New Book and Poetry Open Mic with Vijaya Sundaram and Steven Cramer
2024-04-16 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Robbins Library, 700 Massachusetts Avenue, Arlington, Massachusetts, 02476, United States
April is National Poetry Month! Arlington’s Beehive Poetry Group invites you to the “New Book and Open Mic” series. Featuring readings from recent publications by local poets, followed by an open mic for other poets to share their work. April’s featured poets are Vijaya Sundaram and Steven Cramer (Poetry, MFA Writing Faculty). Introductions by Steven Rapp. Open mic reading slots will be on a first come, first served basis and open 15 minutes before the start of each event.

CCW Open Mic
2024-04-16 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Join Cambridge Common Writers for an Open Mic with members of the Lesley MFA community!

An Evening with Lyz Lenz and Garrett Bucks
2024-04-17 17:30 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | Pageturners Lounge, 5004 Dodge St, Omaha, Nebraska, 68106, United States
Come join Lyz Lenz (Fiction, June 2011) and Garrett Bucks for an event at Pageturners Lounge. Literary Pub Quiz to follow.Lyz is a New York Times bestselling author, whose writing has appeared in The Washington Post, the Columbia Journalism Review, The New York Times, and others. Her book God Land was published in 2019, through Indiana University Press. Her second book Belabored, was published in 2020 by Bold Type Books. Lyz’s essay “All the Angry Women” was also included in the anthology Not that Bad edited by Roxane Gay. Her third book, This American Ex-Wife, published in 2024, was an instant New York Times best seller. She is also the host of the This American Ex-Wife podcast.Garrett Bucks is the founder of The Barnraisers Project, which has trained nearly one thousand participants to organize majority-white communities for racial and social justice. He is also the author of the popular newsletter The White Pages. Originally from Montana, he lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with his wife and two children. The Right Kind of White is his first book.

It’s Your Mug 30th Anniversary Celebration
2024-04-24 08:00 - 2024-04-26 17:00 (America/New_York) | The Kennedy Center, 2700 F St NW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20566, United States
From February 1994 to August 1996, the Tuesday night open mic at It’s Your Mug was a community event that had a lasting impact on Washington’s poetry scene that continues to impact American poetry. Celebrate the event’s 30th anniversary with original host and founder Toni Asante Lightfoot, and a group of Mug regulars including Toni Blackman, Kenny Carroll, Lisa Pegram (Poetry, June 2012), Patrick Washington, Holly Bass, and Twain Dooley with live jazz accompaniment.

This event will be both in-person and livestreamed.

Serabelle Book Launch with Tavi Taylor Black
2024-04-25 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Vashon Bookshop, 17612 Vashon Hwy. SW, Vashon, Washington, 98070, United States
Join Tavi Taylor Black for the book launch of her new historical fiction novel, Serabelle, at the Vashon Bookshop.

Author Event: Jody Hobbs Hesler & BettyJoyce Nash
2024-04-25 18:30 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Bluebird & Co, 5792 Three Notched Road, Crozet, Virginia, 22932, United States
Join Jody Hobbs Hesler (Fiction, June 2017) for a book reading featuring author BettyJoyce Nash.

Jody Hobbs Hesler has written ever since she could hold a pencil and now lives and writes in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Growing up, she split time between suburban Richmond, Virginia, and the mountains outside Winchester, Virginia. Experiences of all these regions flavor her writing. Her debut story collection, What Makes You Think You’re Supposed to Feel Better (Cornerstone Press) is now available, and her debut novel, Without You Here (Flexible Press) is forthcoming September 10, 2024. She teaches at WriterHouse in Charlottesville, Virginia, and serves as assistant fiction editor for The Los Angeles Review.

Light refreshments will be served. RSVP Required.

