Too cool for school
BY Chandler Levack
Illustration courtesy Now Hear This!
Now Hear This! offers the kind of creative writing instruction most people would’ve died for in high school. The outreach program, founded by Descant literary magazine about a year and a half ago, promotes literacy by bringing writers into classrooms and community organizations.
A major part of Now Hear This!’s curriculum is the Students, Writers and Teachers (SWAT) program, which runs in 10 Toronto high schools. SWAT pairs emerging authors with teachers and students to transform old chestnuts into something more palatable for young minds. Recent workshops have included a graphic novel seminar on Lord of the Flies, and a class on “fake news” in which students create Daily Show-like broadcasts on issues reported in Toronto dailies. An anthology of student writing is also in the works.
“It’s such an empowering thing to be able to read and write and express yourself,” says program coordinator Pasha Malla. “We want to prove that when you have something to say, that people are going to listen.”
