SDWG members, submit a free listing on our bulletin board for a reading, workshop, or service you’re offering
REQUESTS
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Perk for SDWG Members! Straw Dog Writers Guild is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org. If you are a current SDWG member and you have published a book, we can include your book on our members list on our Bookshop.org profile. Important instructions for inclusion: To be included, first, check to see if your book is available at: https://bookshop.org/ THEN, if it is, send your name and book title to admin@strawdogwriters.org. This platform will give greater exposure to your book. “Bookshop.org is an online book marketplace launched in January 2020. Its stated mission is “to financially support local, independent bookstores.” Bookshop, Inc., a privately held company, has been certified as a B Corporation.” NOTE: Some books may not be available on this site.
Missed an online SDWG event? Check out our YouTube channel for workshop and event recordings.
MEET UPS
Forbes Library Writing Room Wednesdays at 9:00am-12:30pm
This is a free, structured, facilitated drop in community writing group. We check in at 9:30, then write together for two hours, followed by the opportunity to read what you wrote (5 minutes). Follow the link for ZOOM meeting
Valley Society Black Writing Group
Valley Society, a SDWG committee, is open to new writers for our AWA writing group. We meet Sundays from 2-5 virtually. Visit valleysociety.org/about/writing-group/ to sign up.
Zooming Poetry Workshop
Monthly poetry workshop on the 4th Monday of the month from 4-5pm. “We send each other a poem or two before the workshop, and we give constructive, positive feedback during the workshop.” Interested poets please email Phyllis at phystgeorge@gmail.com
BOOK LAUNCHES/CONCERTS/READINGS/OPPORTUNITIES
Nine Syllables Press’ third annual chapbook contest June 1-August 31, 2025
Submissions are open June 1-August 31, 2025, using our Submittable. There is a $10 submission fee. Trans and nonbinary poets of all genders, and cis women poets can submit their chapbook to the Nine Syllables Press chapbook contest. Trans/LGBTQIA+ poets and BIPOC poets are especially encourage to submit their work. The winner will be awarded $500 and author’s copies. The chapbook will be published within a year. Winners will be announced by February 2026.
The Hobart Festival of Women Writers June 6, 7, 8
Join Elli Meeropol for three days talking about writing and reading with some of the smartest and most welcoming people, in a small village in the western Catskills (with SIX bookstores!) Ellie will be offering a workshop titled “The Writer in the World: Literary Activism and Literary Citizenship” and would love to see you there. Check it out at https://www.facebook.com/HobartBookVillageFestivalOfWomenWriters
Clark Art Institute’s Writing Through Art Free Poetry Workshop on Wednesday, June 25
Join poet and educator Jan Freeman for the Clark Art Institute’s Writing Through Art Free Poetry Workshop on Wednesday, June 25, 3:00–5:00 p.m. We’ll use art as a portal to open fresh ways of using language while writing in the museum galleries. New and experienced poets welcome. To register, email bmlashfield@gmail.com or janfreemanpoetry@gmail.com. (Minimum age: 16)
https://www.janfreeman.net/workshops-readings
This program is co-sponsored by the Clark Art Institute and Belding Memorial and Lilly Libraries. It is funded in part by a grant from the Ashfield Local Cultural Council, a local agency that is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
Jay Sefton’s award winning play UNRECONCILED// Three performances, June 26 and 27 at the Majestic Theater, West Springfield, MA
The award-winning Unreconciled, based on the true story of an adolescent actor cast as Jesus in a school play directed by a parish priest later named in a grand jury report, plays the Majestic Theater in West Springfield, for three performances only on June 26 at 2PM and 7:30PM, and June 27, at 7:30PM. Co-written by Jay Sefton and Mark Basquill, performed by Sefton, and directed by Geraldine Hughes. Unreconciled takes audiences on a magic carpet ride through parental love and bewilderment during difficult times in this moving portrait of working-class life in a whiskey-drenched, sports-crazed suburb of Philadelphia in the 1980s. The Majestic Theater. unreconciled@gmail.com
Words on Art on Words: call for submissions now open
Writers: Agree to create one piece of writing over the course of the summer in response to a displayed visual piece. Artists: Agree to create one visual piece over the summer in response to a displayed written piece. There will be a closing reception on Friday. Aug. 29, 5–8 p.m., during Greenfield Arts Walk, including a small presentation on the evolution of the installation and an opportunity to create something artistic as a final group send-off. Sign-ups are now open. https://thelavacenter.org/exhibits/words-on-art-on-words/ for more information or to sign up.
