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January 2021
Writers Read/Hilltowns on Zoom – Featured Reader Ellen Meeropol
Writers Read will meet in the Virtual Hilltowns via Zoom on January 3rd, 2-4 p.m. Featured Reader – Ellen Meeropol Ellen Meeropol is the author of the novels Her Sister’s Tattoo, Kinship of Clover, On Hurricane Island, and House Arrest. Recent essay and short story publications include Solstice, Lilith, Ms. Magazine, Guernica, Lit Hub, The Boston Globe, and The Writers Chronicle. Her work has been honored by the Women’s National Book Association, the Massachusetts Center for the Book, PBS NewsHour, the American Book Fest, and Publishers Weekly. Ellen has an MFA…
Find out more »Writers Night In – Featured Reader Floyd Cheung
OPEN MIC & FEATURED READER Writers Night Out In! Thursday, Jan 5, 2021 @ 7:00pm ONLINE. We’re live and online! Join us Tuesday on Zoom at 7:00 pm for Writers Night In. RSVP wno@strawdogwriters.org to receive the Zoom link to the event. Only those who RSVP will be able to attend. Ten names will be randomly selected. The reading starts at 7:15, and each reader will have five minutes. General donations greatly appreciated for this event at http://www.strawdogwriters.org/fund-drive Please join us! Floyd Cheung is author…
Find out more »How to Speak in Public with Nicole M. Young
Sunday, January 10, 2-4 p.m. on Zoom. Pre-registration required. There is a cap of 15 participants, so sign up early. There is a limited number of attendees (15) and then there will be a waiting list. To Register please send your First and Last Name, and zip code in an email to strawdogreg@gmail.com You will receive a link to attend the workshop or confirmation you are on the waitlist. Want to build up the confidence to share your writing at public readings? Join…
Find out more »Premise, Plot, Poetry: Three Keys to the Novel (Workshop)
Premise, Plot, Poetry: Three Keys to the Novel with Debra Jo Immergut Register in advance for this meeting! After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. An energy-packed premise, a fluid plot, and artful prose: these are three ingredients to a successful work of fiction. In this workshop, we’ll consider work by authors as varied as Otessa Mossfegh, Ian McEwan, Toni Morrison, and John LeCarre. By reading excerpts and dissecting structure and style, we’ll…
Find out more »February 2021
Writers Night Out – Featured Reader Lesléa Newman
OPEN MIC & FEATURED READER Writers Night Out In! Thursday, Feb 2, 2021 @ 7:00pm ONLINE. We’re live and online! Join us Tuesday on Zoom at 7:00 pm for Writers Night In. RSVP wno@strawdogwriters.org to receive the Zoom link to the event. Only those who RSVP will be able to attend. Ten names will be randomly selected. The reading starts at 7:15, and each reader will have five minutes. General donations greatly appreciated for this event at http://www.strawdogwriters.org/fund-drive Please join us! Lesléa Newman has created…
Find out more »Writers Read/Hilltowns on Zoom with Featured Reader Dr. Jane Fleishman
Writers Read will meet in the Virtual Hilltowns via Zoom on Feb 7, 2-4 p.m. Featured Reader – Dr. Jane Fleishman Jane Fleishman, PhD, MEd, MS, AASECT Certified Sexuality Educator, is an award-winning educator, writer, program developer, and sexuality researcher. She co-hosts a regular podcast on sex in the second half of life at www.ourbetterhalf.net and recently completed a TEDx talk, Is It OK for Grandma to Have Sex? She holds a PhD and MEd in Human Sexuality from Widener University,…
Find out more »March 2021
Writers Night Out/In March 2021
Join us for Writers Night In Open Mic! March's featured reader is Sally Bellerose. To Register, email wno@strawdogwriters.org to request the Zoom link. Include your first and last name and zip code. Bio: In her writing, Sally Bellerose (she/her) loves to mess with rhythm, rhyme, and awkward emotion. Bellerose writes about caste, sex, illness, absurdity, and lately, growing old. Her novel Fishwives with Bywater Books comes out this month! This novel features old women behaving badly. Fishwives is also available…
Find out more »Writers Read Hilltowns March 2021
Join us for Writers Read / Hilltowns! On Sunday, March 7th from 2-4pm our featured reader is Stephanie Shafran. To attend, email Jane Roy Brown at brownjaneroy@gmail.com for a link to the meeting. You can sign up for Zoom video conferencing for free HERE. Bio: Stephanie Shafran lives in Western MA. Her poetry and prose have appeared in anthologies such as Straw Dog’s Compass Roads and Ophelia’s Mom, edited by Nina Shandler. And in journals such as Earth’s Daughters, Whirlwind…
Find out more »Jump-Start a Story: A Sisters in Crime Workshop
The Surrealists used to pool their money and buy a one-way ticket to the furthest destination they could afford. They'd send one person off on an adventure and they'd have to make their way back somehow, and tell the others all about it when they returned. Along the way, they’d collect talismans that helped them navigate the dark places they encountered. In this workshop, we'll be sending each of you off on an adventure and when you get back, you'll…
Find out more »April 2021
Writers Night In: April 2021
