Straw Dog Writers Guild

Annual Author Showcase Call for Member Submissions
2024-10-15 00:00 - 2024-12-18 00:00 (America/New_York)
Call to SDWG members who published a book in 2024…
Submit your name for the drawing of readers at the 11th Annual Author Showcase: A Celebration of Members’ Books.
Mark your calendars: Saturday, January 26, 2025, 2:30 – 4:00 p.m., a hybrid event in person at the Northampton Friends Meetinghouse and online on Zoom.
Straw Dog Writers Guild invites Straw Dog Writers Guild members with a book published in 2024 to read as part of the 2025 annual Author Showcase. If interested in being part of the Showcase, please indicate your interest by emailing strawdogsubmission@gmail.com.
The deadline to express interest is midnight December 18th. We will let authors know by December 21st. Authors will be selected at random by drawing names from a hat.
Ten readers will have five minutes each to read from their work. If you are in person, you will have the chance to sell books in person; otherwise we put will links to your books in the chat.
Once chosen, you will need to provide a brief bio and photograph for publicity and Showcase program.

Straw Dog Writes Weekly Writers Meet Up
2024-12-18 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-02-12 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-02-19 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-02-26 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-03-05 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-03-12 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-03-19 19:00 - 21:00 | zoom
Straw Dog Writers Guild members who would like to spend some time writing together can join a Zoom session. We will spend 15 minutes on introductions, a 45 minute writing session, have a 15 minute discussion, then write for a second 45 minute period of time. Afterwards, the Zoom room will remain open for a half hour for discussion and chat.
To register and receive the zoom link, contact Steven D. Brewer at sdbrewer@stevendbrewer.com

A Writer's Night
2024-12-19 18:45 - 19:30 | The Longmeadow Adult Center, 211 Maple Road, Longmeadow, MA, United States
The Longmeadow Adult Center and Straw Dogs Writers Guild will present “A Writer’s Night” with Jovonna Van Pelt, poet and essayist. Jo is the author of “Unrelated Questions” a gorgeous book of poetry published in 2019, and her endearing book of Christmas Stories, “Merry and Bright,” was published in 2022. Over the years her writing has served everything from corporation to puppeteers. Please join us on Thursday, December 19 from 6:45-7:30pm and hear this terrific writer read from her work, speak about creating stories and poems, and learn how she made the transition from the corporate world to poetry.
You may register by calling 413-565-4150, option 1. Or you can just show up.
The Longmeadow Adult Center is located at 211 Maple Road, Longmeadow.

Poetry Critique Meet-up in December
2024-12-21 13:00 - 15:30 | Northampton Center for the Arts, 33 Hawley St., Northampton, MA, 01060, United States
Poetry Critique Meet-up on Zoom is a chance for poets to give and receive immediate constructive feedback on their poems by everyone in attendance. Learn what is working in your poems, and what may need revision. Contribute your observations to other poets. Be fascinated by the breadth of the written word.
Register for Saturday, December 21, 1-3:30pm. Cost: by donation. Suggested sliding scale $25-40. No one turned away for lack of funds. Limited to five participants. Register early. Please sign up for one session per month. Register HERE. Questions – email: hammerandhorn@gmail.com

These workshops are made possible in part through the Eli Daniel Nemetz Todd Memorial Fund. Please make your donation through the Center for the Arts via Paypal here, via Venmo @Northampton-CenterForTheArts, or by mailing a check made out to NCFA to PO Box 366, Northampton, MA 01061. Please note Poetry/Prose in the memo line. Donations on the upper end of the scale help support our continued commitment to accessibility. If you need financial support, please apply through NCFA’s Community Fund.

