Kelly Writers House

hub party May 2016 celebrating that year's KWH seniors... just a bit of fun

This is why I keep writing. / How did I get so attached to people on Zoom? / I haven’t been this happy in so long. / I feel like I could read your writing forever. / These are just a few of the final words we heard during our last session of this year’s Summer Workshop for Young Writers today. We are so grateful.

On Monday March 29 at 6:30 PM ET, then on Tuesday March 30 at 11 AM ET, KWH will host Hilton Als! The two links below will connect you to the livestreaming of those events. The second will be all Q&A/conversation. Join us! 3/29 6:30 PM Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch 3/30 11 AM Conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch

While we’re remote for another semester, Bernie & Primo are keeping the green couch warm (and are maintaining social distance).

The new episode of Jamie-Lee Josselyn’s Dead Parents Society podcast features Excelano Project alum Taylor Hosking, who has written about turning to fellow women of color as she grieves her mother’s death from Covid-19. We hope you’ll listen.

We’re sad not to gather in person this year, but we put together a little zine for Hub Thanksgiving featuring recipes by community members! https://writing.upenn.edu///docs/Hub-Thanksgiving_2020.pdf

Today at 12 PM Philly time, Jamie-Lee Josselyn interviews Hope Edelman about Hope’s new book, The AfterGrief, which concerns grieving beyond the first year and the way our stories about loss change over time. This event is sponsored by the Creative Writing Program, in partnership with our podcast Dead Parents Society. Watch here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=1JWNZqO1cWc

Livestreamed, interactive conversation with the great Hilton Als will begin at 11 AM eastern US time today (Tuesday, March 30). Join here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI0MpE18myU

Hilton Als joins us tonight at 6:30 PM eastern US time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_wL7sx_CXM

Reporting to the Associate Director for Development and Finance, the Development and Finance Coordinator will support all financial and development operations at the Kelly Writers House (KWH). The Development and Finance Coordinator will prepare invoices, purchase orders, reimbursements, and other payments; process and track incoming gifts; assist in donor cultivation and stewardship; manage Petty Cash; and coordinate travel and lodging for KWH guests. The Development and Fi...nancial Coordinator will coordinate all KWH mailings, including two major annual appeals, the monthly print calendar, donor acknowledgement letters, and other mailings as assigned. Additional responsibilities include contact database management, email subscriber management, inventory tracking, and occasional event staffing, for development- and alumni-related events. This position will supervise part-time staff, including student workers, in collaboration with the Associate Director for Development and Finance. Please apply and learn the full details at https://wd1.myworkdaysite.com//Administrative-Coordinator_

On Monday March 29 at 6:30 PM ET, then on Tuesday March 30 at 11 AM ET, KWH will host Hilton Als! The two links below will connect you to the livestreaming of those events. The second will be all Q&A/conversation. Join us! 3/29 6:30 PM Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch 3/30 11 AM Conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch

Episode 23 is now live, friends! This time, Jamie-Lee and brilliant pal Izzy Lopez talk with Michelle Chikaonda about her essay, "Song for My Father," which was... published last year in The Penn Gazette. Michelle elaborates on the role that faith and music played in her life with her father and following his death from cancer. She reflects on the essay and on grief generally amidst Covid-19. We hope you'll listen (& subscribe & rate & review)! https://podcasts.apple.com//episode-23-miche/id1372504018

The application for our 2021 Summer Workshop for Young Writers is now live! If you are a current high school sophomore or junior* who loves writing - or if you know one! - check out our webpage for more info: http://writing.upenn.edu/wh/summer/ *We know, current high school sophomores and juniors are not on Facebook! Anyway, send this their way!

We are so grateful for this work that our staffer and community member Ollie Dupuy is doing with Penn GSE. When I think about humanization, Dupuy says, I think about the act of becoming human from phantom, becoming real, full life. And even though becoming full people, becoming humanized, might bring to light a lot of horrible stories about horrible truths, at the end of the day there’s no way to have these conversations and talk about racism, sexism, transmisogyny, if we don’t first become human.

We’re excited to welcome Katherine Hill back (virtually) tomorrow at noon!

One of our 2020 Summer Workshoppers, Pauline from NYC, interviewed the program staff about the experience of bringing things online this year. Despite purely interacting on Zoom, we were all able to foster a writer’s bond truly like no other, Pauline writes.

