May 1 was the last Valley Gives Day — at least in this incarnation of the regional online nonprofit extravaganza — and Straw Dog Writers Guild participated, for the third year. Our fundraising goal was $5000. We asked for your support on our website, in our newsletter, at events, and on social media. You really Read More
I enjoyed participating in all four of the Straw Dog Writers Guild’s 2018 March Medley Workshops. The collaboration between SDWG and the Northampton Center for the Arts allowed me to affordably experience four excellent local workshop leaders’ offerings—voice-finding, collaging, playwriting, and songwriting. I jumped at the chance to participate in Dori Ostermiller’s workshop on March Read More
When I was an undergrad in Athens, GA, the 40-Watt Club was the magnet that drew musicians and poets together. It was our shared space, our common ground, named after the bare bulb that lit the stage. It was where we came to listen and be listened to — where REM, Guadalcanal Diary, Love Tractor, Read More
I am a senior at Westfield State University studying English with a concentration in writing. My dream for after graduation in May is to work in publishing by day and work on my novels by night. I did not realize my love for writing until I was in fourth grade when my teacher told me Read More
At the recent Straw Dog Writers’ Guild roundtable on writing for social justice, we were asked to consider our biggest fear in writing work that challenges the status quo. Make the fear a character, Elli Meeropol suggested, and have a conversation with it. Primed by reading and hearing aloud the words of Patricia Smith’s Read More
Bernadette with Patricia (owner of Patchwork Retreat) Writers Desk in Eagles Nest Desk Buddy SD Coffee Many details of Patchwork Rainy day run The Sound of Silence by Bernadette Duncan Harrison In my world, silence is not necessarily golden. I’ve spent much of my media career as a radio and television talk show producer and Read More
Patricia Smith awarded the Abel Meeropol Social Justice Writing Award by SDWG Board President Ellen Meeropol & Robert Meeropol Patricia Smith Robert Meeropol SDWG Board President Ellen Meeropol and Advisory Board member Bill Newman Photos by Doug Anderson It is rare and wonderful when several important elements of a life come together and make joy. Read More
Emily Dean is a first-year student at Greenfield Community College studying liberal arts. Emily loves reading, writing, and taking pictures with her friends. She is very grateful to have been a recipient of the 2017 Straw Dog Scholarship. When did you first begin to care about writing? My father was an English major, Read More
I’d like to tell you the story of this award and why Straw Dog Writers Guild created it. Like most stories, it’s not easy to know where to begin. Maybe in 1935, when a young Jewish high school teacher in the Bronx saw a photograph of a lynching. It haunted him and he wrote a Read More
I’ve been studying bestselling novels of late. I’m trying to get a feel for what is working and why; suss out the author’s special sauce that seems to be speaking to readers. I have to admit, sometimes I’m befuddled when the quality of the prose is lacking or the story drags in too many Read More
