100 free tickets, free books by the respective authors, and transportation to each Arts & Lectures event. To help teens connect strong writing and creative thinking with success in the real world, we also coordinate school visits by many of our Portland Arts & Lectures authors. Last year, for example, Tom Brokaw, Abraham Verghese, and Chimamanda Adichie met with students. When nationally recognized storytelling troupe The Moth arrives next February, they will lead a schoolbased MothSHOP at Franklin High School, as they have in years past at Marshall and Benson High Schools. This weeklong intensive concludes with
WITS Fundraiser Join us on Tuesday, October 16 at Bluehour restaurant for the annual WITS fundraiser. We will enjoy delicious food, great wine, and hear firsthand from the teens, teachers, and principals who are most affected by the Writers in the Schools program. This inspiring event celebrates student possibility and achievement. If you’d like to be involved, please contact Lydah DeBin at 503.227.2583 x106 or lydah@literary-arts.org.
students telling true stories of their own experience to an audience of their peers. WITS also offers one-day college writing workshops at three high-need schools, pairing volunteer writing mentors with 90 students to help them develop their college admission and scholarship application essays. Last year, audiences packed the 300seat Mission Theater for the first-ever continued on page 6
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