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• Brevity, Density, Power: Reading Short Stories by Women

  • Start
    Monday, March 25, 2024
  •  
  • End
    Monday, May 06, 2024
  •  
  • Schedule
    6 sessions
  • Location
    via Zoom

  Register

  Brevity, Density, Power: Reading Short Stories by Women ($169)
  

  In this workshop, we'll read and explore six wildly different stories by women writers including Kate Chopin, Alice Walker and Gish Jen. You will receive both text and an audio file of the story, read by the instructor, before each class. Our conversations will welcome participants’ thoughts, questions, wild ideas and thoughtful challenges as we learn from and with each other, diving into each text and finding connections to our own lives and times.
  

  Anndee Hochman is a journalist, essayist, storyteller and teaching artist. For more than 20 years, she has facilitated community-based literature discussions through People & Stories/Gente y Cuentos. She also guides writers of all ages and experience levels in crafting poetry, memoir and creative nonfiction. Her books include Everyday Acts & Small Subversions: Women Reinventing Family, Community and Home (The Eighth Mountain Press) and Anatomies: A Novella and Stories (Picador USA). She’s at work on a young adult novel titled My Plural Is People.
  

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• Screenplay: So You Think Your Life's A Movie?

  • Start
    Tuesday, April 23, 2024
  •  
  • End
    Thursday, April 25, 2024
  •  
  • Schedule
    3 sessions
  • Location
    via Zoom

  Register

  Screenplay: So You Think Your Life's A Movie? ($149)

  
  

  We learn how to write a screenplay and see the teachings we learned played out in an Oscar winning screenplay. 3 acts covered in 3 days.

  
  

  Linda Bergman wrote 24 films and produced 5 of them. She’s been nominated for an Emmy and the Writer’s Guild Award. Her musical, "Wanna Play?”, was produced on PBS and won The Alpha Award in Children’s Programming. Her Lifetime Movie "Almost Golden"ranked #2 of all Time! She’s written two books on screenplay and teaches worldwide.
  

  
  

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• Free Write: Experimenting with Epistolary Fiction

  • When
    Friday, April 26, 2024
  •  
    1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
  • Location
    Zoom Link: https://iwwg.zoom.us/j/89835818435

  Register

  Friday Freewrite: Dear World: Experimenting with Epistolary Fiction.

  

  Mathangi Subramanian is an award winning writer and educator Her novel A People's History of Heaven was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award and was longlisted for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, among others. Her middle grade book Dear Mrs. Naidu won the South Asia Book Award and her picture bookA Butterfly Smileis in the Nobel Museum. Her shorter work has appeared in The Washington Post, Harper's Bazaar, Ms.com, The San Francisco Chronicle, Kweli Journal, and McSweeny's Internet Tendency, among others. She is a guest artist at Denver School of the Arts and a Fulbright-Nehru Senior scholar, and she holds a doctorate in communication and education from Columbia Teachers College. 
  

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• WRITING EARLY BLACK AMERICANS IN HISTORICAL FICTION

  • When
    Saturday, April 27, 2024
  •  
    4:00 PM - 5:15 PM
  • Location
    via Zoom

  Register

  WRITING EARLY BLACK AMERICANS IN HISTORICAL FICTION ($39)

  
  

  
  

  This workshop includes an overview of:
  

  1. Writing Race: The role race place in the setting; and Physical Descriptions and Stereotypes
  2. What can you say? - Getting the Language right
  3. Resources that can help
  4. Q&A

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Renee Harleston is the founder of Writing Diversely. Renee believes deeply in the power of multi-dimensional representation to change lives. A published fiction writer with a Graduate Degree in Cultural Anthropology...(see writing inclusively for full bio)
  

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• Reading and Writing Fairy Tales

  • Start
    Saturday, May 04, 2024
  •  
  • End
    Saturday, May 25, 2024
  •  
  • Schedule
    4 sessions
  • Location
    via Zoom

  Register

  Reading and Writing Fairy Tales ($149)
  

  In this 4-part workshop spanning four weeks, you are going to deep dive in the history, reading and writing of the fairy tale and come to know its exciting possibilities as a reader and writer. You will also be engaging in readings and activities in-between the scheduled sessions.

