Cambridge Common Writers

Lesley MFA Reading Series: Erin Belieu and Jason Reynolds
2023-01-06 17:00 - 18:00 (America/New_York) | University Hall Amphitheater, 99 Brattle St, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, United States
Join the Lesley community for an evening reading by Erin Belieu (MFA Writing Faculty; Poetry) and Jason Reynolds (MFA Writing Faculty; WFYP). The event is free and open to the public, both in-person and via Zoom.

All Lesley Reads: Visiting Writer, Meg Day
2023-01-07 18:30 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | University Hall Amphitheater, 99 Brattle St, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, United States
Join the Lesley MFA community for the All Lesley Reads event with visiting writer, Meg Day. This event is open to the public both in-person and on Zoom.

Meg Day was raised in northern California’s Bay Area. Day holds a B.A. from the University of California, San Diego, an M.F.A. from Mills College, and a Ph.D. in Literature and Creative Writing with an emphasis on Disability Poetics from the University of Utah where Day was a Steffensen-Cannon Fellow, a United States Point Foundation Scholar, and Poetry Editor for Quarterly West. The 2015-2016 recipient of the Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Scholarship and a 2013 recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Poetry, Day has also received awards and fellowships from the Association of Writers & Writing Programs, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, The Amy Clampitt Fund, Lambda Literary Foundation, Hedgebrook, Squaw Valley Writers, the Taft-Nicholson Center for Environmental Humanities, and the International Queer Arts Festival. Day is Assistant Professor of English & Creative Writing in the MFA Program at North Carolina State University.

Crafting Picture Books with Heart with Visiting Writer Anika Aldamuy Denise
2023-01-08 10:30 - 11:30 (America/New_York) | University Hall Amphitheater, 99 Brattle St, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, United States
Join the Lesley MFA community for a panel on Crafting Picture Books with Heart with visiting writer Anika Aldamuy Denise. This panel will be open to the public both on Zoom and in-person.

Anika Aldamuy Denise is the author of ten picture books including the Pura Belpré author honor-winning Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré and A Girl Named Rosita: The Story of Rita Moreno: Actor, Singer, Dancer, Trailblazer!. Raised in Queens, New York, she now lives with her husband and three daughters in Rhode Island. Visit her online at anikadenise.com.

WFYP Panel: What It Means to Write Meaningful Stories
2023-01-08 11:30 - 12:30 (America/New_York) | University Hall Amphitheater, 99 Brattle St, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, United States
Join the Lesley community for a WFYP MFA Writing Faculty panel with Tracey Baptiste, Anika Aldamuy Denise, David Elliott, and Cynthia Platt. Moderated by Mikki Knudsen. This event is open to the public both in-person and on Zoom.

Lesley MFA Reading: Ellen Lewis & John Rozum
2023-01-08 18:30 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | University Hall Amphitheater, 99 Brattle St, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, United States
Join the Lesley MFA community for a reading with Ellen Lewis (MFA Writing Faculty; WSS) and John Rozum (Graphic Novel & Comics). This event is open to the public both in-person and on Zoom.

Lesley MFA Reading: Cynthia Platt & Janet Pocorobba
2023-01-09 18:30 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | University Hall Amphitheater, 99 Brattle St, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, United States
Join the Lesley MFA community for this reading with Cynthia Platt (MFA Writing Faculty & Alum, WFYP) and Janet Pocorobba (MFA Writing Faculty & Alum, Nonfiction). This event is open to the public both in-person and on Zoom.

Lesley MFA Reading: Sara Farizan & Doug Bauer
2023-01-11 18:30 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | University Hall Amphitheater, 99 Brattle St, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, United States
Join the Lesley MFA community for a reading with Sara Farizan (WFYP, January 2012) and the visiting writer sponsered by Cambridge Common Writers, Doug Bauer (Fiction). This event is open to the public both in-person and on Zoom. There will be a reception hosted by CCW following the event.

Lesley MFA: Graduating Student Readings
2023-01-12 18:30 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | University Hall Amphitheater, 99 Brattle St, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, United States
Join the Lesley community for a series of graduating student readings from Sari Boren (WSS), Erin McGinley (WSS), Katie DeBonneville (Nonfiction), Melinda Farris (Fiction), Amy Mevorach (Nonfiction), Kent Neal (Poetry), and Ashley Soden (Fiction). This event is open to the public both in-person and on Zoom.

