1 FEATURE ARTICLE Breaking Silence and Amplifying Voices: Youths Writing and Performing Their Worlds Tracey T. Flores Through participation in a weeklong creative writing workshop, youths ages 13–21 amplify their voices through the writing and performing of stories from their lived experiences and learn to use writing as a powerful tool to break silence and transform their worlds. T he Latinx Cultural Arts Center (LCAC) is a vi- brant art space nestled among tall buildings in a city located in an urban area of the Southwestern United States. It is a colorful space adorned with hand- made sculptures of La Virgén de Guadalupe and paint- ings created by local artists in protest of the politics impacting the state. During the day, LCAC is frequented by visitors inter- ested in the arts and performances hosted in the space. These performances celebrate the rich cultural and lin- guistic heritage and stories of the Latinx and indigenous populations residing in this region of the country. Tonight, LCAC brings the community together to support and celebrate youth writers. It is the backdrop for youths sharing the poetry of their words and worlds. Now, folding chairs placed in rows face a small elevated stage. Tall bistro tables line the perimeter of the room for guests to stand and enjoy bite- sized desserts and lemonade. The audience quiets as the first young writer, Sheila (all names are pseudonyms), a 17-year-old Chinese American youth, adjusts the microphone. She begins reading: “A minority. / The moment I came out of my mother’s womb, / The odds were already stacked high against me. / Why couldn’t I have been born, / Blonde- haired and blue-eyed? / Let me tell you something.” The room is quiet as Sheila pauses and looks at the audience. She continues: “The ‘American Dream’ doesn’t exist for people like us. / My parents have been slaving. / Slaving. / Slaving for you people since day one. / Since the day they first stepped foot on this American soil.” The audience is visibly moved by Sheila’s words. She concludes her performance with the following words: “So I’m here to tell you my dream. / Because it has been way too long and we are all tired of this shit. / It’s time for you to wake up.” The audience loudly applauses. The night continues as, one by one, 17 youth writ- ers, ages 13–21, take the stage to share their truths. For Sheila and several other youth writers in attendance, this is their first experience of sharing their writing in a public space. Collectively, their writing is used as a plat- form to break silence and speak truth to the dominant discourse that assumes our youths to be apathetic, de- viant, and deficient in both upbringing and education. However, through the courage of writing and sharing stories from their lived experiences, their words reveal youths who are aware, full of hope, and determined to (re)write their futures. In this article, I share the voices and stories of the youth writers I worked alongside in the Youth Writing Collective (YWC), a summer creative writing program for youths. Situated in Arizona, a state with mandated English-only polices (Gándara & Hopkins, 2010; Garcia, Lawton, & De Figueiredo, 2012) and restrictive curri- cula, this study highlights the possibilities that exist when we create spaces with and for youths to utilize Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy Vol. 0 No. 0 pp. 1–9 doi: 10.1002/jaal.733 © 2018 International Literacy Association TRACEY T. FLORES is an assistant professor of language and literacy in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Texas at Austin, USA; e-mail tflores@austin.utexas.edu.