The Detroit Writing Room - dovetail : dovetail

Mission Statement

The Detroit Writing Room opened in June 2019 as an inspirational space in the heart of Detroit for people to work, write and connect with a community of writers and creatives. Nine months later, the pandemic hit, halting our in-person writing workshops, coaching sessions, book talks and more. But Covid wasn’t about to stop us. We took all our literary offerings to Zoom and continued to help aspiring and veteran writers publish novels, children’s books, memoirs, poems, articles and pursue other creative endeavors. Since March 2020, our writing coaches have helped people across the country and world tell their stories. Our coaches based in Detroit have helped people publish books from the west to east coast. And we’ve taught storytelling to high school students nationwide during our award-winning virtual summer journalism camp in partnership with our nonprofit arm Coaching Detroit Forward. While there is a magic that happens when you meet a fellow writer and swap pages across the table, we discovered the same magic can transcend through a computer screen. In summer 2022, we ultimately decided to give up our physical space and focus on fostering our community of writers wherever they are. We also partner with venues across Detroit to host select in-person workshops and book talks. Members and guests have access to our 30 professional coaches who can offer feedback and editing for business materials — such as website copy, e-newsletters, social media content, professional bios, press releases, speeches or grants — or literary works such as fiction, nonfiction, essays and poetry. The coaches are award-winning journalists, New York Times bestselling authors, English professors and PR professionals. We have a literary agent on the team to help with query letters and navigating the publishing industry. If you’ve always wanted to write a picture book, our children’s book coach will get you started. Our social media coach can help grow your following to attract more readers or clients, and our career coach will polish your resume and cover letter so you can land your dream job. Check out all our coaches at detroitwritingroom.com/coaches.

Why do you think it’s important for your business or organization to support nonprofits and community organizations in Southeast Michigan and what kind of positive impact do you think your work could have?

Since The Detroit Writing Room launched in 2019, our two grant writing coaches have helped several nonprofit organizations write grants to receive funding. Our career coach has worked with nonprofit leaders and staff to improve their resumes. Other coaches have worked with nonprofit executives from the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy and Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, who've come to us seeking to improve their writing for publication, storytelling and more We've also collaborated with the nonprofit media organization Planet Detroit. We held an op-ed writing workshop for 30 nonprofits focused on the environment and sustainability. The workshop was taught by award-winning Detroit News columnist Laura Berman and DWR founder Stephanie Steinberg. The nonprofits attended learned how to write an effective op-ed and get it published. In another collaboration, several of our writing coaches mentored writers part of Planet Detroit's Neighborhood Reporting Lab. The coaches worked with about 25 Detroiters who each wrote a story for publication in Planet Detroit. The Detroit Writing Room also has a nonprofit arm called Coaching Detroit Forward, which offers free writing and photography programs for Detroit high school students. These programs are taught by our writing and photography coaches. Since starting in 2019, we've coached nearly 200 Detroit high school students who've gained professional mentors in writing and photography fields.

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