Lesley MFA Graduating Student Readings
2023-01-13 18:30 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | University Hall Amphitheater, 99 Brattle St, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, United States
Join the Lesley MFA community for a series of graduating student readings from Erin Doppes (WFYP), Jeanne Foley (Nonfiction), Staci Hopkin (Poetry), Adria Karlsson (WFYP), Veronica Reilly-Granich (Fiction), L. Scully (Nonfiction), and Erin Thomas (Fiction). This event is open to the public both in-person and on Zoom.

IAWA-Boston Presents Lisa DeSiro & Diane Josefowicz
2023-01-21 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | I Am Books, 124 Salem Street, Boston, Massachusetts, 02113, United States
The Italian American Writers Associate presents Lisa DeSiro (Poetry, June 2010) and Diane Josefowicz as part of their Boston Literary Series January 2023.

Lisa DeSiro is both a writer and a musician. Her collections include Simple as a Sonnet (Kelsay Books, 2021), Labor (Nixes Mate Books, 2018), and Grief Dreams (White Knuckle Press, 2017). She is a professional accompanist and also does freelance editorial work. Read more about her at thepoetpianist.com.

A novelist, historian, and editor, Diane Josefowicz grew up outside Providence, where she now lives with her family. Ready, Set, Oh is her first novel. Her second, L’Air du Temps (1985) is forthcoming in 2024 from Regal House. She serves as reviews editor at Necessary Fiction, associate fiction editor at West Trade Review, and director of communications for Swing Left Rhode Island, a progressive organization focused on electoral work.

Lily Book Launch: 'Arboretum in a Jar' by Frances Donovan
2023-01-29 17:00 - 18:00 (America/New_York) | Online Event
Join Lily Poetry Review Books as they celebrate Frances Donovan’s ‘Arboretum in a Jar’ with special guest Martha Collins.

Frances Donovan’s (Poetry, June 2019) chapbook Mad Quick Hand of the Seashore was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award. Donovan’s poems have appeared in Lily Poetry Review, Solstice, Heavy Feather Review, SWWIM, and elsewhere. Her interviews of other poets can be found at The Rumpus and on her website. Donovan holds an MFA in poetry from Lesley University and is a certified Poet Educator with Mass Poetry. In 2019, Boston Poet Laureate Porsha Olayiwola selected one of her poems to be displayed at Boston City Hall. Donovan’s work deals with themes of home, family, intergenerational trauma, and sexual and gender identity. She remembers fondly the summer of 1998, when she drove a bulldozer in a Pride parade while wearing a bustier.

Boston.com Book Club Discussion: "A Fractured Infinity" with Nathan Tavares
2023-01-31 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Online Event
Join the virtual discussion with Alex Schaffner of Brookline Booksmith and author of A Fractured Infinity, Nathan Tavares (Fiction, June 2011).

Book Party & Open Mic with Frances Donovan
2023-02-04 11:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Create Art in Community, 11A Corinth St, Roslindale, Massachusetts, 02131, United States
Join Frances Donovan (Poetry, June 2019) to celebrate her first book, Arboretum in a Jar, from Lily Poetry Review. This event is free and open to the public. Refreshments available.

Intro to Memoir - 4 weeks (with Celia Jeffries) - ONLINE
2023-02-07 13:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
We all have memories that stay with us. Somewhere inside them is usually a story. It may be highly subjective, but more often than not, it holds a universal truth. How do you get to that truth? How do you create a story that has energy and depth and speaks to the reader? This workshop will focus not only on WHAT is being written but also on HOW it is written. Through writing exercises, readings, and discussions of both nonfiction and fiction, we will explore techniques to awaken the personal story on the page. While writers will not be submitting work to the group for feedback, there will be lots of opportunities after in-class writing to share with the group for brief, supportive, on-the-spot feedback.

Limited to 10 writers.

