Jump-Start a Story: A Sisters in Crime Workshop

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The Surrealists used to pool their money and buy a one-way ticket to the furthest destination they could afford. They'd send one person off on an adventure and they'd have to make their way back somehow, and tell the others all about it when they returned. Along the way, they’d collect talismans that helped them Read More

Writers Night In: April 2021

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Join us for Writers Night In Open Mic on Tuesday, April 6, 7:00pm. To Register, email wno@strawdogwriters.org to request the Zoom link. Include your first and last name and zip code. Our featured writer is Sharon Tracey. Bio: Sharon Tracey is a poet and editor and author of two full-length poetry collections: Chroma: Five Centuries Read More

How To Injure Your Characters

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Dr. David Page will cover how, when, what, where in a story to place a trauma scene, as well as how to construct the scene with appropriate details. Specifics of head and neck, chest, abdomen and extremity injuries will be briefly covered. Also, the U.S. trauma system will be described to permit the writer to Read More

Writers Read Hilltowns, April 2021

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Join us for Writers Read / Hilltowns! On Sunday, April 11 from 2-4 pm our featured reader is Ann Averill. To attend, email Jane Roy Brown at brownjaneroy@gmail.com for a link to the meeting. Bio: Ann C. Averill is the author of Teacher Dropout, Finding Grace in an Unjust School based on her true story Read More

Black Writers Read with Shannon Luders-Manuel

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RESCHEDULED: Saturday, April 17, 6:00pm Please join us for the next episode of Black Writers Read featuring memoirist and essayist, Shannon Luders-Manuel. Shannon will read from her essay, "Rediscovering My Father", which was published in the New York Times. Shannon will also share insight into her memoir and her other work. Go to the Valley Read More

Writers Read / Hilltowns, May 2021

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Join us for Writers Read / Hilltowns! On Sunday, May 2 from 2-4 pm our featured reader is Suzanne Rancourt. To attend, email Jane Roy Brown at brownjaneroy@gmail.com for a link to the meeting. Bio: Sundress Best of the Net Nominee, Suzanne S. Rancourt, is of Abenaki/Huron descent. Author of Billboard in the Clouds, Northwestern UP, Read More

Writers Night In May 2021

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Join us for Writers Night In Open Mic on Tuesday, May 4, 7:00pm. Registration required. Register HERE. Our featured writer is Celia Jeffries. Celia Jeffries is a writer, editor, and teacher whose work has appeared in numerous newspapers and literary magazines including Westview, Solstice Literary Magazine, and Puerto del Sol, as well as the anthology Read More

Voices for Resistance

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Straw Dog Writers Guild presents Voices for Resistance on Wednesday, May 19 at 7:00pm. Featured writers reading include: Amina Jordan-Mendez, Andrea Hairston, Andrea Lawlor, Charles Coe, Desmond Peeples, and Shanta Lee Gander. This event is sponsored by SDWG Social Justice Committee and Forbes Library. Register through co-sponsor Forbes library at: forbeslibrary.libcal.com/event/7501886   Here is the Read More

Writing About Politics and Current Events: Opportunities and Obstacles

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Politics often seems like a faraway, abstract subject that has little to do with our everyday lives. Current events have always been complex and difficult but, in recent years, seem even more divisive and frustrating than ever. So how can we write about important issues in ways that won’t drive us apart? This workshop will Read More

Writers Night Out/In June

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Join us for Writers Night In Open Mic on Tuesday, June 1, 7:00pm. Registration required. Click HERE to register.  Our featured writer is Shanta Lee Gander. Bio: Shanta Lee Gander’s work has been featured in many publications and is the 2020 recipient of the Arthur Williams Award for Meritorious Service to the Arts and 2020 Read More

Writers Read / Hilltowns June

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Join us for Writers Read / Hilltowns! On Sunday, June 6 from 2-4 pm our featured reader is Howie Faerstein. To attend, email Jane Roy Brown at brownjaneroy@gmail.com for a link to the meeting. Bio: Howie Faerstein is the author of two chapbooks: Play a Song on the Drums, he said and Out of Order Read More

Poetry Ritual 2021

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On the three-year anniversary of the Poetry Critique Meet-up, co-sponsored by Straw Dog Writers and the Northampton Center for the Arts, twenty poets who have participated in the meet-ups this past year will give short readings. Join us for this gala event by writing for the zoom link at poetryritual2021@gmail.com.

An Exploration of Flash Fiction & Flash Memoir

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Join us online on June 16 from 6:30 – 8:00pm for An Exploration of Flash Fiction & Flash Memoir. Flash takes everything we love about compelling stories - the complexity, nuance, characters, emotion, tension, stakes - and delivers it all in an impossibly short high-wire act that leaves us deeply affected and that resonates long Read More

Black Writers Read: Juneteenth, One Year Later

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On Friday, June 19, 2020, Valley Society hosted an over 3-hour virtual event, convening 16 Black writers from across the country to share their work. Seeing the need to sustain this platform, we launched the series, Black Writers Read. Join us, one year later in celebration of Juneteenth, to hear from members of Valley Society Read More

Writers Night Out/In July

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Join us for Writers Night In Open Mic on Tuesday, July 6, 7:00pm. Registration required. Click HERE to register. Our featured writer is JoAnne Silver Jones. Writer Bio: In her first book, a memoir, Headstrong: Surviving a traumatic brain injury, JoAnne Silver Jones tells of her journey from suffering an act of random violence that Read More

Writers Read Hilltowns July

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Join us for Writers Read / Hilltowns! On Sunday, July 11 from 2-4 pm our featured reader is Dr. Jim Brosnan. To attend, email Jane Roy Brown at brownjaneroy@gmail.com for a link to the meeting. Reader Bio: Dr. Jim Brosnan holds the rank of full professor at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, RI. Jim Read More

Writers Read Hilltowns August

Join us for Writers Read / Hilltowns! On Sunday, August 1 from 2-4 pm. Our featured reader is Nicole M. Young. To attend, email Jane Roy Brown at brownjaneroy@gmail.com for a link to the meeting. Bio: Originally from Detroit, Nicole M. Young considers her creative practice to be inter+multi+disciplinary where theatre, music, poetry, and live Read More

August 3 Deadline for Author Showcase Submissions

Straw Dog Writers Guild and Forbes Library invite Straw Dog Writers Guild members with a book published in 2020 or 2021 to read as part of the annual Author Showcase on September 8. If you are interested in being part of the Showcase, please indicate your interest by emailing strawdogsubmission@gmail.com. The deadline to express interest Read More

Writers Night Out/In August

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Join us for Writers Night In Open Mic on Tuesday, August 3, 7:00pm. Registration required. Click HERE to register. Our featured writer is Adam Grabowski. Adam Grabowski is the author of the chapbook Go on Bewilderment (Attack Bear Press, 2020) and his poems have appeared in such journals as Sixth Finch, Rust + Moth, Hobart, Read More

Writers Night Out/In September 2021

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Join us for Writers Night Out/In Open Mic on Tuesday, September, 7:00pm. Registration required. Register HERE. Our featured writer is Lanette Sweeney. If you have any trouble registering, contact Beth at: strawdogevents@gmail.com Lanette Sweeney's debut collection, What I Should Have Said: A Poetry Memoir About Losing A Child to Addiction, is being published by Kentucky-based Read More

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