It was a beautiful morning in Boston’s Seaport district for readings, remarks, and remembering how valuable our writing programs are for the city.
826 Boston held Books for Breakfast—our annual jam-packed breakfast fundraiser, benefitting free youth writing programs—at Goodwin Procter on May 7. Our 160 attendees enjoyed breakfast, a special appearance by 826 Network co-founder and author Dave Eggers, and had a chance to re-connect with other members of the 826 Boston community. We were also welcomed by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu with a special video message:
The featured speaker was Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, author of the best-selling novel Chain-Gang All-Stars. The book was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction, shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize and the Books Are My Bag Awards, and selected as a 2023 New York Times Top Ten Books of the Year.
We also watched a short film about Boston International Newcomers Academy (BINcA) in Dorchester, where 826 Boston hosts one of our six Writers’ Rooms, and from Matt Watson:
Huma, a student at BINcA, read a series of her striking pieces of poetry, including:
More than just poems
More than just poems because
My soul is blacker than the ink I use to write
More than just poems because
I’m putting my soul between those lines
Writing about feelings and emotions that my voice aren’t enough to describe
More Than just poems
Because I’m giving all that I have
Telling all the secrets that for so long I’ve hide
More than just poems
More than just poems because it was written in blood
==
826 Boston recently withdrew an application for federal funds amounting to $250,000 because of an executive order on diversity, equity, and inclusion which did not align with our vision and mission. The breakfast brought in funds to help with services at our tutoring center in Roxbury and Writers’ Rooms located in six Boston Public Schools in Dorchester, Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, and Roxbury.
Thank you to all our sponsors!
Photos by Mike Mejia.
← Previous
Next →