Writers in Action (WIA) enables MFA candidates to become agents of social change with a creative-writing focused arts-in-education program that connects MFA students with public schools and community-based organizations (CBOs) in Wilmington. MFA students work with students ages 7-18 in a classroom-style setting and create their own curricula tailored to the needs of their students. MFA students work in tandem with community members to create a rooted, solidified cultural community that empowers residents to channel their voices into art, and their art into action.
WIA teachers teach semester-long courses and work in a single classroom within one of the participating Wilmington Schools or CBOs. The courses include lessons in fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry, in addition to subjects left out of the traditional writing class, such as: the graphic novel, playwriting, or web-based writing. WIA instructors follow a project-based learning approach where students see their ideas come to fruition.
Teens Out Loud
In Spring 2009, Writers in Action collaborated with Linda Connor, BSW, of Duke Medical Center and The Publishing Laboratory to offer a writing course to local teens diagnosed with HIV and AIDS. The course, organized and taught by Chris Guppy (MFA 2011), was called Teens Out Loud.
Ten students, aged twelve to nineteen, signed on to the project, lending their writing talent and enthusiasm. The hybrid structure of the class, with three all-day meetings and e-mail contact between classes, enabled students from as far as Laurinburg and Fayetteville to participate in a Wilmington-based program. Students responded to writing prompts and created life timelines. Their writing and paintings expressed their feelings about HIV and its impact on their lives. The students put their writing and work in a book produced by The Publishing Laboratory, Teens Out Loud: Positive Voices Speak Out.
Read the Star-News article.
Listen to participant Maria Rangel discuss her experiences living with HIV/AIDS.
Listen to an interview with Teens Out Loud teacher Chris Guppy.
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