Shout Mouse Press Blog
It’s hard to keep up with all that our authors do (for us too)! We’ll be sharing updates from our programs, news about book releases, and pieces from our authors here. For media about our authors’ accomplishments, check out our press room.
On August 20th, Shout Mouse Press authors met to celebrate their contributions to #ShoutInPlace and hear work from featured poet Pages Matam and fellow authors. Our team is constantly humbled and honored to work with powerful young writers who share their stories with vulnerability, eloquence, and intentionality. We loved seeing and hearing from authors about their #ShoutInPlace work and how it feels to be accomplished writers!
Read MoreThanks to a partnership with An Open Book Foundation, the wonderful poet Mahogany Browne joined 17 young SMP writers for a workshop on August 5th. As part of our #ShoutInPlace storytelling project, we organized this event to provide an opportunity for authors to connect with an award-winning writer whose work engages with topics that arose in their submissions, such as social justice, racism, discrimination, and resilience-- to and ask any questions about writing or process and celebrate their many contributions to #ShoutInPlace.
Read MoreOur authors’ stories are needed now more than ever. Every book in our catalog is written by authors from communities who are under threat by current political conditions and rhetoric. We are currently hearing the calls for #OwnVoices literature louder than ever -- as well as calls for tools to help spark important conversations. With this in mind, we’re releasing new book sets!
Read MoreShout Mouse Press condemns the ongoing state-sanctioned violence towards Black people across the nation. We stand in solidarity with Black communities, racial justice advocates, and all of you who are outraged by repeated acts of racism, violence, and abuse of public trust. We support the Black Lives Matter movement and share in their mission of combating white supremacy and "creating space for Black imagination and innovation, and centering Black joy."
Read MoreThrough a one-day campaign, enough gifts were given to donate 375 books to local readers in need! We started the day with the goal of giving 100 books -- but surpassed this initial goal by noon. As always, we are grateful to our community for your bold and wonderful support!
Read MoreIn fall of 2019, Shout Mouse Press awarded $500 direct aid scholarships to 14 authors as part of the Ballou Story Project “College Ready” program. The idea for this fund, made possible by the generosity of an anonymous donor, came from student authors themselves, who faced byzantine financial aid systems that didn’t suit the needs of first-generation, low-income college students. This spring, each student will receive another $500 scholarship. All awardees are Shout Mouse Press authors who contributed to The Ballou We Know and graduated as part of Ballou High School’s class of 2019. We recently heard back from the awardees; these are dispatches from their first semester!
Read More…and other exciting updates….
This book, the fifth volume of The Ballou Story Project, was initiated by the students of Ballou High School in response to a challenging year for the community. They wanted to illuminate the Ballou not often represented in the media--one full of love, hard work, and transformation. Most importantly, these young people wanted to speak for themselves, not to be spoken about. They remind us that there are many sides to every story, and that all voices should be valued and heard. “This is our last line of defense,” they write. “These are our stories. This is the Ballou We Know.”
The Ballou We Know will be released May 9th.
Recently, Ballou High School graduates and co-authors of How to Grow Up Like Me, Our Lives Matter, and Humans of Ballou, Carl Brown and Darne’sha Walker visited a class of 6th-8th graders at Kendall Demonstration Elementary School (KDES). KDES is a day school serving deaf and hard of hearing students from birth through grade 8 located within Gallaudet University’s campus.
Read MoreHelp us celebrate the new year by donating to our cause and helping meet our year-end fundraising goal.
Read MoreThis summer we also held writing workshops with 16 ambitious teens from the Latin American Youth Center’s Latino Youth Leadership Council. They wrote and illustrated true life stories of immigration, education, family, and community. For the past few months, a team of comic book professionals have been working hard to bring these powerful stories together into a bilingual graphic memoir collection not to be missed.
Read MoreIt was our busiest summer yet here at Shout Mouse Press! Help us celebrate these summer highlights and look forward to all to come this fall.
Read MoreRecently, authors China, Amira, and Tyandra visited Excel Academy Public Charter School as part of the PEN/Faulkner Writers in Schools program. The writers shared from their co-authored book, “Our Lives Matter” with a class of thoughtful and insightful 8th graders. The students were so inspired by the story they decided to write their own stories in a similar style.
Read MoreWe’re turning three this summer! We’ve published 25 books and worked with over 200 young writers from 5 different non-profit partners. To celebrate, we are participating in 2017 United Way Do More 24 Campaign, the area's biggest 24-hour online fundraiser, on June 8 from 12:00 AM – 11:59 PM. You can make an advance donation starting May 25. All you have to do is log on at www.domore24.org/npos/shout-mouse-press and donate!
Read MoreBallou Story Project (BSP) took the stage for the first time a few weeks ago and we could not be more proud of the work of these young writers.The performance, directed and produced by our partners at Young Playwrights’ Theatre and featuring five talented professional actors, tenderly handled sensitive topics of abuse, cancer, and loss.
Read MoreDid you hear the news? This year, 100 percent of Ballou High School’s senior class applied to college! We could not be more proud of the graduating class of 2017. Wow!
Read MoreThis winter has been a busy one! This is what we’ve been up to.
Read MoreHere at Shout Mouse, we see Black History Month as an opportunity to look at the past and think about how and why history matters for the present and the future.
Read MoreWe’re thrilled to announce that thanks to a generous grant from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, we will be able expand and innovate the Ballou Story Project this year through a cool new partnership with Young Playwrights' Theater. We’re taking these stories to the stage! Stay tuned for updates about the performance this spring.
Read MoreThis month, Shout Mouse went on a book tour to Granville, Ohio. We were honored to be invited by Denison University to speak on campus as part of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program’s Laura C. Harris Symposium.
Read MoreHere at Shout Mouse, we’re excited to celebrate September as National Literacy Month. Literacy is not only dear to our hearts, but central to our mission. To us, literacy is not only about ability to read, but also the capacity to love stories and to value one’s own voice. Find out our authors are encouraging literacy.
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