Though the Covid pandemic tested the Straw Dog Writers Guild (SDWG) community, we held together and learned a few tricks along the way. Though not all of us felt the most technologically savvy, we persevered and learned how to Zoom so we could stay connected. Our Writers Night Out became a night in, as did all our programming and committee meetings. So whether in spite or or because of, we engaged just shy of 1000 people for all in-person and online programming in 2020.
14 Steering Committee members, each acting as liaisons for the plethora of sub-committees to attend to the details of social justice, programming, publicity, development, and finance. The Steering Committee members for 2020: Becky Jones, Beth Filson, Celia Jeffries, Cherryl Jensen, Christopher Sparks, Ella Alkiewicz, Ellen Meeropol, Jacqueline Sheehan, Liz Bedell, Macci Schmidt, Mary Ann Scognamiglio, Nicole Young, Rick Paar, Stephanie Shafran.
(paragraph on how we supported writing groups and authors in 2020)
As the year drew to a close, we said farewell to Steering Committee member Ella Alkiewicz and our beloved Administrative Director of 4 years, Laura Stone, and welcomed in our new President Christopher J. Sparks, new Steering Committee members roxann Callender and Alexis Johnson, and our new Administrative Director Arianna Alexsandra Collins.
By the Numbers
5 workshops with a total of 115 participants
18 Poetry Critique Meet-ups with a total of 118 participants
11 Writers Night Out with a total of approximately 425 participants
11 Writers Read / Hilltowns with a total of approximately 245 participants
52 Pandemic poets published on the SDWG blog between May 15 – October 20
__ member authors published
__ writing groups we support