WHEN: 4 Weeks: Tuesdays, February 7 – 28 (1 – 3pm EST)

WHERE: Online, via Zoom video conference (live)

Poetry Writing Workshop with L Scully
2023-02-17 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Laconia Gallery, 433 Harrison Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts, 02118, United States
Join L Scully (Nonfiction, January 2023) for a free, generative writing workshop at the Laconia Gallery in Boston.

Writers LIVE! Adrian Matejka with Jason Reynolds
2023-03-02 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Enoch Pratt Free Library, 400 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, Maryland, 21201, United States
Join the Enoch Pratt Free Library for an evening with award-winning authors Adrian Matejka (MFA Writing Faculty, Poetry) and Jason Reynolds (MFA Writing Faculty, WFYP).

You Can't Kill a Poet: March 2023
2023-03-08 19:30 - 22:30 (America/New_York) | Tattooed Mom, 530 South Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19147, United States
You Can’t Kill a Poet returns with queer and trans poets from Philadelphia sharing their work in a free event at Tattooed Mom. The doors will open at 7:30pm and the reading will begin at 8:00pm.

The event is for those 21 and older and is free to attend.

Mask-wearing is welcome. Please sit this one out if you are feeling sick.

Reader’s list TBA.

This reading is offered in partnership with the Free Library of Philadelphia with support from The Pennsylvania Department of Education.

AWP Book Signing - Naomi Mulvihill
2023-03-09 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Seattle Convention Center, 705 Pike St, Seattle, Washington, 98101, United States
Naomi will be signing copies of The Knife Thrower’s Girl at the AWP Conference in Seattle, WA, at the Word Works table T411 on Thursday, March 9, from 2:00-3:00.

AWP Offsite Reading with Naomi Mulvihill
2023-03-10 17:30 - 19:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Crowne Plaza Hotel, 1113 6th Avenue, Seattle, Washington, 98101, United States
Friday night, Naomi Mulvihill (Poetry, 2011) will be reading from The Knife Thrower’s Girl at the Word Works Offsite Reading. It will be from 5:30-7:00 in the Yellowstone Room at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Seattle-Downtown, 1113 6th Avenue, a 10 minute walk from the Convention Center.

The Long Field with Pamela Petro in Conversation with Annie Garthwaite
2023-03-12 15:00 - 16:00 UTC | St Chad’s Church Hall, 1 St Chad's Terrace, Shrewsbury, SY1 1JL, United Kingdom
Celebrate the publication of the paperback of Pamela Petro (MFA Writing Faculty, Nonfiction & Comics & Graphic Novels)‘s memoir, The Long Field. Refreshments will be provided.

Elizabeth Shick, author of The Golden Land, with Michael Lowenthal
2023-03-16 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Porter Square Books, 1815 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02140, United States
Porter Square Books will welcome Elizabeth Shick (Fiction, January 2019), author of The Golden Land, for an event with Michael Lowenthal (MFA Writing Faculty, Fiction)! This event will take place on Thursday, March 16 at 7pm at Porter Square Books (25 White St. Cambridge, MA 02140). RSVP below to let the bookstore know you’re coming and to receive event updates.

Cynthia Platt Storytime and Book Signing
2023-04-01 10:30 - 11:30 (America/New_York) | Charter Books, 8 Broadway, Newport, Rhode Island, 02840, United States
Prolific children’s author Cynthia Platt joins Charter Books for a special Easter storytime and a signing of her new book Easter Starring Egg. Kids of all ages welcome!

Others may get picked first at the Easter egg hunt, but Egg has sparkle on the outside, confidence on the inside, and the patience to wait for his perfect kid. This glittery, rhyming book includes sheets of egg-decorating stickers.The big Easter egg hunt may be a time to hide, but Egg wants to stand out! Bedazzled in glitter, and fancied up for his big rendezvous with the perfect kid, Egg knows deep down in his yolk that a special friendship is about to be hatched with the kid who will see him for him. This perfect Easter basket stuffer features rhyming text, colorful illustrations, a sparkly cover, and egg-decorating stickers.

