The Quaker Youth Book Project

By Sarah Katreen Hoggatt

QUIP Editors gather on the West Coast

Sometimes a project comes across our path that is everything we could dream of. A project we cannot only passionately believe in but support in a very real way, a tangible, truth telling, life giving way. As an Editorial Board member for the Quaker Youth Book Project, the book we are compiling has been such a project for me. I am still amazed at the gift I've been given to be a part of this, to be contributing along with people I deeply care about to a book I believe needs to be written and read around the globe by the wider world of Friends.

In Greensboro, North Carolina, I got to meet the other nine members of the Editorial Board as we crafted a call for submissions and presented a panel for the members of Quakers Uniting in Publications, or QUIP. Though we come from around the world, Bolivia, Canada, Kenya, Great Britain, and across the United States, we found a common bond, a bond past theology, language, and cultural background, forming friendships grounded in laughter, joy, and stories. Out of this rich time, we wrote queries we hope will open discussion, spark creativity, and give cause for reflection in Friends of all ages. Some of these queries are:

• How does your faith inspire you to act within your own community and/or cultural context? With what concerns (environmental, political issues, war, poverty, etc.) does your faith compel you to engage? When confronted with violence and injustice, how does your faith compel you to act?
• What role has faith played in the big decisions and changes (work, education, relocation, family) in your life? How does Quakerism relate to marriage in your society? How does your faith relate to your sexuality? How does your faith manifest in your daily life?
• What are your (positive, negative, or neutral) experiences with the diversity of Friends today? What have been your experiences with conflict, reconciliation, cooperation, and healing within your Friends' communities and within the wider world of Friends?

We are hoping this book will be a reflection of what we have already learned as an Editorial Board. That all voices deserve to be heard, that young adults are the Friends of today and tomorrow, and that in our diversity, there can be unity. We want the short non-fiction, prose, poetry, and visual art included to focus on the personal spiritual experiences, beliefs, and identities of young Friends as well as being a book that will open dialogue, lift up the growing youth movement in Quakerism, cultivate leaders, and act as a catalyst for transformation within the Religious Society of Friends.
My belief is this book can do all that, that it can be a stage for young adults to speak the truth from their hearts to the wider Quaker world in ways we all need to hear and understand no matter our backgrounds. This book can be a tool in our hands to connect us together, to help us know our differences do not divide us, and that truth is beyond any one language or theology. In support of this, we have committed to publishing the book in English and Spanish as well as the language in which the piece was submitted in hope that the variety of writers will only be surpassed by the variety of people who read them.

Already, we have seen some of our hopes come true as I and each of my fellow board members travels around speaking about the project at churches, youth camps, and yearly meetings, leading writing and art workshops, encouraging people to submit their pieces, and accepting donations for a $10,000 matching grant we've been given by the Tyson Memorial Fund in support of the book. We've heard the discussions, seen the excitement on people's faces, and have been accepting submissions to be considered when we meet again as an editorial board next April. The deadline for submissions is February 28, 2009.

As Friends, sometimes the only thing we have in common is our name. We can be so different from one another and at other times, so much the same. But it can be that openness to truth, the accepting of someone who sees things differently, who hears the Divine in diverse ways that can bring us closer together. If we truly do believe the light is in every person, then every person is worth listening to no matter how old or young they are. By creating this book, we hope to give young adult Friends whose voices can oftentimes be overlooked, a chance to speak about their experiences. Perhaps by listening and learning from them, discussion can be sparked amongst the Religious Society of Friends, the youth can be encouraged, and the growth already taking place can continue on in a fresh new way. After all, the best teacher of the truth we need to hear is often ourselves, all of ourselves.

The Editorial Board invites you to join in this project. For more information on how to become involved with the Quaker Youth Book Project or to obtain submission guidelines (printed in English and Spanish), please see the Project website at www.quakeryouth.org/quipbook or e-mail Angelina Conti, Project Coordinator, at quipyouthbook@gmail.com. The deadline for submissions is February 28, 2009.

About the Author(s)

Sarah Katreen Hoggatt lives in Salem, Oregon and is a member of Freedom Friends Church. A freelance writer, editor, visual artist, spiritual director, and self-publisher, she earned her Masters degree at George Fox Seminary.