Bringing Literature to Life

On a November morning, the line to ask a question of MacArthur “Genius” writer Hanif Abdurraqib stretched almost to the back of the Great Hall in Coffman Union. Nearly 900 high school students from across the Twin Cities listened attentively to his answers, sometimes penning notes in their copies of Abdurraqib’s nonfiction collection, They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us. Later, the essayist and poet met with the students in smaller groups and signed a book for their classrooms. On buses back to school, students told their teachers that hearing the author read made the text come alive. And: how much they would love to sit down and talk with Abdurraqib about pretty much anything. 

Field Days & Personal Libraries

This is the College in the Schools (CIS) Field Day, an annual opportunity for area high school students to engage with an internationally known literary author, sponsored by Mike and Julie Kaplan through the Walter Nathan Literary Initiatives (WNLI). “The generosity of the Kaplans,” said English Professor Katherine Scheil, coordinator of the College in the Schools Literature program, “has allowed us to bring high school students together with a major writer on the University campus for a celebration of the power of literature.”

Field Day is an innovative collaboration of CIS Lit with the Creative Writing Program, powered by WNLI. The initiative also provides each high school student with a signed copy of the writer’s book. To keep. In fact, a teacher asked students to donate their copies to the classroom if they didn't want them: not one did. Having one’s own copy, said a student, “allows me to put my own reactions and thoughts onto the paper, as well as share the book with friends and family.” Scheil noted that for many students “this is the start of their own personal library, and the beginning of a life-long love of literature.”

Since 2022, students in CIS Literature classes have received signed copies of books by current US Poet Laureate Ada Limón and former US Poet Laureates Tracy K. Smith and Natasha Trethewey, as well as Abdurraqib. 

“It's great to have a book of my own that I can read anytime and gain a different understanding of the text each time I read it,” said one student. “I can read this freely and annotate in any way I desire, which benefits my learning,” noted another. “OMG IT’S THE BEST!!!!” said a third.

More than Text on a Page

Their teachers have witnessed this ownership contributing to students’ greater engagement with texts. They say that the books feel to the students like gifts, like care, like freedom. And the fact that they’re written by living authors also keeps class reading “lively and fresh.” The University’s College in the Schools is a dual credit program where students receive high school and college credit by taking a college course in their school. Teachers in the CIS Literature Program meet on campus in August for professional development led by Professor Scheil, and they bring back to their schools lesson plans and a copy of the visiting writer’s book for each student. The WNLI also funds a partnership between the English department and the high schools, where English and Creative Writing graduate students work with teachers to introduce the visiting writer's book to their students.

“There’s nothing like handing out these books to teachers, knowing that they will reach another generation of students in classrooms,” Scheil said. But the book, in conjunction with the opportunity to meet the writer, is what makes this program next level. Why? The students explain:

“We studied the poems in class, but hearing them read by the author in the way she intended was truly inspiring.”

“It allowed me to really get to know the author and their work on a deeper level, which strengthened the things I learned from reading it.”

“It felt surreal to learn about her story in class and then go and meet her in person.”

The opportunity to enter into a conversation with Abdurraqib, Limón, Smith, or Trethewey allows students to see firsthand that writing is a living art, even a craft that can be practiced. Real people do this work. People who may look like them (“as a Mexican girl, it’s lovely to know Ada Limón’s there to represent me!”). People who, in the case of Abdurraqib, may be as passionate about basketball or hit songs or writing as they are. 

“I enjoyed being able to meet Limón,” said another student. “It helped to humanize her rather than to think that she is different…that she was just born gifted.”

Students Set the Stage

Each year, CIS Literature and Creative Writing runs a poetry contest sponsored by the Walter Nathan Literary Initiatives, with a Twin Cities poet as judge: any student in a CIS Literature class can enter. On Field Days, the three winners bravely read their poems at the lectern before the writer takes the stage. This year’s winners hailed from Hastings High School, White Bear Lake Area High School, and Farmington High School. The students were loudly cheered by their peers, joining the author in the moment as celebrated writers.

“I realize I should've known this already,” one student admitted, “but seeing that the author was a real person made me feel like I can be a real writer, too.”

And a real college student. For a day, the high schoolers are not just receiving college credit, they’re walking around the U as college students. They’re envisioning themselves enrolled in the College of Liberal Arts, taking notes in an English class, writing a poem for a Creative Writing course. We hear it from the students each year: the experience feels like a gift, like care, like freedom.