Renee Watson is a #1 New York Times Bestselling author and former Community-Word Project teaching artist and facilitator for the Teaching Artist Project.
Recently, Renee visited The Young Women’s Leadership School of Queens and spoke before a packed cafeteria of students who were absorbed in her readings.
Renee talked about the inspiration for various poems in her book ”Black Girl You Are Atlas,” telling students how, as a child, she used to think her name wasn’t special until she discovered the meaning of her name: Rebirth. She encouraged the students to use what they know in their writing.
From her poem Resurrection:
The name of new beginnings, the name for demolishing
and building back up.
My name is the R&B slow jam
about the love who left and came back,
is the second Sunday morning Hallelujah, is the protest chant,
is the Second Line.
To say my name is to pronounce resilience
When the reading finished, students asked question after question. They asked about how she finds inspiration, how she finds motivation to keep writing, and what her writing process is.
Thanks to our corporate partner, Paramount, the students were gifted Renee’s book “Black Girl You Are Atlas.” During a recent Community Day at Paramount, staff put notes of inspiration in the books before wrapping them for the students.
After the reading, Renee met with a group of students in the Creative Writing Club about persisting even when it gets difficult and feels like you’ll never get it right.
One of the moments that stood out the most was when a student in the club asked her, “How do you feel when you learn that one of your books is banned?”
“I feel angry,” she said. “Reading is a form of listening, and when they ban my book I feel like they don’t want to even listen to what I have to say.” She encouraged them to keep writing because their voice matters!
