Badgerdog Literary Publishing is an education and literary arts nonprofit based in Austin that seeks to foster excellence in writing through its programming. It launches and sustains writers in grades 3-12 in its writers-in-the-schools programs; it serves senior citizens through a series of community-based creative writing workshops; and it publishes American Short Fiction (ASF), a nationally distributed literary journal dedicated to supporting emerging writers; ASF also offers ongoing university-caliber classes and hosts innovative literary events. Started in 2004, Badgerdog’s writers-in-the-schools initiative has evolved to a best-in-class program, serving nearly 1,000 students annually in four Central Texas school districts. These programs are TEKS-aligned and help close the academic achievement gap. Through creative writing workshops, readings, podcasts, cultural field trips, and the production of a library-quality anthology of student work, professional writers teach students the power of writing and how to access their own voices. The number of students served each year has grown more than 1,500% since the pilot program, demonstrating the demand in Central Texas for high-quality, effective literary arts programming. Thanks to a startup grant from the Glimmer of Hope Foundation, in 2010, Badgerdog launched Silver Voices in Ink to bring arts programming to another underserved population–senior citizens. Through SVI, writers lead older adults to learn new skills while they build communities of friends and fellow writers. These creative writing workshops ignite new passions, provide therapeutic benefits, and even rescue people from isolation. Writing instruction allows seniors to advocate for themselves, communicate their personal narratives, share their histories, and develop social capital. As an extension of its commitment to local and national audiences and writers, Badgerdog also relaunched the literary quarterly American Short Fiction in 2006. Distributed nationwide, the journal publishes innovative new work from a diverse group of emerging and established writers both in print and online. The New York Times, Poets & Writers, Utne Reader, and The Austin Chronicle have all recognized the journal. ASF writers have had their work anthologized in Best American Short Stories, The Pushcart Prize, The Best American Nonrequired Reading, and New Stories of the Southwest. Both through ASF and creative programming, Badgerdog aims to cultivate writing that has the power to transform the way we see ourselves, the world, and our place in it.

This project is funded and supported in part by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts and in part by the City of Austin Economic Growth & Redevelopment Services Office/Cultural Arts Division believing an investment in the Arts is an investment in Austin’s future.