Zoom Webinar: The Modern Art of War - Hunter Liguore
2024-05-02 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Sun Tzu’s Art of War has been read mostly as a book of war strategies that teaches us how to beat our opponents on the battlefield. The Modern Art of War presents a new interpretation: it isn’t about conquering your enemies, devising strategies to overtake armies, or getting ahead against your competitors. Instead, the real art of war is the fight to control your mind and the thoughts that rule it.

What if Sun Tzu wasn’t a general at all, but a spiritual advisor, and that the Art of War was written not for a king, but for the people?

Join this webinar and share in Hunter Liguore’s (Fiction/WFYP, 2012) insights and guidance to the deeper meaning of the Art of War, from how to understand one’s own nature to strategies for drawing on our own wholehearted will and perceiving the inherent instability in all things.

The book contains over 150 reflection questions that prompt the reader to understand the text and guide them in their self-development journey, from ‘If you can change one idea about yourself to step into a new future, what would it be?’ to ‘Based on Sun Tzu’s teachings, what strategies can you incorporate into your daily activity or practice that would assist you in working through frustration or anger, without being harsh with yourself?’

Learn how to “conquer” or still the mind in order to reveal your own hidden teacher and recognize that the root of conflict (or war) begins within.

Here in Sanctuary–Whirling Book Launch with D. Dina Friedman
2024-05-05 16:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Anchor House of Artists, 518 Pleasant Street, Northampton, Massachusetts, 01002, United States
Join the Jewish Activists for Immigration Justice of Western Massachusetts for a book launch and reading from Here in Sanctuary–Whirling by D. Dina Friedman (Fiction, January 2016), a collection of poems taken from the author’s journey to the Brownsville/Matamoros border and her work in the immigration justice movement.

Limited Engagement! by Erin FM
2024-05-05 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, 949 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts, 02215, United States
Boston Theater Marathon XXVI features 50 ten-minute plays written by New England playwrights and presented by New England theatre companies which donate their time and talent to this annual event. The event will be divided into five blocks (each block $30 advance/$35 day-of-event, no fees), each featuring ten plays and running approximately one hour and 40 minutes.

Patrons who purchase a ticket to any part of the in-person event will also receive a link to the event livestream, so they may continue their BTM experience outside the theatre if they wish.

Limited Engagement! by Erin FM (WSS, January 2023) will be in the 6pm block.

Arrowsmith Press Reading with Steven Cramer, Diane Mehta and Christopher Merrill
2024-05-08 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Grolier Poetry Book Shop, 6 Plympton Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, United States
Join Arrowsmith Press for a reading with Steven Cramer (Poetry, MFA Writing Faculty), Diane Mehta and Christopher Merrill with an introduction by Askold Melnyczuk. This event will be available both in-person and online.

Why and How to Perform Your Poetry (Well) with Shari Caplan and Jennifer Jean
2024-05-09 19:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom
There’s nothing like an amazing poetry reading! These are the events where readers are not onlyprepared, they’re authentic, compelling, charismatic, and memorable. Why is this kind of readingimportant for you as a poet and for society at large? And how can you give this kind of reading?You’ll leave this 2-hour, interactive presentation with solid knowledge about WHY you need toperform your poetry well and with tools for HOW to learn to read your poetry well. Throughtechniques based in neuroscience, sociology, and the theater, you will learn how to work withnerves, find confidence, use your voices, and connect with your audiences. Featuring poets JenniferJean and Shari Caplan (Poetry, June 2014).

Writer's Lab: Launch and Grow Your Substack Newsletter with Hurley Winkler
2024-05-21 18:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Regency Square Branch Library, 9900 Regency Square Blvd, Jacksonville, Florida, 32225, United States
Hurley Winkler (Fiction, January 2017) presents a 90-minute lecture-style workshop on developing a successful online newsletter.

The writer of a popular newsletter shares her keys to success on Substack. Learn about newsletter content strategies, the benefits of Substack over other social media platforms, and monetizing your newsletter.