CONTACT: info@thelavacenter.org or ?413-376-8118?
Writing It Up in the Garden with Nerissa Nields is hosting our annual Summer Writing Camp
July 14-18 at Little Blue Writing Studio. Give yourself to your writing for one delicious week! Delve deeply into an existing project, work on a PhD thesis, start a children’s book, edit, revise, or just revel in the community of writers. There are spaces for songwriters to compose in private rooms; there are indoor and outdoor spaces to curl up in and write to your heart’s content. Camp runs 9am to 4pm, with a break for homemade, delicious lunch. Take a week to exercise your muse, make new friends and enjoy Northampton in the summer! Click HERE for more information.
Stay (Cozy) at Home and Write: A Virtual Retreat, August 22-24, 2025 with Tzivia Gover
In this Write-at-Home retreat, you’ll write at home—in your pajamas if you please. Work on a big project or get in the flow with daily writing prompts and virtual check-ins with a community of other writers. Our days will include:
Lots of time to write Intention-setting and mutual, gentle, and supportive accountability. Morning and lunchtime check-ins by Zoom and chat. Evening read-aloud circle to share what we’ve written 2-3 optional prompts per day.
Begins at 4 p.m. Friday, Aug. 22 through 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 24. To learn more or register for Stay (Cozy) at Home and Write CLICK HERE or email hello@thirdhousemoon.com.
Dreaming on the Page Writing Circle with Tzivia Gover, Author and Certified Dreamwork Professional
First Tuesday of each month, 11 am-2 pm US Eastern Time, on Zoom.
Combining dreams and writing helps to increase self-awareness, reinvigorate your creativity, and supercharge your writing. Each workshop includes information and inspiration for combining dreams and the imagination, plus writing prompts and time to write and share your work.
$55 with accessible pay-what-you-can options for those with low/limited incomes. Learn more and register at: thirdhousemoon.com/event/dreaming-on-the-page-writing-circle/
Miss T’s No Bull Writing Workshops
Miss T here and I’m developing a series of two-hour $10 workshops on various writing topics. Cool, right? The first will be backstory. I call it “Don’t Put the Backstory in the Front.” Future topics include dialogue, show don’t tell, an editing cheat sheet, personal essay, cutting down on adverbs, using power verbs, etc. And, of course, I am open to your suggestions. For the workshop, I’d like you to bring a doubled-space page 12 pt font – about 250 words. It would be best if you could bring in the beginning of your story, or somewhere where you think you may be having an issue with backstory.
To indicate your interest in this or future $10 workshops, click on the link DON’T PUT THE BACKSTORY IN THE FRONT!
Pioneer Valley Writers Workshop
At PVWW, there’s definitely no better time to dive deeply into creative work and goals! They always have A LOT going on, from a full lineup of virtual workshops (one-day and multi-week) to regular readings, panels, and gatherings! And monthly Community Writing (and Community Reading events) – free and open to all – continues. Applications for PVWW’s 10-Month Manuscript Program (in all genres) open each year in the fall as well. Browse their current workshop schedule HERE!
And visit them online at www.PioneerValleyWriters.org!
