ABOUT US
Austin's Creative Community
Our free writing programs empower students to find their voices and tell their stories.
When students own their voice and tell their stories, they become stronger, more confident writers. Young people yearn to share, express, reflect, and understand one another.
By implementing engaging curriculum and working with students one-on-one, our volunteers inspire young writers with passion for reading, writing, and learning.
Austin Bat Cave is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization supported by a wide base of generous donors and the hundreds of volunteers who work with us each year.
OUR HISTORY
We Believe In The Power of Words
Austin Bat Cave held its first series of free writing workshops in the summer of 2007 at Austin Community College.
The three-day writing workshop – taught by local fiction writers, playwrights, and poets – served 27 students ages 11 – 15. In three days, students had written a book that was published and distributed to the authors.
In the fall of 2007, Austin Bat Cave began working with students in the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program at Austin High, This year-long series of writing workshops culminated in student readings and our second publication, Hand & Wing.
Later that year, we conducted writing workshops at Kealing Middle School, Mathews Elementary, and Anderson High School, and held our first series of weekend and summer workshops at locations around Austin.
Workshop leaders included Okkervil River frontman Will Sheff, Texas Monthly Editor-in-Chief Jake Silverstein, poet Roger Reeves, and fiction writer Elizabeth Crane.
In 2008, we published our first citywide anthology, which featured the prose and poetry of students from Reagan High School, Austin High, Anderson High, and St. Stephen’s Episcopal School.
In 2018, we published our 10th anthology of student writing. Check it out, along with the rest of our anthologies here.
Over the years, our organization has continued to expand, partnering with other nonprofits in Austin including the Texas Book Festival, Breakthrough Austin, Communities in Schools, GirlForward, and CASA.
We’ve led workshops on everything from performance storytelling and songwriting to flash fiction and hip-hop poetry. Most importantly, we’ve helped address gaps in our public education system by giving students an opportunity to voice their thoughts and ideas while strengthening their writing skills.
OUR MISSION
Our Mission
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Our Vision
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