Hudson Valley Writers Guild Newsletter, January 15, 2012

In This Issue

Guild Announcements: HVWG Board to Support Devastated Libraries, How You Can Help the Guild Newsletter

Member Announcements: K.A. Laity

Area Announcements: We Are the 99% Reading in Albany, Third Thursday Reading to Feature Anthony Bernini in Albany, Yes! Reading in Albany, Sunday Four Reading in Voorheesville, Writers Institute Community Workshops Announced, Community of Jewish Writers Call for Submissions, Writers Bloc Weekend in Richmond (MA), Women’s Writes Workshop in New Paltz, Writers Institute Summer Sessions in Saratoga Springs

Guild Announcements

HVWG Board To Support Devastated Libraries
The HVWG board voted at its last meeting to provide contributions to two public libraries that are still recovering from the destruction of Hurricane Irene. This was after a board member visited the area and reported back on the dire situation that remains. We urge our members to also provide individual assistance to these libraries to the extent possible. The HVWG will stay in touch with the situation and may provide some program activities in these locations in the future. The addresses for donations to be sent to the two libraries are:

• Schoharie Library: c/o Market Block Books; 290 River Street, Troy, NY 12180
• Middleburgh Library: P.O. BOX 670, 323 Main Street, Middleburgh NY 12122.

How You Can Help the Guild Newsletter
We didn’t have a rush of individuals volunteering to relieve our long time (and increasingly cranky) editors. So we are thinking of going to a monthly, rather than a twice-a-month, newsletter. There are several things contributors can do to help:

• Get your announcements in to us well in advance of the event. This will become even more crucial if we do go to a monthly format.
• Prepare (or change) your material to Times New Roman size 12 font prior to submission. Avoid underlining, italic, WORDS IN CAPS, bold and other attempts to highlight parts of your announcement. As editors, we will make those decisions in a way that is consistent with our format. (In other words, please clear all formatting from your text prior to submission.)
  
• Single space your piece.
• Oh! And remember you are writers and for heaven’s sake proofread before submission.

Member Announcements

K. A. Laity is happy to announce her story “It’s a Curse,” the 7th in the Drunk on the Moon paranormal noir series at Trestle Press (begun by Paul D. Brazill), was released in December to glowing reviews. The entire series will be collected for a release in one volume in February. Her story “Mandrake and Magpies” appeared in the anthology Dark Pages: International Noir (Trestle Press) also in December, and her story “Mandrake Anthrax” was featured at A Twist of Noir in December, as well.

She has participated in a few readings in Galway (a real city of writers!) including placing in the top three finishers at the Third Annual Over the Edge Fiction Slam in October. This spring will see the release of her urban fantasy novel Owl Stretching by Immanion Press in the UK, US and Canada. She will be teaching a course on writing commercial fiction at the National University of Ireland Galway this spring as part of her Fulbright Fellowship.

Area announcements

Human Needs Not Corporate Greed — We are the 99% Reading, January 18, 7 p.m.
The Poetry Motel Foundation, in partnership with the Upstate Artists Guild, announces an open mic for literary responses/reactions to the Occupy Albany/Occupy Wall Street movement on Wednesday January 18, 7 p.m., at the UAG Gallery, 247 Lark Street, Albany.

The open mic is being held in conjunction with the current exhibit at the Gallery, “Occupy UAG,” visual art from the Occupy Albany movement. Suggested donation is $5 which supports the UAG Gallery. The open mic host will be local poet & peace activist, Dan Wilcox. Bring poems, songs, rants inspired by Occupy Albany/Occupy Wall Street and by the fight for economic justice. Read your best (or worst) anti-corporate screed. For more information, contact the UAG at upstateartistsguild.org or Dan Wilcox at dwlcx@earthlink.net.

Third Thursday Reading, January 19, 7:30 p.m.
Antony Bernini will be the featured reader at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Avenue in Albany on January 19. There is an open mic before and after the feature.

