Dzanc House

Dzanc House A home and a hub for regional and national literary and cultural arts programming for all ages.

An initiative of Dzanc Books, award-winning 501(c)(3) nonprofit publishing organization based in Washtenaw County, MI.

The fruits of our Spring 2025 Youth Workshops! For Spring 2025, our Roots & Wings Elementary Workshop produced a micro-p...
08/21/2026

The fruits of our Spring 2025 Youth Workshops!

For Spring 2025, our Roots & Wings Elementary Workshop produced a micro-podcast, "Springtime Poetry,” in which our young writers recorded the vibrant poems that they wrote across their spring sessions.

At the same time, our EmpowerED students created a striking, bold, and thoughtful reading of "A House Called Tomorrow," written by Poet Laureate Alberto Rios.

In times of uncertainty, our students found strength and hope in Rios' poem, inspiring them to record a collective reading for their poetry podcast. Listen as they read aloud an ode to the transcendental power of the written word and the resilience of generations past, present, and beyond.

You can listen to both projects on our YouTube and SoundCloud!
https://www.youtube.com/
https://on.soundcloud.com/WBTJ0SvSUVf6VRcwvW

As spring makes way for summer, our Spring 2025 workshop came to a close. Dzanc House wrapped up the EmpowerED workshop ...
08/21/2026

As spring makes way for summer, our Spring 2025 workshop came to a close.

Dzanc House wrapped up the EmpowerED workshop of the season with lots of smiles, laughter, and a whole lot more writing. Our youth crafted magnificent epistolary poems and performed Poet Laureate Alberto Rios' poem, "A House Called Tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, our Roots & Wings students spent the final day recording a few more of our students' exquisite co**se and spring poems, writing a few more creative pieces, and collaging some more.

Both workshop's poetry readings and podcasts are available to listen to on our YouTube and SoundCloud! https://www.youtube.com/ https://on.soundcloud.com/WBTJ0SvSUVf6VRcwvW

As always, huge, huge thanks to Amanda and Mackenzie, our amazing instructors and artists, for making our Roots & Wings workshops a safe and inclusive space where our students' literary and visual creativity can thrive and prosper!

And of course, we couldn't have done any of this wondrous work for EmpowerED without the dedicated leadership of our lead instructor, Jeff Kass, and our youth mentor, Ashanti Campbell. We truly couldn't be more thankful to have you in our crew!

Recording time!On Sunday, April 20th, 2025, our Roots and Wings youth were hard at work reciting and recording their poe...
08/21/2026

Recording time!

On Sunday, April 20th, 2025, our Roots and Wings youth were hard at work reciting and recording their poetry lines for their mini podcast (with, of course, a very special, immersive setup by the wonderful Amanda and Mackenzie!).

Always a highlight to hear our kiddos read and share their work!

Check out their work on our YouTube and SoundCloud! https://www.youtube.com/
https://on.soundcloud.com/WBTJ0SvSUVf6VRcwvW

On April 13th, 2025, our Roots & Wings were hard at work preparing for their upcoming Poetry Micro Podcast Production! T...
08/21/2026

On April 13th, 2025, our Roots & Wings were hard at work preparing for their upcoming Poetry Micro Podcast Production!

They were down to business, writing everything from new poems, reporting on poetry news, and even writing on what was happening in Pickle Pickle--Ville to Pokémon on the Moon, to the catastrophe on Earth as reported from under the sea!

Wonder what’s that’s all about? Listen to it all on Dzanc House’s YouTube and Soundcloud!
https://www.youtube.com/ https://on.soundcloud.com/WBTJ0SvSUVf6VRcwvW

Here's to Flying Object Youth Writing Initiative writing models and our awesome leaders and artists, Amanda and Mackenzie!

Memories from Spring 2025! Our Roots & Wings and EmpowerED workshop was full of spring-like energy. While our elementary...
08/21/2026

Memories from Spring 2025!

Our Roots & Wings and EmpowerED workshop was full of spring-like energy. While our elementary Roots & Wings students were focused on writing, creating, and working on the Elementary Poetry Podcasts, our EmpowerED high school students read four poems by Tony Hoagland and worked on their collaborative broadside publications.

All of which can be viewed on our website: https://www.dzanchouse.org/thearchive

It was a wondrous start to the season and the creative projects in the works that year, with special thanks to Jeff Kass and Ashanti Campbell for leading our dynamic and thoughtful EmpowerED workshops.

