The Kore Press Grrls Literary Activism Project

In community partnership with City High School, the Every Voice in Action Foundation, Pam Grissom and individual donors.

 

Literary activism, as defined by us:

The use of written or spoken language for public expression on a social or political issue

 

Step One: The Writing

Each week after school, a group of girls and young women ages 14 to 20 gather to discuss the work of women writers. Through these writings and through conversation among themselves, these young women identify and become informed about issues important to their lives. They then explore their own views on these issues by writing original poetry and prose; and finally they bring their ideas and perspectives into the public sphere.

 

Adult facilitators select works of literature and topics to discuss; facilitate conversations; teach creative writing fundamentals; listen carefully; and offer guidance to individual participants as they look at which issues and strategies to adopt. Adults do not lecture participants on literature and/or social change issues; or direct conversation toward a particular social agenda.

 

Step Two: The Activism

The activism component of the project is inspired by foremothers such as the Guerilla Girls, the New York City-based band of artists whose creative street activism inspired a shift in the way women artists are represented in museums and the media. Participants have produced ‘zines, created broadsides, printed poetry on door knob hangers, ironed their words onto t-shirts, made poetry “fortune-tellers,” put their words and opinions on blogs, read out loud, and decorated a sanitary products machine full of tampons wrapped in poetry.

 

The very nature of literary activism is to affect the individual who experiences the author’s perspective. That the author, in this case, is a young woman insisting that her voice be given equal air time, print space or aural opportunity brings another level of importance and power to the act of publication.

 

All young women or female identified individuals, ages 14 to 20, are eligible to participate. For more information, to make a tax credit donation, or to enroll or sponsor your favorite grrl, contact Nhu Tien Lu at grrls@korepress.org or call 327-2127.