Publishing Overview

At 826LA, we want to help students to understand how their writing can venture out into, interact with, and impact the world around them, so we help them polish their work for publication whenever possible. The computers, software, printers, and binding equipment we have on-hand at each of our sites enables us to publish student work (from all of our programs) with stellar production values that honors the effort students have put forward and the heights their writing has reached. And, when the occasion demands it, we send production files off to the printer—for example, for a special edition of one of our student newspapers on newsprint, or our yearly high-school anthology.

Young Authors' Book Project

Among 826LA's greatest endeavors is the annual Young Authors' Book Project, where we provide students at an LA-area school with an opportunity and a challenge: become a published author by the end of the school year. Over several weeks, students work with a team of 826LA volunteers to write, revise, and re-revise a piece (often through more than 10 drafts) following a pre-determined genre or theme. A select group of those students answers the call to join the editorial board, which works closely with 826LA to determine the book's organization, design, and layout, and to write additional front and back matter. After several months, their essays, poems, and stories are published as a perfect-bound book, with the students as proud authors. We hold a release party and book signings, and the book is distributed nationally.

To date, 826LA has published eight high school anthologies; our most recent is a hardcover foodbook (including recipes), Dorsey High School’s From the Couch to the Kitchen, featuring a foreword by Alice Waters.

Student Newspapers

Despite the decline in print journalism, we produce two student newspapers—The Venice Wave and 826LA Good Time, from students at 826LA in Mar Vista and 826LA in Echo Park, respectively. Guided by our volunteers (many of whom are professional journalists), our students do their research and conduct interviews before drafting and revising their stories to meet deadline. We print a new issue at each site every six to eight weeks, and distribute them on site as well as through local businesses and community centers.

Chapbooks, Chapbooks, Chapbooks (and ’Zines)

We publish chapbooks of student writing in other programs, too: several a year from after-school tutoring (recent titles: Venus Is the Best Planet on Earth, Give the Fish Skin to the Wind, and Your Street Is So Beautiful and Your Lights Shine Like Stars), picture books and Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books from our field trips, and a medley from our workshop program (Seuss-inspired prose and poetry and a fictional encyclopedia, among others). Plus, we've recently started a book club for high school students, which has already released anthologies of its own.