On the evening of October 15th, 826 Valencia overflowed with eager listeners and exceptional readers of all ages. The pirate shop was just one of many locations offering free readings as part of this year's Lit Crawl, the crowning event of San Francisco's annual literary festival, Litquake. Student authors shared poems, stories and articles from the most recent editions of The 826 Quarterly and the Valencia Bay-Farer.

The reading opened with local author Stephen Elliott sharing the amusing and touching tale of his little brother's introduction to writing at 826 Valencia (you can check out William Elliott's first story, "My Cousin," in the The 826 Quarterly Volume II).

Elliott was followed by young authors ranging from age 8 to 17 who wrote of mermaid mothers, ideal deaths, and open water swimming in the frigid San Francisco Bay. The audience responded with nods of appreciation and encouragement, laughter, and uproarious applause. And the few lucky listeners who managed to find all the right answers to the audience treasure map walked away with original pieces of fun art!

Congratulations and thanks to our young readers!