Houston, TX – October 5, 2011 – Writers in the Schools (WITS) will host its annual benefit and silent auction, A Celebration of Story, Thursday, November 3, 2011, 7 PM, at the Junior League of Houston.  The evening honors former WITS writer and Houston novelist Katherine Center and features music from legendary Texas songwriter Allen Shamblin. Proceeds will provide yearlong literacy programs for underserved students in schools, hospitals, community centers, parks, hospitals, and homeless shelters.

 

The event begins with a cocktail hour and VIP reception, followed by a silent auction including original works of art donated by fifteen local artists, and dinner. Guests will have the rare opportunity to hear story songs performed by musician extraordinaire Allen Shamblin who will be inducted this month into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Shamblin is best known for his chart-topping songs, "He Walked on Water," "I Can't Make You Love Me," and "Where the Blacktop Ends," and he is the co-author of the children's book Don't Laugh at Me, which is being used to teach anti bullying tactics worldwide.

 

"Through the WITS program, students become stronger writers, readers, and thinkers," said Robin Reagler, executive director of WITS. “Proceeds from the Celebration of Story will help us put more creative writing teachers into classrooms across the greater Houston area.”

 

Center taught in the WITS program as a resident writer before becoming the bestselling author of The Bright Side of Disaster, Everyone is Beautiful, and Get Lucky. WITS will present Center with the Founder's Award for her influence on Houston's literary arts community and for embodying the mission of WITS through her life's work.

 

Individual tickets are available $150 per person and tables for 10 are available beginning at $2,500. These may be purchased online at witshouston.org/celebration-story.

 

The Host Committee includes Greg P. Audel, Jessica Rossman and Gordon Bethune, Emily Pipkin Blackwell and James Blackwell, Stanley Chan, Carliss Chatman, Nicola Parente and Aaron Courtland, Jennifer Langdon and Joe Crownover, Melanie Malinowski and Andy Cunningham, Robin and Tony Davidson, Lizzie and Scott Fletcher, Nancy and Joe Ford, Tina and Craig Freedman, Jennifer LeGrand Howard, Lenora Noroski and Frank Inselbuch, Karen Walrond and Marcus Jennings, Shelley and Alexander Kaplan, MaryScott Hagle and Daniel Kornburg, Jacqueline S. Martin, Karen McKibben Morris and The Honorable William Morris, Whitney Botsford Morgan, Isabel Cowles Murphy and Christopher Murphy, Marcia and Michael Nichols, Roberta Weldon and James Pipkin, Josie Edwards and Monica Pope, Patricia Delaney and Warren Rawson, Josephine and The Honorable Bill Rice, Dr. Roxanne Riefkohl, Susan and Tom Scotty, Ginya and Clayton Trier, Laurette Veres, and  Andrea Ferguson White and The Honorable Bill White.  For more information, contact Kate Brennan at kbrennan@witshouston.org or 713-523-3877.

 

About Writers in the Schools

Writers in the Schools (WITS), a local non-profit organization, provides students with year-long creative writing programs in schools, community centers, hospitals, and homeless shelters. WITS writers work in year-long programs in over 350 classrooms in order to help students develop their creative and analytical thinking skills. In 10 years of data, WITS students show marked improvement in literacy skills and higher standardized test scores. WITS was ranked the #1 literary organization in the state by the Texas Commission on the Arts.

 

About Katherine Center

Katherine Center is the author of three bittersweet comic novels about love and family -- The Bright Side of Disaster, Everyone is Beautiful, and Get Lucky -- and has another on the way. Her books and essays have appeared in Redbook, People, USA Today, Vanity Fair, Real Simple, the Dallas Morning News, and the Houston Chronicle, BookPage named Katherine one of the seven new writers to watch, and her first novel, which People calls "cleverly told and uncommonly appealing," has been optioned by Varsity Pictures. She lives in her hometown, Houston, Texas with her husband and two children.

 

About Allen Shamblin

With the tremendous popularity and critical acclaim of his song "He Walked on Water," songwriter Allen Shamblin has positioned himself among the great storytellers who has given country music its legacy and continuous popularity. Shamblin was born in Tennessee and grew up in Huffman, Texas, a small town about thirty miles northeast of Houston. To date, Shamblin has had more than 100 songs recorded by such artists as Wynonna, Patty Loveless, Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers, Bette Midler, Ricky Van Shelton, Dolly Parton, Ricky Scaggs, John Berry, Kathy Mattea, Susan Ashton, "Prince" and others. This year Shamblin will be honored in the 2011 Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

###