
Significant Objects purchases items from thrift stores (like the bird pictured here) and then asks authors to write a story based on the item. The item and the story are then sold together on e-bay.
Proceeds from the current cycle of 50 stories, objects, and auctions will benefit Girls Write Now, which mentors under-served or at-risk high school girls in New York City. An earlier cycle of stories raised money for 826 National, a creative-writing tutoring program for teenagers in seven cities.
I have always wanted to shake the brains of my favorite authors to see what is rattling around inside their heads that isn’t rattling around in mine. And with the Significant Objects project, you can experiment without actually shaking. Close your eyes, clear your head, and then look at any one of the objects the authors write about, and think about what story comes to your mind. Then read the story on the site, and see where that object took the author.
Great project, great idea, great stories, great writers, and great causes---what is not to like about Significant Objects? Who knows---you might just bid on the item and short story that prompts the next great novel. And help a good cause at the same time.
--Denise Neary, Contributor