Hurley Winkler writes the popular Substack newsletter Lonely Victories for an engaged audience of writers and readers. She leads the Book Club for Writers and teaches classes for writers. Hurley also hosts and produces the Jax Music Hour on WJCT News 89.9, broadcasting every Saturday night at 8. Her writing has been published in The Millions, Neutral Spaces, and Hobart, and she has an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University. She is currently on submission with her first novel.

Register to save your seat. Registration must be completed two hours prior to the start time. A library card and PIN are required for registration. If you do not have a card, click HERE to obtain one.

This workshop will later be held over Zoom for the public.

Cambridge Common Readers: My Autobiography of Carson McCullers with Rebecca Joy
2024-06-06 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Join us for the next online meeting of Cambridge Common Readers as we discuss My Autobiography of Carson McCullers by Jean Shapland with Rebecca Joy (Fiction, January 2017). This event is free and open to the Lesley MFA community. You do not need to have attended previous sessions, and while you don’t have to read the book beforehand, we do encourage you to so that you may participate in the conversation. We look forward to seeing you there!

7th Annual Bronx Book Festival
2024-06-08 08:00 - 18:00 (America/New_York) | Fordham Plaza, Fordham Plaza, The Bronx, New York, 10458, United States
Founded and organized by Saraciea J Fennell (WFYP, January 2020) the Bronx Book Festival is a free, public event with an impressive line-up of authors celebrating books. They have exclusive TBIR programming lined up for this year’s festival, so RSVP to meet bestselling authors from the Boogie Down and beyond! Colson Whitehead will attend as one of the keynote speakers this year, accompanied by other established and emerging names in literature right now.

Who Am I: The Music and Meaning of Stream-of-Consciousness with Angelo D'Amato
2024-06-18 18:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Cambridge Center for Adult Education, 42 Brattle Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, United States
In this course, led by Angelo D’Amato (Fiction, June 2020), will look at William Faulkner’s “The Sound and the Fury,” Virginia Woolf’s “The Waves,” and excerpts from James Joyce’s “Ulysses” and “Finnegans Wake,” to understand how this technique challenges how we make meaning of the world, and how we can harness it to create a music that is entirely our own. At the end of the class, students will have produced either a short story, an excerpt from a larger story, or a portfolio of smaller exercises.

This class will meet in-person at CCAE on Tuesdays for 8 weeks. Limited availability.

Lesley MFA Summer Reading Series: Kyoko Mori & John Rozum
2024-06-21 17:00 - 18:00 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Join the Lesley MFA community for this evening reading with Kyoko Mori (Nonfiction, MFA Writing Faculty) and John Rozum (Graphic Novel & Comics).

MFA Summer Reading Series: All Lesley Reads Visitor Bernardo Cubria
2024-06-22 18:30 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Join the Lesley MFA community for the All Lesley Reads event with actor, director, playwright, and screenwriter Bernardo Cubria. Bernardo’s accomplishments are vast and wide in both stage and screen. He has worked as actor, writer, and editor in film, TV and stage. Bernardo’s plays have been nominated for and won major theater awards, including the 2021 Smith Prize for Political Theater from the National New Play Network. He is an artistic director (among many) at AMMO, Ammunition Theater Company. Here’s an interview with him on Playwright’s Spotlight: “Hitting the Flow State, Locking Yourself Away, and Staying in the Sh*t.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibY4478Fsb4

Writing for Young People Open Lecture Series: Using Your MFA to Stay Rooted in Craft
2024-06-23 10:30 - 11:30 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Join visiting writer Jasmine Warga (WFYP, June 2013), author of Other Words for Home, The Shape of Thunder, A Rover’s Story, and My Heart and Other Black Holes, which has been translated into twenty languages.

Writing for Young People Open Lecture Series: Talking Craft in YA
2024-06-23 11:30 - 12:30 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
PANELISTS: Jasmine Warga (WFYP, June 2013), Chris Lynch (WFYP, MFA Writing Faculty), Sara Farizan (WFYP, January 2012), and Jason Reynolds (WFYP, MFA Writing Faculty).

