The D.C. Creative Writing Workshop

The D.C. Creative Writing Workshop, based in the Congress Heights neighborhood of Southeast D.C., has united parents, teachers and students to create a literary renaissance in this often ignored part of the city.

Since 1995, when Charles Hart Junior High became the first school in Washington to have an extra-curricular creative writing program, the Workshop's writers-in-residence have introduced thousands of students to the joys of self-expression and the written word, opening for them a world of opportunity that exists outside of the historically neglected area in which they live.

While continuing to serve Hart, now a middle school, the Workshop has expanded its programs to neighboring Ballou High School and Simon Elementary. Students from the three schools have attended readings, plays and other literary events, won dozens of writing awards, and enjoyed a wealth of new experiences not otherwise available to young people in Ward 8.

The Workshop's accomplishments include:

In 2009, seventeen Workshop students won the Parkmont Poetry Contest. Five won the Larry Neal Awards, including first place in Youth Poetry and Youth Essay, and another student won the Junior League Poetry Competition. In 2008, seven Workshop students won the Parkmont Poetry Contest and five won the Larry Neal Awards, including first place in Youth Poetry, Youth Fiction, and Youth Essay. In 2007, fourteen Workshop students won the Parkmont Poetry Contest, seven won the Larry Neal Awards, and three won the Junior League Teen Poetry Competition.

A record seventeen DCCWW students won the Parkmont Poetry Contest in 2009. Hart English teacher Christy Gill (second row, right) poses with some of the winners: left to right: Marcus Barnes, Lamara Brooks, Kiana Murphy, Marcus Johnson, Bernice Caldwell, Steven Reed, Renita Williams, Monae Smith, DarVel Suggs, Devon Hudson, and Kirk Murphy

We also published the 27th issue of hArtworks, the nation’s first inner-city public middle school literary magazine. hArtworks is again featured in the 2009 Poet’s Market as “an outstanding example of what a literary journal can be (for anyone of any age).” The fifth issues of our other two publications, Simon Says and Voice of the Knight were published at the same time.

Also in 2009, students presented their ninth original adaptation of a classic drama, an update of Christopher Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus." In prior years, students have produced their own original versions of “Antigone,” “Medea,” “Oedipus Rex,” “The Frogs,” “Lysistrata,” “The Persians,” “Alcestis,” "The Clouds."

During the 2008-09 school year, Workshop students took field trips to see six plays at the Arena Stage and one at the Shakespeare Theatre.

Since the Workshop’s inception, over four hundred Hart and Ballou students have visited the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum as part of the our “Teaching Tolerance Through Literature” curriculum.

Over 250 of our writers have performed their work in public at such venues as the PEN/Faulkner Award celebration at the Folger Theater, the historic Lincoln Theater, Karibu Books, Barnes and Noble Booksellers, Busboys and Poets, Borders Books and Music, American University, George Mason University, D.C. Superior Court, and Olsson’s Books and Records.

Our seven 2008 winners of the Parkmont Poetry Contest include, left to right: Rian Hayes, Cherish Carroll, Yasmin Jones, Maryum Abdullah, Anthony Torrence, and Tracey Harris.