“That’s the power of the Writers Room — it brings partners and people together, and it is those people and those partners that have made the success of Writers Room so incredible. It is a testament to its members, our community and a very important piece to our university.”

“We are truly diverse in identity, background, expertise and thought; yet we have come together to address residential displacement and affordable housing, one of the most important issues plaguing a community which touches many facets of each of our lives. We are joint partners in the creation and execution of our research study, and ultimately, in the ways in which it will be shared to support the development of a writers house. Our project exemplifies the transformative nature of interdisciplinary and intergenerational collaboration.”

Writers Room was included in a roundup of notable literary arts programs and events from Philly Mag.

“To be a balanced human being, there are things you should do not to get on your résumé, but to be more passionate and empathetic.” 

“The day that I visited the Dornsife Center at Drexel was the day that everything changed for me because it was in that moment that I found out about photography,” Pitts said. “When I first found out about photography, I was so excited. It was during that time that I picked up a camera and learned how to shoot.”

“The resources and expertise that Canon brings to this collaboration make possible a whole new level of engagement,” said Roger Kurtz, department head, of English & Philosophy in Drexel’s College of Arts and Sciences. “We are creating new opportunities for Drexel students, faculty, staff, and community members to learn and grow together.”

And when Hymms, a frequent visitor of the Writers Room, was asked about her favorite part of the room, she replied, “Everything is my favorite part. This place is now my second home.”

Kirsten Kaschock recently interviewed Carol McCullough and Rachel Wenrick for the Writing Networks for Social Justice zine put together by Donald Unger and Liz Lane of 4C4Equality.

We’re proud to announce that Writers Room was selected as one of the 70 finalists being considered for ArtPlace America’s 2017 National Creative Placemaking Fund. Our proposed project, Writers House, will provide a model for inclusive community and act as a catalyst for equitable development in response to gentrification and urban town-gown divides. Learn more about the Writers House project in a video courtesy of our friends over at Melodius Thunk Productions.

“Seeing the seriousness and growth within our group reminds me why I write, too—to express myself, but also to reach and be read by an audience, to connect with others.”

“I hope it continues to show us that we are more the same than we are different,” Wenrick says. “Things like the Big Read and Writers Room, where we take time out of our daily existence to share an experience with someone else, those moments are transcendent. You find your folks, that’s what art does. And that’s what we come together at Writers Room to do.”

When I came back to read and listen in June, I was blown away by the depth and breadth of the work I heard. So was the rest of the standing-room only audience that attended. In the words of one participant: “To me it exemplified the ideal of what community-engaged work should be—authentic partnership and real relationships between any and all interested peoples.”

Writers Room hosted the first of nine events Sept. 22 in conjunction with the National Endowment for the Arts’ Big Read Initiative. The keynote speech examined the life of Harlem Renaissance writer Zora Neale Hurston and her acclaimed novel Their Eyes Were Watching God.

"The Writers Room perfectly exemplifies our vision with the work we are doing at the Dornsife Center and with Drexel's neighborhood initiatives," said Lucy Kerman, vice provost, Drexel University and Community Partnerships.