Cambridge Common Writers

Getting the Words Right: A Look Inside the Writer's Life -- Featuring EA Luetkemeyer
2022-01-28 20:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Host and author Ginna BB Gordon will lead a lively and probing conversation about the writing process and what it takes to be an author. Her guests are psychologist and poet Frank De Luca and fiction author EA Luetkemeyer (May 2015).

These three local authors will discuss their writing process via the WHO, WHAT, HOW, WHEN, WHERE and WHY Questions.

“Each of us has a story within the story – how we do what we’re doing, with whom, why we do it,” Ginna says. “These are some of the topics we explore.”

There will be plenty of time for questions from viewers.

Writing to Astound, with Michael Mercurio
2022-02-05 09:30 - 12:30 (America/New_York) | Online Event
All writers, no matter how accomplished, feel the pressure of finding the right words to invigorate their prose and bring their stories to life. The right word choice and arrangement can surprise and astonish readers, or entice editors and agents to keep reading well after the first page. Think of the power that wordplay, (rhyme, alliteration, lyricism, connotation) holds for you as a reader when you are transported by an author! Join poet (and self-described etymological obsessive) Michael Mercurio (Poetry, January 2017) for this three-hour workshop, and you’ll come away with the tools to punch up your writing, astound your readers, and make your work truly stand out. The workshop includes a brief history lesson on the peculiarities of the English language, an opportunity to discuss some tried-and-true strategies for using words as springboards for inspiration, and plenty of time to explore the power of language.

Robbie Gamble Book Launch "A Can of Pinto Beans"
2022-02-06 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Online Event
Robbie Gamble (Poetry/Nonfiction; January 2017/June 2020) reads from “A Can of Pinto Beans” -poetry recounting his work with “No More Deaths”

Julie Wittes-Schlack in conversation with Pamela Petro on Julie's new novel, Burning and Dodging
2022-02-10 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | The Odyssey Bookshop, 9 College St, South Hadley, Massachusetts, 01075, United States
Join Odyssey Bookshop both in person and online on Thursday, February 10 at 7 PM for a reading and discussion of Julie Wittes-Schlack’s (Nonfiction, June 2013) new novel, Burning and Dodging. She will be joined in conversation by Pamela Petro (Nonfiction, MFA Writing Faculty), author of the memoir, The Long Field – Wales and the Presence of Absence.

Julie Wittes Schlack is the author of a memoir in essays, This All-at-Onceness, named one of Kirkus Review’s 100 Best Indie Books of 2019, and of the novel Burning and Dodging. She writes and teaches both fiction and creative nonfiction and has an MFA from Lesley University. Her essays and stories have appeared in numerous literary journals, including Shenandoah, The Writer’s Chronicle, Ninth Letter, Eleven Eleven, and The Tampa Review. She reviews books for The ARTery and is a regular contributor to NPR station WBUR’s journal of ideas and opinions, Cognoscenti.

Pamela Petro is an artist, writer, and educator. She’s the author of four books of literary nonfiction, an artist’s book, and a graphic script, and has widely exhibited her photography. She teaches creative writing on Lesley University’s MFA Program and at Smith College, and is Director of the Dylan Thomas Summer School in Creative Writing at the University of Wales, Trinity St David, where she is also a Fellow. Pamela’s latest book, The Long Field – Wales and the Presence of Absence, A Memoir, was published by Little Toller Books in September, 2021 and chosen by The Telegraph and The Financial Times of London as one of the Year’s Best Travel Books.

This event will be both in person and streamed on Odyssey’s Facebook page.

What The Universe Is: Gustavo Hernandez and Steven Cramer￼
2022-02-10 19:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
What The Universe Is: A Reading Series featuring two fantastic poets in a continent-spanning event:

Gustavo Hernandez is the author of the poetry collection Flower Grand First (Moon Tide Press). Gustavo holds a degree in creative writing from California State University Long Beach, and his poems have been published in Reed, Acentos Review, Sonora Review and other publications. He was born in Jalisco, Mexico and lives in Southern California. You can visit him here.

