Ambassadors
Kwame Alexander
LitWorld Poet Laureate
Kwame Alexander is the author of thirteen books including And Then You Know: New & Selected Poems, and Crush: Love Poems for Teenagers. He resides in Washington, DC, where he produces the annual Capital BookFest. Since 2007, Kwame has created more than 800 student authors through his Book-in-a-Day poetry and student-run book publication program. Kwame represents LitWorld in the form of poems on the page and read aloud, helping to spread the LitWorld mission.
Chernor Bah
Chernor led the pilot of LitWorld's Resilience LitClubs at Children's Village in the Summer of 2010. In a country with an adult literacy rate of 40%, Chernor plans to provide the children of Sierra Leone with the opportunity to tell their stories, learn to read and write, and help them start laying a solid foundation for the future through LitClubs. Chernor Bah just received his Masters Degree in Peace Studies from Notre Dame University. He grew up in Sierra Leone, and suffered through the long conflict there. He was appointed by the United Nations to be a Youth Fellow and served his country in that capacity.
Victoria Guzman
Victoria has led literacy projects with a focus on theatrical narrative, using games, storytelling, improvisation, corporal expression, and creative writing as methods of empowerment. She most recently worked with a group of young immigrants at the TRAC cottage of Children's Village as part of the LitClub initiative, and aspires to oversee literacy efforts in her home country of Colombia, where the literacy rate is 67% in rural areas.
Ben Hirschfeld
Youth Ambassador & Founder of The Lit! Project
Ben Hirschfeld is a student at Hastings High School with longstanding interests in health and the environment. He has been part of the LitWorld team since his freshman year, when he learned of the LitWorld mission and realized that students' literacy and health could both benefit from a brighter, cleaner, less expensive light source. The Lit! Project sends solar lanterns to LitWorld students so that they and their families no longer have to choose between living in darkness or depending on hazardous kerosene. Ben is excited to be contributing to LitWorld's efforts to improve the educational environment and lives of students around the world, and looks forward to involving other teens in this vital mission.
Leah Joseph
Leah led a Girls LitClub in Brooklyn, New York where she used her theater background to promote literacy and self-expression. She will continue this important work as she brings LitClubs to Israel. With an emphasis on song and dance, Leah hopes to strengthen children in Israel through their own voice and body language, and hopes to spread LitClubs throughout the region.
Anni Lyngskaer
Anni's belief in the power of storytelling is evident through her work as a documentary filmmaker. She has piloted the Video for Change program at LitWorld's Hub Site, Children's Village at the Polo Grounds Community Center in Harlem, NYC and is now bringing her strong talent along with the LitClub and Video for Change curriculae to Sierra Leone, a country with literacy rates for youth males and females at 66% and 46%, respectively.
Lindsey Manwell
LitWorld Illustrator in Residence
Lindsey is a freelance Illustrator focusing on children's stories. She is currently working on her debut picture book series due out in 2014. Lindsey deeply believes in LitWorld's mission that words change worlds, and her hope is to use her accompanying artistry to inspire us to connect even further with our literature. She has helped illustrate Litworld's World Read Aloud Day since it's inception in 2009, and she continues to joyfully create illustrations for Litworld's changing needs. Lindsey is from a small town in Northern California called Marysville, and she has made San Francisco her home for nearly 10 years.
Rose Mureka
Rose launched the first LitWorld Girls LitClub in Kibera, Kenya in 2009. When she moved to rural Bungoma, she continued the program there and it has provided the members of her Girls LitClub with a platform for sharing their thoughts, ideas and stories. She aspires to spread the power of literacy to women in Kenya, where the literacy rate for females is 10% lower than the male rate.
Jeff Okoth
Jeff officially launched LitWorld's second Boys LitClub in June, 2011 at Red Rose School in Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya, and has been an advocate for LitWorld and the Children of Kibera Foundation since their respective inceptions. He has played a major role in instilling a reading and writing culture for the youth of Kibera through LitClubs and his participation in LitWorld's teacher training programs in Nairobi.
Denise Ortiz
Denise co-founded Sharing to Learn, a foundation that makes it possible for students around the world to be part of the solution to poverty as active change agents. She is overseeing the learning centers of Makuleke Village in South Africa, including introducing modern technology, including iPads, to the village children as a means of promoting literacy learning, in conjunction with LitWorld programming.
spiritchild
Freedom singer from the south Bronx by way of Brooklyn, who uses the arts to cultivate a cultural revolution. He integrates activism and hip hop music production as the founder of the Movement In Motion Artist & Activist Collective. As the Rhythmic Poet of the Hip Hop Fusion Band Mental Notes, he uses his music to converse with his audience to the injustices facing the poor and oppressed, inspiring action on environmental and social justice in New York City and around the world. Currently he is the program director of the One Mic Program a part of Art Start. spiritchild collaborates with LitWorld to help grow and nurture LitClubs and LitCamps.
Yvonne Weah
Yvonne co-founded the WE-CARE program in her home country, creating a rich learning environment for children and young people, while also providing many communities with access to books where they would otherwise have none. Yvonne participates in LitWorld training to strengthen her work, in collaboration with the Reading Liberia program. In Libera, 58% of women are illiterate. Yvonne is a crucial literacy role model for girls.
Rachel Weitner
Moms for LitWorld Ambassador
Rachel feels passionate about Litworld's mission and is very excited to be helping to launch the Moms for LitWorld Initiative. Rachel moved from Australia to New York where she studied drama at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. Rachel is looking forward to using her background in film and theatre production to further LitWorld's work. She currently lives with her family in Westchester, NY.