Facilitator: Michael Favala Goldman is author of seven poetry collections and translator of nineteen books. His work has appeared in scores of publications such as The New Yorker, The Harvard Review, and Rattle Magazine. https://michaelfavalagoldman.com/

Michael’s blog about the Poetry Critique Meet-up: http://strawdogwriters.org/blog/poetry-meet-up

Poetry Critique Meet-up in December
2024-12-22 13:00 - 15:30 | zoom
Poetry Critique Meet-up on Zoom is a chance for poets to give and receive immediate constructive feedback on their poems by everyone in attendance. Learn what is working in your poems, and what may need revision. Contribute your observations to other poets. Be fascinated by the breadth of the written word.
Register for Sunday, December 22, 1-3:30pm. Cost: by donation. Suggested sliding scale $25-40. No one turned away for lack of funds. Limited to five participants. Register early. Please sign up for one session per month. Register HERE. Questions – email: hammerandhorn@gmail.com

These workshops are made possible in part through the Eli Daniel Nemetz Todd Memorial Fund. Please make your donation through the Center for the Arts via Paypal here, via Venmo @Northampton-CenterForTheArts, or by mailing a check made out to NCFA to PO Box 366, Northampton, MA 01061. Please note Poetry/Prose in the memo line. Donations on the upper end of the scale help support our continued commitment to accessibility. If you need financial support, please apply through NCFA’s Community Fund.

Facilitator: Michael Favala Goldman is author of seven poetry collections and translator of nineteen books. His work has appeared in scores of publications such as The New Yorker, The Harvard Review, and Rattle Magazine. https://michaelfavalagoldman.com/

Michael’s blog about the Poetry Critique Meet-up: http://strawdogwriters.org/blog/poetry-meet-up

Writers Night Out
2025-01-07 18:00 - 20:00 | Forbes Library, Coolidge Museum, 20 West Street, Northampton, 01060
Welcome to 2025! Join Straw Dog Writers Guild on Tuesday January 7, 6:00-8:00pm for Writers Night Out with featured writer Ed Orzechowski at Forbes Library. No registration required. If you want to participate in Open Mic and read, please sign up by 5:50pm. Ten names will be randomly selected. Each reader will have five minutes. The second half of the evening showcases our Featured Reader.
Masks are not currently required for indoor events. Please wear a mask if you would like to exercise caution.
Hosted by Jacqueline Sheehan, Rick Paar and Beth Filson.
Sponsored by Valley Home Improvement.

Ed Orzechowski’s current release, Becoming Darlene, follows the publication in 2016 of You’ll Like It Here, The Story of Donald Vitkus—Belchertown Patient #3394, which became an all-time best-seller for Levellers Press of Amherst, Massachusetts.
Straw Dog Writers co-founder Jacqueline Sheehan, PhD, says: Ed Orzechowski’s masterful rendering reveals the unspeakable conditions of institutional life for children in mid-twentieth-century America. He writes with searing honesty about the survival of a remarkable girl who creates her own inner resources to emerge with her dreams intact.
Author Joy Baglio, Founder and Director of the Pioneer Valley Writers’ Workshop, writes, Ed Orzechowski’s account of Darlene’s story is raw and unflinching in its honesty and forthrightness. He paints a detailed, gritty picture of a tragic childhood and the horrors of a system that abused so many. This is a difficult story, a sad story, yet not without hope. Becoming Darlene illuminates aspects of our own humanity, both the shadows and the strength to persevere.

Poetry Critique Meet-up in January
2025-01-11 13:00 - 15:30 | zoom
Poetry Critique Meet-up on Zoom is a chance for poets to give and receive immediate constructive feedback on their poems by everyone in attendance. Learn what is working in your poems, and what may need revision. Contribute your observations to other poets. Be fascinated by the breadth of the written word.
Register for Saturday, January 11, 1-3:30pm. Cost: by donation. Suggested sliding scale $25-40. No one turned away for lack of funds. Limited to five participants. Register early. Please sign up for one session per month. Register HERE. Questions – email: hammerandhorn@gmail.com

These workshops are made possible in part through the Eli Daniel Nemetz Todd Memorial Fund. Please make your donation through the Center for the Arts via Paypal here, via Venmo @Northampton-CenterForTheArts, or by mailing a check made out to NCFA to PO Box 366, Northampton, MA 01061. Please note Poetry/Prose in the memo line. Donations on the upper end of the scale help support our continued commitment to accessibility. If you need financial support, please apply through NCFA’s Community Fund.

