Nonprofits Inspire City Youth to Publish Their Own Book

November 2007 — Two Baltimore-based nonprofits teamed up last month to teach writing workshops for city youth and publish a book featuring their writing.

As part of Free Fall Baltimore, CityLit Project was awarded a grant to present CityLit Espanol, the organization's first attempt to reach out to the Latino community through the literary arts. Part of CityLit Espanol included "Libro-en-un-Mes," a series of four workshops where more than twenty youth participated in writing, designing the cover art, and titling their own book. The workshops took place at Enoch Pratt Free Library's Southeast Anchor Library in Southeast Baltimore, one of the centers of Baltimore's growing Latino community. Middle schoolers from Highlandtown Elementary School #215 and Canton Middle School #230 were regular attendees for the afternoon workshops.

Meanwhile, Apprentice House, the student-staffed book publisher based in the Communication Department at Loyola College, also received a Free Fall Baltimore grant to prepare the manuscript, translate it into Spanish, and design and produce the book. The publisher turned the job around in quick order so that in less than two weeks finished books were delivered.

CityLit Espanol culminated with a book party at the library on October 30 where the youth received their free copies of Poetry of Color / Poesia de Color. Overcoming stage fright and any indication of bashfulness, each young writer took a turn reading from the book for the audience.

The youth agreed on titling their book Poetry of Color / Poesia de Color because they particularly liked the poetry writing exercises, several of which focused on how certain colors made them feel. All their writing appears in both English and Spanish.

"Poetry of Color / Poesia de Color was their opportunity to look within themselves and turn their thoughts and emotions into written art," said Hayley Wulster, Loyola '08, who designed the book. "They were so eager to express themselves creatively."

"It was inspirational to see how thrilled the children were to read the words they wrote from a real book," said Randi Vega, Director of Cultural Affairs for the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts, which manages Free Fall Baltimore. "This program is one that needs to be in every school, giving every child the chance to see themselves in a new and exciting way."

CityLit Project President and CEO Gregg Wilhelm said that while the workshops did not attract as many Spanish speakers as he hoped, the organization was overwhelmed by the way the youth took to the idea of writing and publishing their own book. "I thought they would think it was fun, but when I took that first copy of the book out of the box, the wide-eyed joy and excitement expressed on their faces was unexpected," he said.

CityLit Project hopes to initiate similar programs in the future, either within schools or as part of after-school programs.