Steven Cramer’s (Poetry, MFA Writing Faculty) sixth poetry collection, Listen, published in 2020 by MadHat Press, was named a “must read” by the Massachusetts Center for the Book. His previous books of poetry are The Eye that Desires to Look Upward (Galileo Press, 1987), The World Book (Copper Beech Press, 1992), Dialogue for the Left and Right Hand (Lumen Editions/Brookline Books, 1997), Goodbye to the Orchard (Sarabande Books, 2004)—winner of the 2005 Sheila Motton Prize from the New England Poetry Club and named a 2005 Honor Book in Poetry by the Massachusetts Center for the Book—and Clangings (Sarabande Books, 2012). His poems and reviews have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Field, Kenyon Review, The Nation, The New Republic, The Paris Review, Ploughshares, Poetry, and other journals. His work is represented in anthologies such as The Autumn House Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry (Autumn House Press, 2005 and 2011), The Book of Villanelles (Knopf Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets Series, 2012), and The POETRY Anthology, 1912–2002 (Ivan R. Dee, 2002). He has also written essays for Simply Lasting: Writers on Jane Kenyon (Graywolf Press, 2005); Touchstones: American Poets on a Favorite Poem (Middlebury College Press, 1996); and Until Everything Is Continuous Again: American Poets on the Recent Work of W. S. Merwin (WordFarm, 2012). Recipient of two grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, he has taught literature and writing at Bennington College, Boston University, M.I.T., and Tufts University; and he founded and now teaches in the Low-Residency MFA Program in Creative Writing at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Find him online at stevencramer.com.

VIRTUAL: Tell-All: Rejected by Modern Love -- Featuring Deborah Sosin
2022-02-15 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
We’ve all read the popular New York Times Modern Love column. What you might not know is that the Times receives thousands of submissions for the 50 essays it publishes each year, making it one of the most sought-after spots for both aspiring and established writers. Join GrubStreet and Belmont Books for an evening of rejected Modern Love essays. Five writers will share the work they poured their hearts into. They’ll share stories of love, loss, and the murky zone in-between. The event will be moderated by Lorena Hernández Leonard.

Readers:

Deborah Sosin (Nonfiction, January 2015)Catherine O’NeillAnri WheelerBritni de la Cretaz

And special guest, Alysia AbbottA virtual event brought to you by the alumni of the GrubStreet Memoir Incubator and co-sponsored by GrubStreet and Belmont Books.

P&P Live! Axie Oh—The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea -- In Conversation with Elizabeth Lim
2022-02-22 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Online Event
Deadly storms have ravaged Mina’s homeland for generations. Floods sweep away entire villages, while bloody wars are waged over the few remaining resources. Her people believe the Sea God, once their protector, now curses them with death and despair. In an attempt to appease him, each year a beautiful maiden is thrown into the sea to serve as the Sea God’s bride, in the hopes that one day the “true bride” will be chosen and end the suffering.

Mina didn’t plan to sacrifice herself to the Sea God but does so to save her brother and his beloved. Rather than drowning, Mina is swept away to the Spirit Realm, a magical city of lesser gods and mythical beasts. A human cannot live long in the land of the spirits, but with the help of a mysterious young man named Shin—as well as a motley crew of demons, gods and spirits—she must seek out the Sea God and wake him to bring an end to the killer storms once and for all.

Axie Oh (WFYP, June 2017) is a first-generation Korean American, born in New York City and raised in New Jersey. She studied Korean history and creative writing as an undergrad at the University of California San Diego and holds an MFA in Writing for Young People from Lesley University. She is the author of XOXO, Rebel Soul, and Rogue Heart.

Elizabeth Lim is the bestselling author of Spin the Dawn, Unravel the Dusk, and Six Crimson Cranes. Before becoming an author, Elizabeth was a professional film and video game composer, and she still tends to come up with her best book ideas when writing near a piano.

