4,000 YOUTH INSPIRED
From Literary Arts’ 2022/23 Annual Report
Our Writers in the Schools (WITS) writers-in-residence taught across many classes, including anthropology and biology. Readings took place in coffee shops and bookstores around Portland, and on stage at Portland Book Festival. We reintroduced the East Side Slam and the finaliasts advanced to our citywide youth poetry championship Verselandia!, and the College Essay Exchange returned to eight schools across two districts. We are grateful and excited to have all of our programs back and available to our community.
Writers in the Schools Residencies
We partnered with 28 educators at 13 public high schools throughout the year. While we worked in many creative writing and Language Arts classes, Writers in the Schools (WITS) also had writers-in-residence contribute to other classes, such as Chemistry, Biology, Anthropology, Mass Communications, and Health. At McDaniel High School, writer Dey Rivers piloted five mini-residencies which focused on mental health and storytelling. Journalist Bruce Poinsette helped students in Franklin High School’s Hip Hop Lit classes create content for their class Instagram.
Click here to learn more about our Writers in the Schools program.
“I really liked the creative freedom.
Often English class is stressful because of constrictions, this allowed me to spread my wings.”
—Benson High School student
Author Visits, Everybody Reads, and Students to the Schnitz
Thousands of students engaged with six world-class authors in the concert hall and classroom throughout the year for the 2022–23 Portland Arts & Lectures season and Everybody Reads. 351 students attended lectures, and 393 students attended author visits. This year, Youth Programs partnered with OPB’s Think Out Loud to combine the live interviews with author visits, giving students the opportunity to participate in the radio program. We held Think Out Loud interviews at Ida B. Wells, Grant, McDaniel, Lincoln, Parkrose, Franklin, and the Literary Arts office.
Click here to read more about our Students to the Schnitz program.
Verselandia! and East Side Slam
Verselandia! brought together poets from Portland and east Multnomah County high schools to compete for the title of Grand Slam Champion. Educators, friends, and family came out to the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall to hear the students perform. Oregon Poet Laureate Anis Mojgani hosted the evening.
The East Side Slam returned after a brief hiatus, giving students from east Multnomah and Clackamas counties the chance to compete for the night’s top prize of $500. Seven poets from Gresham, Parkrose, and Nelson High Schools participated, and two finalists advanced to compete in Verselandia! The slam was held at Adrienne C. Nelson High School for an audience of educators, family, friends, and even the school’s namesake, Justice Adrienne C. Nelson. Poet Christopher Diaz hosted the evening.
COLLEGE ESSAY EXCHANGE
The College Essay Exchange (formerly the College Essay Mentoring Project) offered in-person sessions for the first time since 2019. 290 students from 8 Portland area high schools received help from 50 volunteers in the fall and 74 volunteers in the spring to write and edit their college application materials.
“They gave me good insight on how I can write a supplemental essay and where to approach it. Now I am able to have a greater understanding of what I should write.“
—Franklin High School student
Workshops and Events
We offered events at the 2023 Portland Book Festival for grades 6–12, as well as for educators. Our middle school poetry workshop was led by WITS writer Dey Rivers, where students wrote creative responses to other poems and even some of the art at the Portland Art Museum. Students from across Portland, east Multnomah County, and Woodburn read their published work in front of an audience of nearly 200 at the WITS anthology launch.
Committed to Equity
- Continued deepening our relationship with schools outside of Portland and with culturally specific institutions, placing WITS at Many Nations Academy for the first time.
- Further developed our Writers in the Schools Apprenticeship for Writers of Color with writers Jen Shin and Jeremy Husserl.
- 48.8% of students served identify as BIPOC, and 40% receive free and reduced lunch.
Read the full report below.