Facilitator: Michael Favala Goldman is author of seven poetry collections and translator of nineteen books. His work has appeared in scores of publications such as The New Yorker, The Harvard Review, and Rattle Magazine. https://michaelfavalagoldman.com/

Michael’s blog about the Poetry Critique Meet-up: http://strawdogwriters.org/blog/poetry-meet-up

Poetry Critique Meet-up in January
2025-01-12 13:00 - 15:30 | zoom
Poetry Critique Meet-up on Zoom is a chance for poets to give and receive immediate constructive feedback on their poems by everyone in attendance. Learn what is working in your poems, and what may need revision. Contribute your observations to other poets. Be fascinated by the breadth of the written word.
Register for Sunday, January 12, 1-3:30pm. Cost: by donation. Suggested sliding scale $25-40. No one turned away for lack of funds. Limited to five participants. Register early. Please sign up for one session per month. Register HERE. Questions – email: hammerandhorn@gmail.com

These workshops are made possible in part through the Eli Daniel Nemetz Todd Memorial Fund. Please make your donation through the Center for the Arts via Paypal here, via Venmo @Northampton-CenterForTheArts, or by mailing a check made out to NCFA to PO Box 366, Northampton, MA 01061. Please note Poetry/Prose in the memo line. Donations on the upper end of the scale help support our continued commitment to accessibility. If you need financial support, please apply through NCFA’s Community Fund.

Facilitator: Michael Favala Goldman is author of seven poetry collections and translator of nineteen books. His work has appeared in scores of publications such as The New Yorker, The Harvard Review, and Rattle Magazine. https://michaelfavalagoldman.com/

A Writer's Night in January
2025-01-16 18:45 - 19:30 | The Longmeadow Adult Center, 211 Maple Road, Longmeadow, MA, United States
Straw Dog Writers’ Guild, Longmeadow Adult Center, and The Storrs Library present Pete Nelson, writer of stories, novels, and song lyrics on Thursday, January 16, 6:45 at the Longmeadow Adult Center.
Peter Nelson was born in 1953 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and attended St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. He received his MFA in poetry from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where he was also awarded a post-degree James Michener Grant for fiction. He’s published short stories and articles in numerous national magazines, including Harpers, Redbook, Outside, Men’s Life, Men’s Health, Playboy, and Esquire Magazine, which named him one of America’s top writers under forty. He was a columnist for Mademoiselle and a staff writer/contributing editor for LIVE Magazine and Wondertime. His WWII history, Left For Dead (Randomhouse, 2002), about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis, won the 2003 Christopher Award and was named to the American Library Association’s 2003 top ten list. His work (with Zack Anderegg) of non-fiction, Finding Riley; Saving Myself (Skyhorse, 2013) was a finalist in the International Book awards memoirs category. His novel, I Thought You Were Dead (Algonquin, 2010), was named an Indie Next #1 Choice and reached the NEIBA Bestsellers List. He has published 30 books and over 200 magazine articles. He has taught writing in the MFA programs at Emerson College and Fairfield University, as well as undergraduate classes at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, at the University of Iowa, and at the University of Arizona. He has two CDs, The Restless Boys Club and Days Like Horses, on the Signature Sounds label, and has recently taught songwriting at the Parlor Room School of Music in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he lives.
You may register by calling 413-565-4150, option 1. Or you can just show up.
The Longmeadow Adult Center is located at 211 Maple Road, Longmeadow.

Death Becomes Poetry Share
2025-01-22 18:30 - 20:00 | Belding Memorial Library, 344 Main Street, Ashfield, 01330, United States
“You think I’ve been buried? No, I have been planted.”Sometimes we all need a place and time to be still, to retreat, to hibernate.
Find examples of your poems to read where you have recognized that without death there could be no rebirth, where you forgave yourself for retreating, where you gave yourself time to regroup, where you believed the long kiss goodnight was the answer until you took another breath, where sleep felt so good until the dream inspired you awake, where you appreciated the darkness because you could see the stars. (And you don’t have any of your own, find and read someone else’s poetry.)