Cynthia Platt is the author of books for young readers for all ages, ranging from board books to young adult fiction. Her picture books include Easter Starring Egg, Grow, A Little Bit of Love, and Panda-monium. She’s also the author of the young middle grade novel Parker Bell & the Science of Friendship, the YA novel Postcards from Summer, and numerous Curious George books. Cynthia is on faculty at Lesley University’s MFA in Creative Writing program and teach undergraduate liberal arts courses at Montserrat College of Art. You can learn more about her at cynthiaplattbooks.com, or can find her on social media at: Twitter: @cynplatt; Instagram: @cynthiaplattbooks.

IN-PERSON: Poetry Night with DeWitt Henry, Caitlin Krause, and Adam Scheffler
2023-04-03 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Wellesley Books, 82 Central Street, Wellesley, Massachusetts, 02482, United States
April is National Poetry Month and Wellesley Books will be hosting events throughout the month. First up is an evening with poets DeWitt Henry, Caitlin Krause (Poetry, June 2007), and Adam Scheffler.

Caitlin Krause is a virtual reality experience designer teaching about digital well-being at Stanford. She is the author of two nonfiction books, Mindful by Design (2019) and Designing Wonder (2021). Her latest book of poems is Digital Satori (2023). She founded the consultancy MindWise in 2016, and she develops experiences and events in extended reality. She holds a BA from Duke University and an MFA in poetry from Lesley University.

An evening of poetry with Ewa Chrusciel, Robbie Gamble, and Eliot Cardinaux
2023-04-14 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Anchor House of Artists, 518 Pleasant Street, Northampton, Massachusetts, 01002, United States
Robbie Gamble (he/him) received an MFA in Poetry from Lesley University (January 2017). His poems and essays have appeared in the Atlanta Review, Poet Lore, RHINO, Rust + Moth, Salamander, The Sun, and Tahoma Literary Review. His chapbook A Can of Pinto Beans was published by Lily Poetry Review Press in 2022. Robbie was the winner of the 2017 Carve Poetry Prize, and he was a 2019 Robert Taylor fellow at the Kenyon Summer Writers Workshop. His essay “Exit Wound” was cited as a notable essay in Best American Essays 2020. Robbie is the poetry editor for Solstice: A Magazine of Diverse Voices, and he divides his time between Boston and Vermont.

Ewa Chrusciel is a poet, translator, and educator. She has four books of poems in English: Yours, Purple Gallinule (Omnidawn 2022), Of Annunciations (Omnidawn 2017), Contraband of Hoopoe (Omnidawn 2014), Strata (Emergency Press 2009, reprinted by Omnidawn, April 2018), as well as three books in Polish: Tobołek (2016) Sopiłki (2009), and Furkot (2003). Her book Contraband of Hoopoe was translated into Italian by Anna Aresi and came out in Italy with Edizioni Ensemble in May 2019. Her poems have been included in curricula at institutions such as Harvard University, University of Wisconsin, and Salem State University. She is an Associate Professor of Creative and Professional Writing at Colby-Sawyer College.

Eliot Cardinaux is a poet, pianist, & composer working at the intersection of improvised music & experimental lyric poetry. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music from the New England Conservatory, and an MFA in Poetry from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. He is the founder of The Bodily Press, through which he releases poetry chapbooks, CDs, LPs, & various collaborations with other artists, such as Sean Ali, Peter Knapp, Kresten Osgood, Asger Thomsen, & Thomas Morgan. Eliot performs & records along the East Coast & in Europe, most notably & recently in duo with Gary Fieldman, in trio with Will McEvoy & Max Goldman, & with the international ensemble Our Hearts as Thieves. His recent chapbooks include The Margins Weep Slow Roses, Caprice, Narratives of the Strata, Apparitions (with drawings by Sean Ali), & Split World. His most recent albums include Pavane, & Out of Our Systems. His poems have been featured in Talisman, Jacket2, Spectra Poets, Bloodroot, Caliban Online, Café Review, & Hollow. His translations of poems from the French of René Char are forthcoming in Solstice.

Why Some Animals Eat Poop: A Science Lesson with Sara Levine at RJ Julia
2023-04-15 16:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | RJ Julia Independent Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Road, Madison, Connecticut, 06443, United States
Join Sara Levine (Nonfiction/WFYP, January 2006) for a reading of her new picture book, Poop for Breakfast at RJ Julia Independent Booksellers in Madison, Connecticut.

