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People Across the Nation Tweet #whyiwrite on the National Day on Writing
Date: November 1, 2011
Summary: To celebrate the National Day on Writing on October 20, the NWP joined The New York Times Learning Network, Figment, and Edutopia to collect essays from people of all walks of life about why writing is important to them. People also tweeted #whyiwrite—and 23,000 #whyiwrite tweets made it a trending topic nationally.
On October 20, 2011, people filled the Twittershpere with words—as always—but since the day was the National Day on Writing, many of those words were reflections about why writing is important. In fact, more than 23,000 tweets were typed with the hashtage #whyiwrite, and the subject became a trending topic nationally.
Authors such as Neil Gaiman and his 1.7 million followers joined in, as well as Terry McMillan, Susan Orlean, Daniel Pink, Andrew Sean Greer, and many other authors. While Oprah didn't participate despite many #whyiwrite groupies prodding her with tweets, comedians Andy Richter and Andy Borowitz added a jocular touch to the proceedings.
Perhaps most importantly, teachers and students from across the nation joined in the festivities tweeting creative takes on the importance of writing.
For more, read the highlights below—and read the selection of tweets.
Why I Write Essays
- NWP published 26 essays from people of all walks of life—scientists, reporters, poets, teachers, and students—to discover why they write.
- Edutopia published Why I write essays by several NWP teacher bloggers: Why I Write: To Improve My 2nd Grade Teaching Practice; Why I Write? To Save My Sanity; Why I Write? Sharing One's Saga is Important; Why I Write? (Hint: It's Not Because It's Easy).
- The New York Times Learning Network posted seven interviews with their reporters about why they write.
- Figment published essays by notable authors such as Barry Lyga and Anna Quindlen.
Student Writing
- More than 200 essays have been contributed to Figment's Why I Write festival page, a curated set of which will be turned into an ebook anthology.
- The New York Times Learning Network posted writing prompts from its "Lives" column.
NWP Radio
- NWP hosted a radio show with Katherine Schulten, editor of the New York Times Learning Network and a New York City Writing Project fellow; New York Times education reporter Fernanda Santos; Dana Goodyear, Figment co-founder and staff writer for the New Yorker; and novelist and Writing Project teacher Ashley Hope Perez.