Come read and listen on Wednesday, January 22, 6:30-8:00pm in the Belding Memorial Library Meeting Room with poet Arianna Alexsandra Collins of Offerings for Community Building. Wine, tea, and treats will be served.

This program is free and open to the public. Please register by contacting Belding Memorial Library at bmlashfield@gmail.com or 413-628-4414.The Library is located at 344 Main St. in Ashfield, MA.

Sponsored by Belding Memorial Library and Straw Dog Writers Guild.

Your facilitator: Naturalist educator. Writer, Poet. Priestess. Wild edibles enthusiast. Arianna Alexsandra Collins writes natural science / natural history articles for local and regional publications. She writes a bi-monthly column “Into the Outside” for The Ashfield News and has featured articles in MassWildlife, Ecological Landscape Alliance, and Northern Woodlands. Arianna is the author of Hearken to Avalon, a historical fantasy novel and a contributor to Nature Portals: Animate Earth Practices which provides meditative activities inviting the reader to engage with the natural world.
Through her business Offerings for Community Building, Arianna offers a variety of services in community engagement activities, outdoor immersion experiences, and poetry shares. Arianna is the executive director for the Hoosic River Watershed Association. She also serves as SDWG’s part-time remote admin.

Poetry Ritual 2025
2025-01-23 18:30 - 19:30
For the past seven years, Michael Favala Goldman has been hosting the Poetry Critique Meet-up, sponsored by NCFA and Straw Dog Writers. On Thursday, January 23rd at 6:30pm ET, join Michael and his band of poets for The Poetry Ritual, their annual group virtual reading, where fifteen writers will have five minutes each to entertain and touch you with their unique writing style. For the zoom link to this free event, email thepoetryritual@artistdynamix.com.