Sara Levine is an author, educator, and veterinarian. Her science books for children include the Animal by Animal series, Germs Up Close, and A Peek at Beaks: Tools Birds Use. Her books have received a number of awards including AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize, Utah Beehive Book Award, Cook Prize finalist, Monarch Award master list, and Bank Street College Best Children’s Book of the Year.

Karin Cecile Davidson Author Event
2023-04-18 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Bexley Library Auditorium, 2411 East Main Street, Bexley, Ohio, 43209, United States
Join the celebration of the release of Karin Cecile Davidson’s (Fiction, June 2009) debut story collection, The Geography of First Kisses, winner of the 2022 Acacia Fiction Prize. Karin will read from her stories and discuss the collection with Michelle Herman, Author and Professor Emerita of English, MFA Program in Creative Writing, The Ohio State University. Available now for pre-order, the collection will be released on April 11th.

Karin Cecile Davidson is the author of the novel Sybelia Drive (Braddock Avenue Books, 2020). Her story collection The Geography of First Kisses was awarded the 2022 Acacia Fiction Prize and is forthcoming from Kallisto Gaia Press in 2023. Her stories have appeared in Five Points, Story, The Massachusetts Review, Colorado Review, Passages North, Post Road, The Los Angeles Review, and elsewhere. Her awards include an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, the Waasmode Short Fiction Prize, the Orlando Prize for Short Fiction, a Peter Taylor Fellowship, and residencies at the Fine Arts Work Center, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and The Studios of Key West. Originally from New Orleans, Louisiana, she now lives in Columbus, Ohio.

The event will be available both in-person and online.

ARGS Poetry Festival -- Featuring Clarissa Adkins
2023-04-22 10:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | Appomattox Regional Governor’s School, 512 West Washington St, Petersburg, Virginia, 23803, United States
Appomattox Regional Governor’s School for the Arts and Technology in Petersburg, Virginia will be hosting a free community poetry celebration for National Poetry Month. The featured poets include:

Clarissa Adkins (Poetry, June 2018)

Roscoe Burnems

Rosa Castellano

Jack Couchman

Dr. Kathleen Decker

Derek Kannemeyer

Joanna Lee + Poets Who Run

B Lovee

Emily Okamoto-Green

David Patteson

Ron Smith

Vernon Wildy, Jr.

Email litarts@args.us with questions.

Fuck Me: A Memoir - Virtual Book Launch
2023-04-29 17:00 - 18:00 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Join author L Scully (Nonfiction, January 2023) for the virtual book launch of their memoir, Fuck Me: A Memoir. Featuring special guests Mayah Monet Lovell and Maggie Von Sacher.

FUCK ME: A Memoir -- Virtual Book Launch
2023-04-29 17:00 - 18:00 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Join L Scully (Nonfiction, January 2023) for the virtual launch of FUCK ME: A Memoir featuring Mayah Monet Lovell and Maggie Von Sacher. The launch will include a virtual celebration and reading.

If you are unable to make the virtual launch and are based in Boston, there are waitlist tickets available for an in-person book release party at the Democracy Center in Harvard Sq with Lucas Restivo here.

Email leighahscully@gmail.com for details.

Katie Cotugno with Karen McManus: Liar's Beach
2023-05-04 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street, Brookline, Massachusetts, 02446-2908, United States
In person at Brookline Booksmith! Celebrate the release of Liar’s Beach with author Katie Cotugno (Fiction, June 2015), in conversation with Karen McManus.

Katie Cotugno (Co-TOOG-no) is the New York Times bestselling author of messy, complicated feminist YA novels including 99 Days, How to Love, Fireworks, Top Ten, 9 Days & 9 Nights, You Say It First, and Liar’s Beach, as well an adult novel, Birds of California. She is also the coauthor, with Candace Bushnell, of Rules for Being a Girl. Her books have been honored by the Junior Library Guild, the Bank Street Children’s Book Committee, and the Kentucky Association of School Librarians, among others, and translated into more than fifteen languages. Katie studied Writing, Literature, and Publishing at Emerson College and received her MFA in Fiction at Lesley University. She lives in Boston with her family. Visit her online at katiecotugno.com.
