Q&A with Amy Friedman

  

 

 

Amy Friedman is the editor of the new collection A Secret Chord: Poetry, Stories & Art. It features the work of teenagers who participate in the POPS and PATHfinder Clubs for young people affected by incarceration, detention, or deportation. Friedman is a criminal justice activist and co-founder of POPS, and she is based in Los Angeles. 

 

Q: What inspired this new collection of poetry, stories, and art?

 

A: At The PATHfinder Club (www.thepathfinderclub.org), we are committed to annually publishing a collection of works created by the youth we serve—teens and young adults whose lives have been altered as a result of incarceration, detention, or deportation.

 

And so, the start of a new school year was initially the inspiration for A Secret Chord.

 

Each year, as soon as we release a title, we open the door to submissions for the next year’s collection. Submissions come in slowly, and as they do, I read the poetry, the stories, the essays, the first-drafts and second; I study the paintings, drawings, collages, and other works of art.

 

And each year I’m struck by the marked differences that seem to reflect the mood of the nation and the rumblings of the world all around us, and that mood that colors the work is how I discover the theme.

 

In 2024/25, as work poured in, I kept hearing music, feeling a rhythm, sensing a collective composition emerging. By the time we neared deadline, this year’s theme was vividly clear.

 

Q: How was the collection’s title chosen, and what do you see as the connection to singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen?

 

A: The title came directly from the theme. Most people know Leonard Cohen’s song Hallelujah, even if they don’t know that it is Leonard Cohen who wrote the song because it has been covered by so many disparate artists—from Willie Nelson to Jeff Buckley, from Brandi Carlile to Yolanda Adams, and so many more.

 

Two things sparked the title of this collection.

 

First, the creators’ works kept playing music that rolled through my mind. The connection is less to Cohen himself than to that idea evoked in the line he wrote (and sang): “I heard there was a secret chord that David played and it pleased the Lord…”

 

The extraordinary work by these young people felt like altogether they created a secret chord with their truths revealed, the melody of their many different, distinct voices, the rhythms of their language, and the heartbeat of their passions.

 

When I saw Ruby Pena’s photograph of the bird on a branch, once again Cohen’s words sounded from his "Bird on a Wire." That’s when the book coalesced, in a kind of magical moment that happens just once in a blue moon.

 

Q: What do you see as the importance of creative work at a challenging time in this country?

 

A: In a world drowning in misinformation and disinformation and the cruelty spreading of lies about our immigrant population, it is vital that we amplify true stories and nurture the abilities of young people to trust themselves and to use their innate talents, [and to] use art-making to better understand themselves and each other and to share those true selves with the rest of us.

 

As dark as these times so often feel, in the creative spaces that are these clubs, there is tremendous light and strength.

 

This is more than ever a moment when we all need to be creative in whatever ways we are able—to bring our best selves to each moment, and to support our youth in their creative and intellectual endeavors. Truth telling is cleansing; creating something out of nothing is inspiring.

 

I think of the recent moonwalk—the joy nearly everyone in the country felt as we followed the astronauts seeing what no human eye had ever before seen. That revelatory moment, just knowing that this was possible, healed and inspired something in nearly all of us. That is what creating does.

 

And creating forges connection. We see that in the clubs, and in these books. Everyone who has ever the TPC/POPS collections has found one or 10 or 20 pieces that seem say precisely, in words or visuals, precisely what that reader needed to hear and thus makes that reader feel less lonely.

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the collection?

 

A: Joy and a deeper understanding of how very wise, deep, honest, and resilient these teens are. I hope that with that understanding, readers will experience the pleasure those of us who work with these young people experience—the hopefulness about our future; the curiosity to know more; and an inexplicable, invigorating relief.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: Two things.

 

We are working on our 2027 release. The deadline has just passed, and I’ve just discovered the theme—and title, and cover—of next year’s book. For the moment, I’m keeping it a secret.

 

We are also working on putting together a collection based on the Best-Of from our earliest books that were self-published, between 2013 and 2019, prior to Out of the Woods Press (outofthewoodspress.com), which has published these collections ever since it was established in late 2019.

 

Separate from The PATHfinder Club but inclusive of some of the youth we work with at TPC, I’m working on a project I launched in December 2025, All-American Story (All-AmericanStory.com).

 

Each week on Substack (ourallamericanstory.substack.com), we publish true stories, artwork, music, and other creative works created by American immigrants, and 1st- and 2nd-gen Americans. So far, a number of young people who were previously published in our anthologies have been, and are about to be, published.

 

All-American Story will also be doing LIVE performances across the country. Our Live performances launched in Los Angeles on April 26 at The Wende Museum. I trust many more of these amazing young people will be published by AAS.  

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Only this: The immigration raids have traumatized so many of the young people we work with, and their strength, their ability to continue to go to school despite their terror and sorrow and losses mounting is astonishing. I hope everyone will buy these books and if they love something they read, send a letter to the writer c/o publisher@outofthewoodspress.com.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Amy Friedman.