Join WritersCorps as we celebrate the launch of our new national anthology, “Tell the World,” a collection of poems by teens who have taken part in our workshops. This reading by our students and teachers is part of the Litquake Litcrawl.

When: Saturday, October 11, 6 pm

Who: WritersCorps students Annie Yu, Indiana Pehlivanova, and Robin Black

And WritersCorps teaching artists Myron Michael Hardy, Cindy Je, Milta Ortiz and Aracely Gonzalez

Where: Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco, Columbia Park Clubhouse
450 Guerrero St (between 16th and 17th Streets)

Cost: Free

Join WritersCorps for our last event of the school year, featuring the WritersCorps Apprentices.

The WritersCorps Apprentice Program gives youth from across the city a chance to form a community of writers who support one another’s development as young artists.

This year, the Apprentices hosts a youth open mic and performance event, What is the Cure?, at Galeria de la Raza. Come take a journey through the ups and downs of today’s world as seen through the eyes of these youth.

Youth open mic sign ups begin at 6:00 pm. Youth open mic begins at 6:30 pm. The featured artist, the Apprentices, perform at 7 pm. Reception with beverage and food to follow.

What: What is the Cure? — A WritersCorps Open Mic

When: Tuesday, June 10, 2008, 6:00 to 8:00 pm

Where: Galeria de la Raza, 2857 24th St

Cost: Free

The San Francisco Giants has chosen WritersCorps as a community partner for an upcoming Giants vs. Mets game. WritersCorps student Angela Starks of International Studies Academy will read at home plate with her WritersCorps teacher Beto Palomar. Come out to the park for baseball — and poetry.

What: Write Like a Giant

When: Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at 7:15 pm

Where: AT&T Park, 7:30 pm

WritersCorps students from all over the city come together to perform in this annual end-of-the-year celebration. Expect powerful performances and new books and publications featuring writing and art by WritersCorps students. Reception to follow.

Featuring writers from:

Downtown High School
International Studies Academy
Log Cabin Ranch
Malcolm X Academy
Mission High School
Sanchez Elementary
San Francisco Public Library, Main Branch
WritersCorps Apprentice Program

What: WritersCorps Literary Festival

When: Thursday, May 22, 2008, 5:30 to 6:30

Where: San Francisco Public Library, Main Branch, Koret Auditorum, 100 Larkin St

Cost: Free

WritersCorps and Intersection for the Arts celebrate their 5th consecutive year collaborating on a multigenerational reading series. In the final reading this season, WritersCorps teaching artists and youth poets from Ida B. Wells High School and Downtown High School share the stage with award-winning poet, columnist, novelist, travel writer and teacher Linda Watanabe McFerrin (”Namako: Sea Cucumber,” “The Hand of Buddha,” “The Impossibility of Redemption is Something We Hadn’t Figured On”).

“Watanabe McFerrin’s poetry rises from the true encounter between language and vision, between wonder and exploration…” - Ray Gonzalez, Bloomsbury Review

Who: Linda Watanabe McFerrin with Karla Robinson & WritersCorps youth poets

What: Readings Across Generations, a reading series by WritersCorps and Intersection

When: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at 7:30 pm

Where: Intersection for the Arts, 446 Valencia St (between 15th and 16th)

Cost: $5-$15/sliding scale, general admission

About Linda Watanabe McFerrin
Linda Watanabe McFerrin is a contributor to numerous journals, newspapers, magazines, anthologies and online publications including the Washington Post and Salon.com. She is the author of two poetry collections, a novel, and a collection of award-winning short stories, “The Hand of Buddha.” Linda is currently at work on a novel set in China.

Linda holds an undergraduate degree in Comparative Literature and a Master of Arts degree in creative writing. A popular panelist, lecturer and workshop leader, she has been a mentor for the Loft Literary Series, a guest instructor at the Oklahoma Institute for the Arts and a judge of the San Francisco Literary Competition. When she is not on the road, she directs art, consults on communications and product development and teaches creative writing.

