A note from Robby Auld and Sophie Klahr, co-curators of Teen Sequins:
Tomorrow kicks off our second annual Teen Sequins feature, and it makes our hearts swell to once again have the privilege of presenting six talented teen writers on behalf of Gigantic Sequins: Carrie Zhang (14), Aidan Forster (15), Ben Read (16), Margaret Zhang (17), Thalia Flores (18), and Brad Trumpfheller (19).
We created Teen Sequins last year on faith alone, with the certainty that all over the world, teenage poets were creating astonishing work that deserved to be lifted on a celebratory platform. If you read the 2015 selections by Daniel Blokh, Odelia Fried, Kathryn Hargett, Jordan Cutler-Tietjen, Michal Leibowitz, and Savannah Hampton, you’ll see that our conviction about the quality of teenage poetry rang true. This year, our conviction and our discovery has been no different; we’ve once again had a ridiculously difficult time choosing just one poet to feature as a representative in each category of ages 14-19. Poems came to us from all over the United States and Canada, as well as from India, Ireland, Singapore, England, New Zealand, and the United Arab Emirates. Each day this week, you’ll see not only a poem by a featured poet, but also the names of all the writers who sent their work to us, for they are all worthy of attention and honorable mention.
We see young voices slowly being given more and more opportunities in literary communities, but we still don’t see enough of it. We insist on inclusion! We insist on celebration! We applaud all who sent their work to us. Keep reading, keep writing, submit again. We can’t wait to see what you’ll come up with next.
We’ll say it again, as our second annual saying: these teen writers are not only our students, but our teachers and our future. We hope you’ll love the poems of Teen Sequins 2016 as much as we do.
Gigantic Sequins 