The excited group of youth ages 7-14 helped me carry our benches that would be the perfect seats among the Literary Lot to make beats and write lyrics. While it's tough to get kids who are running through the park yelling and spraying water to sit down for a few moments, they flocked over when they heard the hip-hop beats. Soon, we were brainstorming about our neighborhood and what can improve. The chose words like "love, fruit, food, trees, oxygen and kindness." Then student

My name is Adam James Zahren, and I have the great opportunity to work with Lake Erie Ink as a teaching artist for the last year. Part of my job during the regular year entails running an after school program, but since it is exceedingly warm and humid (the off season, if you will) my summer has become jam packed facilitating a variety of summer camps ranging in topics from puppets to comics to young novelists. So when Literary Lots in Slavic Village popped onto my radar, I k

I don't know how long I've been since I sat in this seat at this table, on the second floor of this library. Back for a quick visit to Boston, I had lots of work to do and found my way to the familiar tables and stacks of the library I know best in Boston, the second floor of the Mugar Memorial Library. Why this library, this seat, this table? Because this floor has large windows that overlook Storrow Drive (like the Shoreway) and the Charles River. You walk up the stairs and

Kauser Razvi, Literary Lots July 2014 Thanks to everyone at Library as Incubator and the communities that supported Literary Lots last year. We're at it again in year two with a whole new theme and set of ideas to try. Which leads me to another set of questions, not only about Library as Place Maker, but also about the role of the individual in supporting and creating learning environments in our communities. In my day job, I'm working on consulting projects with various scho

By Felton Thomas, Cleveland Public Library August 2014 As we bring the second annual Literary Lots program to a close, I would like to reflect on the themes of community and collaboration that have made this unique program a success. At Cleveland Public Library, we have never been content to sit back and wait for people to come through our doors. Literary Lots provides an opportunity for us to be out in the community, so that people don't even have to walk through our doors,

Julia Kuo, Designer July 2014 Last week, the Literary Lots team created an aquatic-themed learning environment in the middle of Cleveland. This space includes a coral reef maze, 17-foot submarine reading space, underwater mural, and giant squid climbing tubes. It’s the second time Literary Lots has transformed an empty lot in Cleveland into a public arts and writing space for children of all ages. With last year’s experience behind us, Literary Lots creator Kauser Razvi and I