The Writers Guild at Bloomington is an association of writers committed to mutual support and the professional development of their craft. Its mission is to foster interaction among writers as well as other artists, educators, and the Monroe County public, thereby enhancing the vibrancy of the arts and the writing community in the greater Bloomington area.
Events Calendar
WFIU is doing a series of broad/podcasts celebrating Jenny Kander with three special “Jenny” Poets Weave episodes.
The first was December 15 (listen to here: https://indianapublicmedia.org/poetsweave/jelly-donuts.php).
Upcoming episodes will air March 30 and May 11.
The Writers Guild at Bloomington presents
The launch reading of Hiromi Yoshida’s 5th poetry chapbook Umami (Alien Buddha Press, 26 March 2025)
“Hiromi Yoshida offers up a delectable assortment of poems with Umami. Taste is the thing and getting at the intangible yet discernable vibe of these dishes is what’s on the menu. Lighter fare than Yoshida is typically known for, these poems entice with clear observant details and careful surveys of the palate. Here we are treated to dishes both traditional and modern, ethnic and monocultural. Childhood memories conjure up TV dinners in America or sticky hands in Taipei. And of course, Icarus remains, reduced by now to name-dropped specter. Salad fork, not centerpiece. A distant speck: “floating signifier like that solitary / cheese that couldn’t stand / alone, grilled for his stupidity.” Hiromi Yoshida’s Umami is a feast for the poetic senses.”
—Tony Brewer, 2024 Indiana Literary Champion
Also Featured:
APRIL RIDGE lurks in the rural hilltops of Monroe County, akin to Mothman’s tomboy cousin, listening for hints of poetry on the wind. She enjoys horror films, the sordid affairs of 1920s circus performers, long walks in pitch black tunnels and the occasional waffle cone from Jiffy Treet. She prides herself on finding the perfect outfit in which to adorn the skeleton of the soul. She hopes to highlight the needs of poems in danger, on the run, escaping from the need to fit into one form or another, on their way to the freedom of epiphany.
April serves as chair of the Writers Guild at Bloomington, and is a nominee for Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize. Her debut poetry chapbook is Monstrous (Pure Sleeze Press, 2024) and her forthcoming first full-length collection is A Three Night Affair (Keeping The Flame Alive Press, fall 2025).
Join us for an umami-filled evening of poetry and food!
Open mic to follow readings.
5.16.25 (6-8 PM)
Runcible Spoon Restaurant & Café, 412 E 6th St, Bloomington, IN 47408
The Writers Guild at Bloomington presents
Last Sunday Poetry & Open Mic
featuring John Dorsey and Jonathan S Baker
JOHN DORSEY is the author of over ninety collections of poetry. Former Poet Laureate of Belle, Missouri, he is the recipient of the 2019 Terry Award, given at Poetry Rendezvous. He is also a founder and co-editor of the Gasconade Review, with Jason Ryberg, and River Dog Press, with Victor Clevenger. Dorsey is known for his prolific writing career as a poet, and as a major influence on small press, grassroots poetry movements in the U.S. Since 1992, his poems have been published in more than 2000 literary magazines and anthologies.
JONATHAN S BAKER is primarily composed of the stuff of dead stars and suffers from the same insecurities as everyone else. They are the author of Cock of the Walk (Laughing Ronin Press, 2022), Long Nights in Stoplight City (Between the Shadows Press, 2023) and Pressure (Two Key Customs, 2023). They are also co-editor at The Grind Stone and editor-in-chief at Pure Sleeze Press.
Emerging poets who need a supportive audience, and established poets who want to promote published works: Come 20-50 min. before the 7pm program start time so you can sign up for open mic! Your words are precious. (2-3 min. per open mic participant)
7-8:30 PM (EST) 25 April 2025
Morgenstern Books & Cafe (849 S Auto Mall Rd, Bloomington IN 47401)
Join the Writers Guild for the First Sunday Prose Reading:
Writers Antonia Matthew and Sheila Taylor
Antonia Matthew is a member of the Writers Guild of Bloomington. She has written Antonia’s Home
Front, a transatlantic audio theatre coproduction of Political Art, London UK, and the Writers Guild of
Bloomington. It premiered on WFHB’s Firehouse Theatre on October 9, 2022. Directed by Richard Fish of WFHB, it won a Gold Award from the Hear Now Festival in 2023. The author of the independently publish chapbook Journey, she has been featured on WFIU’s Poets Weave program and her poems have appeared in Verse Wisconsin, The Ryder, and Nimrod among other publications.
Sheila Taylor spent a lot of years studying theology and is now learning about spiritual direction. She loves to hike, especially at sunrise, and enjoys photographing nature while she hikes. She writes a lot about mental illness, as well as subjects related to religion. Her favorite life form is a cat.
