4,500 YOUTH INSPIRED
From Literary Arts’ 2024/25 Annual Report
We are excited to have reached so many students this year. Our Writers in the Schools program was in 12 schools, across classes such as Vocal Justice, Psychology, and Film Studies. Students read and performed their original writing in local bookstores, on festival stages, and in the Schnitzer Concert Hall. We had our busiest College Essay Exchange season yet, supporting 355 students with their personal statements.
Writers in the Schools Residencies
We partnered with 21 educators at 12 public high schools throughout the year, serving students in Creative Writing, English, Psychology, Film, and a host of other subjects.
Click here to learn more about our Writers in the Schools program.
Author Visits, Everybody Reads, and Students to the Schnitz
Hundreds of students engaged with eight world-class authors in the concert hall and classrooms during our 40th anniversary season of events. 650 students attended lectures, and 1,089 students attended author visits. Youth Programs continued to partner 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 Franklin, Woodburn, McDaniel, Grant, and Lincoln high schools.
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 on Thursday, April 24, to hear the students perform. Poet Julia Gaskill hosted the event.
The East Side Slam, which gives students from east Multnomah and Clackamas counties the chance to compete for the night’s top prize of $500, was held at Adrienne C. Nelson High School for an audience of educators, family, and friends. Seven poets from Parkrose, Nelson, and Gresham High Schools participated, and two finalists advanced to compete in Verselandia! Poet Stephen Meads hosted the evening.
College Essay Exchange
The College Essay Exchange offered 18 in-person sessions. 355 students from nine Portland area high schools received help from 88 volunteers to write and edit their college application materials. This year, we began a new partnership with local nonprofit Word is Bond to help mentor young Black students aged 14 to 18.
Workshops and Events
We offered three workshops at the 2025 Portland Book Festival for high school aged students: poetry, fiction, and spoken word poetry. 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.
- 45.4% of students served identify as BIPOC, and 61.3% qualify for free and reduced lunch.
- College Essay Exchange, Students to the Schnitz, and Verselandia! are completely free for students and educators.
Read the full report below.
Click here for a PDF version of the report.