The first Yes! of the Season Friday January 20, 8 p.m.
Albany Social Justice Center, 33 Central Avenue, Albany. Featuring poets Peter Fernbach and Anna Elena Eyre, fiction writer Jessy Poole and an art installation by Maureen Jolie Anderson.

Sunday Four Poetry Open Mic January 22, 3 p.m.
We have two wonderful poets featured: Tom Corrado & Mark O’Brien.
You have to put this on your calendar because their program is listed as “Multimedia and the Muse: Performance and Poesy.” They will be doing stuff with sound, images and the spoken word in different formats and arrangements. Expect something unique and interesting and beautiful. We have seen their work in the past, and you will get new ideas, as well as visions!!

Bring your own work to read. This month we will limit work to two short poems to give a wee bit more time to the multimedia event. We still meet at Old Songs situated diagonally across from Stewart’s in Voorheesville.

Writers Institute Writing Workshops Announced
Each semester the Writers Institute sponsors residencies of varying lengths by authors who have distinguished themselves both for their writing and their teaching. In tandem with these residencies, free writing workshops are offered on a competitive basis to members of the community.

The Writers Institute invites you to apply to participate in our free Community Writing Workshop, “The Art of the Short Story,” taught by Institute Fellow James Lasdun. For more information, visit our website. Application Deadline: Manuscripts delivered in person will be accepted up until 1 p.m. on Wednesday, February 1. Mailed manuscripts must be postmarked no later than Thursday, January 26. No faxes or e-mails.

The Writers Institute also invites you to apply to participate in our free Community Writing Workshop, “Writing About Science and Technology– Nonfiction Workshop,” taught by Institute Fellow James Lasdun. For more information, visit our website. Manuscripts delivered in person will be accepted up until 1 p.m. on Wednesday, February 22. Mailed manuscripts must be postmarked no later than Friday, February 17. No faxes or e-mails.

Request for Submissions for Community of Jewish Writers Event
The Adult Education Committee of Congregation Agudat Achim is seeking submissions of poetry and prose for its annual community reading event to be held in March at Agudat Achim. Please submit fiction, non-fiction and/or poetry which addresses being Jewish from a cultural, ethnic or religious perspective or addresses Jewish themes or issues relating to Israel. Submissions should be no more than 750 words each. Please include your contact information on a separate piece of paper, including your name, address, e-mail and telephone number. All submissions must be received by February 18. Submissions should be e-mailed to Leslie Neustadt at lesbn96317@aol.com Please direct any questions to her at that e-mail.

Writer’s Bloc Weekend Retreat, February 24-26
Writing is just such a wonderful and amazing and fulfilling thing — until one morning you wake up and can’t find an ounce of motivation. You look at what you’ve written and suddenly it feels as dead as the heel of your right shoe. There is hope. Lots of it. In fact, if you look at it the write, oops, excuse me, the right way; writer’s block can be an opportunity to rethink your entire approach to writing. Writer’s block can be a kind of door through which you not only find new inspiration, but also, you make some fascinating discoveries about who you are as a writer and a person.

If you’re intrigued by these ideas and if you want to spend a weekend by a cozy fire in a gorgeous Berkshire County inn learning about writing from two well-seasoned fiction writers who are also both experienced college-writing teachers, then you’re in for a big treat! Please join me, Claudia Ricci, and my long-time writing buddy and college teaching colleague Peg Woods –otherwise known as Dr. P.M. Woods — to get recharged. We are teaching a fabulous workshop that we’re calling Writer’s Bloc, a weekend-retreat February 24-26 at the very quaint Richmond Inn in Richmond, MA.

Peg and I have been college teachers of writing for almost 14 years. We’ve also taught a community writing workshop called “Write Your Heart Out.” In both the university and community settings, we’ve helped many, many, many students to get started writing fiction. And we’ve also showed students how to get re-started and recharged, redefining what it means to have a writer’s block.

