Story Talk

FAIN: GI-50181-10

People and Stories Gente Y Cuentos Inc. (Lawrenceville, NJ 08648-2815)
Patricia Ann Andres (Project Director: August 2009 to March 2013)

Bilingual reading and discussion programs for at-risk youth at 20 library venues in 12 states.

Using the proven People and Stories/Gente y Cuentos method for engaging new humanities audiences in literature discussion, we propose, in cooperation with twenty public libraries in twelve states, to provide eighty Story Talk series with groups of 15-20 teenagers. Each series is eight weeks, an hour and a half per week. A trained program coordinator will meet with groups of youth at the collaborating libraries to read aloud, in English or in Spanish, a short story of poetic depth, beauty, and power. The coordinator reads the story aloud while participants read along with the copies provided. Our method -- an oral reading and in-depth probing of contemporary and classic short stories -- allows participants to encounter literature in the context of their own varied life experiences. Lively, structured dialogues help readers challenge their assumptions, communicate across cultural, class and ethnic differences and know first-hand the transformative power of literary art.