Oakland Word's mission is to provoke dialogue and encourage creativity, literacy and self-sufficiency by providing opportunities for underrepresented youth and adults to write, publish and perform works about their lives.
Oakland Word's mission is to provoke dialogue and encourage creativity, literacy and self-sufficiency by providing opportunities for underrepresented youth and adults to write, publish and perform works about their lives.
What lives in Oakland, features 53 local writers, took 6 months to create, and has a real ISBN?
Summary Oakland Word's Feb-May 2010 workshops took place in Fruitvale, Chinatown, Downtown/Lake Merritt and West Oakland. There were 20 free workshops registering approximately 339 participants, and 3 public events drawing an approximate total of 150 attendees.
Oakland Word's fifth creative writing excerpt and Q&A comes from Tracy Held Potter. In this excerpt from "French Toast" a young woman tries to navigate her way through some of the awkwardness of a new relationship. Potter's entire story will be published in Oakland Word's anthology, due out in June.
At 72-years-young, James Eilers is the eldest participant in Oakland Word's free creative writing workshops. He attended the Poetry and Spoken Word workshop with instructor Bisola Marignay in February. In the following poetic vignettes, he skillfully paints impressions of two different moments in his life.
Save the date for Oakland Word's next student reading!