In-person event @ 740 University Avenue, Rochester, NY | Free Admission Bill Pruitt’s poems have been published in Ploughshares, Country Journal, Blueline, Cottonwood and Poetry Now. He is the author of two chapbooks from White Pine and FootHills Press and the self-published Walking Home from the Eastman House. Since retiring from teaching he has published […]
In this new collection, Meitner explores memory, passion, and the various ways the body sees and is seen. With dauntless vulnerability, she taps into the metaphysical, the ekphrastic, the sensual, and the ordinary moments of life, remaining porous and open to the world, and always returning to the desires rooted deep within the self as […]
This debut collection of poems explores what it means to be a racially ambiguous, multiethnic, Asian American woman growing up in Kentucky. Quintos teases the line between tokenism and representation, between assimilation and belonging; and offers a potent antidote to the assumption that “American” means “white.” Encompassing a journey from girlhood to motherhood, Two Dots […]
Choose the ticket price that's right for you: Free, $5, $10, $15 or $20 Peter Conners’ unique blend of prose poetry, flash fiction, and other spare poetic forms pays witness to the heart-wrenching, absurd, life-changing nature of surviving a global pandemic during one of the most politically and culturally divisive times in American history. “These […]
Renia White’s debut poetry collection strikes up a conversation, considering what’s being said, what isn’t, and where it all comes from. From her vantage point of Black womanhood, she probes the norms and mores of everyday interactions. In observations, insights, and snippets of speech, these poems look to the unspoken thoughts behind our banter, questioning […]
Born and raised in Florida, Heather Sellers grew up in an extraordinarily difficult home. The natural world provided a life-giving respite from domestic violence. Sprung from her daily observation journals, haunted by ghosts from the past, Field Notes from the Flood Zone is an elegy for the two great shaping forces in a life: heartbreaking […]
In Your Children Are Very Greatly in Danger, veteran journalist Justin Murphy makes the compelling argument that the educational disparities in Rochester, NY, are the result of historical and present-day racial segregation. Education reform alone will never be the full solution; to resolve racial inequity, cities such as Rochester must first dismantle segregation. Drawing on […]
The poems in Dustin Pearson’s A Season in Hell with Rimbaud form an allegorical travelog chronicling two brothers’ mutual descent into hell. When the older brother runs off, the younger brother begins roaming Hell’s different landscapes in search of him. Pearson leads his speakers on a speculative, epistolary journey through the nether realm. “Pearson is […]
We live to create at Write On. The heart of this class is the weekly workshop of student writing, moderated so that each writer feels encouraged and supported by the others, while also receiving constructive suggestions for growth. Short lessons connect current student work to relevant published writing, classical literary structures, and mechanics. Classes include […]
Bill Wynne is a first-time author and greater Rochester-based white antiracist activist. The experiential insights in his memoir Understanding and Combating Racism: My Path from Oblivious American to Evolving Activist are premised on the human networks and friendships he developed during his business career and in subsequent work in the nonprofit sector. Understanding and Combating […]
Virtual Event led by Sally Bittner Bonn. Telling our stories is how we make sense of our lives, how we hold memories, how we celebrate, how we grieve, how we wrestle with what we don’t understand. Mothering is complex; it can be simultaneously exhausting, exhilarating, lonely, hysterically funny, maddening, bursting with love. We’ll examine some […]
Moving between Cuba and the U.S., the stories in Are We Ever Our Own trace the paths of the women of the far-flung Armando Castell family. Related but unknown to each other, these women are exiles, immigrants, artists, outsiders, all in search of a sense of self and belonging. Linked by theme and complex familial […]
Using flight as a metaphor, Sarah Collins’ debut poetry collection, Recovery From Unusual Attitudes, details her personal journey with serious mental illness and radical conversion to Christianity. From pain to purpose, fear to freedom, hatred of God to healing by His grace, Recovery From Unusual Attitudes is a raw story of redemptive hope. Sarah Collins […]
In her luminous debut, Gayatri Sethi deftly interweaves verse, memoir, and a bold call to action as she recounts her experience searching for home in the diaspora. Drawing upon her life story as a Tanzanian-born-Punjabi turned American educator and mother of biracial children, Sethi tells an intimate tale of stepping into her power while confronting […]
David Mihalyov will be in conversation with Alison Meyers. “What I admire in Maxine Kumin’s poems I find in abundance in David Mihalyov's A Safe Distance: an intimate observance of seemingly ordinary things rendered into arresting lyrics. “Burrow deeper” beneath suburban routines we may assume we know or dismiss outright, these are instructive poems of […]
Join us in raising money to provide humanitarian aid and medical relief to injured Ukrainians. Listen in as local poets read selections from Words for War: New Poems from Ukraine, an anthology of emerging and established Ukrainian voices charting what it means to be in a state of war and how it affects the poetics […]
