WE ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE a new benefit for our members— the Straw Dog Writers Guild Writing Residencies at Patchwork Farm Retreat. A Straw Dog Writing Residency will include 6 days, 5 nights, Sunday at 3:00 pm through Friday noon, in one of the lovely, unique places at Patchwork Farm Retreat in Westhampton MA. Residencies Read More
Like any writer, I know how important craft can be. Straw Dog Writer’s Guild, a group of the Valley’s own writing talent, offers workshops by our, often quite accomplished, neighbors. In mid-March, I attended a lecture on crafting Magical Realism with Andrea Hairston. Andrea is a playwright, novelist, and professor of theater at Smith College. Andrea knows that Read More
Two writers tell us what they got out of participating in Straw Dog’s first Writers Roundtable -held February 11th. The topic was “What sustains you as a writer?” – The next Roundtable will be June 10th. Sustain – once removed, by Jess Martin How does one dart, weave and unwind words into some semblance of beginning, middle Read More
Please check out our newly redesigned website! Over the past month, I have had the pleasure of redesigning the Straw Dog Writers Guild website. It has been inspiring to design new pages and formats to celebrate and promote the excellent work you are all doing in the community. There are many new additions and exciting Read More
Patricia Lee Lewis upon reflection … By Patrica Lee Lewis In the year that opens before us, I will turn 80, and recently in a writing circle of workshop leaders in training, I wrote a piece in the voice of a woman facing the mysteries and gifts of going forward in a well-worn life. Onward Read More
Welcoming Big Changes for SDWG in 2017 By Elli Meeropol 2017 looms, and seven years after Straw Dog Writers Guild was conceived in Patricia Lee Lewis’ living room, we are poised for big changes. Two original members of the group, Jacqueline Sheehan and Patricia Lee Lewis, are stepping off the Steering Committee and moving Read More
Perugia Press Turns Twenty: Celebrating Milestones with our Local Community By Susan Kan and Rebecca Hart Olander For 20 years, Perugia Press has published the best new woman poet each year—the winner of our annual, national contest that draws more than 500 yearly submissions. Our aim is to produce beautiful books that interest long-time readers Read More
The Depressed Novelist’s Complaint, or How I Learned to Love the Gray By Jane Yolen Having just finished a major Holocaust novel for young adults,* I find myself at loose ends while waiting for editorial feedback. I’m not new at the writing game. My first book was published in 1963, my first novel (for middle-grade Read More
Meet Andrew Connelly, Straw Dog’s First Scholarship Recipient by Becky Jones Andrew Connelly was chosen by his teachers at the Easthampton High School as the recipient of the first Straw Dog Writers Guild Scholarship given to a senior with a promising future in writing. Andrew is soon heading off to Fordham University’s NYC campus across Read More
Notes from the Tunnels By Liz Bedell I spend most dawns curled up on the ratty old sofa in my study, trying to find the red thread of narrative. Some mornings I clutch at it convulsively, willing its taut energy to remain long enough to guide me out of the labyrinth’s depths, away from my Read More
