WORDSMITH PRODUCTIONS

Our 501c3 arts and literacy nonprofit was formed in 2013. We are managed by a board of directors, our CEO Davida Siwisa James, who founded the nonprofit and our dedicated volunteers. We produced the play "Love Letters" at several low-income housing developments and senior centers in 2014 with a grant from the Community Foundation that serves Riverside and San Bernardino counties. We started our adult literacy program in 2015. In 2016, we produced the first High Desert Book Festival. This annual book festival has become the cornerstone of our programming. Our Fourth Annual High Desert Book Festival takes place at Hesperia Civic Plaza Park on Saturday, October 12, 2019.

We exhibit annually at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at USC. Last year we became one of the Region-at-Large Partners with Alliance for Young Artists & Writers based in New York City. The Alliance works with a network of nonprofits and writing organizations nationwide to help encourage the next generation of young artists and writers. Truman Capote, Sylvia Plath, Joyce Carol Oates and Stephen King are among its alumni. In September 2019, we received a Cal Humanities Quick Grant for our project "Exploring the Literature of the California Desert."We are a small nonprofit, run entirely by volunteers and we are proud of our efforts to increase access to the arts in our community.