Writers in Progress
Writers in Progress, the Valley’s Literary Arts Studio, is excited to re-open our gorgeous physical space this September, launching our Fall Session with a huge variety of weekly, half day and one-day generative and craft workshops. We will also continue to offer many workshops online. Some of our many offerings this fall include: Morning Jumpstarts, with Dori Ostermiller, Writing From Life with Emily Lackey, the Craft of Memoir with Cathy Luna, the Blueprint Your Book Series, with Susanne Dunlap, Fiction Essentials with Jacqueline Sheehan, Poetry Workshop with Sarah Browning, Word for Writers, Tarot for Writers, and many more. We also host a monthly community writing workshop, the first Sunday of each month, open to all. Founded in 1992 by author Dori Ostermiller, WIP has been supporting writers and creating community for three decades and has ‘midwifed’ dozens of published books. Our workshops are limited to 8 participants and emphasize writing time, community and craft development, nurturing voice, giving and receiving constructive, encouraging feedback. We believe that the writing process calls for both rigor and playfulness, both craft and inspiration. We also offer our legendary year-long manuscript intensive for writers working on book-length manuscripts, a six month revision intensive, as well as one-on-one coaching, editing and consulting. Our published alums include Ellen Meeropol, Steve Bernstein, JoAnne Jones, Dusty Miller, Ruth Lehrer, Dinah Mack, Kris Holloway, David Lovelace and many, many more. We host a seasonal Live Literature reading series in our studio and online. Check out our amazing lineup of fall workshops and events at www.writersinprogress.com. Hope to see you soon!
SERVICES
Manuscript Consultations and Editing Services with Jan Freeman
With 40 years of editorial experience, I am available to review works of prose and poetry, including full-length manuscripts, chapbooks, and selected collections. Through multiple readings, I evaluate literal and emotional narratives and a manuscript’s organization, texture, shape, tension, and emotional flow. I am author of 3 books of poetry and co-editor of Sisters: An Anthology; from 1995–2018, I directed Paris Press (now an imprint of Wesleyan University Press), which published critically acclaimed books by Emily Dickinson, NBCC award winning Ruth Stone, Virginia Woolf, and many others. Jan Freeman, janfreemanpoetry@gmail.com
Mentoring and Editing Services with
Michael Favala Goldman
I know how difficult it is to be objective about one’s own writing. Having skilled readers and mentors helped me gain the skills to publish16 books of prose translations, poetry translations and original poetry. I have been leading poetry critique groups since 2018. I give direct, compassionate feedback, to help clarify and magnify the author’s voice. I am happy to look at a few short pieces or an entire manuscript. hammerandhorn@gmail.com.
Dreaming on the Page Writing Consultations with Tzivia Gover
This one-on-one consultation is appropriate for writers at all stages of the journey, from journalers to published authors and anyone in between.
More of a coaching session than a critique, our time together will be spent setting goals and intentions for your writing in general, or specific projects. Sessions may include:
* Reviewing your goals, habits, and rituals as a writer, and exploring ways to tap into dreams, imagination, and the subconscious to support and sustain your creativity.
* Identifying the big dream for your project and setting intentions and next steps to help you get there.
* Implementing Dreaming on the Page techniques, tips, and prompts as appropriate.
* Receiving guidance on up to 500 words of your writing or a project summary submitted in advance of the session.
Mentoring Services with Lesléa Newman
Lesléa Newman has created 75 books for readers of all ages and mentored hundreds of writers including Newbery Award-winner Kwame Alexander (The Crossover), novelist, Leah Henderson (One Shadow on the Wall) and poet Floyd Cheung (Jazz at Manzanar). If you are working on a manuscript, I’d love to take a peek and see how I can help you make your book the best it can be. Whether you write for kids, teens or adults, whether you write poetry or prose, whether you write fiction or non-fiction, you name it, I can critique it. I will mark up your manuscript in purple ink, write you a long, editorial letter, read one revision, and if appropriate, offer publishing suggestions.
Consultation w/ Gail Thomas
I am available for individual consultation on your poetry submissions, manuscripts and residency applications. With more than 40 years of publishing and teaching experience, I offer feedback that not only focuses on your writing goals, but also strengthens your craft. If you are assembling a chapbook or full-length manuscript, I will work with you to organize and present your best work for publication. Gail Thomas, gailthomaspoet@gmail.com
Straw Dog Writers Guild YouTube Channel
Having your events and other writing notes on this Bulletin Board is one of the many benefits of SDWG membership.
- We ask that events be in or within driving distance of the Western MA area.
- Text of up to 100 words
- Link to website or email where further information is available.
- Please send at least six weeks before the event to be placed in our newsletter.
Click here to Submit to the Bulletin Board