Support WritersCorps with your purchase of books written by young people who have participated in our programs. We also have resources for teachers, like “Jump Write In!,” a collection of creative writing lesson plans. All prices include shipping and handling. Payments are handled through PayPal, which accepts credit cards. For more information or help during the checkout process, call us at 415-252-4655. Happy shopping, and happy reading!
City of Stairways: A Poet’s Field Guide to San Francisco - $20Edited by Milta Ortiz, Written by the WritersCorps Apprentices
2010, Softcover, 120 pgs, full color, WritersCorps Books
“City of Stairways” was written by student apprentices in WritersCorps. Part travel guide and part literary anthology, this book is packed with original poetry, photography, artwork, maps, and tips on the places to see and be seen in San Francisco. “City of Stairways” offers an intimate look at some of the most memorable sites and neighborhoods in San Francisco, and gives residents and visitors alike a unique, vibrant perspective on being a youth in an urban environment.
In keeping with the dimensions of the city, the book is 7 by 7 inches. It also includes anecdotes about San Francisco by local luminaries such as writers Daniel Handler and Lorna Dee Cervantes, San Francisco Giants pitcher Jonathan Sanchez, performer Paul Flores, and Craigslist.org founder Craig Newmark.
Your purchase will include a limited-edition postcard set featuring images and excerpts from City of Stairways, while supplies last.
See some pages from “City of Stairways.”
Write/Walk - Set of 11 Posters - $40 (limited quantities!)
Edited by Carrie Leilam Love
Written by WritersCorps students at Mission High School
2010
This beautiful poster set features 11 original poems from our Write/Walk walking tour and poster project. Printed on matte poster stock, each poster measures 11 by 17 inches and features poems by WritersCorps students at Mission High School. Illustrated with striking silhouettes against vibrant colors, these posters stand out wherever they are placed. Your purchase includes a guidebook which features reproductions of the posters as well as additional writing from Mission High School students.
To see all 11 posters in larger sizes, click on this link.
Days I Moved Through Ordinary Sounds: The Teachers of WritersCorps in Poetry and Prose - $22Edited by Chad Sweeney, Foreword by Martin Espada
2009, Softcover, 240 pgs, City Lights
“Days I Moved Through Ordinary Sounds” documents 15 years of an amazingly successful experiment: asking accomplished writers to teach creative writing workshops in juvenile detention facilities, homeless shelters, inner-city schools and centers for newly arrived immigrants. Here is a collection of memoir, poetry and prose from many of the talented people who formed the ranks of the national WritersCorps. Readers can follow these teaching artists on their journey into the halls and streets of America’s diverse neighborhoods, as they enrich the lives and creativity of their students — and find their own voices changed in the process.
Jump Write In! - $28
Creative Writing Exercises for Diverse Communities, Grades 6-12
Edited by Judith Tannenbaum & Valerie Chow Bush
2005, Softcover, 176 pgs, Jossey-Bass
At last, a collection of tested lesson plans created by WritersCorps teachers. “Jump Write In!” represents more than 10 years of creative writing exercises with great model poems by WritersCorps youth.”This book provides powerful material for every teacher’s toolbox,” says Herb Kohl, author, teacher and director of the Institute for Social Justice and Education.
See the Table of Contents
Read a sample chapter: Icebreakers and Opening Games
Tell the World - Signed Hard Cover - $30Foreword by Sherman Alexie
2008, Hardcover, 144 pgs, HarperTeen
We have a limited number of hard cover copies of “Tell the World” that have been signed by Sherman Alexie. Order now before they’re all gone!
Tell the World - Paperback - $12Foreword by Sherman Alexie
2008, Softcover, 144 pgs, HarperTeen
Sold Out!
The paperback version of “Tell the World” has the same great content printed on thinner paper.
City of One: Young Writers Speak to the World - $14Edited by Colette DeDonato, Foreword by Isabel Allende
2004, Softcover, 240 pgs, Aunt Lute Books
In this award-winning collection of poems about peace, young people bring their freshness to an old yet urgent subject. Because the poets are young, because they are newly discovering their own voices, their poems fly up like kites, free of cliches. These brave poems help us find our way to our own imaginings of peace.
Where Were You - $7 (SALE)
Edited by Katharine Gin
2005, Softcover, 64 pgs, WritersCorps Books
An anthology of poetry and images by WritersCorps students from 2004 to 2005, representing the best work of the school year. WritersCorps invited photographer and writer Katharine Gin to work individually with hundreds of youth in the course of four months, and this book showcases their photographs as well as their writing.
Jump - $15 (limited quantities!)Edited by Valerie Chow Bush, Introduction by Jewelle Gomez, Photographs by Ed Kashi
2001, Softcover, 192 pgs, WritersCorps Books
An anthology of poetry and prose by students who participated in WritersCorps from 2000 to 2001, this book is a celebration of youth. The poems in this book burst with energy, whatever the form or topic. Beautiful black and white portraits of the students taken by Ed Kashi accompany the poems.
Smart Mouth - $15 (limited quantities!)
Introduction by Justin Chin, Cover by Joe Sorren, Comics by Gabrielle Gamboa, Anson Jew, Derek Kirk Kim, Nina Paley & Spain Rodriguez
2000, Softcover, 156 pgs, WritersCorps Books;
“I cannot imagine what it’s like to be a young person in America these days,” writes Justin Chin. “There is so much chaos and strife, so much to make sense of and to articulate. Yet the writers in “Smart Mouth” speak defiantly, loudly, and smartly in the face of the dominant babble. They are fearless enough to articulate this simple but indomitable fact: This is my life and it matters because I matter.”
What It Took for Me to Get Here - $15
Introduction by Dorothy Allison, Cover by Margaret Kilgallen, Photographs by Rick Rocamora
1999, Softcover, 144 pgs, WritersCorps Books
The writings in “What It Took for Me to Get Here” are beginnings, road maps to the future.” With an eye-catching cover by Margaret Kilgallen, and photographs by Rick Rocamora, this anthology by WritersCorps students takes us on a journey through the neighborhoods of San Francisco and the lives on young people.
Same Difference: Young Writers on Race - $15 (limited quantities!)
Introduction by Victor Martinez, Cover by Rigo
1998, Softcover, 153 pgs, WritersCorps Books
An affirmation of diversity, a celebration of the mix and multitude of ethnicities, cultures, colors, flavors and lifestyles of the San Francisco Bay Area, this is a collection of writing by gifted young people who strongly define themselves and in doing so, reveal to us who we are.
