Takira Chiles

Eavesdrop: 2013-2014 Collection of Prize-winning Poems and Prose Written by Savannah's Youth (Volume 1) Takira Chiles

The Deep Center is a nonprofit organization in Savannah, Georgia, that helps young people write and share their stories with skill, confidence, and courage. Each year, hundreds of students in Savannah?s public middle schools receive fully-funded scholarships to be a part of the Young Author Project, Deep?s after school writing program. Since our founding in 2008, Deep has published more than 1,700 stories by local students who?ve completed the full semester-long session of rigorous writing workshops. Our students (we call them ?DeepKids?) consistently win awards and recognition for their writing. After completing at least one semester of the Young Author Program, a DeepKid with an exceptional voice may be recommended and invited to join our competitive Writing Contest Team. This advanced weekly writng workshop is led by Master Writing Fellows who help team members write and submit work to regional, statewide, and national contests and publications. For nine months, the Writing Contest Team members submitted thier poems and stories to major literary powerhouses such as the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, Creative Communication, and Yarn Literary Magazine?and came out on top. Every student participates for free and all contest fees are covered by the Deep Center. We do this work because we believe that stories matter, and because we know that learning this fact at a young age helps kids grow into stronger, healthier, and happier people.