The Telling Room
At The Telling Room, they work to empower youth through writing and share their voices with the world. As a literary arts education organization focused on young writers ages 6 to 18, they seek to build confidence, strengthen literacy skills, and provide real audiences for their students. They believe that the power of creative expression can change communities and prepare youth for success both now and in the future. Their fun, innovative writing and publishing programs support and encourage young people in the art of writing and self-expression. They provide school-based and afterschool writing enrichment programs year-round and statewide, offer professional development for educators, host acclaimed writers to give public readings and work with students, publish bestselling anthologies of student work, and carry out community-wide writing projects and events. Their skilled staff, volunteers, mentors, interns, ambassadors, and teaching artists—including celebrated writers, artists, and professionals—lend their curriculum the added weight of experience and real-world expertise. And they now look more and more to students and alumni to lend their insights to their work, even as they seek more ways to connect them to the wider world. Their diverse programs ignite young minds, spark community conversations, and make a positive impact on Maine youth, the adults who teach and care for them, and the community we all share.
The Telling Room has a press as well as classes, events, and mentorship for young writers - how would you describe The Telling Room's mission to someone learning about the organization for the first time?
At The Telling Room, we empower youth through writing and share their voices with the world. Our approach is rooted in a sense of overt fun; that there is power in finding your voice, and in having your voice be heard by others. Expressing yourself is a two-way street, and writing gives us an opportunity to listen to and learn from one another. In this way, we believe writing can be a tool for self-expression and confidence building, but also a way to create change. Our mission comes alive in many ways—a student might write a single poem in one of our in-school residencies, or a full-length novel in our afterschool programs. No matter the length of the work, we believe it’s never too early to uplift someone as a writer or support their growth as they find their voice and build their confidence.
What is the most exciting project currently underway?
The Telling Room recently celebrated its twentieth anniversary, and to honor the occasion, we published a collection of stand-out pieces of student writing from the past decade. These poems, essays, recipes, stories, and novel excerpts by Telling Room youth are each paired with a companion piece written by an established Maine-based author who has supported our students along the way in these past ten years. The resulting book, It Rains Diamonds on Neptune, was released in spring of 2025 and was a joy to create as we reached this exciting milestone as an organization.
Next up, we’re curating an anthology of climate writing and artwork, showcasing the perspectives of Maine youth and how they are experiencing environmental shifts in our changing world. This collection is forthcoming in 2026, and we are currently in the midst of reading through submissions and selecting pieces—with the help of Telling Room students, alumni, and community members as judges. As always, the voices and creativity of these young artists and writers are filled with deep insight. We hope that readers of all ages will listen to these calls to action and take them to heart as we navigate our planet’s future together.
Your organization and your students have been honored with some of the highest honors for nonprofits and publications. What are some of the accomplishments you're most proud of.
Most recently, we were honored to be recognized by two of our community partners: the Maine Education Association through their Golden Apple Award, and by EqualityMaine with their Partner for Equality Award. Partnerships are vital to the work we do—we believe in the power that comes from connecting and collaborating with other organizations, across disciplines. They bring us into communities and classrooms around the state, helping us reach youth who thrive when they have access to our programs and publications. Those publications are something else we’re very proud of. This past year, two books by Telling Room authors were finalists for the Maine Literary Awards, not just in competition with other young writers, but alongside established adult authors! Seeing our students’ work being elevated in such a way meant a great deal to us, but also to the writers who penned those books, who saw that their voices merit just as much recognition, support, and readership as works by adults. On a different scale, we are thrilled every time we witness transformation in a student who at first might have been reluctant to share their writing widely, but who by the end of their time with us is confidently standing at the mic or publishing their story for others to read.
Over the past 20 years you've published over 230 books - What does your publication process look like?
In twenty years, we’ve published over 230 books. Our publications process is backed by a team of creative local artists, editors, designers, printers, and staff, and it is centered on youth. Maine’s young writers create stories and poems in our programs, which are considered for publication in our anthologies as well as standalone titles. Students participate in our in-school residencies and workshops, while others come to us through afterschool programs like Young Writers & Leaders, SWARM!, or Young Emerging Authors. Their work might range from a single essay or poem being published in a collection with their peers to a full-length novel or poetry collection written by them alone. Others around the state submit writing through calls for submission, and then young editors in our Publishing Workshop help put our annual anthology together. We strive to help their work find their audiences, taking into consideration how youth envision themselves in the community as authors and what they want to see more of on bookshelves. We also always make sure to get Telling Room books into local bookstores, who are incredible partners and help our authors reach readers around the state and the country.
Is there an event, publication, or any kind of change happening in the next year that you are particularly excited about and would like to share?
Every year we look forward to creating our annual anthology of writing and lifting up the authors we’ve worked with at Big Night, our book launch for the anthology. This celebration comes together in June as our programs culminate and students see their words in print, bound in beautiful books—often for the first time. In 2026, we’re especially looking forward to launching our next special anthology: a book of climate writing and artwork by Maine youth. For years we’ve been seeing youth process our changing world and its transformational shifts through their words, and we are looking forward to sharing this powerful collection of their perspectives. We hope the world will listen to what they have to say.
The Telling Room
225 Commercial St #201
Portland, ME 04101
www.tellingroom.org