First Sunday Prose Reading – Open Mic to follow!
Sunday, June 1, 2025
The Juniper Art Gallery and Cafe 615 W. Kirkwood Avenue
Granfalloon Keynote: Lynda Barry
Thursday, June 05, 2025, 7:00pm
114 E Kirkwood Ave, Bloomington, IN, 47408, US
The IU Arts and Humanities Council in partnership with the IU Writers’ Conference is excited to host Lynda Barry as the 2025 Granfalloon Festival keynote speaker. Her keynote will include a talk, Q&A, and book signing.
Lynda Barry has worked as a painter, cartoonist, writer, illustrator, playwright, editor, commentator and teacher and found they are very much alike. The New York Times has described Barry as “among this country’s greatest conjoiners of words and images, known for plumbing all kinds of touchy subjects in cartoons, comic strips and novels, both graphic and illustrated.”
Barry has authored 21 books, worked as a commentator for NPR, and had a regular monthly feature in Esquire, Mother Jones Magazine, Mademoiselle, and Salon. She created an album-length spoken word collection of stories called The Lynda Barry Experience, and was a frequent guest on The Late Show with David Letterman. She adapted her first novel, The Good Times are Killing Me , into a long running off-Broadway play which won the Washington State Governor’s Award, and has since been published by Samuel French and performed throughout North America. Her book One! Hundred! Demons! was chosen as the Freshman all-read title at Stanford University. Her novel Cruddy was called “a work of terrible beauty” by the New York Times, and has been translated into French, Italian, German, Catalan and Hebrew. Her book, Making Comics , was awarded the 2020 Eisner Award for Best Comics-Related Book + Best Publication Design. Her books Come Over, Come Over , My Perfect Life , and It’s So Magic , feature the poignant story of sisters Maybonne and Marlys and the agonies of adolescence in a world that contains as much humor as it does hardship. In 2024 Come Over, Come Over was nominated for Le Fauve D’angoulême Prix du Patrimoine. This prize honors an older work that has been republished.
Barry has received numerous awards and honors for her work, among them two William Eisner awards, the American Library Association’s Alex Award, the Wisconsin Library Association’s RR Donnelly Award, the Washington State Governor’s Award, the Holtz Center for Science & Technology Outreach Fellowship, The Museum of Wisconsin Arts Lifetime Achievement Award, and the 2017 Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Cartoonists Society. She also received an Honorary Doctor of Arts degree from Philadelphia University of Art in 2015, and was inducted into the Cartoonist’s Hall of Fame in 2016. In 2019 Lynda Barry was honored as a MacArthur Fellow (also known as the Genius Grant). The MacArthur Foundation website says: “Exuberant and generous as a teacher, Barry is removing the barriers that usually prevent people from writing and drawing and enabling artists and non-artists alike to take creative risks.” In 2020 she received the 2019 NCS Reuben Award for Cartoonist of the Year , and in 2021 Oregon State University presented her with the Stone Award for Literary Achievement.
THIS IS A FREE EVENT! No tickets are needed
Constellation for Kids presents:
Writers Guild Spoken Word Series
featuring author and audio playwright Brian Price
with musical accompaniment by Kyle Quass & Julian Douglas
performing THE LAST COYOTE
Open mic to follow
Sponsored in part by the Bloomington Arts Commission and the Bloomington Urban Enterprise Association
Writers Guild at Bloomington
Monthly Business Meeting
Monroe County Public Library – Downtown
Room 214
June 14 2025
2 to 3:00 pm
The Writers Guild at Bloomington presents
Last Sunday Poetry & Open Mic
featuring Zach Hannah and Su Flatt
ZACH HANNAH is an Appalachian expat originally from Portsmouth, OH, now residing in Columbus, OH. A poet, an instigator of poetry, and one half of the SandWich Arts duo, alongside Su Flatt, Zach has taken notes from the creativity and vision of the now retired Writers’ Block Open Mic, producing and co-producing several public events centered around poetry, including the now annual megaphone reading, SHHH, They’ll Hear You, and 6-1-FORT, A Poetic Excuse (to build poetry forts, of course.) He is also the 2nd resident for the Johnstone’s Fund For New Music.
SU FLATT bio forthcoming.
Emerging poets who need a supportive audience, and established poets who want to promote published works: Come 20-50 min. before the 7pm program start time so you can sign up for open mic! Your words are precious. (2-3 min. per open mic participant)
7-8:30 PM (EST) 29 June 2025
Morgenstern Books & Cafe (849 S Auto Mall Rd, Bloomington IN 47401)