Conversations with poets, novelists, nonfiction writers, and playwrights about their work and craft, as well as their thoughts on creative writing education.
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By M.L. Thompson M.L. Thompson – @dreamyuncle LaQuann Dawson Jr. – @laquanndawson For some writers, when we pick up a pen the world becomes an expansive wonder waiting to be explored and filled with our stories. We dream in words. We know the word dream to mean more than fantasy. Dreams, for some writers, have…
By M.L. Thompson For some of us, the moment we saw ourselves in an empowering way was a Disney character, or maybe some fleeting instance we never engaged again. For Glenis Redmond, the moment was Yolanda Walker performing “1,968 Winters” at a school assembly. Redmond meditates and explores this performance in her essay, “Poetry As…
By Wynne Kontos Julie Landsman is a writer, a painter, and an educator who spent thirty years in the public school system and now dedicates her time to the elder population facing dementia and Alzheimer’s. Landsman’s Bechtel Prize–winning piece, “Words, Images and Music: How We Enter,” chronicles her life as both an educator and a…
By M.L. Thompson Roya – @champagnepoet LaQuann – @laquanndawson M.L. Thompson – @dreamyuncle They see it too: the political moment, people being shot in Las Vegas, forest fires burrowing through neighborhoods. How are you talking to your students? I ask because they are talking. They talk about race, climate change, sexuality, always pop culture, and the…
By Susan Karwoska The Poetry of Kevin Young, says Lucille Clifton, ”re-creates for us an inner history which is compelling and authentic and American.” A National Book Award finalist, Young is the author of eleven books of poetry and prose, most recently Blue Laws: Selected & Uncollected Poems 1995-2015 (Knopf, 2016), longlisted for the National Book Award; Book of…
When Iree Mann moved from southern California to the North Shore of Long Island and started her junior year at Syosset High School, she was introduced to Poetry Out Loud. After being named New York State Champion in March 2017, Iree went on to the national final in Washington, DC, finishing third in the competition….
Lydia Esslinger says that she has been an English teacher and speech and debate coach at Syosset High School on Long Island “forever.” Eight years ago, she learned about Poetry Out Loud and brought the program to her school. One of her students, Iree Mann, is the 2017 New York State Poetry Out Loud Champion…
In April 2017, Samara Huggins was named National Poetry Out Loud Champion at the national final in Washington, DC. Samara, from Marietta, Georgia, is now a first-year student at Pratt Institute in New York City. She sat down with poet, playwright, and long-time T&W teaching artist Dave Johnson to talk about her Poetry Out Loud…
Renée Watson’s books include the YA novels Piecing Me Together, What Momma Left Me, and This Side of Home, which was nominated for the Best Fiction for Young Adults award by the American Library Association. Renée’s writing and teaching work aims to help youth cope with trauma and discuss social issues. Her picture book, A…
Renée Watson’s books include the YA novels Piecing Me Together, What Momma Left Me, and This Side of Home, which was nominated for the Best Fiction for Young Adults award by the American Library Association. Renée’s writing and teaching work aims to help youth cope with trauma and discuss social issues. Her picture book, A…