November 2019
Writing an Identity Narrative
Evening Workshop: 6 Sessions, Tuesdays October 22 - November 26, from 6:30 pm - 9 pm Instructor: Robert D. Baker Deadline to Register: October 14, 11:59 pm In this course, you will write about how you claimed identity or faced challenges because of your identity. Narratives may address one aspect—or the intersection of multiple aspects—of who you are. Possibilities include coming out, confronting gender bias, becoming a parent, responding to racism, experiencing a religious conversion, advocating for yourself as a…
Find out more »Soul Knows No Bars: A Writer’s Journey Doing Poetry with Inmates
Free and Open to the Public Book Launch with Patrica Roth Schwartz Patricia Roth Schwartz is a poet, writer of fiction and memoir, and teacher. She holds a BA from Mount Holyoke College, an MA from Trinity College (CT), and an MACP from Antioch/ N Eng. Widely published in literary journals, she has had published 7 volumes of poetry, plus a full-length collection of short fiction which won a Lambda Literary Award. Residing in the Finger Lakes region of NY…
Find out more »The Fiction Workshop
Evening Workshop: 6 Sessions, Wednesdays October 16 - November 20, 6:30-9pm Instructor: Brian Wood Deadline to register: October 8, 11:59pm If you’re passionate about reading and writing fiction, or maybe you’re just looking for a little feedback, this course is for you. Through the analysis of character, voice, plot, and narrative flow, you will learn how to effectively put your creative ideas on paper. You can look forward to thoughtful, engaging class discussions on the craft of fiction and how…
Find out more »Special Effect Sentences
Special Topic Workshop: 1 Session, Saturday November 23, 10 am - 12:30 pm Instructor: Anais Salibian Deadline to Register: November 15, 11:59 pm What kind of experience are your sentences providing for your reader? What sentence structure do you choose if you want to capture a scene, or create suspense, or deliver an emotional blow? If you've never studied how to grow a sentence, if you don't know that form can actually help you generate unexpected content, if you haven't…
Find out more »Teen Writers Circle
Youth Workshop: 5 Saturdays October 5, 19, November 2, 16, 23, 10:30 am-12:30 pm Instructor: Sarah Cedeño Ages: 13+ Deadline to register September 27, 11:59 pm Avid and accomplished teen writers meet to explore new approaches to their craft, give one another feedback under the guidance of published writers, and plot world domination, or at least the future domination of the publishing industry! Using examples, prompts, and optional outside assignments, participants explore literary genres, techniques, and approaches, and receive encouraging,…
Find out more »Writing an Intentional Book
Mini Workshop Instructor: Robin Flanigan Perhaps it’s a calling or simply a wish to make the world a better place. Whatever the reason, writing a book to help others live with intention means consciously considering the impact of your work. Using my book M is for Mindful as a model, through a series of writing prompts, discover why you want to write the book you want to write. What gifts do you have to share, and why is it important…
Find out more »The Threshing Floor: LGBTQ+ Writing Group
Last Tuesday of the month, 6:30 pm — 8:30 pm Hosted by Reilly Hirst & Gracen Lynch Free and open to the public The deep end is fine here, so we don't have to stay in the safe shallows. If you love writing, especially "edgy" stuff, bring it. In all good writing, we benefit from many perspectives and are willing to take them in while standing in and speaking from our own truth.
Find out more »Genesee Reading Series: Reenah Golden and Sally Bittner Bonn
Members - Free | General Public - $5 Now in its 36th year, the Genesee Reading Series is a smorgasbord for your literary palate. On the second Tuesday of each month, listen to two authors read their work up close and personal in the intimate Performance Space upstairs. By the end of the year, you will have feasted on the work of 24 regional authors (some prominent, some emerging; writers of fiction, poetry, essay, creative nonfiction, memoir). Stay afterward and…
Find out more »December 2019
Joke Writing Workshop
Would you like help crafting and sharpening your stand-up act? We’ll collaboratively workshop your jokes in a fun and supportive atmosphere to bring each comedian’s act to the next level. Kevin Markman has performed comedy for over five years. He has even been funny. He started taking classes at Writers & Books and now hosts the Open Mic for over two years. He performs around Upstate NY, the East Coast, and even Hawaii, nominated for RocAwards Best Stand Up Comedian,…
Find out more »Writers & Books Comedy Open Mic
Free and Open to the Public Join us for Writers & Books Comedy Open Mic in our performance space! Anyone interested gets 5-7 minutes of stage time. Come to perform or just watch. Comics are great but we need an audience too!
