Chaney High School African American Read In & Write In

Author Quartez Harris is always a hit with our scholars and we are so honored that he is returning for our African American Read In & Write In this year! He is the Ohio Poetry Association’s 2021 Poet of the Year. He is the author of We Made It To School Alive, a full-length collection of poems published by Twelve Arts Press, and Nothing, But Skin, a poetry collection published in 2014 by Writing Knights Press. We Made It to School Alive was inspired by his work as a teacher and gives voice to the experiences of the children he works with every day who deal with structural barriers, intergenerational poverty, negligence and more. He is the very first recipient of the Barbara Smith Writer-In-Residence at Twelve Literary Arts and a 2020 Baldwin House Fellow and his poetry and ideas have been featured in The Plain Dealer, Ideastream, and The City Club of Cleveland. Harris’ works in progress are two picture books and a young-adult novel in verse. He is brought to us as a Title 1 Schoolwide Project thanks to the support of our Leader, our Chaney High School Principal, Tricia Mulcahy. Quartez will offer sessions in the Auditorium during Periods 2,3, 6 and 7; he will lead sessions with the Chaney HS Writing Fellows and also meet with the ELA faculty during their TBT – teacher based team – meeting.