An Ordinary Wonder – hoopla Live Event with Author Buki Papillon and Narrator Adjoa Andoh
2022-02-24 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Online Event
Join hoopla and publisher OrangeSky Audio for a live event with the author, Buki Papillon, and narrator, Adjoa Andoh, of An Ordinary Wonder.

A Very Special Storytime with Andrea Wang at Aspen Grove
2022-02-26 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Denver) | Tattered Cover Book Store, 7301 South Santa Fe Drive, Littleton, Colorado, 80120, United States
Tattered Cover welcomes Andrea Wang (WFYP, June 2011) at their Aspen Grove location on February 26th at 2pm MT. She will be reading from her Caldecott Award-winning picture book Watercress. This is a free event, no registration required.

About the Book:

Driving through Ohio in an old Pontiac, a young girl’s parents stop suddenly when they spot watercress growing wild in a ditch by the side of the road. Grabbing an old paper bag and some rusty scissors, the whole family wades into the muck to collect as much of the muddy, snail covered watercress as they can.At first, she’s embarrassed. Why can’t her family get food from the grocery store? But when her mother shares a story of her family’s time in China, the girl learns to appreciate the fresh food they foraged. Together, they make a new memory of watercress.Andrea Wang tells a moving autobiographical story of a child of immigrants discovering and connecting with her heritage, illustrated by award winning author and artist Jason Chin, working in an entirely new style, inspired by Chinese painting techniques. An author’s note in the back shares Andrea’s childhood experience with her parents.

About the Author:

Andrea Wang is the award-winning author of The Nian Monster and Magic Ramen: The Story of Momofuku Ando. She was inspired to write Watercress by her experience growing up in rural Ohio as a child of Chinese immigrants. Andrea holds an M.S. in Environmental Science and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing for Young People. She lives in Colorado with her family.

The King's English Bookshop presents Sara Zarr in Conversation with Corey Ann Haydu
2022-03-01 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Denver) | Online Event
TKE proudly welcomes acclaimed author Sara Zarr (WFYP, MFA Writing Faculty) for a discussion of and reading from her new middle reader novel, A Song Called Home. Zarr will be in conversation with fellow YA author, Corey Ann Haydu.

This free, virtual event will take place on Crowdcast and you must register here to participate.

About the book:

From award-winning author Sara Zarr comes a story of the small moments that show us who we are, and how family is not just something you’re part of, but something you make.

Lou and her family don’t have much, but for Lou it’s enough. Mom. Her sister, Casey. Their apartment in the city. Her best friend, Beth. It would be better if Dad could stop drinking and be there for her and Casey, and if they didn’t have to worry about money all the time. But Lou doesn’t need better—she only needs enough.

What’s enough for Lou, however, is not enough for Mom. Steve, Mom’s boyfriend, isn’t a bad guy, he’s just…not what Lou is used to. And now, he and Mom are getting married, and that means moving. Packing up life as they’ve known it and storing it in Steve’s garage. Lou will be separated from everything in her small but predictable life, farther from Dad than ever.

Their last night in the city, Lou receives a mysterious birthday gift: A guitar, left for her by their front door. There’s nothing saying who left it, but it must be from Dad. And as she leaves the only place she’s ever known, she starts to believe that if she can learn how to play it, maybe she can bring a piece of him, and of her old life, home.

Harbor Editions Authors -- A SMOL Fair Reading with July Westhale and others
2022-03-20 20:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Facebook Live
Multiple Harbor Editions authors gather for this virtual reading event:

July Westhale (Poetry, June 2013)Jennifer Colella MartelliLeah Claire KaminskiArden LevineDustin BrookshireCynthia AtkinsKristin LaFollette-SamsonJoan Kwon GlassDarren C. DemareeKimberly Ann PriestSarah Freligh

Andrea Wang & Jason Chin | Watercress at Blue Willow Bookshop
2022-03-22 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Guatemala) | Online Zoom Event
Award-winning creators Andrea Wang (WFYP, June 2011) and Jason Chin will appear with Blue Willow Bookshop to celebrate Watercress, their book which was awarded a Newbery Honor medal and the Caldecott medal this year.