Find out more »History Reading Group
Free and Open to the Public Explore the big issues and personalities of history. The History Reading Group focuses on one topic each month and invites attendees to bring in books, articles, pictures, or experiential knowledge to share. Topics have ranged from the Chicago Fire of 1871, to Martin Luther, to the Romanovs, to the Opium Wars. Join the conversation every first Thursday of the month.
Find out more »Writers ROC!
Youth Writing Group : 7 Sessions Fridays 3:45 pm - 5 pm September 27, October 11 & 25, November 8 & 15, December 6 & 13 Free and open to the public - Registration not required Ages: 10-12 In this young writers group you’ll do some new writing, share your work, and hone your skills. This will be a supportive community mentored by MCC creative writing major, Misty Yarnall who will present writing prompts, offer tips for revising and editing,…
Find out more »A Material Memoir
Master Class: 1 Session Instructor: Gail Hosking Required: When registering, email 200-700 words in a Word Doc attachment to submissions@wab.org, with the subject line “A Material Memoir.” Deadline to Register: November 30, 11:59 pm People's possessions speak of them: they are resonant, betraying, and reflective. They chart where we’ve been and how we've been. In this class we will pick objects that are imbued with significance for us and use them to tell the story of our lives. Using the…
Find out more »The Art of Astonishment
The best poems surprise us. Kim Addonizio writes, poems can “leap from one synapse to another, one thought to a further thought, one level of understanding or questioning to being in the presence of the mystery.” How can you welcome the unexpected, the mysterious, and the revelatory in your own writing? What does it take to break your predictable writing patterns? We'll identify the ways that poems diverge from familiar paths and swerve into astonishment, paying close attention to work…
Find out more »Genesee Reading Series: James Longenbach and Joanna Scott
Members – Free | General Public – $5 James Longenbach is a poet and a critic who has taught at the University of Rochester for many years. His many books of literary criticism include The Art of the Poetic Line (Graywolf) and How Poems Get Made (Norton), and his books of poems include The Iron Key (Norton) and Earthling (Norton), the latter of which was a finalist for the National Books Circle Award. His poems have appeared individually in The New Republic, The New Yorker, and The Paris Review. Photo…
Find out more »Writers ROC!
Youth Writing Group : 7 Sessions Fridays 3:45 pm - 5 pm September 27, October 11 & 25, November 8 & 15, December 6 & 13 Free and open to the public - Registration not required Ages: 10-12 In this young writers group you’ll do some new writing, share your work, and hone your skills. This will be a supportive community mentored by MCC creative writing major, Misty Yarnall who will present writing prompts, offer tips for revising and editing,…
Find out more »National Poetry Series Winner, Lindsay Bernal Reading
Free to members/ $5 general public Lindsay Bernal’s What It Doesn’t Have to Do With (University of Georgia Press, 2018) won the 2017 National Poetry Series competition. Her poems have appeared in Blackbird, Conjunctions Online, Gulf Coast, OVERSOUND, Tikkun, and other journals. She coordinates the Creative Writing Program and the Writers Here & Now reading series at the University of Maryland.
Find out more »Go in Fear of Abstraction: Why Images Matter
Master Class: 1 Session, Saturday Saturday, December 14, 10 am - 1:30 pm Instructor: Lindsay Bernal Required: When registering, email 2-3 poems in a Word doc attachment to submissions@wab.org, with the subject line “Images Matter” Deadline to register: December 6, 11:59 pm This poetry workshop will focus on the Image, "that which presents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time," as Ezra Pound defines it. We'll workshop poems-in-progress and discuss published poems by Ross Gay, Cecily Parks, and…
Find out more »The Threshing Floor: LGBTQ+ Writing Group — Reading
December 17, 6:30 pm — 8:30 pm Hosted by Reilly Hirst & Gracen Lynch Free and open to the public The deep end is fine here, so we don't have to stay in the safe shallows. If you love writing, especially "edgy" stuff, bring it. In all good writing, we benefit from many perspectives and are willing to take them in while standing in and speaking from our own truth.
Find out more »This is Your Life! Writing A Powerful Memoir Part II
The workshop will begin with a discussion of the key elements of writing effective memoirs. Using familiar prompts in a timed activity, participants will then be asked to write a short piece to share with the group. Group feedback will focus on how well each writer has utilized the key elements of memoir composition. Mark Block is a semi-retired educator, classroom teacher and trainer. He also served as Adjunct Instructor at Syracuse University and Monroe Community College where he taught English…
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