The Neighborhood Writing Alliance provokes dialogue, builds community, and promotes change by creating opportunities for Chicago residents to share their stories. Our writers' words, published in the Journal of Ordinary Thought, challenge preconceptions, generate new ideas, and spark dreams.

The Neighborhood Writing Alliance recently completed a series of workshops on “verse journalism” with writer and educator Quraysh Ali Lansana. During April, WBEZ is featuring recordings of NWA writers’ poems on air and online. Check them out here.

Our Every Person Is a Philosopher Annual Benefit is June 7 – your opportunity to meet and hear NWA writers reading their work at our biggest annual celebration of writing, community building, and social change! Featuring New York Times bestselling author Dolen Perkins-Valdez, a silent auction, hors d’oeuvres, and our famous “ink martinis”! Click here for more information and tickets. 

The Neighborhood Writing Alliance (NWA) provokes dialogue and promotes change by creating opportunities for adults in low-income Chicago neighborhoods to write, publish, and perform works about their lives. These works are published in the award-winning Journal of Ordinary Thought.