Blue Willow Bookshop expects all participants to maintain an atmosphere of respect and fairness. Any comments or questions that violate this standard of behavior including any form of harassment, may, at the discretion of the organizers, be immediately removed.

About the Creators:

ANDREA WANG is the award- winning author of The Nian Monster and Magic Ramen: The Story of Momofuku Ando. She was inspired to write Watercress by her experience growing up in rural Ohio as a child of Chinese immigrants. Andrea holds an M.S. in Environmental Science and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing for Young People. She lives in Colorado with her family. Instagram: @andreawhywang Twitter @andreaywang

JASON CHIN is a celebrated author and illustrator of children’s books. His book Grand Canyon was awarded a Caldecott Honor, a Sibert Honor, and the NCTE Orbis Pictus Award. His other acclaimed nonfiction titles— Redwoods, Coral Reefs, Island: A Story of the Galápagos, Gravity, and Your Place in the Universe—have received numerous starred reviews and other accolades. He is also the illustrator of Stephanie Parsley Ledyard’s debut title Pie Is for Sharing and Miranda Paul’s Water Is Water and Nine Months: Before a Baby Is Born, the latter, a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book. He lives in Vermont with his wife and children. Instagram & Twitter @authorjasonchin

Belchertown: The History, The Joy, The Land with Ella Nathanael Alkiewicz
2022-05-21 13:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | Cold Spring Conservation Area, 57 S Main Street, Belchertown, Massachusetts, 01007, United States
“Belchertown: The History, The Joy, The Land” is hosted by Belchertown Justice Collaborative in collaboration with the Belchertown Department of Conservation and Fuss & O’Neill, Inc. This project was made possible by grant funding from the Massachusetts Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program. Join them at the Cold Spring Conservation Area to learn from Labrador Inuk writer, teacher and artist Ella Nathanael Alkiewicz (Nonfiction, June 2018). Bring your own chairs or a picnic blanket and all your friends. Spend the afternoon learning about the history of the town, the importance of community conservation and enjoying the outdoors!

Break This House Book Launch and Author Chat: Candice Iloh & Asha Grant
2022-05-24 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | The Salt Eaters Bookshop, 302 East Queen Street, Inglewood, California, 90301, United States
The Salt Eaters Bookshop will be hosting National Book Award Finalist and Printz Award Honoree Candice Iloh for the release of their sophomore YA novel, Break This House (Penguin Random House/Dutton Books). Iloh will be joined by The Salt Eaters Bookshop owner, Asha Grant, for a dialogue centering themes from Break This House including Black housing sustainability and justice.

Break This House by Candice Iloh is available in-store at The Salt Eaters Bookshop and online May 24, 2022.

About Candice Iloh: Candice Iloh is a first-generation Nigerian American writer and dancer from the Midwest by way of Washington, D.C. and Brooklyn, New York. They are a proud alumna of the Rhode Island Writers Colony and their work has earned fellowships from Lambda Literary, VONA, Kimbilio Fiction and a residency with Hi-ARTS, where they debuted their first one-person show in 2018. Candice became a 2020 National Book Award Finalist and in 2021, a Printz Award Honoree for their debut novel, Every Body Looking. Break This House is their second novel.

B&N Virtually Presents: Katie Cotugno celebrates BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA!
2022-05-24 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Online Event
Join Barnes & Noble as we welcome New York Times bestselling author, Katie Cotugno (Fiction, June 2015), for a live, virtual discussion of BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA — a sharply sexy and whip-smart romantic comedy where sparks fly and things get real set against the backdrop of a post #metoo Hollywood.

