We venture together into Houston’s literary and art scenes in order to think about the economic and cultural marketplaces of American literary institutions and their celebrated figures. Meeting on Monday evenings, for three (3) of our classes we attend readings at the Alley Theatre sponsored by Houston’s premier literary arts organization, Inprint. Beforehand we read works of featured speakers. To expose ourselves to less-known venues and writing communities in Houston and think comparatively about literary institutions, we also attend readings by Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say, and the Houston Writers Coalition.

These comparative considerations require that we learn about policy discussions in the city of Houston happening now related to budgets for literary and arts spending. Where do our tax dollars go? For organizations not donor-funded, what amounts of public funding are they receiving? We investigate economic factors creating the literary marketplaces we do or don’t readily see, and ask how such decisions impact writers and the people who make up the communities from which less-known work emerges?

From our experiences and research, students each developed their own white paper in one of the following categories: Place in Houston, Literary Infrastructures or Bryan Washington’s Lot . Use the links to explore categories or use the tabs to navigate to specific white papers.