Annual Author Showcase
2025-01-26 14:30 - 16:00 | Northampton Friends Meetinghouse, 43 Center Street, Northampton, MA, 01060, United States
Straw Dog Writers Guild presents our 11th Annual Author Showcase! This is a hybrid event, on Zoom and at Northampton Friends Meetinghouse, 43 Center Street, Suite 202, Northampton, on Sunday, January 26, 2:30 – 4:00 p.m.
Straw Dog Writers Guild members with a book published in 2024 will read as part of the 2025 annual Author Showcase.
If you’ll be attending by Zoom, register HERE
Presenting Authors:
Bill Mailler has been writing poetry for over 50 years. In the current geo-political environment, he takes James Baldwin’s advice especially to heart: “… what you are doing, as a writer, or any kind of artist, what your role is… is to bear witness: to what life is, does, and to speak for people who cannot speak.”
Trauma, Truth & Outrage, collected poems. Also available on Amazon.
windflower co-founded the Feminist Arts Program at the University of Massachusetts Women’s Center where she published and edited, Chomo Uri, a women’s multi-arts magazine and produced the first National Women’s Poetry Festival in 1976. Her poetry has been published in numerous journals and anthologies, including international publications. Her poetry chapbook “Age Brings Them Home to Me” was published in March 2024 by Finishing Line Press. windflower is also a photographer celebrating the poetry in nature. https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/age-brings-them-home-to-me-by-windflower/
Ed Orzechowski is a retired high school English teacher, radio, and print journalist. He lives with his wife Gail in Northampton, Massachusetts. Becoming Darlene follows the publication in 2016 of You’ll Like It Here, The Story of Donald Vitkus—Belchertown Patient #3394, which became an all-time best-seller for Levellers Press of Amherst, Massachusetts.
Rebecca Daniels writes in the creative non-fiction genre. Books include: Women Stage Directors Speak: Exploring the Effects of Gender on Their Work (McFarland, 2000), Keeping the Lights on for Ike (Sunbury, 2019), based on her father’s letters home from Europe during WWII, Finding Sisters (Sunbury, 2021), about her genetic genealogy journey, and her newest, a grief memoir, That Day And What Came After (Sunbury, 2024). She moved to western Massachusetts in 2015 on her retirement from university teaching.
Libby Maxey is a senior editor at Literary Mama. Her work has appeared in Crannóg, Blue Unicorn and elsewhere. She is a winner of the Princemere Poetry Prize and the Helen Schaible International Sonnet Contest, and her chapbook, Kairos (2019), won Finishing Line Press’s New Women’s Voices contest. Her book Is Indwelling Poetry collection Published March 2024.https://wipfandstock.com/9798385209057/indwelling/#
Elaine Reardon‘s first chapbook, The Heart is a Nursery For Hope, won first honors from Flutter Press in 2016. Her second chapbook, Look Behind You, was also published by Flutter Press. Stories Told In A Forgotten Tongue was published by Finishing Line Press in September 2024. www.elainereardon.wordpress.com
Sarah Ritter is a poet who recently published two illustrated books: “So Many Great Books” and “Dad, Won’t You Walk With Me.” Sarah previously published her poetry collection “Inspirations, Transformations and Revelations: A Poetic Expression of My Personal Journey.” She is also a contributing poet to several poetry anthologies. In her spare time, she enjoys making homemade greeting cards and hiking with her dog. Sarah Ritter resides with her family in Connecticut. Her books are available on Amazon and audible version on Etsy. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1732550921r
Trudy Knowles is a retired professor, social activist, mother, grandmother, and author of two novels, Radishes and Red Bandanas and Me, My Guitar and Elvis, a book of short stories, two education books, and memoirs about her trip around the world in 1970 and about living through the pandemic. Book link: https://a.co/d/4Sib26S or at her website: www.trudyknowles.com
Jendi Reiter is the author of five poetry books and chapbooks, most recently Made Man (Little Red Tree); the story collection An Incomplete List of My Wishes (Sunshot Press/New Millennium Writings); and the novels Two Natures and Origin Story, both from Saddle Road Press. They are the editor of the writing resource site WinningWriters.com. https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0CZ4FQHGG/winningwriter-20
D.K. McCutchen’s Speculative Fiction trilogy includes: JELLYFISH DREAMING (2023), a Leapfrog Press Global Fiction Prize winner; ELECTRIC ICE (2024), winner of a Speculative Literature Foundation grant; & PLASTIC EATERS forthcoming (2026). WHALE ROAD, creative nonfiction about sailing with whale researchers through the South Pacific, was a Kiriyama Prize Notable Book and Pushcart Nominee. Deb teaches writing for College of Natural Sciences, UMass Amherst, and is Associate Director of the Junior Year Writing Program.
Janet MacFadyen‘s third full-length collection, State of Grass, was released February 2024 by Salmon Poetry. Honors include a Massachusetts Cultural Council grant, a 7-month Fine Arts Work Center fellowship in Provincetown, and a Cill Rialaig residency in Ireland. Recent work appears in Persimmon Tree, White Stag, The High Window, Scientific American, Wordpeace, and several Writing the Land anthologies, along with artwork in CALYX. She is Managing Editor of the poetry collaborative, Slate Roof Press, and lives in the woods of Shutesbury.
A Pushcart nominee, Dr. Jim Brosnan is the author of Long Distance Driving (2024) and Nameless Roads (2019), two collections of poetry accompanied by original color photographs. His poems have appeared in the Aurorean (US), Crossways Literary Magazine (Ireland), Eunoia Review (Singapore), Nine Muses (Wales), Scarlet Leaf Review (Canada), Strand (India), The Madrigal (Ireland), The Wild Word (West Germany), and Voices of the Poppies (UK). He is a professor at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, RI.

Poetry Critique Meet-up in February
2025-02-02 13:00 - 15:30 | zoom
Poetry Critique Meet-up on Zoom is a chance for poets to give and receive immediate constructive feedback on their poems by everyone in attendance. Learn what is working in your poems, and what may need revision. Contribute your observations to other poets. Be fascinated by the breadth of the written word.
Register for Sunday, February 2, 1-3:30pm. Cost: by donation. Suggested sliding scale $25-40. No one turned away for lack of funds. Limited to five participants. Register early. Please sign up for one session per month. Register HERE. Questions – email: hammerandhorn@gmail.com

These workshops are made possible in part through the Eli Daniel Nemetz Todd Memorial Fund. Please make your donation through the Center for the Arts via Paypal here, via Venmo @Northampton-CenterForTheArts, or by mailing a check made out to NCFA to PO Box 366, Northampton, MA 01061. Please note Poetry/Prose in the memo line. Donations on the upper end of the scale help support our continued commitment to accessibility. If you need financial support, please apply through NCFA’s Community Fund.

