The All City Writers Corps is a collective of more than 400 student-writers in Birmingham City Schools. Each week, students participate in fun-but-challenging lessons designed to hone creativity and increase reading and writing skills. Over the course of our workshops, students write poetry about their lives and experiences. At the end of each year, DISCO publishes an anthology of student poetry. At a book launch at our headquarters in Woodlawn, students receive copies of the book and read their poems to an audience of parents, teachers, DISCO staff, and school administrators.

At the heart of DISCO’s workshops is the belief that language is a vital tool for expressing ourselves. Students learn how to use the written word to understand and explore their worlds. As they read poetry and learn literary techniques such as metaphor, rhyme, alliteration, and symbolism, they increase critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills. In addition to helping students write original work, these skills often serve students in other academic disciplines as well.