  4 sessions
  05/04/2024: re-membering fairy tales: history, genre and structure
  05/11/2024: reading fairy tales: the classics, the modern and the contemporary
  05/18/2024: writing fairy tales: guided prompts and activities
  05/25/2024: twisting fairy tales: rewriting, queering, evolving

  Francesca Aniballi is an author, a teacher, and a creative practitioner from Italy. She holds a PhD in comparative literature, a master's degree in anthropology and professional qualifications in creativity, expressive arts therapies, and writing.

  https://www.blueplanetvision.com 
  
  

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• Writing Life: Exploring Memoir and Personal Essay

  • Start
    Tuesday, May 07, 2024
  •  
  • End
    Tuesday, June 11, 2024
  •  
  • Schedule
    6 sessions
  • Location
    via Zoom

  Register

  Writing Life: Exploring Memoir and Personal Essay (starting at $129)

  

  Now more than ever, memoir and personal essay allows us to speak of our own experiences on our terms. Unlike autobiography or biography, which are often preoccupied with the facts of an event, or when things take place on a timeline, memoir can instead focus on the feelings and senses of a memory’s architecture, and the unique ways our memories connect to one another. In this generative six-week workshop, we will study and discuss techniques used by a variety of memoirists and poets who have written their own stories and experiences in interesting ways. Each student will also draft one piece in a form of their choice (prose or poetry) each week that experiments with sharing a memory or experience and receive weekly feedback from me and their classmates. At the close of the course, each student will have up to six new drafts that share or explore memory. Each student will also be encouraged to choose one draft they are most proud of to share with the class during our final Zoom session as part of a celebratory reading.

  Lauren Brazeal Garza is a disabled author and Ph.D. candidate in literature at the University of Texas at Dallas with an MFA in writing from Bennington College. Her published poetry collections include Gutter (YesYes Books, 2018), a memoir-in-verse which chronicles her homelessness as a teenager. She has also published three chapbooks of poetry and flash fiction, most recently Santa Muerte Santa Muerte: I was Here Release Me (Tram Editions, 2023), which features fictional interviews with ghosts. Her work has appeared in Poetry Northwest, Waxwing, and Verse Daily among many other journals.
  

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• A Quest for Innocence in a Troubled World

  • When
    Friday, May 17, 2024
  •  
    10:00 AM - 1:00 PM
  • Location
    via Zoom

  Register

  A Quest for Innocence in a Troubled World ($79)

  
  

  This workshop brings to the poetic table three things: the inspiration to go on a quest; rediscovering a sense of innocence in language; and the overwhelming realities of today's troubled world. So, what does the poet have to say to the child, the adolescent, the newlyweds, the new parents, the people who just bought their first house and had their first baby? How do we re-discover language? Is childhood an innocent place? Is linguistic innocence desirable for a poet in the context of so much societal conflict?

  
  

  
  

  Carmen Bugan's most recent books are the collection of poems Time Being (Shearsman, 2022), and the book of essays Poetry and the Language of Oppression: Essays on Politics and Poetics (Oxford University Press, 2021). Her prize-winning memoir, Burying the Typewriter: Childhood Under the Eye of the Secret Police (Picador, 2012), was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, and her new and selected poems, Lilies from America (Shearsman, 2019), was a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation. She teaches literature and creative writing at New York University Abu Dhabi.
  

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• Research and Resonance

  • Start
    Saturday, May 18, 2024
  •  
  • End
    Saturday, June 01, 2024
  •  
  • Schedule
    2 sessions
  • Location
    via Zoom

  Register

  Research and Resonance (starting at $89)
  

  

  Research ca n deepen our writing across genres, delivering facts, words, metaphors, inspiration, and details to build characters, stories, arguments, and images. It can also help us to understand ourselves as part of a connected world. In this workshop, we will explore the generative power of looking something up, how to keep track of what we’ve learned, and how to use facts to enliven our writing.

  Catharina Coenen teaches biology and writing at Allegheny College. She co-hosts IWWG’s virtual open mic series throughout the year. Her essays and poems have appeared in literary magazines, nominated for the Pushcart Prize, noted in Best American Essays, and featured in Best of the Net. More on her creative work can be found at https://sites.google.com/a/allegheny.edu/botany-for-storytellers/about-this-site/author.

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• Motherhood: The Forever Job. A Reading & Open Mic

  • When
    Sunday, May 19, 2024
  •  
    7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
  • Location
    ONLINE

  Register

  Motherhood: The Forever Job. A Reading & Open Mic

  
  

  Motherhood: The Forever Job
  
  An evening of new writing by author and artist Suzi Banks Baum, followed by a discussion about the importance of writing motherhood with Joy Rose, award-winning artist, activist, and founder of the Museum of Motherhood. Participate in an Open Mic event for IWWG members and guests.