Facilitator: Michael Favala Goldman is author of seven poetry collections and translator of nineteen books. His work has appeared in scores of publications such as The New Yorker, The Harvard Review, and Rattle Magazine. https://michaelfavalagoldman.com/

Michael’s blog about the Poetry Critique Meet-up: http://strawdogwriters.org/blog/poetry-meet-up

Writers Night Out in February
2025-02-04 18:00 - 20:00 | Forbes Library, Coolidge Museum, 20 West Street, Northampton, 01060
Join Straw Dog Writers Guild on Tuesday February 4, 6:00-8:00pm for Writers Night Out with featured writer Jendi Reiter at Forbes Library. No registration required. If you want to participate in Open Mic and read, please sign up by 5:50pm. Ten names will be randomly selected. Each reader will have five minutes. The second half of the evening showcases our Featured Reader.
Masks are not currently required for indoor events. Please wear a mask if you would like to exercise caution.
Hosted by Jacqueline Sheehan, Rick Paar and Beth Filson.
Sponsored by Valley Home Improvement.
Origin Story by Jendi Reiter
Jendi Reiter is the author of Two Natures (winner of the Rainbow Award for Best Contemporary Gay Fiction); An Incomplete List of My Wishes; and five poetry collections. Their writing has won awards from the Iowa Review, New Letters, Solstice Lit Mag, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, among others.

Everyone Reads Second Sundays Open Mic
2025-02-09 18:00 - 20:00, 2025-03-09 18:00 - 20:00 | zoom
Come create community on second Sundays of every month 6-8pm EST with a virtual open mic on zoom.
Please contact Lindsay Rockwell for zoom link if interested: emonrock@mac.com
Format Focus: EVERYONE READS!

Co-create and reading and listening experience that is generous, dynamic, and heart-felt.
Read a 3-minute piece
Brief positive responses after readers share
Listeners welcome

Poetry Critique Meet-up in February
2025-02-15 13:00 - 15:30 | zoom
Poetry Critique Meet-up on Zoom is a chance for poets to give and receive immediate constructive feedback on their poems by everyone in attendance. Learn what is working in your poems, and what may need revision. Contribute your observations to other poets. Be fascinated by the breadth of the written word.
Register for Saturday, February 15, 1-3:30pm. Cost: by donation. Suggested sliding scale $25-40. No one turned away for lack of funds. Limited to five participants. Register early. Please sign up for one session per month. Register HERE. Questions – email: hammerandhorn@gmail.com

These workshops are made possible in part through the Eli Daniel Nemetz Todd Memorial Fund. Please make your donation through the Center for the Arts via Paypal here, via Venmo @Northampton-CenterForTheArts, or by mailing a check made out to NCFA to PO Box 366, Northampton, MA 01061. Please note Poetry/Prose in the memo line. Donations on the upper end of the scale help support our continued commitment to accessibility. If you need financial support, please apply through NCFA’s Community Fund.

Facilitator: Michael Favala Goldman is author of seven poetry collections and translator of nineteen books. His work has appeared in scores of publications such as The New Yorker, The Harvard Review, and Rattle Magazine. https://michaelfavalagoldman.com/

Michael’s blog about the Poetry Critique Meet-up: http://strawdogwriters.org/blog/poetry-meet-up

