Writing News Roundup

July 1, 2022

We are thrilled to bring you the latest in literary events that have caught our attention. These events encompass a range of free and ticketed registration and are not affiliated with AWP. All times are in ET.

Saturday, July 9

2:00 p.m.— Join City Lights Bookstore & Publishers in welcoming Booker Prize Winning novelist  James Kelman in Conversation with Alan Black for a discussion of Kelman’s new novel God’s Teeth and Other Phenomena. Kelman’s new novel explores the life of a protagonist who must keep himself from going mad when tasked with having to forgo his own writing to devote his life to teaching others how to write. This event offers free registration and will take place online.

4—5:30 p.m.— In Poetry Reading: Maps, Oceans, Otherwise, poets Craig Santos Perez and Aracelis Girmay will be reading from Habitat Threshold and The Black Maria respectively in response to the exhibition “A Thousand Secrets.” The readings and featured discussions will look into themes of migration, ecology, militarization, and belonging. “A Thousand Secrets” will be on view at apexart in New York, NY from June 3—July 31, 2022. This event will premier online and offers free registration.

Monday, July 11

1—3 p.m.— Reading Queer presents Defying Categorizations: Writing Short Forms, led by Jennifer Maritza McCauley. McCauley is a poet, professor, and editor who has received multiple awards and grants. In this workshop, writers will experiment with multiple short forms such as flash fiction, prose, and lyric essays, and understand the limitless possibilities of writing in short form. This event offers free registration and will take place online.

9 p.m.— Diana Goetsch will be reading from and discussing her new book This Body I Wore: A Memoir in a virtual event hosted by The Elliot Bay Book Company. Goetsch is a published poet, essayist, and teacher with over twenty years of experience in New York’s schools. This Body I Wore dwells on authenticity and the author’s personal experience transitioning. This event offers free registration and will take place online.

Tuesday, July 12

7—8 p.m.— SocietyX presents SpellWork— A Virtual Writing Hour. This hour-long event will consist of a brief intention setting at the top of the program, fifty minutes of peaceful writing time, and a brief closing reflection and celebration. Registration is free, and this event will take place online.  

7—8 p.m.— Pop into Georgia Poetry in the Parks’ Summer Kickoff Event! Meet poets such as Alejandro Lemus-Gomez, James Davis May, Adrienne Su, and others who have penned the poems that will be posted around Georgia’s parks this summer. Georgia Poetry in the Parks aims to engage parkgoers by prompting them to deeply consider their surrounding environments and the power of language. This event is free and will take place online.

7—8 p.m.— Politics and Prose presents Sleeping Alone, a panel and discussion featuring Ru Freeman, Natashia Deón, and Dolen Perkins-Valdez. In Sleeping Alone, author Ru Freeman explores the ideas of borders, feeling foreign both to the world and to others around you, and how change is confronted during times of distress and discomfort. This event offers free registration and will take place online.

Wednesday, July 13

12—1 p.m.— Women Writers &  Supernatural Short Stories, a literary series hosted by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Libraries, will explore two editions of lost supernatural stories by authors Helen de Guerry Simpson and D K Broster. Kate Macdonald and Melissa Edmundson will unite to discuss these late authors and their strange works. This event offers free registration and will take place via Zoom.

3—4:30 p.m.— In this meeting of the International Book Club, attendees will be discussing Phenotypes by Paulo Scott, a novel longlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize. Phenotypes details the lives of two Brazilian brothers and how bigotry can become instilled in both institutions and interpersonal relationships. This event offers free registration and will take place online.

Thursday, July 14

7—9 p.m.— New to nonfiction? Join Short Story Book Club for a free installment of its six-week workshop titled Nonfiction Writing for Newbies. This class will be composed of a brief lecture, exercises, discussions, and workshops. The class will take place every Thursday night until August 18. Registration is free, and this event will take place online.  

7:30 p.m.— Greenlight Bookstore welcomes author Andrew Erish for a discussion of his novel Vitagraph: America’s First Great Motion Picture Studio, in conversation with Joel Dinerstein. Vitagraph examines and assesses one of the earliest contending organizations in film and silent movies. This event is free to register to and will take place via Zoom.

8—9 p.m.— Join P&P Live!, Café Libro, and Books & Books for a reading and discussion of Erika Sánchez’s new book Crying in the Bathroom, in conversation with Sandra Cisneros. Explore the memoir rich in self-awareness, perception, and ideas. Sánchez’s confessional style collection of essays will delve into depression, white feminism, and many other topics. This event offers free registration and will take place online.

Saturday, July 16

11 a.m.—12 p.m.— Burnaway will be hosting Becca Rothfield as she leads an Art Writing Incubator Public Talk. Rothfield is an essayist, critic, editor, and PhD candidate whose writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, The Baffler, The Nation, and many other publications. This event offers free registration and will take place online.

Thursday, July 21

7—9 p.m.— New to nonfiction? Join Short Story Book Club for a free installment of its six-week workshop titled Nonfiction Writing for Newbies. This class will be composed of a brief lecture, exercises, discussions, and workshops. This class will take place every Thursday night until August 18. Registration is free, and this event will take place online.   

7 p.m.— White Whale Bookstore will be hosting a poetry reading with authors Lubna Safi, Rachel Mennies, and Gabeba Baderoon, respective authors of Your Blue and the Quiet Lament, The Naomi Letters, and The History of Intimacy. This event offers free registration and will take place via Zoom.

7:30 p.m.— The Notebooks Collective presents In Conversation: Jessica Cuello and Jan Beatty. In this discussion, poets and authors Jessica Cuello and Jan Beatty will discuss Cuello’s new book Liar as well as other aspects of the writing world. This event is free to register to and will take place online.

Monday, July 25

6—7 p.m.— East Hampton Library will be hosting Author Talk: Cynthia Barnett’s The Sound of the Sea. In this book, author Cynthia Barnett explores humankind’s historical relationship with seashells. Seashells have a long history of being used as currency, jewelry, luxurious frivolities, and religious objects globally across many cultures. Tune in to learn more about our human relationship with shells, and where it stands today. This event offers free registration and will take place online.

8 p.m.— Come together virtually to celebrate the 50th anniversary of AGNI, an esteemed literary magazine based out of New England. This event will be the fourth of six installments taking place this year that celebrate and uplift the history of this literary magazine and its contributors. AGNI publishes two 250-page printed issues per year in addition to its online collection of essays, poems, reviews, and fiction.  Throughout the years, AGNI has seen several of its contributors go on to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Registration is free, and this event will take place via Zoom.

Tuesday, July 26

7—8 p.m.—Gwinnett County Public Library and author Jode Millman will be hosting a Writer’s Law Workshop: Protecting Your Artistic Rights. In this workshop, attendees will learn more about the copyrighting, trademarking, and patenting processes, fair use, public domain, and other legal facets of the publishing world. This event is free to register to and will take place online.

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Disability Pride Month Events and Resources
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July 11, 2022

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