  Suzi Banks Baum is a protector of imagination, nurturer of attention, and devotee to the handmade. An award-winning author of creative nonfiction and skilled teacher of mixed media collage and book art, Suzi brings an embodied approach to artistic expression with deep respect for land and community.

  Martha Joy Rose, BFA, MALS with a Master’s in Mother Studies. She is an award-winning artist and activist. Her pursuits have included academia, large-scale community gatherings, and she is the former lead singer of the band Housewives on Prozac. She founded the Museum of Motherhood in 2003 in NYC. In 2019, she brought MoM to St. Petersburg. https://mommuseum.org/
  

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• Meditation Journaling for Neurotrauma Survivors & Caregivers

  • When
    Thursday, May 23, 2024
  •  
    12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
  • Location
    via Zoom

  Register

  Meditation Journaling for Neurotrauma Survivors & Caregivers ($39)

  

  Explore trauma-sensitive meditation journaling as a contemplative practice for self-healing, wonder, and joy. By viewing mindfulness through the lens of neurotrauma, we evolve our understanding of the beauty, power, and practice of narrative presence with heartfelt awareness, by way of the intuitive mind. Learn three different trauma-sensitive meditation journaling methods that reflect a strengths-based approach. Nurture a new perspective of neurodivergent creativity, and connect with writing as an accessible practice for spiritual self-care in difficult times. Caregivers welcome.

  Worthy Stokes is a bestselling mindfulness author who survived life-altering neurotrauma and a lucid, Near Death Experience. Her trauma-sensitive meditation journals and programs have since touched thousands worldwide. She currently studies Narrative Medicine at Columbia University.

  
  

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• Writing for Children

  • When
    Sunday, June 09, 2024
  •  
    1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
  • Location
    via Zoom

  Register

  Writing for Children ($25)

  
  

  Talk about children's writing, editing and adapting animated content for children

  
  

  Hi, I'm Swarnima, a writer based in Mumbai.
  Over the past few years, I've focused on writing animated children's storybooks. I've written, edited, and translated over 100 such books. My skills extend to various writing disciplines, as evidenced by the different projects I've undertaken.
  

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• Women’s words…let's talk things through!

  • When
    Saturday, June 15, 2024
  •  
    11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
  • Location
    via Zoom

  Register

  Women’s words…let's talk things through! (starting at $39)

  
  

  
  

  In this 90-minute workshop, we will look at research and poems regarding women’s words and men’s ways. Findings show that women talk more polity than men, using tag questions and empty adjectives. But: which findings are (still) facts, and which ones seem fairy tales? Say, is an interruption just a misunderstanding or a conversation controller?
  
  We will touch upon theories by Lakoff, Stokoe and Cameron (a.o.), and upon poetry by Eliot, Katrin and Rich (a.o.)…with time to write ourselves: about women’s worlds, in women’s words!

  
  

  Kate Copeland is a linguist and poet, working@ the worldwide web, while
  housesitting@ the world. She is curator-editor for Ekphrastic Review and
  hosts workshops for IWWG and TER. Find Kate’s poetry@ Instagram [kate.copeland.poems] & published @ TER, Wildfire Words, AltPoetry, First.Lit-East a.o.
  

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• How Food Invokes Poetry

  • Start
    Saturday, June 22, 2024
  •  
  • End
    Saturday, July 06, 2024
  •  
  • Schedule
    3 sessions
  • Location
    via Zoom

  Register

  How Food Invokes Poetry (starting at $99)

  How Food Invokes Poetry is a three-week workshop that is an invocation to all five senses and brings alive both food and poetry. You will engage with multi-dimensional paradigms by bringing your own experiences, close reading of evocative poetic texts related to food as well as creating your own food poems. oetry is witness, and what better location to witness than at the kitchen table? Ingredients, recipes, and rituals of honoring are a celebration and a meditation. Mealtimes hold us, as well as history. Every morsel is an activation process; stories have been buried within our pots and pans. Flavors serve as a platter of beginnings and endings of relationships, cultures, identities, memory, medicine, and bodies.
  
  **All readings will be done online, and materials shall be provided by the teacher during class as slides and handouts.

  
  

  Kashiana lives in North Carolina and is a TEDx speaker with two full length poetry collections and a chapbook. Her newest full-length collection, Witching Hour is due in 2024 with Glass Lyre press . Kashiana serves as Managing Editor for Poets Reading the News.

