The poems and short stories collected in this volume are the outcome of fifteen years of an amazingly successful experiment: asking accomplished writers to teach workshops in juvenile detention facilities, homeless shelters, inner-city schools, and schools for newly arrived immigrants. Follow these teacher-artists in the National Writers Corps on their journey into the halls and streets of America's diverse neighborhoods as they enrich the lives and creativity of their students--and findtheir own voices changed in the process. As one writer-teacher puts it: "Writing in community gathers us around the proverbial campfire and reminds us why we do this: because hearing stories helps us make sense of the world, and because telling them helps us make sense of ourselves."