Celebrating #ShoutInPlace
On August 20th, Shout Mouse Press authors met to celebrate their contributions to #ShoutInPlace and hear work from featured poet Pages Matam and fellow authors. Our team is constantly humbled and honored to work with powerful young writers who share their stories with vulnerability, eloquence, and intentionality. We loved seeing and hearing from authors about their #ShoutInPlace work and how it feels to be accomplished writers!
#ShoutInPlace is our response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In line with our commitment to our network of young adult authors and mission of amplifying underheard voices, we decided to launch a brand new storytelling initiative. We collected pieces from diverse youth in response to our current moment, namely the COVID-19 crisis and shutdown and, following the murder of George Floyd, the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Authors were paid $25 for each submission and we received over 300(!!) submissions. Thanks to the support of the Greater Washington Community Foundation’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund, we were able to distribute nearly $10,000 directly to our participating youth authors, helping with critical financial needs during challenging times of job loss and hours reduction. We'll have more on the impact of this work in the coming months and can't wait to share it with you!
Since April, SMP authors have submitted their work in response to creative weekly prompts. And, WOW, did they respond with thoughtfulness, wisdom, and creativity! When asked about their visions for the future, they talked about the importance of listening to youth, a desire for a police-free U.S., future technology, and how today’s issues will become tomorrow’s history. For Week 4’s prompt, they created a fun and eclectic pandemic playlist. Week 14’s prompt inspired authors to write postcards to their political leaders about systemic racism and #BlackLivesMatter, which they did with grace and boldness. And so, so much more.
A compilation video of Shout Mouse Press authors' responses to the "Who Am I?" #ShoutInPlace prompt.
Our celebration on August 20th was full of joy, snaps, and collective gratitude. Featured poet Pages Matam, former Director of Poetry at Busboys & Poets and Cultural Ambassador for the National Fair Housing Alliance, spoke to authors about his poetry, process, and shared wisdom about writing. Authors who attended were mailed a gift bag (packed with joy by Alexa) that included a certificate featuring their work, candy, face mask with the SMP logo, and an #AManWasLynchedYesterday poster made by Author Intern Sasa Aakil.
HUGE shout-outs to our Programs Manager Alexa Patrick for her tireless work on #ShoutInPlace and coordination of yesterday's event, Author Intern Sasa Aakil, who supported the entire submission and editing process, and Programs Associate Barrett Smith for her work publishing submissions on our website (go check them out!)
All #ShoutInPlace submissions, which range from poetry to photos to essays to songs to recipes to a shutdown playlist, are available here! You can also check out featured work on our Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook feeds. We're so proud of #ShoutInPlace and the authors who participated and are currently exploring ways to continue the important work of collecting youth responses to the moment.
#ShoutInPlace gift bags were sent to everyone who attended the celebration event.