November Newsletter
Celebrating Community Partnerships
When we stop to think about the variety of partners we have at 826 MSP, we have so much to be grateful for. November has been filled with collaboration and community partnerships. On November 9, we facilitated a creative writing workshop with Metro Transit. More than a dozen students attended—many of whom will have their poems published at bus stops and shelters throughout the Twin Cities.
Thanks to the support of the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, for the first time, we have been able to work with a guest teaching artist in our After-School Writing Lab program this fall. Sagirah Shahid leads writing prompts at the Writers' Table and will facilitate a Family Literacy Day on December 14. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
Sagirah Shahid is a Black Muslim arts educator, poet, and performance artist from Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is a recipient of a 2015 Loft Mentor Series Award in Poetry, a 2017 Minnesota Center for Book Arts mentorship award, and was a participant in a 2018 Twin Cities Media Alliance Our Space is Spoken For public arts and performance fellowship. She was one of four poets selected by the city of Minneapolis to participate in Nicollet Lanterns, a collaborative public arts project which transformed original poems into functional sculptural lanterns. Sagirah’s poetry and prose have appeared in Mizna, Paper Darts, Juked, Winter Tangerine, Pollen, Minnesota Women’s Press, Bird’s Thumb, AtlanticRock, Puerto Del Sol, and elsewhere.
Thanks to the South High Foundation, students experienced an author visit from Warda Abdullahi on November 13 in our Writers' Room at South High School. Warda spoke about the importance of education and succeeding at writing even when you don't think of yourself as "a writer." Warda Mohamed Abdullahi is a student at St. Catherine University and will be publishing a memoir through Beaver Pond Press in 2020. Warda is the oldest of 10 children. She was born in Saudia Arabia and grew up in Ethiopia, on a small farm outside of the town where she lived with her grandparents. She is now an honors senior student and president of the Muslim Student Association. She is majoring in public health, with a health sciences concentration, and has a minor in English.
Looking ahead, we are excited to announce a new collaboration with the band Low. They will be donating a portion of the proceeds from their December 13th Christmas concert at the Fitzgerald Theater to support the young authors at 826 MSP. We hope to see you there!
Until next time,
–The 826 MSP Crew
Student Spotlight
Poem written by Abubakar at the Words on a Line youth writing workshop on November 9.
MOI Product Spotlight
Gift-giving season is on deck! Come visit our under-the-sea themed store or buy online to nab some nautical goodies in time for the holiday season. Every purchase you make directly supports our youth writing, tutoring, and publishing programs. We will be open December 7 and 14 for your shopping convenience, so we hope to "sea" you soon!
Upcoming Events
826 MSP will be closed from November 27 – 29
Chapbook Release Party on December 9
Last day of After-School Writing Lab on December 12
Low at the Fitzgerald Theater on December 13
Family Literacy Day on December 14
Our Mid-Continent Oceanographic Institute storefront will be open on December 7 and 14
826 MSP will be closed December 20 – January 3
Supporter Spotlight
From the bottom of our hearts and the Lost Ocean of Minnesota, thank you to everyone who donated to 826 MSP this month, including our Cuttlefish Society monthly donors.
Additional thanks to all volunteers for giving of your time and hearts—we truly could not do this work without you!
