Two Grant HS Readings at Broadway Books
So many students from Grant High School wanted to participate that we had a double-header of readings at Broadway Books, and it was a full house both nights! Students shared prose and poetry, including slam poetry, for enthusiastic audiences of friends, parents, and teachers. Thanks to teachers Stephanie D’Cruz, Dylan Leeman, Mary Rodeback, Kris Spurlock, [...]
Franklin WITS Reading Packs the Bipartisan Cafe
On a drizzly Tuesday evening, the Bipartisan Cafe was warm and buzzing with energy for the Franklin High School WITS reading. Throughout the semester, students worked with Lisa Eisenberg and Chuck Carlise to create and revise prose and comics. The comics were projected onto a screen as students guided the audience through the panels. Thanks [...]
Lincoln Students Read at the Portland Art Museum
It was a packed house in the Sondland/Durant Trustee Boardroom of the Portland Art Museum on the evening of May 15. Friends, family, and community members came to listen to poetry and prose by Lincoln High School students, who had worked with WITS writers-in-residence Amanda Gersh, Cindy Williams Gutierrez, and Joe Rogers. These writers taught [...]
WITS Reading for Roosevelt & Open Meadow Students
Students from Roosevelt and Open Meadow High School had a beautiful, sunny day for their boisterous end-of-semester WITS reading at Girasole Pizza in St. Johns. Writers-in-residence Ramiza Koya and Jonathan Hill spoke about working with students, and Hill helped explain the narrative and visual aspects of creating comics. Many of the students’ pieces contained a [...]
Verselandia! 2013 and Wieden + Kennedy
Verselandia! went big for its second year, with the Wonder Ballroom hosting the all-PPS high school poetry slam on April 30. The thirty finalists from Benson, Cleveland, Franklin, Grant, Jefferson, Lincoln, Madison, Metropolitan Learning Center, Roosevelt, and Wilson high schools had a full year to prepare for this year’s event, and the preparation definitely shone [...]
Anis Mojgani visits Wilson High School
After hosting the Verselandia! Slam Poetry Championship the night before, slam poet Anis Mojgani visited Wilson High School to talk with about fifty students who had read from his books and watched videos of his slam performances online. Mojgani began by performing his award-winning poem “Come Closer.” The students were enthralled by his performance, and [...]
Nikky Finney Visits Roosevelt High School
The morning after her phenomenal lecture at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Nikky Finney came with us to Roosevelt High School and visited with students who had read her work. Roosevelt’s librarian, Betsy Tighe, gave an enthusiastic introduction and then Finney held the students in rapt attention as she explained how she became a poet [...]
Metropolitan Learning Center’s Poetry Slam Finals
Last Thursday, a crowd packed into Literary Arts for Metropolitan Learning Center’s poetry slam final. Students were competing for the top three spots and a chance to compete in this year’s Verselandia!, the all-PPS high school poetry slam, happening April 30 at the Wonder Ballroom. It was a lively night, with the crowd eagerly cheering [...]
WITS Reading for Benson HS at Broadway Books
Broadway Books was packed last night with a lively crowd for the WITS end-of-residency reading for Benson High School. Students from Elisa Wong’s class worked with writer Ramiza Koya, and students in Steve Naganuma’s radio class worked with spoken word artist Desmond Spann. Students read personal essays, fiction, and spoken word poetry, and their pieces [...]
WITS in Action: Desmond Spann at Benson HS
With the rise of slam poetry and storytelling in the literary world, Writers in the Schools is excited to hire talented local writers who create work in these genres. This year Desmond Spann, who describes himself as “a spoken word poet, a positive emcee and hip hop artist,” was the writer-in-residence in two of Steve [...]
