On May 17th, in celebration of the 826NYC Writers’ Room, our first Manhattan outpost, we partnered with Ghostly and Warby Parker for Super Kids, Serious Authors, an evening of 826NYC students’ writing read by Kaitlyn Greenidge, Lev Grossman, Maura Tierney, J. Courtney Sullivan, and Chip Kidd.

Kaitlyn Greenidge, author of the recently released novel We Love you Charlie Freeman, kicked off the reading with the powerful poem Protest of a Young Man, written by C.J. S., age 14, during our After-School Writing & Tutoring  program. Next was acclaimed author Lev Grossman who read a scary story and the following haiku, The Eye of the Storm, written by Aaron Y., age 8, during our City Haiku workshop.

the salty seas

the tempest crackles

lightning zooms

Graphic designer Chip Kidd then read two works, including a short and funny piece that imagines spending a day with Donald Trump. J. Courtney Sullivan followed with a poem about the virtues of reading by one of our After-School Tutoring and Writing students and a personal essay by a student from our most recent Young Authors Book Project at the High School of Fashion Industries. The reading was concluded by Golden Globe winner Maura Tierney, who read an excerpt from an essay written during our Sports Journalism workshop in Brownsville and the following poem, Stapler, written by Ivan W., age 11, during After-School Writing and Tutoring in Park Slope:

A stapler can

be romantic

because it can be

solid gold

and show

whoever you

give it to–

they

will know

that

you deeply

care

for

Her.

The readers and guests enjoyed a DJ set from Sam Valenti of Ghostly and beer provided by Goose Island at the Upper East Side Warby Parker location on Lexington Avenue.

For those interested in joining us for future events like this, you can join the League of SuperHumans here. To read more about our newest program in East Harlem, the 826NYC Writers’ Room, go here.

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Photo Credit: Charlotte Dupré

Go here to see more photos from the event.