Writers Forum

The Writers’ Forum at the Bronx Academy of Letters is the synthesis of all the writing programs that make our school a unique model for literacy education in New York City and beyond. Our school publications encourage students to write and edit their own work; our writers in residence present students with the opportunity to learn from working writers; our partnerships with writing-focused organizations bring books to our school and offer students the chance to see how the written word propels the working world. The Writers’ Forum brings all of these elements together on a regular basis.

writers forum

Every week, all of Bronx Letters convenes in the auditorium to hear from people who have structured their lives around the written word. Publishing houses connect us with diverse writers who visit the school and speak intimately to the students about how they arrived at their calling. Whether our students meet a prizewinning poet, an unsigned rapper, a magazine editor, or an advertising executive who’s turned to crafting science fiction, the common denominator is the power of the written word to communicate, to persuade, to move — and the dedication of those who work daily to master it.

Students interview guests for the school paper beforehand, read their work and prepare questions, and polish their own pieces, which they present at the assembly’s open-mic portion. Afterward, they follow up by writing thank-you letters and posting notes from the assembly on the Bronx Letters web site. The Writers’ Forum, in one single assembly, stands to have a lasting impact on every student in the school.