Katie will be in conversation with Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of numerous New York Times bestselling novels such as Daisy Jones and the Six. Her next novel, Carrie Soto Is Back, will be published on 8/30/22.

Beyond AANHPI Heritage Month with Celeste Mohammed
2022-05-24 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Online Event
May is Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month, but true diversity and inclusivity is so much more than a heritage month. Join authors Gayatri Sethi, Celeste Mohammed, and Adiba Jaigirdar as they discuss what AANHPI Heritage Month entails, who it includes and who it excludes, and what lies beyond heritage months.

Adiba Jaigirdar is the critically-acclaimed and bestselling author of The Henna Wars and Hani & Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating. A Bangladeshi/Irish writer and teacher, she has an MA in Postcolonial Studies from the University of Kent, England and a BA in English and History from UCD, Ireland. All of her writing is aided by tea, and a healthy dose of Janelle Monáe and Hayley Kiyoko. When not writing, she is probably ranting about the ills of colonialism, playing video games, or expanding her overflowing lipstick collection. She can be found at adibajaigirdar.com or @adiba_j on Twitter and @dibs_j on Instagram.

Celeste Mohammed (Fiction, June 2016) is a Trinidadian lawyer-turned-writer. Her debut novel-in-stories, Pleasantview, was released in the USA in Spring 2021 and in the UK in Fall 2021. Celeste holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is the recipient of a 2018 PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers. She was also awarded the 2019 Virginia Woolf Award for Short Fiction, and the 2017 John D Gardner Memorial Prize for Fiction.

Gayatri Sethi (PhD) is an educator, writer, and independent consultant. She teaches and writes about Social Justice, Global Studies, and Comparative Education. Born in Tanzania and raised in Botswana, she is of Punjabi descent, multilingual, and polycultural. She reflects on these lifelong experiences of identity, immigration, and belonging in her debut non-fiction book titled Unbelonging. She is also the co-founder of the Desi KidLit community, an initiative to build solidarity among South Asian diaspora writers for young people. When she is not reading or recommending reads on Instagram as @desibookaunty, she is envisioning traveling and gathering in community safely again.

BCLF Support Caribbean Writers Tour - Pleasantview
2022-06-07 08:00 - 2022-06-16 17:00 (America/New_York) | See Event for Details
Join the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival’s Support Caribbean Writers Tour with writer Celeste Mohammed (Fiction, June 2016) celebrating Pleasantview.

Purchase Here

The tour runs June 06 -16 at various venues in Brooklyn and one stop in Washington, DC.

Pleasantview, though set in Trinidad and Tobago, derives its power from its ability to transcend its character’s experiences from one to all of the islands of the Caribbean. It’s witty, raw and shines a light on the lives and experiences of everyday working-class people who are often ignored.

Pleasantview is the Fiction winner of the Caribbean Readers Award 2022; 2022 Winner OCM Bocas Prize 2022 for Caribbean Literature, and shortlisted for The UK Society of Authors MC Kitterick Prize 2022.

About Celeste Mohammed

Celeste has been a lawyer since 2001 but she has been telling stories all her life. This book is a novel-in-stories that has been growing in reach and sweep since its debut in 2021. Celeste’s goal is to dispel all myths about island-life and island-people, and to highlight the points of intersection between Caribbean and North American interests. In particular, she aims to showcase Trinidad’s entrenched political, racial, and class alliances; the generosity (and yet, cruelty) of the average Trini; the sense of optimism (and yet, harsh reality) which permeates everyday interaction; and the musicality and resonance of Caribbean creole (kriol) expression.

The Bronx Book Festival
2022-06-09 08:00 - 2022-06-12 17:00 (America/New_York) | See Website for Details
Join the 5th annual Bronx Book Festival! Thursday, June 9th celebrates the 2nd annual virtual Educator Day; Friday, June 10th is the kickoff with the Bookish in the Bronx party; Saturday, June 11th will be in-person (for the first time in two years) to celebrate books and authors with live programming and giveaways at Fordham Plaza; Sunday, June 12th come hang virtually via Crowdcast for some more dynamic programming featuring some of your favorite authors! The festival was founded and organized by WFYP alum, Saraciea J. Fennell.