Virtual Event with Wendy Call In this masterful memoir, poet/scholar/activist Deborah Miranda incorporates family photographs, historical documents, actual and invented elementary school assignments, oral history, journal entries, lyric essays, poetry, and a blood quantum chart made into visual art. As author Linda Hogan says, Bad Indians “is groundbreaking not only as literature but as history.” […]
Virtual Event with Steve Majors Every family has secrets. Who gets to decide which stories are shared? Memoir writers often struggle with telling authentic stories while at the same time protecting the feelings and reputation of loved ones. In this workshop, you’ll learn how to mine the past for compelling content while preserving your personal […]
Reyna Grande will be in conversation with María Amparo Escandón. A Long Petal of the Sea meets Cold Mountain in this sweeping historical saga following a Mexican army nurse and an Irish soldier who must fight– at first for their survival and then for their love–amidst the atrocity of the Mexican-American War. Reyna Grande is […]
Bring your rough (or polished!) draft in any genre to a free-flowing discussion inspired by Wendy Call's master class on Deborah Miranda’s Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir. Writing prompts to consider as you create: First: You will need 10 index cards (or similarly sized pieces of paper). Second: Please don’t read ahead in this exercise! […]
Tuhin Das’s Exile Poems: In the Labyrinth of Homesickness, translated from Bengali by Arunava Sinha, comprises 65 poems written in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, after Das was forced to flee from his home in Barishal, Bangladesh. The collection chronicles his innermost thoughts, insuppressible fears, and poignant observations as he considers both places–the one he has left behind […]
Brad Edmondson's "A Wild Idea" shares the complete story of the difficult birth of the Adirondack Park Agency (APA). The Adirondack region of New York's rural North Country forms the nation's largest State Park, with a territory as large as Vermont. Planning experts view the APA as a triumph of sustainability that balances human activity […]
Memoir is not a report or a resume--readers want good sentences, the author’s retrospective wisdom, and vivid, detailed scenes that are anchored in place and time. A successful memoir functions as a three-dimensional stage that keeps the reader watching and listening. Come to this workshop to write and to delve deep into memory and the […]
Rising action. Mounting stakes. Reversals. Unmaskings. When a novel or a story doesn’t arrive or reach a powerful (and in some measure satisfying) conclusion, the fault is nearly always in the middle. In this workshop, we will consider one novella and three short stories to consider the all-important middle of a narrative. We’ll develop a […]
In this generative workshop, we'll explore the power of images in contemporary writing. Guided by discussions of craft and examples from notable poems and essays, writers in this workshop will gain tools to sharpen sensory details in their writing. Rage Hezekiah is a Cave Canem, Ragdale, and MacDowell Fellow who earned her MFA from Emerson […]
Are you passionate about seeking justice? Do you listen in on current events and happenings in your community, wondering what you can do to make the world a better, more welcoming place? Improvisational theatre is a perfect vehicle for exploring these issues! We’ll be inspired by a script that brings a multi-racial, blended family to […]
This collaboration between Writers & Books and the Flower City Arts Center provides a unique opportunity merging visual arts with creative writing. You will work with artists to handbuild a ceramic book—on which you will inscribe your own poem, make paper, learn to make different kinds of books, and use letterpress printing techniques to decorate […]
The word photography means “writing with light.” Using a 35mm film camera (provided) and a pen and notebook, we will explore the uniqueness of the Neighborhood of the Arts. There will be opportunities to photograph and write about such outdoor art as wall murals and sculptures, the interior and exterior details of historic buildings, and […]
So you want to write a book, but you need a plan? Learn how to plot a book chapter by chapter, taking your great idea and turning it into a juicy plot. We’ll access resources from a variety of arts and cultural organizations and learn how thoughtful observation of ordinary people and places will […]
Have you ever seen a comedy improv show or the television show “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” and thought, “That looks like fun!” It is fun, and here is your chance to see for yourself. Comedy improvisation is the art of acting without a script. The results are always entertaining and often hilarious. In this […]
Starting from two characters—one with your own personality and a character of your own invention—you will create the kind of stories you like, whether they are superhero adventures, fantasy, sci-fi, or realistic problem-solving stories. You'll learn methods to keep readers glued to your story. You will also create poems or dramatic scenes that express your […]
For years I avoided Nikolai Gogol's 1842 novel Dead Souls because, knowing nothing but the title, I assumed it would be depressing and grim. To Flannery O'Connor, though, Gogol was "necessary along with the light." Why? Nabokov called him "the strangest prose-poet Russia ever produced." Finally I dipped in and was astonished to find something […]
Writer, director, and actor David Shakes will lead Evolution Community Read, a virtual community conversation on Amiri Baraka’s Blues People: Negro Music in White America. Writers & Books is thrilled to partner with the Delta Nu Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. to showcase literature of the Black Arts Movement. The chapter’s Arts Committee […]
