826CHI presents STORYFEST, a community and family friendly festival celebrating the voices and stories of Chicago's youth!

About this event

826CHI, a nonprofit devoted to lifting the voices of Chicago youth, is thrilled to invite one and all to its upcoming community festival, STORYFEST, to celebrate the release of its newest student publications.

STORYFEST, an outdoor block party-style event, will take place from 12-4 pm on June 4 at La Follette Park, Chicago. The event will celebrate the published stories, poems, and essays of more than 1,000 students from Chicago Public Schools across the city who have participated in 826CHI programming over the past academic year.

This free, family-friendly festival will feature student readings and performances of their published works, as well as educators sharing their experience of bringing creativity into the classroom. There will be music from DJ A’Jua Pryor, games, and an array of age-inclusive events, including storytelling workshops, book making and book giveaways.

“We are so excited to be presenting this festival for the very first time! Student publishing is central to our mission at 826CHI, building confidence and identities as creators and writers amongst our students. For each student to leave our programs a published author and then witness their joy and pride in seeing their words in print is truly incredible. We can’t wait to celebrate our young authors by having them share their latest publications with their families and friends at StoryFest.” - Jennifer Steele, 826CHI Executive Director

826CHI, one of nine local 826 chapters in the country, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6 to 18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. Each year it serves more than 2,500 students and 100 teachers with in-school and off-campus programs, and publishes 40 books of student work. Among the books published this year are our Young Author's Book Project publication, "Tomorrow's Titans", our After-School Writing Lab Publication, "It Went to the Moon/ Fue a la Luna", and Teen Writers Studio's publication "Archives of My Memory".

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