City of One: Young Writers Speak to the World

by Colette DeDonato (Editor), Isabel Allende (Foreword by)

Overview

Poetry, Fiction, Cultural Writing. Ethnic Studies. In this new collection from WritersCorps, young urban poets and authors make the act of writing into an act of peace. The exploration ranges from the personal to the communal to the political. Funded by a Peace and the Written Word Award from the Isabel Allende Foundation, with a forward by Allende herself, CITY OF ONE is a testimony to a new engaged generation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781879960695
Publisher:	Aunt Lute Books
Publication date:	05/01/2004
Pages:	244
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

WritersCorps, San Francisco, places professional writers in community settings to teach creative writing to youth. The program is part of a national alliance with sites in the Bronx and Washington, D.C., whose shared vision is to strengthen and transform individuals and communities using the written word.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 8 Up-This anthology celebrates the 10th anniversary of WritersCorps workshops, which bring creative-writing instruction to low-income kids from public schools, youth detention centers, halfway houses, and after-school programs. More than 150 young people ranging in age from 9 to 23 write about their lives and the state of the world. There are angry poems as in "Dear Mr. Bush": "-Dear Mr. Bush why can you go to war and not go/To prison yet we get 25 to life for killing each other/On the streets?" Desperate poems also appear, as in "Home": "My home is filled wit crack rocks and dope spots./My home is constantly invaded/by crooked cops whose purpose is to send my/people to jail instead of helpin' them." Reflective poems include "Deep Inside": "The best place I ever was is in my mind/-It's a place of peace and tranquility/where I take time to grow." Poems about family, freedom, inner peace, self-identity, and the writing process round out this remarkable anthology. Above all, these poems are about adolescence; the seething emotions as well as the incredible hope for the future are present.-Sonja Cole, Briarcliff Middle School, Mountain Lakes, NJ Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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