Join us for Writers Night In Open Mic on Tuesday, April 6, 7:00pm. To Register, email wno@strawdogwriters.org to request the Zoom link. Include your first and last name and zip code. Our featured writer is Sharon Tracey. Bio: Sharon Tracey is a poet and editor and author of two full-length poetry collections: Chroma: Five Centuries of Women Artists (Shanti Arts Publishing, 2020) and What I Remember Most is Everything (All Caps Publishing, 2017). In her newest book, Chroma, she takes…
Find out more »How To Injure Your Characters
Dr. David Page will cover how, when, what, where in a story to place a trauma scene, as well as how to construct the scene with appropriate details. Specifics of head and neck, chest, abdomen and extremity injuries will be briefly covered. Also, the U.S. trauma system will be described to permit the writer to accurately determine what level of care is available and warranted, as well as the health care personnel who participate. Register in advance for this meeting…
Find out more »Writers Read Hilltowns, April 2021
Join us for Writers Read / Hilltowns! On Sunday, April 11 from 2-4 pm our featured reader is Ann Averill. To attend, email Jane Roy Brown at brownjaneroy@gmail.com for a link to the meeting. Bio: Ann C. Averill is the author of Teacher Dropout, Finding Grace in an Unjust School based on her true story of teaching in an urban school. Excerpts appeared in a Writer’s Digest's best of short short stories collection. Her flash memoir has appeared in WriteAngles Journal…
Find out more »Black Writers Read with Shannon Luders-Manuel
RESCHEDULED: Saturday, April 17, 6:00pm Please join us for the next episode of Black Writers Read featuring memoirist and essayist, Shannon Luders-Manuel. Shannon will read from her essay, "Rediscovering My Father", which was published in the New York Times. Shannon will also share insight into her memoir and her other work. Go to the Valley Society Facebook event to participate. Bio: Shannon Luders-Manuel is a West Coast writer, editor, and sensitivity reader. She received her master's in English literature from…
Find out more »May 2021
Writers Read / Hilltowns, May 2021
Join us for Writers Read / Hilltowns! On Sunday, May 2 from 2-4 pm our featured reader is Suzanne Rancourt. To attend, email Jane Roy Brown at brownjaneroy@gmail.com for a link to the meeting. Bio: Sundress Best of the Net Nominee, Suzanne S. Rancourt, is of Abenaki/Huron descent. Author of Billboard in the Clouds, Northwestern UP, received the Native Writers’ Circle of the Americas First Book Award, and murmurs at the gate, Unsolicited Press, released in 2019. Old Stones, New Roads,…
Find out more »Writers Night In May 2021
Join us for Writers Night In Open Mic on Tuesday, May 4, 7:00pm. Registration required. Register HERE. Our featured writer is Celia Jeffries. Celia Jeffries is a writer, editor, and teacher whose work has appeared in numerous newspapers and literary magazines including Westview, Solstice Literary Magazine, and Puerto del Sol, as well as the anthology Beyond the Yellow Wallpaper. She has received grants from Turkey Land Cove Foundation, The Massachusetts Cultural Council, and La Muse. Jeffries holds an MA from…
Find out more »Voices for Resistance
Straw Dog Writers Guild presents Voices for Resistance on Wednesday, May 19 at 7:00pm. Featured writers reading include: Amina Jordan-Mendez, Andrea Hairston, Andrea Lawlor, Charles Coe, Desmond Peeples, and Shanta Lee Gander. This event is sponsored by SDWG Social Justice Committee and Forbes Library. Register through co-sponsor Forbes library at: forbeslibrary.libcal.com/event/7501886
Find out more »Writing About Politics and Current Events: Opportunities and Obstacles
Politics often seems like a faraway, abstract subject that has little to do with our everyday lives. Current events have always been complex and difficult but, in recent years, seem even more divisive and frustrating than ever. So how can we write about important issues in ways that won’t drive us apart? This workshop will focus on writing that bridges the gaps between our personal values and the larger world in ways that empower our voices as agents for connection…
Find out more »June 2021
Writers Night Out/In June
Join us for Writers Night In Open Mic on Tuesday, June 1, 7:00pm. Registration required. Click HERE to register. Our featured writer is Shanta Lee Gander. Bio: Shanta Lee Gander’s work has been featured in many publications and is the 2020 recipient of the Arthur Williams Award for Meritorious Service to the Arts and 2020 and named as Diode Editions full-length book contest winner for her debut poetry compilation, GHETTOCLAUSTROPHOBIA: Dreamin of Mama While Trying to Speak in Woke Tongues…
Find out more »Writers Read / Hilltowns June
Join us for Writers Read / Hilltowns! On Sunday, June 6 from 2-4 pm our featured reader is Howie Faerstein. To attend, email Jane Roy Brown at brownjaneroy@gmail.com for a link to the meeting. Bio: Howie Faerstein is the author of two chapbooks: Play a Song on the Drums, he said and Out of Order (Main Street Rag) and two full-length collections: Dreaming of the Rain in Brooklynand Googootz and Other Poems, both published by Press 53. His poetry and…
Find out more »Poetry Ritual 2021
On the three-year anniversary of the Poetry Critique Meet-up, co-sponsored by Straw Dog Writers and the Northampton Center for the Arts, twenty poets who have participated in the meet-ups this past year will give short readings. Join us for this gala event by writing for the zoom link at poetryritual2021@gmail.com.
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