If you missed our Summer Workshop for Young Writers reading last night, you can watch it now here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N73Q-t00NBY

TONIGHT, 7/14, at 6 PM Philly time - join us live on YouTube for a reading by the brilliant, hilarious, and Zoom-expert students of our 2020 Summer Workshop for Young Writers! https://youtu.be/N73Q-t00NBY

Announcing Kelly Writers House Word Camp: six different workshops in various creative writing genres, from dystopian fiction to comedy writing. Each workshop lasts an hour per day for a week, during the weeks of July 27th and August 3rd. In every workshop, writers will read fun sample pieces, work on projects that they’re excited about, and meet other kids who share their interests. The camp is free, remote, and open to kids going into 3rd8th grade. No writing experience nec...essary just passion. Signups open today June 17th (Today!) We’re keeping the classes small, and signups are first come, first serve, so we expect to fill up quickly. http://writing.upenn.edu/wh/involved/outreach/wordcamp/ graphic by Alyson del Pino

Here is a message Al Filreis & Jessica Lowenthal sent to the Kelly Writers House community tonight: To the beloved Writers House community: We unequivocally su...pport justice for those murdered and brutalized by police: Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Tony McDade, and countless others. We unequivocally support justice for those lynched by civilians: Ahmaud Arbery, Nina Pop, and countless others. Anything we might say in this time of rage, despair, and mourning would be inadequate and incommensurate as a response to these deaths, especially because so many members of our community are in pain and there is so much work to do. But we do want to state a few things simply and plainly: We firmly now and always stand against racial injustice, inequality, and police brutality. We resolutely affirm that Black lives matter. And we are committed as always to amplifying the ideas and voices of our community, many of whom are engaged daily in the necessary work of change. That is what the Writers House was founded to do nearly 25 years ago and now more than ever we consciously intend to honor that mission. We’re putting together a livestream event on Monday, June 15 at 6:00 PM that will feature some of our community members sharing thoughts, writing, and reflection. We’ll send more info soon. Meantime, please put that date and time in your calendar and we hope you’ll plan to participate. And in the coming days, weeks, and months we plan to use outreach methods the Kelly Writers House has created and extended over the years connecting a strong network of artists, writers, teachers, students, citizens to share readings, writings, ideas, resources, and projects that provide urgently needed information, challenge racist assumptions and structures, might bring comfort, and are otherwise relevant to this extraordinarily difficult time. Here, for now, we share a few links below, as recommended by some of our community members. We hope you will join us in this effort by sending us links to and information about some of the projects, readings, ventures, stories, and work that you find important and relevant right now. We will share what we can with our networks via email and social media. Send your notes and suggestions to [email protected] . Al & Jessica Al Filreis, Faculty Director, Kelly Writers House Jessica Lowenthal, Director, Kelly Writers House * IMPORTANT LINKS: Arts and writing organizations: Virtual programming from the Free Library of Philadelphia while branches remain closed due to COVID-19: https://libwww.freelibrary.org/calendar/virtual-programs/ , use this link specifically for programs with the tag African American: https://libwww.freelibrary.org/calendar/tag/african-american Safe Kids Stories which promises to see safety, peace, and non-violence with the clarity and imagination with which we now see danger Mighty Writers, a Philadelphia organization that teaches kids to write and has expanded to launch an urgently needed food distribution program Art for Philadelphia, a collaborative project by Philadelphia-based artists in support of the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund Printers for #BlackLivesMatter, list of print studios offering free services for anti-racist protest use: bit.ly/printersforBLM Support Black-owned bookstores in Philadelphia: Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee and Books https://www.unclebobbies.com/ Amalgam Comics & Coffeehouse https://amalgamphilly.com/ Harriett’s Bookshop https://www.harriettsbookshop.com Hakim’s Bookstore http://www.hakimsbookstore.com / Resources for speaking to children about racial injustice, policing, and protest: Educators Responding to Nationwide Uprisings Resource Guide a fantastic series of conversation prompts, articles and other resources for children and teens, compiled by the Racial Justice Organizing Committee of the Caucus of Working Educators of Philadelphia Early childhood educator Akiea Gross shares read-alouds and other kindergarten-appropriate content affirming Black lives matter, follow their YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/cha/UCZJqFGssFb-O9mOuF6nKJNQ/videos or on Instagram @wokekindergarten Food distribution or donation: Philabundance, a Philadelphia organization seeking to end hunger and food insecurity. To find food distribution, click here: https://www.philabundance.org/find-food/ Follow @bunnyhopphl on Instagram for information on how to pick up free food, or donate food and other goods you have to spare in Philadelphia City of Philadelphia food distribution sites for K-12 students and their families, seniors, or ANY Philadelphian. View the map with pick up sites, dates and more information here: https://www.phila.gov/food/#/

On this episode of our podcast Dead Parents Society, Jamie-Lee Josselyn and Isabella Simonetti (C'21) discuss Isabella's writing about grieving while coming of age, and how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected this work. Please listen and share, friends!

You can visit KWH via Penn Admissions' virtual tour of campus. Check it out! http://youvis.it/figTiN