The selection panel for the Straw Dog Writers Guild Emerging Writer Fellowship has announced the 2022-23 shortlist of three writers. They are Vida James, Regine Jackson, and Syki Barbee. One writer will be named the 2022-23 Fellow in March. The Fellow will receive a $3000 grant from Straw Dog Writers Guild to be used for Read More
On January 19th, 2022, Straw Dog Writers Guild and Forbes Library co-sponsored the 8th annual Author Showcase. Twelve Straw Dog member/authors gathered on Zoom to read from their recently published books, along with a large, enthusiastic audience. Chris O’Carroll, Nina Dabek, Maureen Callahan Smith, Suzanne Rancourt, John Sheirer, Tom Weiner, Lanette Sweeney, Mark Luebbers, Julie Read More
Valley Society, the black writer’s guild of the Pioneer Valley and a Straw Dog project launched a new website last month. You can now subscribe to our newsletter to receive links to our new writings every month. Additionally, Valley Society is also planning a black or black-led writing group, The Midnight Run. We hope to Read More
John Sheirer has published works of fiction, memoir, and current events, as well as books for children. A few of his titles include Growing up Mostly Normal in the Middle of Nowhere: A Memoir (Foremost Press, 2009), Tales of a Real American Liberal (Veracity Press, 2012), and Uncorrected: A Novella (Scantic Books, 2020). His most Read More
The Selection Committee of the Edith Wharton-Straw Dog Writers Guild Writers-in-Residence Program is pleased to announce its nine residents for 2022: Yasmine AmeliJody CallahanElyse DurhamCheryl IsaacElla JacobsonLiana MackJessica ProvenzSarah WangDashaun Washington Congratulations! Follow the links more information on the Writing Residency program and this collaboration between Straw Dog Writers Guild and The Mount Edith Warton’s Read More
Creative writers everywhere value uninterrupted time to write in an inspiring place and 329 of them in 7 genres from across the US, Canada and 5 other countries applied to our new Writers in Residence program—a collaboration between Straw Dog Writers Guild and Edith Wharton’s The Mount in Lenox, MA. As volunteer organizers, we were Read More
Bela Breslau and Stephen Billias are the co authors of the forthcoming novel Pilgrim Maya, which they plan to release next summer. Stephen’s most recent book is A Book of Fields: Tales from the Pioneer Valley, a short story collection which they published in 2019. Stephen has also written seven novels of science fiction and fantasy, including The Read More
Suzanne Rancourt is a poet, a writer of fiction and creative non-fiction, photographer, and musical artist. As a woman of Native American and European ancestry who grew up in rural Maine, and as a Marine Corps and Army veteran, she has combined her heritage, her arts, and her experiences as a survivor into a therapeutic Read More
Boricua poet and feminist intersectional educator MarÃa Luisa Arroyo’s poetry collections include Gathering Words: Recogiendo Palabras (Bilingual Press 2008), and the chapbooks Flight (2016) and Destierro Means More than Exile (2018). Her poems and essays have been published in a number of journals and magazines, and among her many awards, she was named Springfield’s Inaugural Read More
Lanette Sweeney’s first poetry collection, What I Should Have Said: A Poetry Memoir about Losing A Child to Addiction, has just been released by Finishing Line Press. The book is structured in accordance with the stages of grief, and includes twenty poems by Sweeney’s late son, who died of an overdose in 2016. Sweeney began Read More