Moderator: Sara Zarr (WFYP, MFA Writing Faculty)

Lesley MFA Summer Reading Series: Joan Houlihan & Sara Zarr
2024-06-23 18:30 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Join the Lesley MFA community for this evening reading with Joan Houlihan (Poetry, MFA Writing Faculty) and Sara Zarr (WFYP, MFA Writing Faculty).

Lesley MFA Summer Reading Series: Rachel Manley & Kevin Prufer
2024-06-24 18:30 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Join the Lesley MFA community for this evening reading with Rachel Manley (Nonfiction, MFA Writing Faculty) and Kevin Prufer (Poetry, MFA Writing Faculty).

Lesley MFA Summer Reading Series: Bonita Lee Penn & Tyler Woodsmall
2024-06-26 18:30 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Join the Lesley MFA community for this evening reading with Bonita Lee Penn (Poetry, January 2015) and Tyler Woodsmall (Fiction, June 2020).

Lesley MFA Summer Reading Series: Graduating Students
2024-06-27 18:30 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Join the Lesley MFA community for this evening reading with Ana Guigui (WSS), McKensi Pascall (WSS), William Galvani (Nonfiction), Graham Jones (WFYP), and Tyler Pruett (Poetry).

Lesley MFA Summer Reading Series: Graduating Student Readings
2024-06-28 18:30 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Join the Lesley MFA community for this evening reading with Hope Villanueva (WSS), Abigail Campbell (WFYP), Tony Pina (Nonfiction), and Grace Deitrich Purda, (WFYP).

Introduction to Book Arts: Make Your Own Chapbook with Frances Donovan
2024-06-28 18:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Create Art in Community, 11A Corinth St, Roslindale, Massachusetts, 02131, United States
Books aren’t just blocks of text. They’re also physical objects, and in some cases they become art themselves. Hand-sewn chapbooks (from “cheap-book”) are a simple and timeless way to preserve words and even art. Join Frances Donovan (Poetry, June 2019) and peruse a collection of chapbooks that show the various techniques used to make them. Then make your own! You may choose to make a blank book, to write in it, or to send some text in advance to be printed and incorporated into your book.

All supplies included. Bring any writing you’d like to include in a book, but the program will provide blank pages for a blank-for-now book.

Instructor: Frances Donovan’s book Arboretum in a Jar (Lily Poetry Review Books, 2023) was nominated for the Massachusetts Book Award. Her 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, www.gardenofwords.com. Donovan holds an MFA in poetry from Lesley University and is a certified Poet Educator with Mass Poetry. A poem of hers has been 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.

Author Event with Sabrina Fedel - All Roads Lead to Rome
2024-06-29 17:00 - 18:00 (America/New_York) | Towne Book Center, 160 Market Street, Suite C6, Collegeville, Pennsylvania, 19426, United States
Join the Towne Book Center for an in-person event with Sabrina Fedel (WFYP, January 2014) to celebrate her new release ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME!

Pre-ordering guarantees a seat & signing ticket for the event. Book Signing and Meet & Greet to follow.

Gallery of Readers Press Presents Switch: Anthology of Micro Fiction - Book Launch Celebration and Reading
2024-07-14 16:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Northampton Center for the Arts, 33 Hawley St, Northampton, Massachusetts, 01060, United States
Join Gallery of Readers Press for the launch of Switch: Anthology of Micro Fiction at Eli’s Room, Center for the Arts. Copies of the book may be ordered in advance, and donations are encouraged.

