Non-Profit Organizations

Savannah Business Journal Staff Report

May 2, 2019 - Forty-five student authors from Savannah’s public middle schools will take the stage at 6:30 p.m. at the Historic Savannah Theatre, 222 Bull St., on Monday, May 13, for the Deep Speaks book launch and literary reading. Doors open at 6 p.m.

The 2019 spring semester of Deep Center’s Young Author Project served 163 middle school students. The young authors to be featured at Deep Speaks were selected from this group by their peers, Deep volunteer Writing Fellows, and staff members to read their original poems and short prose onstage. Works created by all participating youth will be published in four separate anthologies, which will be available to the public for a suggested donation of $12 each at the Deep Speaks event. The books will also be circulated within the Live Oak Public Library System. All book proceeds will directly support Deep’s nonprofit workshops for public school youth.

“Deep Center’s young authors write with passion, courage, and honesty,” says Maria Zoccola, program manager of Deep’s Young Author Project. “Deep Speaks is their chance to be recognized for all the hard work they’ve done, and for Savannah to hear firsthand accounts of what it’s like to grow up in our city. Deep Center has spent more than ten years shining a light on the young people of Savannah, and the results speak for themselves.”

Deep has grown significantly in its first ten years, and its Young Author Project is now serving 15 public K-8 schools and middle schools. All 163 Deep young authors, selected by their teachers, participated throughout the spring 2019 semester in a rigorous series of after-school writing workshops that were taught by volunteers, who are themselves creative writers.

Deep Speaks readers are as follows, listed by school:

Charles Ellis: Emilee Baisden, Rez Ottimo, Madison Harmon

Coastal: Dawson Cooper, Katherine Wild, Colin Bentley

DeRenne: Latoi Buckner, Nevaeh Baker, Ly’Naja Jenkins

East Broad: Kemiya Oliver, Katelyn Weathers, Sabria Owens

Garrison: Gabby Trappio, Demetris Alston, Elarah McField

Godley Station: Connor Atkins, Tyron Ford-Everett, Tiana Green

Hesse: Emma Norcross, Ashlyn Rusgrove, Yorkis Caro

Hubert: Habana Labrada, La’nDrea Jackson, Joshua Hudson

Isle of Hope: Khalil Bush, Vernon Jones, Talia Bing

Mercer: April Montoya Sierra, Destiny White, Heaven Williams

Myers: Ricky Rubio, Stanley Jackson, Anthony Bacon Jr.

Oglethorpe: Aspen McFadden, Shradhdha Srikanth, Christiana Knight

Southwest: Moziah Moore, Sadiyah Spellman, Nicolas Hough

STEM: Mahika Patel, Kloe Beck, Andrew Semones

West Chatham: Arianna Hangartner, Trista Hinely, Kat Lee

Deep Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that empowers Savannah’s young people to thrive as learners, community leaders, and agents of change. Through creative writing, cultural production, and art, Deep creates platforms for the city’s youth and the village of support around them, including their families and adult allies, to share stories, engage in debates, and make Savannah a more just and equitable place.