Airplanes Light Trails (Photo credit: JcOlivera.com)
Leaving land of lone star
of heat, humidity, and horses
on a huge white bird
over open ocean
in night’s ebony embrace
Out of the ominous
an amazing archipelago
the pearl of perfection
the majesty of mountains
home
By Samuel Samson-Williams, 7th grade
O
On Thursday, May 17th, at 7pm, Writers in the Schools (WITS) students will share their art-inspired creative writing at the Menil Collection. This reading, called The Watchful Eye, will feature stories, essays, and poems that come out of a collaborative project called Writing at the Menil. The event is free, and the public is welcome.
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Summer is coming. Have you made your plans? There are still spaces available in the Writers in the Schools (WITS) Program.
Who: Middle and High school students
What: Summer writing workshops
Where: Bellaire High School
When: June 11-29, 9 am -12 noon
Why: Because you have a story to tell
How: Click here to sign up today
In the Creative Writing Camp, you explore different literary genres (poetry, fiction, essay, drama) with friends. You learn about craft and revision in one-on-one conferences with published authors. Through multi-disciplinary projects combining text and art (such as painting, sculpture, or music), you will also find new ways to address a particular audience. At the end of the three weeks, you will publish your best work in an anthology and celebrate!
Click here to find out more from a Rice News story. This summer program is sponsored by Writers in the Schools (WITS) and Rice University’s School Literacy and Culture Project.
Space is very limited. Click here to enroll.
Writers in the Schools (WITS) will celebrate some of Houston’s most talented young artists at its Young Writers Reading, an annual literary event held May 6th, at 3 pm at Discovery Green Park in downtown Houston. The event is free and open to the public. 
WITS Young Writers Reading event enriches the lives of students ranging from elementary to high school age by giving them the chance to read the work they have written under the guidance of a professional writer. Each student has been chosen from a juried competition. WITS publishes the best work in a bound anthology called Blooms.
The Young Writers Reading Series began in 1989 as a way to celebrate the achievements of the city’s most gifted young writers. For more information, visit www.witshouston.org.
You won’t want to miss this wonderful event at Discovery Green! Arrive early to play with our friends from Playworks Houston. Please come out on Sunday to support Houston’s youngest poets and writers!
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Don’t miss Dia de los Ninos at Discovery Green on Saturday, April 21st, from 10 am to 1 pm. Authors Pat Mora, Gwen Zepeda, and Xavier Garza will read their work. Three WITS students from Helms Elementary will perform their writing with Pat Mora, renowned author of The Desert is my Mother and other books. There will be free WITS writing workshops and arts and crafts. Everything is free. Click here for more information.
"Landscape with Birds" by Lucien Freud
Songbirds singing
Trees waving in the wind
The sound of people talking
The sound of cars zooming by
The smell of freshly cut grass
The vision of doves flying overhead
You can feel this dream making
More and more of itself.
by Ty, 4th grade
Click the link (above) to listen to the poem read on KPFT radio by Cyrus Fontenot, a 4th grader from Parker Elementary in Houston.
This poem is featured as part of the 2012 A Poem A Day campaign, a National Poetry Month celebration by Writers in the Schools (WITS) that features a different poem by a WITS student every day during April. Click here to learn more.
Houston school children will celebrate Mother Earth at A Light in the Forest this Sunday afternoon at the Houston Arboretum. Please join us!
Who: Talented students from HISD schools
What: Come hear students from the WITS program read their nature-inspired poems, essays, and stories in celebration of Earth Day.
When: Sunday, April 22, 2012 at 3:00 PM
Where: Houston Arboretum and Nature Center, 4501 Woodway Drive (map)
Cost: FREE and open to the public
Sponsors: Shell Oil Company, Texas Commission on the Arts, City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Kroger, The Jacob and Terese Hershey Foundation, Copy.com, and the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center.
Hosted by Houston’s former First Lady, Andrea White, the evening will include a panel discussion moderated by KUHF News reporter, Edel Howlin with leaders from local literacy organizations. Mrs. White will also debut her new children’s book Tummies on the Run, with co-author Mimi Vance.
Admission is FREE but you must register online.