CCW June Residency Virtual Reading
2022-06-22 20:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Join us for a virtual reading during the Lesley June Residency week. The reading will feature alums from all genres and will be held over Zoom. Our readers will be:

Fabiola Decius – WSS, June 2015Daniel Carey – Poetry, June 2021Emily Inouye Huey – WFYP, June 2011Jody Hobbs Hesler – Fiction, June 2017Debbie Sosin – Nonfiction, January 2015

Virtual Book Launch: Benjamin Roesch -- Blowin’ My Mind Like a Summer Breeze
2022-07-27 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Join Vermont author Benjamin Roesch (Fiction, January 2016) on Zoom to celebrate the release of his new young adult novel, Blowin’ My Mind Like a Summer Breeze. Registration is free, but book purchases are welcomed and appreciated.

Benjamin Roesch has an MFA from Lesley University and is a writer, musician, podcaster, and award-winning essayist. For twelve glorious, exhausting years, he was a high school English teacher, and is now a full-time writer based in Burlington, VT, where he lives with his family. Oh, and his name is pronounced “Rush,” like the band from Canada.

Jennifer Barber, Steven Cramer and Joyce Peseroff at Grolier Poetry Book Shop
2022-08-17 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Grolier Poetry Book Shop, 6 Plympton Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, United States
Join Jennifer Barber, Steven Cramer (MFA Writing Faculty, Poetry), and Joyce Peseroff for an evening of reading at the Grolier Poetry Book Shop in Harvard Square.

There is an in-person registration and a virtual registration. The store asks guests to provide proof of vaccine at the door, and to wear a mask during the reading.

STEVEN CRAMER is the author of six poetry collections and has published poems and essays in journals such as The Atlantic Monthly, Field, The Kenyon Review, The Nation, The New England Review, The Paris Review, and Poetry. Recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and two fellowships from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, he founded and teaches in the Low-Residency MFA Program in Creative Writing at Lesley University. He writes poems and about poems. If he could write more lucratively, he doesn’t know if he would, but he can’t so he doesn’t. Some of the poems from his latest collection, Listen, out in October 2020 from MadHat Press, are available online through his website.

The Chattanooga Author Showcase - Featuring KB Ballentine
2022-08-25 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Stove Works, 1250 E. 13th St., Chattanooga, Tennessee, 37408, United States
Celebrate the talented local writers in Chattanooga! The Chattanooga Author Showcase will feature nine authors and their published works in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, essay, memoir, short story, young adult, and children’s genres. Along with music, drinks, and tables with their books, the authors will have a reading and answer questions.

Featured Authors:

KB Ballentine (Poetry, June 2007)Earl BraggsEleanor CooperSam ElliottRita Lorraine HubbardAudrey KeownNatalie LloydPaul LuikartDana Shavin

The event is free, but registration is required. Donations are encouraged.

Still The Bayou Cries: A Virtual Reading in Rememberance of Emmett Till
2022-08-28 19:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Sunday, August 28, will be the 67th anniversary of the murder of Emmett Till.

The Faraday Publishing Company, in collaboration with Cherry Castle Publishing, will be holding a reading that night at 7:30pm Eastern.

Come hear poets who were featured in the landmark anthology Where We Stand: Poems of Black Resilience, edited by Enzo Silon Surin, Melanie Henderson, and Truth Thomas as we commemorate the blessed memory of Emmett Till and raise our collective voice to make some noise in honor of him and those who’ve died unjustly since.

Readers will include Teri Cross Davis, Michelle Tokarczyk, Bonita Lee Penn, Lisa Pegram, and Joseph Ross. Make sure this meaningful event is on your calendar!