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• Two Lands, Two Languages, Two Minds

  • When
    Sunday, June 23, 2024
  •  
    9:00 AM - 10:30 AM
  • Location
    via Zoom

  Register

  Two Lands, Two Languages, Two Minds (starting at $39)

  
  

  As a Korean-American poet, I often describe my writing process as two minds trying to communicate on the same page, across the gaps between identities; I naturally write in both languages because I think in both languages. So I will use my poem, “The Gap,” to demonstrate the effect of different languages represented as different minds. Then, participants will use the “gap method” to create their own short poem.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Tanya (Hyonhye) Ko Hong is an internationally published poet, translator, and cultural curator championing bilingual poetry and poets. Born and raised in South Korea, she immigrated to the USA at the age of eighteen. She holds an MFA degree from Antioch University, Los Angeles. Tanya is the author of five books, including The War Still Within (KYSO Flash Press, 2019). Her work appears in Rattle, Beloit Poetry Journal, Allium, Entropy, Cultural Weekly, WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly (The Feminist Press), great weather for MEDIA, the Choson Ilbo, and The Korea Times, among others. You can find her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

  
  

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• 2024 IWWG Summer Conference: Writing Together: Community, Connection, Creation

  • Start
    Thursday, August 01, 2024
  • End
    Monday, August 05, 2024
  • Location
    ROGER WILLIAMS UNIVERSITY

  Register

  Conference Schedule Site

  This year IWWG’s  2024 Summer Conference, will take place August 1-5 on the beautiful, seaside campus of Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island. Join us for this once-a-year immersive weekend; experience Community, Connection, and Creativity in the company of women Writing Together. You’ll thank yourself.

  Every day, choose from among 20 different workshops, in all genres, taught by teachers both familiar and those bringing exciting new voices and perspectives. Experience the joy of being “heard” during in-class readings, nightly open mics, and intensive workshops and critiques focused on your own writing. Unwind, rejuvenate, and build lasting connections with like-minded women writers joined by our words and our stories. The beauty of this location will inspire both you and  your creativity. We hope you'll join us for this transformative journey into Writing Together by the sea.  

  This year will feature the option of a single room or choosing to room with another, cutting your cost significantly. All rooms are in 'quad' suites, set up for four (2 bedrooms, 2 in each room). Single rooms (single occupancy per bedroom) share bath, common area and kitchen with another single room in the suite. Double rooms (double occupancy in twin beds) share bath, kitchen, and common area with another 2-person double in the suite. 

  Slides of our Open House/Information Session from 2/4/2024

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• IWWG24 CONFERENCE INTENSIVES

  • Start
    Friday, August 02, 2024
  • End
    Sunday, August 04, 2024

  Register

  
  

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• WRITING TOGETHER VIRTUAL WORKSHOPS

  • Start
    Friday, August 02, 2024
  •  
    9:00 AM
  • End
    Sunday, August 04, 2024
  •  
    5:00 PM

  Register

  WRITING TOGETHER VIRTUAL WORKSHOPS

  August 2-4, 2024

  
  

  Friday, August 2nd
  

  A Conversation with Sigrid Nunez. Time and description  to be announced; Visit Sigrid’s website here: sigridnunez.com

  Saturday, August 3rd

  “Our Blinding, Bright Lives”: A Meditation and Freewriting Circle #1 with Lisa Freedman

  9:00 - 10:00 am EST: We will gather, and Lisa will guide us in five minutes of silent, breath-awareness meditation. Then we will freewrite off quotes and poems by Tracy K. Smith and share what comes through. The sharing is optional. The focus here is listening – listening to your inner self, listening to Tracy K. Smith’s lines, and listening to your own and each other’s words. 

  11:30-12:30 - FLASH FICTION  

  Writing Peace with Amy Shimshon-Santo

  1:00 - 2:30 pm EST: Writing Peace - how women are imagining culture and place beyond conflict and war. 

  Sunday, August 4th

  “Our Blinding, Bright Lives”: A Meditation and Freewriting Circle #2 with Lisa Freedman

  9:00 - 10:00 am EST: We will gather, and Lisa will guide us in five minutes of silent, breath-awareness meditation. Then we will freewrite off quotes and poems by Tracy K. Smith and share what comes through. The sharing is optional. The focus here is listening – listening to your inner self, listening to Tracy K. Smith’s lines, and listening to your own and each other’s words.

