It’s that time of year again! Join hundreds of young poets from throughout the Bay Area as they vie for a spot on the 2010 Brave New Voices Team in Los Angeles. Youth Speaks kicks off their annual Teen Poetry Slam, in which young poets perform their work from some of the hottest stages throughout the Bay. The event kicked off March 12 and goes through April 3 at the Warfield, where the final 16 poets left standing perform. For more information, go here.

If you’re itching to hear some great poetry from young, up-and-coming writers, check out the New Lit Generation Reading at City Lights Bookstore this Thursday evening at 7pm. Three of the participants from our WritersCorps Apprentice Program will be presenting their work. For more information, go here. Keep in mind that the event is also a celebration of Small Press Month, which you can find out more about here.

Supporters of urban youth making art and letting their creative expression go wild will want to check out the 14th Annual Urban Youth Arts Festival Fundraiser, at El Rio, on March 31st. Hosted by Precita Eyes, all proceeds go towards this year’s Urban Youth Arts Festival, an annual event for youth and families that features live music, performances, food, and art galore. The fundraiser will include music by local musicians, live painting by Precita Eyes muralists, and artwork by local Bay Area artists. Oh yeah, and lots of free barbecue! Don’t miss it! For more information, go here.

Thanks to everyone who came out to our Claim the Block reading at MoAD, featuring students from Downtown High School and Ida B. Wells High School. It was great to see so much support from the WritersCorps fam! Here are some photos from the event. Many thanks to Michele Kraus for taking them.

Mark your calendars for March 11, because our next Claim the Block event is right around the corner! This time, WritersCorps teachers and students from Hilltop School, Mission High School, and the San Francisco Main Library will be reading their work at the Contemporary Jewish Museum. Admission is free and also includes free entrance to CJM’s galleries, so before heading over to the event, be sure to check out their newest exhibit, “Our Struggle: Responding to Mein Kampf,” a poignant show based on the collective artwork and book, Notre Combat (Our Struggle, in English), based on French painter/photographer Linda Ellia’s response to Hitler’s autobiography.

A page from "Notre Combat," Linda Ellia

The exhibition includes 600 “altered” pages from the book—Ellia personally altered the book by painting, drawing, sculpting, and collaging directly onto the pages. She then invited hundreds of people from around the world to do the same. The exhibition brings together a remarkable variety of artistic styles and powerful voices—from poets to journalists to students to survivors of the Holocaust. For more information on this and other exhibitions at the Contemporary Jewish museum, go here. And for more information on Claim the Block events, go here.