Contributors: Kathryn M. Arbour, Robin Barber, Nancy Barnes, Patricia Bender, Patricia Quintana Bidar, Robin Bissett, James Brunel, John M. Corbett, Tommy Dean, Salvatore Difalco, Carol Edelstein, Ann Fisher, Frances Gapper, Opal Gayle, Elizabeth M. George, Diane D. Gillette, Beth Gordon, Andrea Hansell, Jennifer Jacobson, Celia Jeffries (Fiction/Nonfiction, 2008), E.P. La Brecque, Karen Loeb, Barbara Lucey, Toni Montuori, Damhuri Muhammad, Nora Nadjarian, Rina Palumbo, Meg Pokrass, Lisa Schamess, Sharon White, and Thomas Reed Willemain.

Sparking the Conversation: Lived Experiences of Black Mental Health
2024-07-25 17:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Central Library in Copley Square, 700 Boylston Street, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Featuring Enzo Silon Surin (Poetry, 2012)! Join PureSpark, BEAM, and the Boston Public Library for an in-depth and compelling conversation with folks who have lived experience, who have been through mental health struggles, and use their experience and resilience to help others along on their journey.

July is National BIPOC Mental Health Month. While statistics highlight the challenges faced by Black communities, this event goes beyond the numbers. Each year we learn about the statistics but it’s time we learn about the stories behind the statistics.

Formally recognized in June 2008 (and currently designated as), Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month was created to bring awareness to the unique struggles that underrepresented groups face in regard to mental illness in the US. Bebe Moore Campbell was an American author, journalist, teacher, and mental health advocate who worked tirelessly to shed light on the mental health needs of the Black community and other underrepresented communities.Light refreshments and mingling 5:00pm – 6:15pm; and main program 6:15pm – 7:15pm. All are welcome.

Between the Lines with Jason Reynolds and Marcus J. Moore
2024-07-27 14:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Planet Word Museum | Friedman Family Auditorium, 925 13th St., NW, Washington D.C., District of Columbia, 20005, United States
Don’t miss this special opportunity to engage with NYT best-selling YA author Jason Reynolds (WFYP. MFA Faculty) in conversation with music journalist and author Marcus J. Moore (The Butterfly Effect: How Kendrick Lamar Ignited the Soul of Black America). Jason and Marcus will discuss the importance and impact of reading, writing, and creativity in the Black D.C. community and beyond. Gain memorable insights and inspiration as Jason and Marcus share reminiscences, powerful stories, and tips that helped them find joy and success through writing and storytelling.

2:00 p.m. — Conversation and Q&A (Friedman Family Auditorium)3:30 p.m. — Reception and Meet & Greet with light bites (Mansard Room)

The Between the Lines summer series seeks to create a platform where local Black authors and wordsmiths — from the up-and-coming to renowned — can explore the transformative power of language and storytelling, while encouraging the wider public to embrace the written word as a means of personal expression and social change. In their conversations, Jason and his friends will tap into everything from Hip Hop culture to storytelling.

Sara Levine, author of A Terrible Place for a Nest Book Launch at Porter Square Books
2024-08-03 11:00 - 12:00 (America/New_York) | Porter Square Books, 1815 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02140, United States
Porter Square Books is delighted to celebrate the launch of A Terrible Place for a Nest with local author Sara Levine (Nonfiction/WFYP, January 2006). After a presentation and read-aloud from this lovely picture book, the author will sign books. RSVP requested.

A child learns to settle into a new home in this lyrical and stirring picture book perfect for fans of MEMORY JARS and EVELYN DEL REY IS MOVING AWAY.

Juno and his mom have just moved into a new home, and he hates everything about it – the new school, his new classmates, his new room.

Just outside his window, Juno notices a family of mourning doves have started a nest atop the fence, and they seem to be struggling to make it work, too. Sure enough, Juno concludes this new place is a terrible place to build a nest.

But, as winter turns to spring and the doves grow, so does Juno. And while this new place may be scary and sometimes lonely, they will all make it work, together.

Lyrical and hopeful, A Terrible Place for a Nest is a tender and uplifting tale about facing new experiences with empathy and courage.