Bring your rough (or polished!) draft in any genre to a free-flowing discussion inspired by James Whorton's master class on Nikolai Gogol's Dead Souls. Writing prompts to consider as you create: Write a quick scene in which an animal, human or nonhuman eats something it should not have eaten. Write it fast! (I am thinking of […]
Have you struggled with traditional writing advice? Do you hate feedback and revision of any kind? Do you find it difficult to call yourself a writer because of these things? I have some good news: there’s nothing wrong with you, and you’re more of a writer than you’ve been led to believe. How do I […]
In a distant country, recently imprisoned filmmaker Vasant Rai is offered a chance at freedom. But the choice, he learns, comes at a very steep price. Ravi Mangla’s The Observant is a sharp-eyed literary thriller about freedom of expression under tyrannical regimes, authority and its adherents, and the demands of survival. "Short and powerful, Ravi […]
Seventeen-year-old Minerva Gutiérrez plans revenge on her predatory boss in this poignant and thrilling contemporary Young Adult novel about grief, anger, and fighting for what you deserve. Perfect for fans of Tiffany D. Jackson and Erika L. Sánchez. In the seaside town of Nautilus, Minerva Gutiérrez absolutely hates her job at the local ice cream […]
Nadia Owusu’s Whiting Award-winning debut memoir, Aftershocks, serves as the foundation for understanding the rich array of tools memoirists have to create complex narratives. We’ll explore such tools as metaphor, symbolism, and structure as we navigate the seismic upheavals of a life lived across several countries. Most recently chosen as one of Barack Obama’s favorite […]
In May 2021 over 50 people from around the country shared with Tate DeCaro decisions and deeds they were proud of accomplishing during the first year of the pandemic. From huge life changes to the day-to-day tasks of simple survival, they did not just get by. They all found incredibly creative ways to cope. Taken together, […]
Many of the books we have come to regard as "classics" were banned at various times and in various places in the United States. Now, contemporary books, such as The Hate U Give, Gender Queer, and All Boys Aren't Blue, are facing the same challenges. Delivered in partnership with 540WMain, this virtual panel-with-Q &A discusses […]
Two Performances: 7 pm and 9 pm | ASL Interpretation at the 7 pm show Tickets: $20 See what happens when you take a group of actors, directors, writers, and producers and give them only 24 hours in which to create, rehearse, and “tech” five short, original plays! Writers & Books 740 University Avenue Rochester, […]
Bring your rough (or polished!) draft in any genre to a free-flowing discussion inspired by Angelique Stevens’ master class on Aftershocks by Nadia Owusu. Writing prompts to consider as you create: Writing prompts Owusu structures the “Liminal” chapter using the Blue Chair as the inciting incident and notes the time away from it; one day […]
In his debut Soft-Boiled: An Investigation Of Masculinity and the Writer's Life, Stephen J. West seamlessly weaves together personal experiences, studies of detective thrillers, and critical texts on masculinity to offer an honest and moving journey towards self-discovery. Thought-provoking and lyrical, Soft-Boiled poses essential questions: What are the implications of creating art based on another […]
Chen Chen will be in conversation with author and poet Peter Conners, Publisher and Executive Director of BOA Editions. Portrait by Margarita Corporan In his highly anticipated second collection of poems, Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency, Chen Chen continues his investigation of family, both blood and chosen, examining what one inherits and what […]
Behind the Curtain: View Eyechart, then join us for artist Ellen Driscoll’s talk on her creative process. Admission is free. Gift donations are appreciated. The gallery talk will also be streamed via Zoom. The link will be in your email confirmation. Choose the ticket price that’s right for you: Free, $5, $10, $15 or $20
Hell of a Book “Hell of a Book teetertotters real life and fiction in a dizzying yet dazzling exploration of exploration itself. Jason Mott brings much of what he's known for and a lot of what we do not expect to this inventive offering.”—Kiese Laymon This is an in-person event at 740 University Avenue, Rochester, NY. Masks […]
What contributes to a writer’s voice? How is it different from a character’s voice? How does one create characters’ voices that are as real as one’s own? Photographer and writer Wright Morris said, “Voice is the presence of what is most personal to the writer. Through voice, the writer is invisibly omnipresent.” This workshop will […]
Cynthia Dewi Oka will be in conversation with author and poet Peter Conners, Publisher and Executive Director of BOA Editions. In her fourth poetry collection, Cynthia Dewi Oka performs a lyric accounting of the anti-Communist genocide of 1965, which, led by the Indonesian military and with American assistance, erased and devastated millions of lives in […]
In the aftermath of the Stand Your Ground killing of his close friend’s father, Cassells explores the brutality, bigotry, and betrayal at the heart of current America. Taking his cue from Civil Rights- and Vietnam War-era poets and songwriters who inspired him in his youth, he presents a frank, bulletin-fierce indictment of unraveling democracy in […]
In The Man Behind the Curtain: A Memoir (Possibilities Press, 2022), Jessica Renee with co-author Valerie Dimino tells her story of rape and sexual assault by her step-father starting at the age of 11. Only when she was 15 and her boyfriend asked the right questions did the truth come to light—a terrible truth that […]
