WRITERS IN THE SCHOOLS

Thank you WITS!

A letter from Wilson High School Principal Sue Brent.

Wilson High School Principal, Sue Brent, writes to Literary Arts about how Greg Mortenson’s visit to Wilson granted a long time wish for her school. Read more…

The Budding Writer in Me

By Frankie Forrester, Wilson High School student

Writers in the Schools came at just the right time in my life: I had just started high school, a wide-eyed, open-brained freshman, and was at a point where I enjoyed writing but I didn’t really think much of my work. It all just seemed like words on paper. Read more…

WITS Celebrates Another New Anthology

From WITS residency period 2008-2009

“Everything around me/Now is new,” writes Linus Pauling student Phat Doan. His poem “Mountain Talk” is one of many pieces in A Whole New Subject preoccupied with transitions, metamorphoses, how the present is different from the past. Read more…

New WITS Digital Anthologies!

From WITS residency period 2008-2009

Our new digital chapbooks, Against the Indigo Sky, Swing Set, and What Now—featuring student poetry, prose, drama and comic arts produced during our 2008-2009 workshops with Portland Public high school students—are our newest way to publish student work. Read more…

WITS Writer Profile: John Isaacson

Spring 2010 Lincoln High School residency

Students used to hide comic books in class. Now they study them. Graphic novels such as Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie are required reading in many high schools. Teachers are eager to learn more about specific techniques…Read more…

Writers in the Schools (WITS) is a comprehensive program that cultivates young writers and supports Oregon authors through semester-long writing residencies in the Portland public high schools. WITS employs poets, fiction writers, essayists, graphic novelists and playwrights to engage students in reading and writing across the curriculum.

PROGRAM LINKS

• Teaching Resources
  
• More about Writers in the Schools
  
• Writers-in-Residence
  
• WITS Anthology
  
• Participating high schools
  
• How schools can apply for the program
  
• How writers can apply for the program
  

UPCOMING WITS EVENT READINGS

• May 18 – 6:30 pm
  Midland Library/large meeting room (805 Southeast 122nd Avenue)
  Students from Marshall Campus (Biz Tech, Linus Pauling and Renaissance Arts High Schools) with WITS writers Natalie Serber and Cindy Williams Gutierrez
  

• May 20 – 7:00 pm
  Ladybug Organic Coffee Co. (8438 N Lombard Street)
  Students from Roosevelt Campus (SEIS, ACT, POWER High Schools) with WITS writers Carmen Bernier-Grand, Emma Oliver and Chris Cottrell
  

• May 21 – 7:00 pm
  Portland Art Museum/Marion L. Miller Gallery (1219 SW Park Ave)
  Students from Lincoln High School with WITS writers Laura Moulton and John Isaacson
  

• May 26 – 6:00 pm
  Talking Drum Bookstore/Reflections Cafe (446 NE Killingsworth)
  Students from Jefferson High School with WITS writers Renee Mitchell and Nicole Georges
  

• May 27 – 7:00 pm
  BiPartisan Cafe (7901 SE Stark Street)
  Students from Franklin High School with WITS writers Alexis Nelson and Hunt Holman
  
  
  

For more information on Writers in the Schools, please contact Mary Rechner, Program Director, at 503-227-2583 or by email at Mary@literary-arts.org.