- Just around the corner -
JULY 29TH
RETREAT WITH US
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 Twice a year, Straw Dog Writers Guild holds a retreat to evaluate our work, plan for the future, and enjoy a potluck lunch to celebrate our community. The next retreat is planned for Saturday, July 29. In addition to our Board, Advisors and Committee members, we invite Straw Dog members who want to become more involved in the organization to join us.
If you are interested in attending, please contact Laura at admin@strawdogwriters.org for more information.
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Tuesday, August 1, 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: Sharon Tracey
 Sharon Tracey is a writer, editor, and author of What I Remember Most Is Everything (ALL CAPS PUBLISHING 2017), her first full-length collection of poetry. In these poems, color melds with words as synesthesia and paintings come alive as we ride across a decade, traveling west to the streets of San Francisco then on to Munich, Moscow and beyond. Art and nature are recurring themes in her work. Her poems have appeared in Naugatuck River Review, Silkworm, The Skinny Poetry Journal and are forthcoming in Canary and Common Ground Review. She has enjoyed a varied career as an environmentalist, policy analyst, program manager, editor and most recently, as a communications director at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She received her Master’s degree from the University of California Berkeley. She is currently working on a series of poems inspired by women artists of the past five centuries.
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 wno@strawdogwriters.org
SAVE THE DATE
Featured Reader for September 5th - Ed Orzechowski
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Invitation to our Annual Meeting featuring
a Roundtable Discussion - Sept. 9th
We have a very short annual meeting every fall. This year, we invite all members and interested writers to join us for the meeting, followed by a Roundtable Discussion. We want to hear your thoughts about how Straw Dog Writers Guild is doing, and what you would like to see in the future. We will be holding this meeting at The Lilly Library in Florence on Saturday, Sept. 9th from 10:30 - Noon.
We look forward to seeing many of you there!
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APPLICATIONS NOW BEING ACCEPTED FOR
A new benefit for our members
(Please join to take advantage of this amazing opportunity)
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. If you’re unsure about whether your membership is up to date, be in touch with Becky Jones at emacjones@aol.com
Application by email to Straw Dog Writers Guild, (jac.sheehan@comcast.net), to include:
- 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.;
- A writing sample: 3-5 poems or 5-10 pages of prose, double-spaced;
- A statement of 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.
http://www.strawdogwriters.org/writing-residencies
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Writers Read @ Elmer's - AUGUST 6th, 2017!
Straw Dog Member Jane Roy Brown & Nan Parati, owner of Elmer's Store in Ashfield, are launching a new offering for writers & lovers of literature!
Writers Read @ Elmer's
1st Sunday of each month, 3 - 5 p.m.
Elmer's Store, 396 Main St., Ashfield
Come join us this August 6th, 2017!
Bring Your Poetry! Bring Your Prose! Find Your Public! Uplift Our Souls!
Here's how it works: A featured writer reads recent work and describes the journey to publication, followed by Q & A. Then the floor opens to other writers. If you want to read, put your name in the hat before 3:15. (Hint: you get three minutes.)
Co-sponsored by Straw Dog Writers Guild and Elmer's Store.
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STRAW DOG WRITERS GUILD
AUTHOR SHOWCASE
We are pleased to announce the 10 Members, who will be reading their newly published material at The Straw Dog Writers Guild’s Fourth Annual Authors Showcase, which will be hosted by the Forbes Library, on Wednesday, September 27 at 7 p.m.
This year we have, Dick Bentley, Michael Goldman, Tzivia Gover, Richard Wayne Horton, Jan Maher, Ellen Meeropol, Lesléa Newman, Elaine Reardon, Jacqueline Sheehan & Gail Thomas.
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Save the Date ~ November 12, 2017
Straw Dog Writers Guild is pleased to announce the Abel Meeropol Social Justice Writing Award, to be awarded to a poet of national stature whose work illuminates justice, injustice, and resistance.
At the event, to be held on November 12, 2017 at Gateway City Arts in Holyoke, the honoree (who will be announced in September) will read from original work and discuss writing as resistance.
Abel Meeropol (1903-1986) was a Jewish poet, playwright, and composer. Under the pen name Louis Allan, he wrote the words and music of “Strange Fruit,” the anti-lynching song which was named the most important song of the twentieth century by Time Magazine, and made famous by Billie Holiday. Abel also wrote the words for “The House I Live In,” which won an Academy Award in 1945, and the libretto for the opera “The Good Soldier Schweik,” based on the Czech anti-war novel by Jaroslav Hasek. Abel’s poems, songs, and plays explore themes of racial and economic injustice, as well as war and peace. He and his wife Anne adopted the sons of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg after their execution. In memory of Abel and his work to change the world through literature, his family has funded the award from royalties from "Strange Fruit."
