Portland’s own Roosevelt High School will celebrate the culmination of a year of hard work from students and volunteers in the Writing and Publishing Center and its first publication with a month of readings throughout Portland. Student-led Unique Ink has published Where the Roses Smell the Best, a literary companion to Portland filled with short stories, vignettes, and poems about the places, people, and activities that make Portland unique.
The book includes work from Roosevelt students alongside local authors such as Brian Doyle, Kim Stafford, Steve Duin, Renee Mitchell and Paulann Petersen. Where the Roses Smell the Best is available for purchase at local bookstores and online at Powells.com and Annie Bloom’s Books.
- The month of readings will kick off at Powell’s on Hawthorne on Thursday, July 11th at 7:30. Oregon State Poet Laureate Paulann Petersen and Renee Mitchell will be accompanied by featured authors reading their pieces from Where the Roses Smell the Best.
- The Oregonian columnist and author Steve Duin will join authors and student writers at St. Johns Booksellers at 7:00 on Saturday, July 13th for the second reading.
- On Wednesday, July 17th at 5:00 students, families, and community members will gather at Roosevelt High School for more readings and a celebration of Unique Ink’s first year.
- The fourth reading, featuring poet Laura Winter and author Emma Oliver, will take place at 7:00 on Wednesday July 24th at Broadway Books.
- The fifth and final reading, scheduled on Monday July 29th at 7:00 at Annie Bloom’s Books, will bring back Paulann Petersen as well as more student authors and author Sybilla Cook.
Unique Ink is a student-staffed publisher based out of Roosevelt High School’s Writing and Publishing Center that was established in 2012. It’s a great example of project-based learning in action. Volunteers at the center teach publishing to high school students to improve their skills in business, editing, and marketing. Through the center’s unique hands-on approach, students learn about the publishing industry by publishing and selling their own books. Proceeds from the sales of Where the Roses Smell the Best will help the Writing and Publishing Center stay self-sustaining and continue to be a valuable resource to the students at Roosevelt High School.
Peter,
We met a couple of years ago at the Microsoft Partners in Learning forum. Great article. Publishing is powerful and easier than ever. I teach fifth grade and my class published a book this past year that we are really proud of. Hopefully you will have time to check it out. Here is a link to my website that has a link to the book both in physical form and on Kindle.
https://lote.squarespace.com/imaginarium/
Nate Manderfeld
Nate,
I remember you well. Glad to see that your students are publishing their work. A great way for them to write for an authentic audience and purpose. Plus a chance for them to do marketing as PBL. Best of luck with your efforts,
Peter
So I just noticed you are from Portland (as am I) and David Carpenter (former colleague) introduced me to your eBook work on his podcast. Strange, small world.
I’ll pick up a copy of the book the next time I’m in my hometown. Thanks for the heads up!
Small world – The books is also available online – but not sure they ship overseas. Its a great book – they are doing fine work at Roosevelt High School’s Writing and Publishing Center.