  Pet Whispers with Kate Copeland

  11:30am - 12:30pm EST: During this workshop, we are going to read, write and whisper about pets! Whether they are swimmers or singers, curled up on your bed or crawled away in a crate, pets are our sweet, loyal (and yes, sometimes annoying) companions. Expect fun and facts re animal language and training thoughts, expect lots of ‘pet prompts’ as well. Even if you do not own a dog or never had a cat, you will find inspiration in the animal pieces that will spring up. Do bring photos or memorabilia along, and let’s nose at how pets’ moves affect us in all manner of ways!

  The Modern Publishing Landscape

  3:00 - 4:30 pm EST: The publishing industry today looks much different than it did a decade ago. In that time, self-publishing has outgrown its longstanding 'vanity' stigma and become a viable publishing option for many writers. The traditional publishing industry has also experienced great changes and as a result it just isn’t what it used to be, even for those who’ve found success within the system. This workshop provides an overview of the modern book publishing landscape and gives advice to authors on how to successfully navigate it. We’ll discuss the general publishing options of Traditional Publishing, DIY, and Assisted Self-Publishing — how it all works and the logistics of moving your book from the computer screen to the bookshelf.

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• IWWG24 BOOKFAIR

  • When
    Saturday, August 03, 2024
  •  
    11:00 AM - 4:00 PM
  • Location
    RWU
  • Registered
    29 registrants

  Registration is closed

  IWWG BOOK FAIR

  • Each author will share a 6 foot table
    
  • Authors responsible for shipping books to/from venue
    
  • Authors responsible for set up and breakdown of their area
    
  • Please bring enough books for half a 6 foot table
    

  If shipping, send to: (please do not have boxes arrive before July 25, 2024)

  Roger Williams Mail Center
  

  1 Old Ferry Rd.
  Bristol RI 02809-2971
  Tel. 401-254-3147

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• Intermediate Playwriting

  • Start
    Thursday, August 08, 2024
  •  
  • End
    Thursday, September 12, 2024
  •  
  • Schedule
    6 sessions
  • Location
    via Zoom
  • Spaces left
    12

  Register

  Intermediate Playwriting ($199)

  

  Every script, every new play is a theory. I don’t know if it’s going to work, which means a 

  writer has to go in like a tailor, and listen to the actors and say, trim this more, or give her more. If it is perfectly tailored for the first cast it will be universal.” In this six-week course, you will get to sharpen your craft, learn revision techniques, and hear your work read aloud by professional actors. Each week, the instructor will share a short craft lesson, lead group discussions, facilitate breakout rooms, and guide you through writing exercises with skill focused prompts. There will be some outside assignments, including reading plays and short craft essays. The reading list will focus on work that push outside of traditional play structure, with notable works by Sharifa Yasmin, Hansol Jung, and Dave Harris. By week three, we will transition in

  to workshop where you will have the opportunity to hear your work read aloud by professional actors and receive on-the-spot feedback. Using the Liz Lerman Critical Response Process, workshops will aim to nurture the growth of a play in early development. Your instructor will organize one-on-one meetings for extensive feedback, as well as individual time to dig into you as an artist. The course will culminate with a session focused on the business of playwriting. The instructor will share professional knowledge about the development of a new play, the submission process, artistic statements, and equip you with resources to take your theatre work to the next level. This class is intended for intermediate and advanced level playwrights who are familiar with the theatrical form

  KIRA ROCKWELL is a neurodivergent playwright and educator. She is an Artist Fellow in Dramatic Writing with the Mass Cultural Council, a Recipient of Judith Royer Excellence in Playwriting Award, Second place recipient of the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, and more. Selected plays include OH TO BE PURE AGAIN (world premiere Actor's Express); THE TRAGIC ECSTASY OF GIRLHOOD (workshop premiere Boston Playwrights’ Theatre); and WITH MY EYES SHUT (published with Original Works). Her work has been developed with The Kennedy Center, National New Play Network, Great Plains Theatre Commons, among others. Commissions with Ensemble Studio Theatre, Actor's Express, and Moonbox Productions. She holds a BFA in Theatre Performance, and an MFA in Playwriting from Boston University. As an educator, Rockwell has taught at Brandeis University, Wheaton College, and centers across New England. Before graduate school, Rockwell worked at the intersection of mental health and arts education. Through a trauma-informed, healing-centered lens, she aims to nurture communal spaces that disrupt passivity and empower agency. www.kirarockwell.com
  
  

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