Spring brings renewal and fresh ideas, and for our Spring 2025 Workshop Season, Roots & Wings and EmpowerED, we switched...
08/20/2026

Spring brings renewal and fresh ideas, and for our Spring 2025 Workshop Season, Roots & Wings and EmpowerED, we switched things up! 🔀

For Roots & Wings, our students had the opportunity to produce and publish their voices as a podcast! One special project was chatting and creating a podcast with award-winning poet Marcelo Hernandez Castillo! 🎙️

Meanwhile, rather than producing podcasts, our EmpowerED students went analog by publishing their creative writing through broadsides and chapbooks! Students got to experiment with one of the original forms of printing and design, curate, and write this special project with our authors and artists in residence. 📃

Take a look at their amazing work from that season here: https://www.dzanchouse.org/thearchive

We remember it like it was yesterday, for it was a magical day full of exploration and expression! For Roots & Wings' se...
08/20/2026

We remember it like it was yesterday, for it was a magical day full of exploration and expression!

For Roots & Wings' second Winter 2025 Workshop, our kiddos continued learning the ins and outs of writing poetry, reading aloud, and reflecting on the wonderful work of the English Romantic poet William Wordsworth, and exercising one of the major elements that comprise the art form: metaphor!

But that's not all! Our youth had a splendid time afterward snipping pieces from various magazines to create their very own collage!

Thank you, Amanda and Mackenzie, for leading such an engaged and generative workshop!

How time flies when having fun! ⏰🪽On January, 19th, 2025, our EmpowerED workshop was deep in thought as they worked with...
08/20/2026

How time flies when having fun! ⏰🪽

On January, 19th, 2025, our EmpowerED workshop was deep in thought as they worked with two poems by contemporary and award-winning poet Marcelo Hernandez Castillo—"Essay on synonyms tender and a confession" and "Nuclear Fictions"—reading, sharing, and writing about them in a group circle with our lead instructors and mentors, where they welcomed and sought out ruminations, questions, and hypotheticals.

Here are some of the prompts that they worked with that day:
- If your name could talk to you, what would it say?
- Would it be proud of you and tell you you're doing your name justice? Would it be disappointed in you?
- Would it want you to see or understand something differently?
- What would your name say to you and, perhaps, what would you say back?
And, of course, we ended with more podcast recording, which you can listen to now on our website and on Dzanc House’s YouTube! https://www.dzanchouse.org/thearchive

In Winter 2025, our Roots & Wings Elementary Workshops resumed on January 12th, 2025, welcoming our new and returning de...
08/20/2026

In Winter 2025, our Roots & Wings Elementary Workshops resumed on January 12th, 2025, welcoming our new and returning dedicated young writers, readers, and art makers!

"The writers' table was a buzz with anticipation for a good time of writing and sharing. After a little name and metaphor game, we discussed what a metaphor is and began writing at length about ourselves. One student wrote a beautiful poem about being a book, and another wrote about being a diamond. We all clapped for one another after a time of sharing, and it was all so delightful. Kids also felt inspired by the art surrounding them in the gallery, so it was a true joy to witness! Very inspiring time!" ~ Amanda May Moore

See the postcard poetry our young poets made here: https://www.dzanchouse.org/thearchive

Defrosting this oldie but goodie from our Winter 2025 season! Our EmpowerED High School Winter Workshops started off on ...
08/20/2026

Defrosting this oldie but goodie from our Winter 2025 season!

Our EmpowerED High School Winter Workshops started off on January 12th, 2025, with a warm and wondrous welcome to Dzanc House, our home and hub for literary and cultural arts programs and in-house art gallery!

We gathered at the house with our dedicated young writers and began the workshop by reading and discussing a series of Jericho Brown poems together before focusing on a few student-selected generative writing prompts.

To launch our mini-podcast sessions, we recorded a few students reading their own original work and also recorded mini interviews about writing.

Thank you for being and writing and making: Jericho Brown, Ross Gay, Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, Ada Limón, and so many more incredible poets, whose work our young writers shared and read!

Additional thanks to Jeff Kass, Ashanti Campbell, Shane Collins, parents, and Flying Object Youth Writing Initiative, et all at Dzanc House for leading this dedicated crew of talented writers!

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402 S. Huron Street
Ypsilanti, MI
48197

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