WritersCorps and Intersection for the Arts celebrate their 5th consecutive year collaborating on a multigenerational reading series. In the second of 3 readings this season, WritersCorps teaching artists and youth poets from Sanchez Elementary, the San Francisco Public Library Main Branch and Malcolm X Academy share the stage with celebrated playwright Octavio Solis (“Santos & Santos,” “The Ballad of Pancho and Lucy”).
“[Solis']…facility with language…is astounding…” - San Francisco Bay Guardian

Who: Octavio Solis with Mahru Elahi, Cindy Je & WritersCorps youth poets

What: Readings Across Generations, a reading series by WritersCorps and Intersection

When: Tuesday, March 25, 2008 at 7:30 pm

Where: Intersection for the Arts, 446 Valencia St (between15th and 16th)

Cost: $5-$15/sliding scale, general admission

About Octavio Solis
Octavio Solis is an award-winning playwright and director living in San Francisco. His works, “Man of the Flesh,” “Prospect,” “The Seven Visions of Encarnacion,” and “Bethlehem,” have been mounted at many arts venues including Intersection for the Arts, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Teatro Dallas, Latino Chicago Theatre Company, New York’s Imua Theatre Company, El Teatro Campesino, and Thick Description. “Burning Dreams,” co-written with Julie Hebert and Gina Leishman, was produced by the San Diego Repertory, and his collaborative project with Erik Ehn, “Shiner,” was mounted by Dallas’ Undermain Theatre. His new anthology, “Plays by Ocatvio Solis,” is published by Broadway Play Publishing.

WritersCorps and Intersection for the Arts celebrate their 5th consecutive year collaborating on a multigenerational reading series. In the first of 3 readings this season, WritersCorps teaching artists and youth poets from Log Cabin Ranch, International Studies Academy and Mission High School share the stage award-winning and influential author and speaker Luis J. Rodriguez (”Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A.,” “The Concrete River“).

“What makes Luis Rodriguez’s poetry attractive is not its raw honesty but rather the lyrical beauty that suddenly emerges at unpredictable moments.”- American Poetry Review

Who: Luis J. Rodriguez with Myron Michael Hardy, Beto Palomar, Milta Ortiz & WritersCorps youth poets

What: Readings Across Generations, a reading series by WritersCorps and Intersection

When: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 at 7:30 pm

Where: Intersection for the Arts, 446 Valencia St (between15th and 16th)

Cost: $5-$15/sliding scale, general admission

This event is sponsored by Poets & Writers, Inc. through a grant it has received from The James Irvine Foundation.

About Luis J. Rodriguez
Luis Rodriguez has emerged as one of the leading Chicano writers in the country with 10 nationally published books in memoir, fiction, nonfiction, children’s literature, and poetry. He is best known for the 1993 memoir of gang life, “Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A.” Written as a cautionary tale for Luis’s then 15-year-old son Ramiro — who had joined a Chicago gang — the memoir is popular among youth and teachers. Despite this, the American Library Association in 1999 called “Always Running” one of the 100 most censored books in the United States.

Luis is also known for helping start a number of prominent organizations — such as Chicago’s Guild Complex, one of the largest literary arts organizations in the Midwest, and the publishing house of Tia Chucha Press. He is also one of the founders of Youth Struggling for Survival, a Chicago-based not-for-profit community group working with gang and non-gang youth. In addition, he also edits the new Chicano online magazine, Xispas.com.

Join us at the Park Branch Library on Wednesday, March 19th for Live From the Park Branch: A WritersCorps Open Mic for Teens. Led by WritersCorps teachers, this monthly reading series at the public library is open to all teens who want a place to share their writing in a safe, supportive place.

Dates: January 16
February 13
March 19
April 16

Sign-Ups: 4:00 p.m.
Readings: 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.

Park Branch Library
1833 Page St (between Stanyan and Cole in the Haight-Ashbury district)

* Free admission
* Raffle prizes
* Snacks and drinks
* DJs

Presented by the Teen Center of the San Francisco Public Library

Sponsored by Friends of the San Francisco Public Library and the Booksmith.