Holding a Bookstore Event Best Practices for Authors
2025-02-16 13:00 - 14:30 | zoom
craft workshop with Angelique Tung on Sunday February 16
Congratulations! Your book is due for publication. Now what? Whether you have a publicist or you’re representing yourself, this workshop will offer tips and advice on how to increase your chances of having an author event at an independent bookstore, and making it a success. You will learn what to say and what to avoid in an introductory email to events coordinators. This workshop will be your roadmap to navigate the event program, cultivate relationships, and make the most of this culmination of your hard work.
Join Straw Dog Writers Guild with editor and teacher Angelique Tung for this craft workshop “Holding a Bookstore Event – Best Practices for Authors” on Sunday, February 16 from 1:00-2:30pm via Zoom. Please register for this event. Register HERE.
Angelique Tung received her MFA in creative nonfiction from Fairfield University. She works as an events coordinator at Wellesley Books, an associate editor at Brevity, a reader at Pangyrus, and the Editor-in-Chief at Causeway. She teaches creative writing workshops to 9/11 survivors and first responders. She supports high school students in crafting brilliant college essays and is pursuing teaching projects that allow her to work with trauma survivors. Her memoir in progress focuses on her experience with breast cancer, body identity, and generational trauma. In 2024, she participated in the Kenyon Review Writers Workshop.

A Writer's Night in February
2025-02-20 18:45 - 19:30 | The Longmeadow Adult Center, 211 Maple Road, Longmeadow, MA, United States
Straw Dog Writers’ Guild and Longmeadow Adult Center present poet Janet MacFadyen on Thursday, February 20 from 6:45-7:30pm at the Longmeadow Adult Center.
Janet MacFadyen’s third full-length collection, State of Grass, was released February 2024 by Salmon Poetry. Honors include a Massachusetts Cultural Council grant, a 7-month Fine Arts Work Center fellowship in Provincetown, and a Cill Rialaig residency in Ireland. Recent work appears in Persimmon Tree, White Stag, The High Window, Scientific American, Wordpeace, and several Writing the Land anthologies, along with artwork in CALYX.. She is Managing Editor of the poetry collaborative, Slate Roof Press, and lives in the woods of Shutesbury.
You may register by calling 413-565-4150, option 1. Or you can just show up. The Longmeadow Adult Center is located at 211 Maple Road, Longmeadow.

A Writer's Night in March
2025-02-20 18:45 - 19:30 | The Longmeadow Adult Center, 211 Maple Road, Longmeadow, MA, United States
Straw Dog Writers’ Guild and Longmeadow Adult Center present Joy Baglio on Thursday, March 12 from 6:45-7:30pm at the Longmeadow Adult Center.
Joy Deva Baglio is a writer of speculative-literary fiction and the founder of the literary arts organization Pioneer Valley Writers’ Workshop, based in Northampton MA (and virtually). Her short stories appear widely in journals such as One Story, Ploughshares, The Missouri Review, The Iowa Review, American Short Fiction, Tin House, The Fairy Tale Review, and elsewhere. Two stories have been optioned for film/TV. Her writing has been supported by fellowships, grants, and residencies from Yaddo, The Elizabeth George Foundation, Ragdale, Vermont Studio Center, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, The Speculative Literature Foundation, and The Kerouac Project, among others. Joy holds an MFA from The New School and is currently at work on multiple novels and a short story collection. She’s represented by Peter Steinberg, at United Talent Agency. Joy lives in Northampton, MA, where she can also be found playing the bagpipes, running, and scheming up adventures. She writes a semi-regular Substack—Alone in a Room—on the craft of writing. Visit her online at www.JoyBaglio.com.
You may register by calling 413-565-4150, option 1. Or you can just show up. The Longmeadow Adult Center is located at 211 Maple Road, Longmeadow.