Featuring a distinguished panel of literacy experts:
Margaret Doughty, Literacy Powerline
Sheri Foreman, Houston Center for Literacy
Dr. Rhea B. Lawson, Houston Public Libraries
Robin Reagler, Writers in the Schools
Presented in conjunction with World Book Night.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012 at 6:30pm
at the United Way Community Resource Center.
Presenting Sponsor: John P. McGovern Foundation
For more information call 713-743-8459 or visit
www.houstonpbs.org
Writers in the Schools (WITS) loves Public Poetry, and we know you do too! Please read the latest from our friends at Public Poetry. Go to the readings and hear WITS students read their work alongside accomplished poets. Read the invitation below and mark your calendars:
We’re celebrating our 1st anniversary and National Poetry month in a big way with two events in the month of April. Look for poets downtown at the newly restored Julia Ideson Building, across from Central Branch Library, onSaturday, April 7, at 2 PM, and more poets again at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s Brown Auditorium two weeks later, on Saturday, April 21, at 3 PM.
We’re delighted to confirm that Houston Mayor, Annise Parker, will be joining us as the special guest of honor for the Public Poetry library reading series. Last year, our Poet Mayor read one of her own compositions and also selected My Parents Watch the July Fourth Parade by Richard Beban. We’re eagerly anticipating her additions to the April 7 program, where featured poets –Mike Alexander, Janet Lowery, Jeremyah Payne/The Fluent One and Claire Kageyama-Ramakrishnan – will be reading. Noted architectural historian, Stephen Fox, will also be speaking briefly about this special library building.
Since Fall 2011, we’ve been telling you about the ARTlines ekphrastic poetry competition in collaboration with The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. On April 21, we reveal the winning poems at a special museum event. There will also be contributions from the jurors – three Texas Poets Laureate among them –docent led tours and a museum reception. And, poetry will continue to have a presence at the MFAH on their web site, on wall labels and as a cell phone audio stop. See ARTlines tab (next to Community Links) for additional details.
The public is welcome at both events. The library event is free, and the museum program is free with general museum admission.
See you there!
April is almost here. This year there are more ways than ever to get your daily poem. Pick your favorite. Celebrate National Poetry Month your way.
Tonight at Baker-Ripley House (Neighborhood Center, Houston) the slam team for teens will be selected. Winners of this event will become the official members of the Meta-Four Houston team and will represent Houston at Brave New Voices 2012.
Rooster Polski: Kogut (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
One morning my sister was going to feed the chickens. She got dried corn and poured it on the floor of the porch. Accidently, she put too much down, so she had to pick some up. The fat rooster saw her, and he got mad. His red hair stuck up on his head, and he charged at her. My sister screamed! After 3 or 4 laps around the house, she jumped onto the trampoline. She thought the rooster would not be able to get her there, but he saw the corn in her hand, and he hopped up there. He stared really mean at my sister. My sister dropped the corn in a flash, and the rooster gobbled it up. Now, my sister and I are really careful when we feed the chickens.
By Carmen, 4th grade
Summer 2012 Internships
College students, if you are interested in:
Writers in the Schools is recruiting one full-time and several part-time interns to serve as summer workshop assistants. Interns will work in a variety of areas, gaining experience in creative writing instruction, early childhood education, non-profit administration, and arts education.
Each summer Writers in the Schools and the School Literacy and Culture Project (Rice University) sponsor the Creative Writing Camp. Nearly 1,000 children in grades K-12 participate in the workshops, which provide a supportive environment where children write stories, poetry, essays, and plays. Children are divided into small groups by age, and they get to work with teachers as well as writers. The low teacher-student ratio ensures individual attention.
Teaching Assistant Internship (part-time, June 1 – 29, 2012)
Adolescent Literary Arts Curriculum Intern (full-time, June 1 – July 26, 2012)
Deadline to Apply = April 13, 2012
Cool Brains! Inprint Readings for Young People invites you to an afternoon of mystery and fun with Trenton Lee Stewart, New York Times bestselling author of The Mysterious Benedict Societyseries. He comes to Houston to read from his newest book in the series,The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict, which, according to a starred Booklist review, “gives readers a reason to fall in love with the series all over again…[with] adventures, danger, cleverness, dry wit, and good-hearted characters at the center of the action. . . . Two hundred years after Dickens’ birth, this orphan story plays notes in a familiar key but creates its own memorable tune.”