After Hours: An Evening with Cindy House
2022-09-01 19:30 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Atticus Bookstore Cafe, 1082 Chapel Street, New Haven, Connecticut, 06511, United States
Join Cindy House (Fiction, June 2017) at Atticus Bookstore Café for an evening discussing her memoir Mother Noise.

In-Person Launch Week Event! with Sara Farizan and Karen M. McManus
2022-09-02 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | The Silver Unicorn Bookstore, 12 Spruce Street, Acton, Massachusetts, 01720, United States
Join The Silver Unicorn Bookstore as they host award-winning author Sara Farizan (WFYP, MFA Faculty, January 2012) and her newest release Dead Flip, and New York Times bestselling author Karen M. McManus and her newest release Nothing More to Tell.

Craft Talk: Celeste Mohammed
2022-09-05 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Writers Flock presents a virtual event celebrating the work of Celeste Mohammed (Fiction, June 2016), Trinidadian author of novel-in-stories, Pleasantview, winner of the 2022 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature and the American CLMP Firecracker Award for Fiction in 2022. Join Strange Birds host and Bahamian-born writer Christi Cartwright in an hour-long conversation and readings with Celeste, followed by an audience Q&A. Celeste discusses her writing process, choice to write dialogue in patois and writing against stereotypes.

A trained lawyer, Celeste graduated from Lesley University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, with an MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction). She was born and still lives in Trinidad. Much of her work seeks to dispel myths about island-life and island-people. In Pleasantview, set during election season, Celeste rips through a cacophony of Trinidad’s entrenched political, racial, and class alliances with all the musicality and resonance of Caribbean creole.

This event will take place online via Zoom directly after the Opening Address. Places are limited.

Andrea Wang in conversation with Crystal Chen
2022-09-06 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Join AAPI Communities in Conversation for their next event on Tuesday, September 6, 2022, at 1:00 pm ET with Andrea Wang (WFYP, June 2011), author of The Many Meanings of Meilan in conversation with librarian Crystal Chen, New York Public Library.

Poem Lab, with Michael Mercurio (8-Week Sessions)
2022-09-13 18:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Online Event
Why a Lab and not a Workshop? Because this class is an opportunity to play “mad scientist” with your poems, to experiment in free-writing and to discover your voice through revision. Each of our 8 sessions will start off with a brief reflection on the craft of writing poetry, as well as a poem to serve as inspiration/prompt. Writers will have ample time to generate new work and share it with the group in a conversational and reflective fashion. As appropriate to the interests of the group, we will also leave time for talking about the challenges and rewards particular to the poetry life, including specific craft elements, publishing, and the ever-popular question: How much rhyme is too much rhyme?

Intro to Fiction with David Farrow (6-Week Workshop)
2022-09-14 18:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Ready to get the stories in your head onto paper? If there’s a story you want to tell, but you have no idea where to begin (or you need a refresher), this course is for you. Over six weeks, you will learn the essentials of fiction and put them into practice by starting to write your own short stories. Each week, we will focus on a different aspect of fiction––such as character, dialogue, setting, and more––and explore it through published short stories by authors like Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Mariana Enriquez, Ken Liu, and Ottessa Moshfegh to illuminate that topic and inspire our own writing. We’ll put what we learn into practice through weekly exercises and writing prompts, and in the second half of class, you will have the opportunity to submit a full short story to receive feedback from the instructor and your fellow writers, to help you get a sense of what your strengths are, and how to build on them.

Any and all fiction genres are welcome. By the end of class, you’ll not only be versed in the fundamentals of fiction, but you’ll walk away with at least one story draft and the tools to continue developing it.

Blowin' My Mind Like a Summer Breeze CCW Book Launch with Benjamin Roesch
2022-09-14 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Join Cambridge Common Writers as we celebrate Benjamin Roesch’s debut novel with a reading and conversation with special guests.

Order now!
