Graver Goods

http://gravergoods.com/

Press

2019

Brooklyn, New York

Emily Roese

Co-Director, Impracticum

Graver Goods is a non-profit literary organization based in service work and dedicated to the publication of groundbreaking writing. Designed by a small interdisciplinary group of authors, educators, and community leaders, this holistic initiative integrates Graver Goods press; Impracticum, one of the country’s only independent creative writing programs; and the Patricia Initiative, an instructive high school program. Graver Goods Press Graver Goods Press is working to publish startling and permanent books about what it’s like to be alive in the world. We’re thrilled that our inaugural releases will be Joe Wenderoth’s genre-dissolving manifesto Agony: A Proposal, the second volume of Wenderoth’s celebrated epistolary novel Letters to Wendy’s, and a collection of critical essays commemorating the letters’ 25th Anniversary. We’re also proud to announce the forthcoming publication of Chris Erickson’s novella Henrytown and an inaugural Graver Goods “EP” journal, featuring work from writers who have or plan to teach within our Impracticum Program. Impracticum Our creative writing program, Impracticum, is a venue for both students and teachers seeking an MFA-adjacent space. For teachers, Impracticum offers them a space to teach what they want with a significant degree of autonomy, freedom in regards to schedule and course duration, and competitive pay. For students, Impracticum provides them with a financially-accessible curriculum of graduate-level workshops and seminars. Unlike other programs across the country, Impracticum asks students to fulfill a community service requirement (in-person or remotely) in tandem with their craft courses. We see that work as a necessarily central part of any educational experience, and one that helps students approach composition as a daily working discipline and a sounding line for their depth of immersion in something larger than themselves. Overwhelmingly, we seek to offer an accessible, rigorous, service-centered writing program that will equip students with the habits, attentions, and real-world experiences to not only help them generate feeling, impactful writing, but also secure meaningful employment that allows them to sustainably pursue their creative work for years to come. The Patricia Initiative This fall, we plan to launch the Patricia Initiative. Working closely with our Impracticum team, the Patricia Initiative will connect local public high schools with MFA students seeking teaching experience to provide free creative writing instruction for high school students. Once a week, for a set number of weeks each semester, our teachers will visit select high school English, ESL, or other writing-focused classes to provide free instruction. On that particular day, the class will become a creative writing course—our instructors will collaborate with the acting teachers to run workshops, creative writing exercises, and seminar-style discussions. At the end of each academic year, we’ll offer scholarships that will allow talented high school writers to take our advanced courses via our Impracticum Program.

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