by Mel Wells
Broadway Books once again warmly hosted Grant High School WITS students for their end-of-residency reading. Owner Kim Bissell welcomed folks and reminded all that the bookstore’s 25th birthday is coming up on May 20th (and that there will be cake!) There were cheers all around.
Students, teachers, and the writers they worked with shared poems and stories that were deeply personal, or sharply political, or simply warm and humorous. Many students read pieces in voices other than their own in leaps of fiction, and there were pieces where a character was defined by their objects. Writer Mark Pomeroy thanked the “cheeky, bright” students he worked with, and read from his new novel The Garrisons, forthcoming from Hawthorne Books. Writer Arthur Bradford read an excerpt that ended with a cliffhanger. Groans all around that time.
Student writers were invited to sign Broadway Books’ guest book.
The 54 people seated in the cozy back half of the bookstore included teachers Scott Blevins and Trisha Todd, and Grant librarian Paige Battle. There were parents and lots of other students there to listen, clap, hoot and cheer as well.
