Literacy KC and The Writers Place have worked for decades to make Kansas City a more literate community. Literacy KC, founded in 1985, helps adults and families enhance literacy skills and quality of life. The Writers Place, established in 1992, extends support, resources, and inspiration to area writers.

Those efforts, and their impact, are spotlighted as part of the organizations’ eighth annual celebration, The Power of Reading and Writing. A number of Literacy KC’s adult learners poignantly share their stories. And two successful writers – poet, novelist, essayist, and humorist Alan Proctor and novelist Whitney Terrell, an assistant professor of English at the University of Missouri–Kansas City – discuss what writing has brought to their lives.

KCPT-TV’s Nick Haines emcees the event, which is co-presented by Literacy Kansas City and The Writers Place with additional funding provided by the Friends of the Kansas City Public Library.