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.
Writing this book was a special exercise in stretching and strength. I’ve been uncomfortable, uncertain, nervous, tired. I had to grow during our two week writing intensive. My mind was out of words and ideas, but my soul wasn’t out of stories. I had to stretch to get out all the tales I felt obligated to tell. I drew on my fellow authors for inspiration, drive, and energy. Music, memory, stereotypes, hyphens, we talked about everything.
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 MoreOn February 8, 2020, a group of 20+ Shout Mouse Press authors and staff gathered in Studio J at The Kennedy Center’s REACH for our first-ever Author Talks Training. Our books are written in #OwnVoices by young authors and advocates who are Latino immigrants, formerly incarcerated, Black, Muslim, and of many other identities. This was a wonderful opportunity to bring a collective of SMP authors, many of whom had never met, together.
Read MoreIn solidarity with the #DignidadLiteraria movement, we are sharing a post from Rosa, who is a 21-year old Latina immigrant, author of Voces Sin Fronteras: Our Stories, Our Truth, first generation student studying health science in Washington, D.C., and Shout Mouse Press intern.
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 MoreWe are THRILLED to announce the addition of four new children’s books, authored by the amazing tutors of Reach Incorporated, to the Shout Mouse Press catalog. This stunning set of books covers important themes for people of all ages.
Read MoreRecently, an author of Voces Sin Fronteras had the opportunity to do an author talk at the District’s Central Detention Center (“DC Jail”) through our partners at Free Minds Book Club and Writing Workshop. Free Minds provides books, creative writing workshops, and peer support to DC youth who have been incarcerated as adults to help them achieve their education and career goals — and become powerful voices for change in the community. They host a book club in the DC Jail that meets once a week to read and discuss contemporary literature. The members choose what books to read democratically. In September, the Spanish book club Mentes Libres decided to read Voces Sin Fronteras, our collection of comic memoirs by young Latinx immigrants, and our partners at Free Minds invited an author to come speak! In this blog post, Erminia reflects on her experience talking to the book club.
Read MoreWe’ve finished our seventh summer of writing workshops with the teen tutors of Reach to create four new children's books. These students were excited to create stories that will inspire and educate the young people they tutor and throughout their community. They spent four weeks writing with the help of our story coaches, brought their characters to life with up and coming illustrators, and learned what it takes to create a children's book. Now that the authors have finished writing, our illustrators are working on bringing their stories to life! Books launch in November and we can't wait. We couldn’t keep these exciting new stories to ourselves, so here’s a sneak peek at this exciting new batch of books:
Read MoreIts official! I Am Night Sky and other reflections by muslim american youth, Shout Mouse Press’ newest antholgy featuring the stories of Muslim youth from the DMV area has launched. After a year of writing, editing, and rewriting Next Wave Muslim Innitiative’s youth authors presented their book I Am The Night Sky to an audience full of friends, family, readers, and supporters.
Read MoreWe celebrated the beginning of Ramadan by announcing our newest book: I AM THE NIGHT SKY and Other Reflections by Muslim American Youth
During an era characterized by both hijabi fashion models and enduring post-9/11 stereotypes, ten Muslim American teenagers came together to explore what it means to be young and Muslim in America today. These teens represent the tremendous diversity within the American Muslim community, and their book, like them, contains multitudes.
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.
The authors of Voces Sin Fronteras received a glowing starred review from School Library Journal: "Spotlighting underrepresented voices, this work is highly recommended for all communities in their efforts to promote empathetic, inclusive discussions around immigration." Read the full review here.
Read MoreWe are so excited that award-winning young adult, middle grade, and picture book author Meg Medina has written a new foreword for Voces Sin Fronteras: Our Stories, Our Truth! Voces is a graphic memoir collection by LAYC’s Latino Youth Leadership Council, a passionate group of young people dedicated to social justice in their community. We’ll be releasing the new edition soon, so stay tuned!
Read MoreThis summer, Voces Sin Fronteras writers have been busy sharing their book with new readers.
In July, writers visited a bilingual summer writing workshop for middle-schoolers called Nuestra Voz through PEN/Faulkner’s Writers in Schools Program.
Light is already the illustrator of four children’s books, Trio Plus One, One Lonely Camel, The Princess of Fort Hill Shelter, and The Hoodie Hero. They have a fine arts background, studying painting and printmaking at Virginia Commonwealth University. Light returned to the Reach children’s books project this year to illustrate Adventures in Ana Park, which comes out in November.
Read MoreDartavius, who goes by Doc, is a three-time author with Reach, having written Drip, Drip: The Story of the Angry Sherbet, Madison, Sit Down, and this summer his third picture book, Tiffany and the Two Missing Teeth. Doc talked through the process of writing children’s books and gave a sneak peak into what he’s writing this year.
Read MoreThis summer, I served as a story coach for a workshop with 10 Muslim-American teen writers and artists. The two-week long workshop was the first phase of a collaboration between between Shout Mouse Press (SMP) and Next Wave Muslim Initiative (NWMI) to provide young Muslim American writers and artists a place to produce a collection of art, poetry, fiction, and non-fiction that gives different perspectives on being a Muslim American in the current political climate.
Read MoreRecently, 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 MoreIt’s here! Voces Sin Fronteras: Our Stories, Our Truth, Shout Mouse’s first graphic memoir collection has officially launched. Voces Sin Fronteras, a collection of 16 bilingual side-by-side graphic memoir collections, is a product of a month-long workshop with the Latin American Youth Center’s Latino Youth Leadership council, a passionate group of young people dedicated to social justice in their community.
Read MoreJoin us for the launch of our first ever graphic memoir collection.
During the summer of 2017, Shout Mouse Press held a month-long workshop with LAYC's Latino Youth Leadership Council (LYLC), a passionate group of young people dedicated to social justice in their community. The workshop, led by a team of teaching artists with experience devising and illustrating comic books, resulted in a graphic memoir collection, titled Voces sin Fronteras: Our Stories, Our Truth.
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