Inprint gives a kind of center to literary life in Houston, with its tentacles going out in different directions. . . . I don't think there is anything like Inprint in the country.
-Edward Hirsch, President, Guggenheim Foundation
Inprint is a nationally recognized nonprofit organization reaching out to readers and writers in Houston. Founded in 1983 by a group of community volunteers and writers from the University of Houston Creative Writing Program, the mission of Inprint is to champion creative writing and reading in Houston. Its programs and events play a vital role in Houston's rich cultural life.
The Margarett Root Brown Houston Reading Series, now its 26th season and presented in association with the UH Creative Writing Program, the Alley Theatre, and Brazos Bookstore, features the world's great writers on stage, at little or no cost to the public. The writers in the 2006-2007 series---who have among them three Pulitzer Prizes, two National Book Awards, and four Tony awards---include Zadie Smith, Barry Lopez, Denise Duhamel, Stephen Dunn, Richard Ford, Terrence McNally, Luis Alberto Urrea, Alicia Gaspar de Alba, Anita Desai, Kiran Desai, and Mary Oliver. This year, Inprint is also proud to announce two other new venues for great writing-a children's reading series, co-sponsored by The Children's Museum of Houston, and a studio series, featuring top emerging writers, co-sponsored by DiverseWorks and The Honors College at the University of Houston. Visiting writers also give free craft talks at the University of Houston and outreach readings at underserved institutions throughout the city.
Inprint Book Talks offer book club-type discussions led by Houston writers and scholars that focus on works by authors featured in the Inprint Brown Reading Series.
Inprint Writers Workshops considered Houston's "Best Place for Aspiring Writers" (Houston Press Best of 2002) and led by accomplished local authors in fiction, poetry, personal essay, and the novel, help aspiring writers to hone their skills and prepare work for publication.
Teachers as Writers Workshops fill a gap in teacher training, providing poetry, fiction, and nonfiction workshops that sharpen the writing skills of K-12 teachers from Houston-area schools.
A year-round Youth Writing Residency at Finnigan Park Community Center in the Fifth Ward provides after-school classes and activities for children from the surrounding community.
Memoir Workshops for senior citizens revive memories and preserve family and community histories, and often join the seniors in intergenerational writing projects with nearby youth. Workshops currently running at Finnigan Park Center, Jewish Community Center, and Denver Harbor Senior Center.
Marathon readings of such works as The Inferno, Ulysses, Beowulf, Ernest J. Gaines's A Lesson Before Dying, and this year The Kite Runner (tied into the Houston Public Library's Books on the Bayou citywide book project), involve community volunteers in a celebration of literature.
Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature & Fine Arts, underwritten in part by Inprint, is a national magazine that publishes the work of established and emerging writers and Houston artists.
Collaborations with other Houston organizations enrich the city and bring the literary arts to broader and more diverse audiences.
In addition to its community literary activities, Inprint provides major funding to the UH Creative Writing Program, which was ranked #2 by U.S. News & World Report in its assessment of 200 of the nation's creative writing programs. Since the Program's founding in 1979, CWP students and alumni have published more than 100 books, and faculty writers have received, among other honors, the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and MacArthur Foundation "genius" fellowships. In 2005-2006, proceeds from The Poets & Writers Ball, Inprint's annual gala, and other sources of support enabled Inprint to provide fellowships to every incoming student in this renowned program.
The activities of Inprint are supported by the AIM Foundation, The Brown Foundation, Inc., The Gordon and Mary Cain Foundation, The City of Houston through the Cultural Arts Council, Continental Airlines, The Cullen Foundation, Nanette and Jerry Finger Foundation, Hamman Foundation, Houston Chronicle, Houston Endowment, Inc., KUHF 88.7 FM, National Endowment for the Arts, Samuels Foundation, Sterling-Turner Foundation, Susan Vaughan Foundation, Texas Commission on the Arts, Weatherford International, and others who value the written word and its role in our quality of life. For more information call 713-521-2026.
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