Tuesday, June 6, 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: Naila Moreira
Naila Moreira is a writer, journalist, and naturalist whose work often focuses on the natural world. Her 2014 poetry chapbook Gorgeous Infidelities was published as an art book in collaboration with photographer Paul Ickovic. Her latest chapbook, Water Street, was published by Finishing Line Press. Set in an old converted farmhouse apartment by the Mill River, it explores the conflict between freedom and domesticity, reflected in the natural world. She has written for the Boston Globe, Seattle Times, and Science News. Her writing has appeared in literary magazines including The Cape Rock, Pirene’sFountain and the Naugatuck River Review. She contributes a monthly environment column to the Daily Hampshire Gazette. She teaches at Smith College with a focus on science and nature writing, and holds a doctorate in geology. She is the Writer in Residence at Forbes Library.
Doors open at 7 - with an open mike. If you'd like a chance to read, place your name in the hat up until 7:10. Ten names will be randomly selected. 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
Attention: Writers Night Out is cancelled for the July 4th Holiday.
SAVE THE DATE Featured Reader for August 8th - Gail Thomas
Look who we've seen at
Writers Night Out
Writers Roundtable:
Setting Your Summer Writing Goals
Join us for an informal discussion and brainstorming session, no matter what the genre. Share your ideas and strategies while deepening or making new connections with other writers.
The Scholarship Committee at Frontier Regional School selected Emily Dean as the recipient of the Straw Dog Writers Guild Scholarship. Emily intends to double major in Journalism and Political Science with aspirations of becoming a political journalist. In addition to her career choice and her academic success, she had strong recommendations. One of her teacher recommendations said that she was "an equal in the classroom" and went on to explain that "she takes responsibility for her own learning, making it her choice to learn, not the teacher's job to teach her."
Congratulations Emily!
Virtual Clubhouse –
The Straw Dog Blog
WE ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE a new benefit for our members—
the Straw Dog Writers Guild
Writing Residencies at Patchwork Farm Retreat.
A Straw Dog Writing Residency will include 6 days, 5 nights, Sunday at 3:00 pm through Friday noon, in one of the lovely, unique places at Patchwork Farm Retreat in Westhampton MA.
Residencies will be self-guided and residents will provide their own meals, with access to cooking facilities. Cost of accommodations will be covered by a grant from a generous Straw Dog member.
To apply for a residency, you must reside in one of the four western counties of Massachusetts (Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin & Berkshire), be a dues-paying member of Straw Dog Writers Guild (you may join at time of application for residency), and be working on a substantial writing project.
a brief description (no more than two paragraphs) of your writing project in any genre: poetry, fiction, memoir, literary non-fiction, essays, dramatic writing, song writing, journalism, etc.;
writing sample: 3-5 poems or 5-10 pages of prose, double-spaced;
how it would benefit you to receive a full scholarship residency at Patchwork Farm Retreat.
Residencies are awarded on the basis of merit and the extent to which it seems that the person will benefit from the residency.
A small group of Straw Dog members, including the director of Patchwork Farm Retreat, Patricia Lee Lewis, will welcome applications beginning July 1, with residencies to be scheduled beginning September 1st. No more than one residency will be awarded each month.
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
THREE POETS - reading by Molly Peacock, Dale Matthews, and Lesléa Newman. Broadside Bookshop - 247 Main Street, Northampton, MA Wednesday, May 24th, 7:00 p.m.
Three poets will read from their recently published and forthcoming collections. Molly Peacock is the author of the new poetry collection, The Analyst, Dale Matthews is the author of Wait For The Green Fire and is a Smith College Social Work graduate. Lesléa Newman is a past poet laureate of Northampton, MA, and author, most recently of the poetry collection, I Carry My Mother.
An example of Michael Goldman’s farming poetry translations were featured on PBS.org for Earth Day last month. You can read it HERE
Writing at Patchwork Farm
Patricia Lee Lewis will gather writers for Weekly Workshops and Weekend Retreats at Patchwork Farm this summer.
Weekends are 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. Or call Patricia 413 320-1824.
Reading and Book Party for visiting poet, Ina Anderson, author of Journey Into Space
Saturday, May 20, 3 p.m. in the Common House of Pioneer Valley Cohousing, Pulpit Hill Road, Amherst
The Pioneer Valley Co-Housing Writing Group and Quabbin Writer’s Salon are thrilled to welcome Vermont poet Ina Anderson, who will transport her audience through universal experiences of childhood, love, and loss at a reading from her new collection Journey into Space.
Workshop: Building and Marketing Your Book Event June 3rd, 9 am - 3pm, Mount Wachusett Community College
During this one-day workshop, participants will work on revamping and refreshing their book events. Allison Pottern Hoch, former indie bookstore event coordinator, will give you the confidence to create and market events at any venue. Get an insider's look at the key components of creating successful launches, panels, workshops, and more as we build you an individualized event plan. Sponsored by NESCBWI. Registration required. Coffee and lunch included. More information here
Contact Kristine Asselin, New England SCBWI PAL Coordinator for questions or more information: PALARA@nescbwi.org
4-Week Fiction Writing Workshop: The Craft of Connecting with Readers, with Seth Harwood
Meets Tuesdays in June (starting June 6th), 7-9pm in Williamsburg, MA
You know the feeling when a sense of reading falls away and you find yourself immersed in a book’s action, tied to the narrator’s struggle, and watching each scene unfold in your mind’s eye? That’s the kind of prose we’ll be working toward creating in this class. We’ll be looking at how writer and reader connect, as we build the craft elements necessary to pull readers in and to keep them eagerly turning pages. Students will develop work through exercises in the use of dialogue, visual action, and creation of three-dimensional characters in scenes. Open to writers of all levels and genres.
Learn more and register at www.pioneervalleywriters.com
Questions? Email joy@pioneervalleywriters.org
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!
Are you seeking a manuscript review group, writing coach, retreat, or proofreader? Find support for your writing here.
Do you offer these or other professional services for writers? If you are a Straw Dog member, you may list what you are offering—or looking for—in our newsletter and on our website. Please click here for instructions.
Bulletin Board Guidelines Update: Changes as of April 2017- ** members get unlimited entries, and services posted can stay as space permits.
Non-member postings receive 1 free newsletter posting and 6 weeks posted on the bulletin board.
Naila Moreira is a writer, journalist, and naturalist whose work often focuses on the natural world. Her 2014 poetry chapbook Gorgeous Infidelities was published as an art book in collaboration with photographer Paul Ickovic. Her latest chapbook, Water Street, was published by Finishing Line Press. Set in an old converted farmhouse apartment by the Mill River, it explores the conflict between freedom and domesticity, reflected in the natural world. She has written for the Boston Globe, Seattle Times, and Science News. Her writing has appeared in literary magazines including The Cape Rock, Pirene’s Fountain and the Naugatuck River Review. She contributes a monthly environment column to the Daily Hampshire Gazette. She teaches at Smith College with a focus on science and nature writing, and holds a doctorate in geology. She is the Writer in Residence at Forbes Library.
