Tuesday, April 4, 2017 The Basement 21 Center Street (Down the drive, in back of building, next to the Northampton Police Department) Northampton, MA
7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Featured Reader: Jacqueline Sheehan
Jacqueline Sheehan, Ph.D., is a New York Times Bestselling author. She is also a psychologist. A New Englander through and through, she spent twenty years living far from home in Oregon, California, and New Mexico doing a variety of things, including house painting, photography, freelance journalism, clerking in a health food store, and directing a traveling troupe of high school puppeteers.
Her novels include: The Comet’s Tale, a novel about Sojourner Truth, Lost & Found, Now & Then, Picture This, The Center of the World, and The Tiger in the House. She writes NPR commentaries, travel articles, and essays including the New York Times column, Modern Love. She edited the anthology, Women Writing in Prison.
Jacqueline has been awarded residencies at Hawthornden Castle in Scotland, Jentel Arts Colony in Wyoming, and at Turkey Land Cove on Martha’s Vineyard. She teaches workshops at Grub Street in Boston and leads writing workshops in Jamaica, Guatemala, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland. www.jacquelinesheehan.com
Doors open at 7 - And you are welcome to read. If you'd like to, place your name in the hat up until 7:10. The reading starts at 7:15, and each reader will have five minutes.
Admission is free; participants are encouraged to buy a drink in support of the venue.
Please join us!
Further information: Beth Filson at 404-509-7911
SAVE THE DATE Featured Reader for May 2nd - Ellen Meeropol
EASTHAMPTON BOOKFEST
The Easthampton BookFest was launched in 2015 to highlight the rich literary culture of the Pioneer Valley. This year, the festival will be a citywide event.
Straw Dog Writers Guild will be there – join us!
April 8, 2017
In fact, you are invited to participate in BookFest! YES YOU! If you are a Straw Dog Writers Guild member with books to sell, consider participating at the Straw Dog table during Bookfest at Eastworks in Easthampton.
In exchange for managing the Straw Dog table for an hour or two, a couple of your books can be for sale there all day.
At BookFest, our own Ellen Meeropol will read from her new novel, Kinship of Clover, which author Ann Hood describes as "examining the big topics of our contemporary world and putting a human face on them.”
Her reading will be on April 8, 2017, 1 pm, at White Square Books in Easthampton.
The event is co-sponsored by Straw Dog Writers Guild and Easthampton BookFest.
SAVE THE DATE
"She Did What?
Using the Element of Surprise in Fiction"
Presented by Lisa C. Taylor Saturday, May 13, 2017
10:30 a.m. Click Workspace
9-1/2 Market Street
Northampton
Tension is everything to a story. When characters go through predictable paces, readers lose interest quickly. Join Lisa C. Taylor for an immersive journey into using the element of surprise so that it not only works, it transports your story. Keep your reader with you for the whole bumpy ride. Be prepared to write, listen, and ask questions. Her workshops are interactive and hands on. You will leave with new ways to take risks with your fiction.
Lisa C. Taylor’s debut collection of short fiction, Growing a New Tail, was released in November 2015 (Arlen House/Syracuse University Press). She’s the author of four collections of poetry including Necessary Silence (2013) and The Other Side of Longing (2011), written in collaboration with Irish writer Geraldine Mills. Lisa’s honors include the 2015 Hugo House New Works Award for short fiction, a Spotlight feature in January 2015 for the Associated Writing Programs, an L.L.Winship PEN New England nomination, and Pushcart nominations in both fiction and poetry. Her poetry, fiction, and book reviews have appeared in numerous literary magazines including Birmingham Poetry Review, Midwest Review, Worcester Review, and WomenArts Quarterly Review. She's been a guest on numerous radio and television shows in New England and Ireland. Lisa has received residencies from Vermont Studio Center and Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Ireland. She holds an MFA from Stonecoast/University of Southern Maine's Writing Program.
STRAW DOG AUTHOR SHOWCASE
An Invitation
We would like to extend an invitation to recent authors to participate in our annual Author Showcase on Wednesday, September 20, 2017 at Forbes Library. If you are a member of Straw Dogs with a book published in the last two years we would like to hear from you.
Please contact Linda Rowland-Buckley at rowbuc1998@gmail.com if you are interested.
Virtual Clubhouse –
The Straw Dog Blog
What Sustains Us?
Two writers told us what they got out of participating in Straw Dog’s first Writers Roundtable held February 11th. The topic was “What sustains you as a writer?”
Jess Martin writes, "How does one dart, weave and unwind words into some semblance of beginning, middle and end? Then revise until proclaiming: “done” or “I surrender” or perhaps “I must get on with my life”… only to return to the blank page to do dance again."
The next Roundtable will be June 10th.
We hope to see you there.
Would you like to write for the Straw Dog Newsletter?
We’re taking submissions for short blog posts. Tell us what you’re reading, share thoughts about the writing life, something new that you’ve learned, or whatever else strikes your fancy. Keep it to 150- 300 words. Your work might appear in the Newsletter and on our website as a blog post. Send it to Laura Stone HERE
Bulletin Board
Workshops / Readings / Craft Presentations
Writing at Patchwork Farm. Patricia Lee Lewis just announced new dates for Weekly Workshops and Weekend Retreats at Patchwork Farm. Weekends are April 22-23, July 15-16 and September 23-24.
Weekly Workshops are Tuesdays starting June 13th and Thursdays starting June 15th. Spaces are filling fast! More here: Weekends or Weekly.
Resources
Manuscript Review by D M Gordon
Want your writing to be the best it can be? Aching to be published? Thinking of an MFA? Why not work with an individual editor first. I’m less expensive than a low residency program, with more focused, extensive attention. I work with post MFA grads towards publication, poetry and prose, as well as writers first seeking to share their work. From query letters to self-publication, we can discuss your immediate goals and how to achieve them. A prize-winning poet and fiction writer, and an experienced, respectful editor in multiple genres, I’d love to talk with you. Visit my website at www.dmgordoneditorial.com for more information, then write to me, Diana Gordon, at dmgordon@comcast.net.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Looking for Resources? Have Services to Offer? We can promote your work too!
Check out our guidelines for submissions for both members and nonmembers. We look forward to connecting with you soon!
Are you seeking a manuscript review group, writing coach, retreat, or proofreader? Find support for your writing here.
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