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**The Abel Meeropol Social Justice Writing Award event is going to take a lot of work. If you are interested in volunteering for this program, please contact Laura Stone at admin@strawdogwriters.org
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Sneak Peek of upcoming opportunities:
October 14th, 2017-
Tom Clark (Tommy Twilite) Workshop
& enrolling in 30 Poems in November.
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Virtual Clubhouse –
The Straw Dog Blog
Laura Stone keeps her eyes and heart open while walking and finds poetry along the way.
Recently I have been trying to take my phone with me on my daily walks with my dog, in case we see something beautiful, interesting, or inspiring.
My phone has a better camera than any camera I had when growing up, and I have become somewhat attached to capturing wildflowers and then writing a poem about the flower. I also look up the flower online, which sometimes takes a while (since searching for a pink puffy flower or a small daisy brings up a lot of choices, haha), and I try and learn a bit about each one.
So without further ado, I hope you enjoy these images and words.
Early in the morning
the ancient sons appear
whiskers gray
stretching toward the day-star
caressing the cerulean welkin of hope.
to read more ---Straw Dog Blog
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Bulletin Board
Workshops / Readings / Craft Presentations
Jacqueline Sheehan TODAY
 New York Times Best Selling Author, Jacqueline Sheehan, will discuss her new book, The Tiger in the House Tuesday, July 15, 11 am, at Whately Library, 202 Chestnut Plain Road.
Burned out by the frustrations of her much-loved child services job, Delia Lamont is about to leave when a five-year old girl, survivor of a triple homicide, is found on a dirt road in South Portland, Maine. Love, resentment, fear and hope intersect as Delia is compelled to help this abandoned child even as she faces her own difficult past. The social plague of our time, the opioid epidemic, weaves its way throughout this compelling, heartfelt page-turner.
A book signing will follow with books available for purchase. Jacqueline Sheehan is the bestselling author of five other novels: The Comet’s Tale, Lost & Found, Now & Then, Picture This, and The Center of the World.
Radio Appearance
You can hear an interesting interview with Naila Moreira HERE.
She will be reading at Writers Night Out in October.
Writing at Patchwork Farm
 Patricia Lee Lewis will gather writers for Weekly Workshops and a Weekend Retreat at Patchwork Farm this fall.
Weekend Retreat September 23-24
Weekly Workshops
Tuesdays September 12 - November 7
and Thursdays September 14 - November 9
Fall is already filling!
More here: Weekends or Weekly. Or call Patricia 413 320-1824.
Manuscript Intensive Series
Writers in Progress is currently accepting applications for 2017/18
 The Manuscript Series is a rigorous and inspiring year-long program for writers who want to finish book-length manuscripts. The group includes seven manuscript deadlines, five intensive weekend workshops, two 'online workshops, regular handouts, craft tips, check-ins and studio time, as well as individual conferences with facilitator, Dori Ostermiller. Writers in the group may be working on novels, short story collections, memoirs or essay collections. The group begins in early October of 2017. This group provides the structure, support, inspiration and constructive editorial feedback to guide writers in completing a book-length manuscript.
Applications accepted through August 1st.
For more information, see our website
Flash Fiction Workshop
When: Saturday, August 19 (1-4pm)
Where: Williamsburg, MA
Instructor: Joy Baglio
Cost: $30
Flash fiction is any fictional work of extreme brevity (usually under 1,000 words) in which every detail, image, sentence, and word work to strengthen the whole. Writing flash regularly is an effective exercise in self-editing, as it teaches much about the power of stripping writing down to the barest essentials.
More Info: www.pioneervalleywriters.org/writing-classes
One-Day Creative Nonfiction Workshop: Starting Your Memoir
When: Saturday, August 19 (10am-12pm)
Where: Williamsburg, MA
Instructor: Lynn Magovern
Cost: $30
Memoir satisfies our innate curiosity, allowing us to peer into someone else’s unique world. Writing a memoir, however, taps into something deeper: the desire to be heard and understood. One reason the memoir form is so popular is that it offers a creative outlet for this desire, giving us a compelling, artful way to share our stories with others while also helping us define who we are. Open to writers of all levels. Contact: lynn@lmwritingcoach.com
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.
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Straw Dog Writers Guild is a volunteer 501(c)3 organization, committed to paying writers for their presentations. Your tax-deductible memberships and donations help support them.
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