Writers Night Out in March
2025-03-04 18:00 - 20:00 | Forbes Library, Coolidge Museum, 20 West Street, Northampton, 01060
Join Straw Dog Writers Guild on Tuesday March 4, 6:00-8:00pm for Writers Night Out with featured writer Chaya Grossberg at Forbes Library. No registration required. If you want to participate in Open Mic and read, please sign up by 5:50pm. Ten names will be randomly selected. Each reader will have five minutes. The second half of the evening showcases our Featured Reader.
Masks are not currently required for indoor events. Please wear a mask if you would like to exercise caution.
Hosted by Jacqueline Sheehan, Rick Paar and Beth Filson.
Sponsored by Valley Home Improvement.
Chaya Grossberg is a life-long poet, non-fiction writer and advocate for those harmed by psychiatry. She has been writing and sharing poetry for 3 decades, participating and hosting open mics from coast to coast, NYC to San Francisco, Portland, OR, Olympia WA, and here in the Valley. She is passionate about poetry and spoken word opening space for expression especially for those who have been silenced by psychiatry. Her popular book Freedom from Psychiatric Drugs has great reviews is available on Amazon. Her poetry book, “Reborn: Poetic Codes for Psychiatric Survivors” is a convergence of her passions for poetry and freedom from psychiatry. She recently finished the first draft of her first novel, Clarissa’s Hot Sauce, which also touches on these themes.

Voices for Resistance presents: GOOD TROUBLE, a reading and conversation with Tolley Jones
2025-03-16 15:00 - 16:30 | Friends Meetinghouse, 43 Center St. Northampton, 43 Center Street, Northampton, MA, 01060, United States
Voices for Resistance presents: GOOD TROUBLE, a reading and conversation with Tolley Jones, a Daily Hampshire Gazette writer. Tolley Jones will read selections from her monthly column about the realities of being a Black woman in Western MA. Northampton Center for the Arts co-director Heather Geoffrey will then have a conversation with Tolley about being a writer and columnist. Audience members will have the opportunity to ask Tolley questions following the discussion.

Location: Friends Meetinghouse, 43 Center St. Northampton
Date/Time: March 16, 2025 3PM
Since 2020 Tolley Jones has been writing a monthly, regionally syndicated column for the Daily Hampshire Gazette. She earned a BA in English from Smith College in 1995. A member of the Straw Dog Writers Guild, Tolley has worked for thirty years with children and families, supporting early literacy. She is currently compiling a collection of her essays.

Co-Director of the Northampton Center for the Arts, Heather Geoffrey is a multidisciplinary artist, arts advocate, and nonprofit leader. She blends her expertise in arts administration with her creative practice, which spans painting, photography, collage, mixed media, and performance. Heather is passionate about the intersection of art, advocacy, and education, using her leadership to foster inclusive, vibrant arts communities.

WriteAngles Call for Proposals!
2025-03-20 08:00 - 2025-05-15 18:00
Be part of the only writers conference in Western Massachusetts! If you are an experienced writing professional or teacher of writing submit a proposal to be part of the 2025 WriteAngles Conference HERE.
If you have an idea for a session that you would like to see at the conference, you can submit that idea HERE.
We can’t wait to hear your ideas!

A Writer's Night in March
2025-03-20 18:45 - 19:30 | The Longmeadow Adult Center, 211 Maple Road, Longmeadow, MA, United States
Straw Dog Writers’ Guild and Longmeadow Adult Center present writer Rick Parr on Thursday, March 20 from 6:45-7:30pm at the Longmeadow Adult Center.
Rick Paar is a psychologist. For thirty-five years he taught a variety of course ranging from Theories of Personality (a lot of first year students) to Group Therapy (masters and doctoral students). He chaired the psychology department at Springfield College, served on the executive board of the Massachusetts Psychological Association, published essays in psych journals (Psychotherapy Patient, Voices, The International Journal of Play) and literary journals (Meat for Tea, Blue Nib, Aethelon). He was a columnist for The MPA Quarterly, The Reminder, and the Wayne (Nebraska) Herald. Somewhere along the line it occurred to him that literature, in many ways, does a better job of understanding what it means to be human than psychology does, so he began writing stories: some fiction, some nonfiction, some long, some short. He is on the Board of Directors of Straw Dog Writers’ Guild. His travel memoir God Bless America and Breakfast Burritos to Go was published in December 2022. Rick lives in Longmeadow and has two grown kids and one grandson.
You may register by calling 413-565-4150, option 1. Or you can just show up.The Longmeadow Adult Center is located at 211 Maple Road, Longmeadow.
