Brink Literacy Project

The Literary Tarot engages people with literary classics and encourages community connection and dialogue through the intersection of tarot, art, and reading. Brink pulled together an all-star team of 78 beloved authors including Margaret Atwood, Stephen Fry, Roxane Gay, Patrick Rothfuss, and Celeste Ng who each paired one literary work with a card in the tarot deck. As with all of Brinks projects, 100% of the proceeds go directly to our nonprofit mission to change the world through storytelling.

The Frames Comic Program is a co-created, co-facilitated, creative course that utilizes therapeutic practices and the power of storytelling to help students discover their passions, purpose, and power. This 16-hour program helps our students shift the negative narratives that create destructive patterns, gain vital mental health and mindfulness tools, and build essential personal resilience, communication tools, and community connection. Students come to create their own graphic memoirs, all the while actively engaging in group therapeutic sessions, exploring past decisions in their lives in a safe and supportive space, and creating and mentally solidifying a positive vision for their recovery.

F(r)iction is the center piece of Brinks education curriculum, as well as the publishing vehicle through which Brink mentors emerging writers (including students in our Frames Program andF(r)iction in the Classroom), amplifies diverse and underrepresented voices, encourages experimentation and genre-melding, and delves into important social issues. We publish 3 print issues annually, spanning a vibrant mix of literary fiction, genre work, creative nonfiction, poetry, and short comics. Our themed issues offer students multi-faceted views on a singular topic, activating critical thinking skills and opening the minds of readers and students. When we welcome many perspectives and publish diverse stories from many backgrounds, we foster a sense of empowered belonging and build a culture of positive and independent critical thinking. Our celebrity writers include international literary greats, such as Charlie Jane Anders, Faylita Hicks, Kwame Dawes, Rebecca Roanhorse Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Stephen Graham Jones, Carmen Maria Machado, Joyce Carol Oates, and K-Ming Chang, to name just a few. A whopping 50% of the content of each issue comes from the slush. Through this editorial ethos, not only do we support writers to tell their stories and use F(r)iction to launch the careers of debut voices, but we also seek to increase accessibility into the industry. We provide authors of different experience levels and backgrounds with the mentorship of working with professional editors and the tools needed to further hone their craft. The process of publication with F(r)iction becomes an experience of learning, knowledge-sharing, and democratization. Additionally, Brink partners with a nonprofit organization to create the Community Feature in each F(r)iction issue. Previously F(r)iction has partnered with Afghan Womens Writing Project, Girls Write Now, Lambda Literary, and PEN Americas Prison Writing Program, to name just a few.

F(r)iction in the Classroom is an innovative, co-created, choose-your-own-adventure style curriculum designed to help students discover their passion, purpose, and power. The program is taught in partnership with middle- and high-school teachers, librarians, and after-school program providers. Students have the option to collaborate with F(r)iction editors and publish their creative work with Brink and in doing so improve their resumes, receive guidance for writing in higher education, and learn to articulate their passion powerfully and effectively.

Brinks publishing internship program seeks to bring underrepresented and diverse voices into the publishing industry itself. Through our fifteen-week program, interns learn the essential ins and outs of the industry and become crucial contributors to the positive social change Brink affects every day.