Programming Spotlight: Creative Writing with Paul Griffin

L-R: Paul Griffin, Math Teacher Wanda Carter and her students in Abbott House during the workshop

With his usual kindness and warmth the author Paul Griffin facilitated two creative writing workshops for detained  students at Belmont last Wednesday.   As always Griffin nurtured the students’ voices,  and motivated them to pick up their pencils to express themselves and tell their stories.   He then encouraged everyone interested to enter the contest for the Ned Vizzini Writing Prize.  

We are grateful to Karen Keys and the Brooklyn Public Library for arranging the workshops. --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Guest Post: Words Unlocked

I began following What’s Good? in the Library several years ago, when I was helping to run a book club with youth charged and incarcerated as adults at DC Jail and searching desperately for new titles for our monthly “book ballot.” I found What’s Good? to be a resource in a way that standard curricula and book lists were not- the librarians posting reviews understood the unique circumstances of working in a detention setting, and embraced the challenge!

April is National Poetry Month, but it can be difficult to tie poetry into programming in a way that is real and relevant. When I heard about the Words Unlocked initiative from the Center for Educational Excellence in Alternative Settings, I felt the same feeling of thankful recognition as when I discovered “What’s Good?” Designed specifically for educators working with youth in detention, the Words Unlocked wiki is loaded with free resources- downloadable lesson plans, worksheets, poem links and more. It also offers a great opportunity to engage nationwide- for educators through the online teacher community, and for youth by entering a national Poetry Contest, to be judged by esteemed authors Jimmy Santiago Baca and R. Dwayne Betts.

Last night, in a writing workshop at a youth detention center, one longtime participant remarked that poetry had changed his life. “Sometimes you have to write things into existence,” he told me.  “If I hadn’t written those poems, I wouldn’t have decided to make new choices.” To get involved, visit Words Unlocked today!

Check out:  http://wordsunlocked.wikispaces.com/  --Juliana Ratner

Juliana Martin Ratner has been writing with incarcerated youth since 2008. She currently facilitates a poetry workshop at New Beginnings Youth Development Center in Washington, DC through a collaboration between Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop and The Beat Within. She also assists the Center for Educational Excellence in Alternative Settings with outreach and special projects.