Each year, Symphony Space on Manhattan's Upper West Side celebrates the many talented poets and writers in adult education classes with a performance program called Selected Shorts: All Write!

Students from programs across the City are invited to a reading of fiction and poetry by professional actors and then encouraged to write their own stories and poetry. Symphony Space offers teachers professional development workshops and a guide to help them incorporate poetry short fiction writing into their classes. Three months later, selected student poems and stories are read by actors at two performances at Symphony Space and published in a journal.

The student writings reflect the ambitions and dreams of adult education students, their rich cultural heritage, and a strong sense of family and community.

Read about the empowered adult learners at Symphony Space

Among the poems and short stories featured in 2010, were the following:

You Want My Pants? (in PDF)
by Yasilis Castillo
New York City Department of Education - School 2, at Phipps

The Lonely Bench (in PDF)
by Handy Elyze
City University of New York - Brooklyn College Adult Literacy Program

Essequibo (in PDF)
by Marlyn George
New York City Department of Education - Thirteen/WNET New York

A Young Immigrant (in PDF)
by Magnolia Gutierrez
New York City Department of Education - Queens Adult Learning Center

Ticket (in PDF)
by Fu Q. Shang
Queens Borough Public Library - Elmhurst Adult Learning Center

If I Could Go Back In Time (in PDF)
by Pauline Torres
New York Public Library - Aguilar Center for Reading and Writing

Invisible in the Bank (in PDF)
by Filadelfia Vargas
New York City Department of Education - School 2, at Phipps

Learn more about All Write!