Let’s say, for the first time a Kidquake student met an author that looks like she does—like Newberry-winning Rajani LaRocca, shown above—and she started to think of herself, right then, as an author in training, helping her embrace writing as an expression of thoughts, ideas, and herself for years to come. Flash forward to Lit Crawl 2042, she arrives at The Chapel for an early slot with the poetry magazine she’s been published in. She idles by the door until she meets the eye of the editor she’s only ever emailed with. Tonight they chat, share a drink and a stage, and stroll with the other readers to the next event where they become one with the crowd that just showed them so much warmth. Phrases play in her head. Lines are jotted down and then worked over and over while dinner cooks, before the house wakes up, in the middle of the night. She dreams of a chapbook, or a series of collections even—courageous and just one of the many inspirations Litquake aims to provide? Last month, an Elder Project student told us he can’t understand why he’s waited until now to write again—it’s so rewarding to be creative after so long. “Each time my classmates like and resonate with what I put on paper, it feels as if the ‘inside’ me has just arrived.”
Litquake is… For the writer, we believe literature is a powerful tool of self-definition for individuals, and self-determination for communities. Everyone deserves the privilege to tell their story, and to have a stage and an audience that is primed to thoughtfully engage.
About Litquake Litquake’s live programs bring people together around the common humanity encapsulated in literature, and perpetuate a sense of literary community, as well as a vibrant forum for Bay Area writing. www.litquake.org
