For 13 years, Words Without Walls brought creative writing classes to jails, prisons, and rehab centers in Pittsburgh, PA. In partnership with Chatham University's MFA in Creative Writing program, Words Without Walls facilitated 20 classes a year and served over 300 men, women, and youth in Pittsburgh annually. In 2022, the program was sunset and its thousands of pages of archives, publications, and program materials are held at the Heinz History Center, a Smithsonian affiliated museum in Pittsburgh’s historic Strip District.
Some program highlights include:
Facilitating writing workshops for over 4000 participants over the lifetime of the program.
PEN America Prison Writing Contest’s recognition of many of our writers, including the Dawson Prize and prizes in fiction, creative nonfiction, memoir, and playwriting. In 2018, we partnered with PEN America and City of Asylum to showcase incarcerated writers from around the country and their award-winning work.
The Maenad Fellowship Program, which provided master classes, mentorship, and financial support to writers in recovery from substance abuse. The Maenad Fellowship Program provided generous stipends, childcare, transportation, and mentorship opportunities to over 40 women who were writers and in recovery. The program was generously funded by Staunton Farm Foundation and Opportunity Fund.
Recognized in 2020 with Sojourner House’s Pearl of Hope Community Impact Award.
Visits and master classes from internationally recognized writers including Mary Karr, Sandra Cisneros, Dwayne Betts, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Terrance Hayes, Toi Derricotte, Tyehimba Jess, Kaveh Akbar, Gregory Orr, Jaquira Diaz, Yona Harvey, Natalie Diaz, and dozens more who visited Allegheny County Jail, SCI-Pittsburgh, Sojourner House, Veteran’s Place, and the Maenad Fellowship Program.
Production of Act 33, a play written collaboratively over three years with incarcerated youth at Allegheny County Jail in collaboration with Alumni Theater Company. The show has been seen by over 1000 audience members and is available to stream on YouTube.
Publication of over 30 anthologies and chapbooks featuring the work of hundreds of Words Without Walls participants.
Building Allegheny County Jail’s only library space for incarcerated people. The Words Without Walls library distributed books to every housing unit at the Allegheny County Jail for many years, and we still work with county officials to renew the library program after its closure during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over 50 teaching artists trained and supported to work in spaces off-campus & to build socially-engaged work into their greater career trajectory. Our teaching alums have gone on to make meaningful impacts in their various communities. Our alums founded and lead the following organizations: Pittsburgh Institute of Nonprofit Journalism, New Orleans Writing Workshops, New Hanover County Jail’s Revising Sentences Program, and Write Pittsburgh, among many others. They have gone on to work in organizations including PEN America, Abolitionist Law Center, The Marshall Project, Lazarus House, Harvard University Library, Carnegie Museum of Art, Creative Nonfiction Foundation, and many others. We are proud that our teaching artists continue to work in roles outside the academy and are committed to the literary arts as a public good.