You see, it’s only a block if you let it stop you. We’ll show you how to melt that writer’s block, transforming it into an opportunity for rediscovery. The writer’s retreat will include exercises that involve “art” — but no, you do NOT need to be an artist! We will also take you on an outing Saturday afternoon to the wonderful Normal Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA, where we’ll discuss the way art and visual images can help spark your imagination and give you more inspiration for writing.

The February “Writer’s Bloc” workshop is limited to a small number of writers, so do get in touch soon. To register, contact Retreat Coordinator Jo Ann Losinger at jolosinger@aol.com. Or phone 413.445.5874. We hope to see you there. It will be a wonderfully energizing and productive retreat, we promise you!

Women’s Writes Workshop, March 3-4
The weekend of March 3 and 4, Historic Huguenot Street (HHS) in New Paltz is proud to present “Women’s Writes,” a reading and writing workshop featuring two popular and well-respected authors: Nava Atlas and Kate Hymes.

The weekend kicks-off on Saturday, March 3, at 3 p.m. with a guided tour of HHS’s Deyo House, which is set and interpreted in the Edwardian period, a popular time for many celebrated women authors. At 4 p.m., Nava Atlas will read from her latest book, The Literary Ladies’ Guide to the Writing Life, which explores the writing life of twelve celebrated women writers, including such renowned authors as Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Madeleine L’Engle, Anais Nin, George Sand, Edith Wharton, and Virginia Woolf through their journals, letters, and diaries. On Saturday evening at 7 p.m., the Wallkill Valley Writers will read from their anthology which includes personal essays, poems, and stories.

Sunday, March 4, will feature two 3-hour Wallkill Valley Writers Workshops led by Kate Hymes. Session 1 is from 9 a.m. –12 p.m. and Session 2 is from 1-4 p.m. Anyone with a desire to write, whether a beginner or experienced, is invited to attend these workshops which will be held in a safe environment.

Sources culled from the HHS archives and other local history will serve as an inspiration for writing throughout the weekend. Saturday includes a book signing and refreshments.

Fees are as follows:

• Saturday Deyo House Edwardian tour and reading with Nava Atlas: $15.
• Saturday evening reading with Wallkill Valley Writers: $5.
  
• Sunday per session: $40.
  
• Full weekend, including one workshop on Sunday: $50.
  

Copies of The Literary Ladies’ Guide to the Writing Life will be available for purchase at a 15% discount on Saturday.

To register or for more information, call 845-255-1660, x103 or email Jan Melchior at jan@huguenotstreet.org.

New York State Summer Writers Institute at Skidmore will be in session July 2-27, 2012.
Teaching faculty will include Elizabeth Benedict, Frank Bidart, Peg Boyers, Henri Cole, Mary Gaitskill, Allan Gurganus, Amy Hempel, Margot Livesey, Phillip Lopate, Campbell McGrath, Claire Messud, James Miller, Rick Moody, Victoria Redel, Joanna Scott, Danzy Senna, Darin Strauss and Rosanna Warren.

Visiting Writers will include Paul Auster, Russell Banks, Ann Beattie, Mary Gordon, Richard Howard, Siri Hustvedt, William Kennedy, Jamaica Kincaid, Joyce Carol Oates, Michael Ondaatje, Caryl Phillips, Robert Pinsky, Katha Pollitt, Francine Prose, Charles Simic, Mark Strand and Chase Twichell.

Visit the Skidmore website for more information and an application. Scholarship applications are also available.

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The Hudson Valley Writers Guild offers space in its newsletter for submission and program opportunities but does not endorse any programs or publications that are not offered through the Guild. Two notes from the newsletter editors:
* Within each section, announcements/events are arranged, when possible, by relevant dates.
* We are always curious to know if the formatting “works” (appears neat and tidy) in your email or if it causes issues (is difficult to read). Send feedback and suggestions regarding any formatting issues to hvwginfo@gmail.com.
* News items should go to Bob Sharkey at riverrun@nycap.rr.com. Please use Times New Roman size 12 font whenever possible.

Thank you!

–Carolee Sherwood, Newsletter Co-Editor
-Bob Sharkey, Newsletter Co-Editor