Voices for Resistance: Can (Y)our writing help change the world?

Voices for Resistance: Can (Y)our writing help change the world? A reading and conversation with Ellen Meeropol and Bill Newman

In times of political and social turmoil, many writers struggle to find effective ways to change minds and hearts with our work. In this Voices for Resistance event, fiction writer Ellen Meeropol and columnist, podcaster and radio host Bill Newman talk about using the power of words to resist, to educate, to inspire, and to empower us all to change our world.

Ellen Meeropol is the author of the novels Sometimes an Island (forthcoming March 2026), The Lost Women of Azalea Court, Her Sister’s Tattoo, Kinship of Clover, On Hurricane Island, and House Arrest, and guest editor for the anthology Dreams for a Broken World. Essay and story publications include Ms. Magazine, Lilith, The Writer Magazine, The Boston Globe, Solstice Magazine, Guernica, LitHub, and Mom Egg Review. Her work has been a finalist for the Sarton Women’s Prize, longlisted for the Massachusetts Book Award, and selected by the Women’s National Book Association as a Great Group Reads. Ellen is a founding mother of Straw Dog Writers Guild. www.ellenmeeropol.com

Bill Newman, a civil rights lawyer in Northampton since 1976, has hosted a weekday talk radio show on WHMP since 2010 (first, the Bill Newman Show and then, Talk the Talk) and has written a regular column for the Daily Hampshire Gazette and the Greenfield Recorder for many years. He has published two collections of his expository writing, When the War Came Home and Life on the Co-op Plan and in addition, is the author and voice of Civil Liberties Minute® podcast. He often speaks about civil rights and civil liberties topics with community groups and at high schools and colleges. https://whmp.com/podcasts/shows/bill-newman/