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
Constellation Stage & Screen presents
Wipeout
on stage September 5-29
at the Constellation Playhouse.
Age is just a vibe! Three 70-year-old women on surfboards. One 19-year-old hotrod instructor. The currents of the Pacific Ocean. What could possibly go wrong? Wipeout is a poignant comedy about friendship, grief, and the unpredictable tides of life.
Featuring Pay What You Will Thursdays (attend on a Thursday evening to choose your own ticket price).
For tickets and more information, visit https://seeconstellation.org/mainstage/wipeout/
Burning Convictions Double Release Party
DOUBLE DOWN
Claire Arbogast
Shana Ritter
A multimedia release of two remarkable novels
Sunday, September 15, 3:00 – 5:00
2:30: Come early for mingling and book buying!
Arbogast and Ritter read from books set centuries apart yet connected by resilient women standing strong through turbulent times.
- Arbogast’s If Not the Whole Truth, called “historically rich with . . .searing contemporary relevance” by Kirkus Reviews, is releasing on September 10.
- Ritter’s new edition of In the Time of Leaving, called “A captivating meditation on home, leaving, and longing. Full of beautiful writing,” by readers, will be available on Amazon in September.
!!Burning Convictions open mic!!
Do you have work that burns with conviction? Come read it! Come early & sign up for the 15 minute open mic! –2-3 min. per reader, first-come, first serve
Q&A, book signing. Free parking day!
Come early for food & drinks, book buying & signing. gathering & mingling.
Backspace Gallery, inside Bonne Fête on the north side of the Square
Learn more about the books at If Not the Whole Truth and www.shana-ritter.com/
The Writers Guild at Bloomington presents Last Sunday Poetry
Featuring Helena Mesa and Doug Paul Case
Morgenstern’s Bookstore & Café, 849 S. Auto Mall Rd., Bloomington IN 47401
Sunday, September 29, 2024
7-8:30pm
HELENA MESA is the author of Horse Dance Underwater and a co-editor for Mentor & Muse: Essays from Poets to Poets. She teaches at Albion College.
DOUG PAUL CASE is author of Americanitis, a book of poems published by Ghost City Press in 2023, and editor of A Flame Called Indiana, an anthology of contemporary Hoosier literature from IU Press. He has published five chapbooks of poems since 2015 and currently serves as assistant director of creative writing at Indiana University Bloomington.
Author Talk: Claire Arbogast with Shayne Laughter
Gritty courage & love in the endless struggle for power
Join us as Shayne Laughter explores in between the lines.
Reading, book signing
Monday, September 30
6:30-7:30 pm
Morgenstern Books
849 S. Auto Mall Rd., Bloomington
Join the Writers Guild for an early Halloween celebration!
First Sunday Prose Reading Series
Sunday, October 6, 2024
4pm to 5:30pm
Juniper Art Gallery and Cafe
Featured Readers will be Rebekah Spivey and James Dorr, with an open mic to follow.
Please no outside food or drink!
Please note the new start time of 4pm!
Rebekah Spivey studied creative writing and sociology at Indiana University. She has lived and worked on the Isle of Mull in Scotland. She is a lifelong writer and lover of words who has co-created and led a group called Poetry Detectives, an informal group that discusses poetry in a non-academic way in order to make the genre more approachable. She has a seventeen-year association with Women Writing for (a) Change, Bloomington, a group that supports giving every person a voice through writing. Rebekah has been a certified facilitator with Women Writing since 2013 and currently facilitates a semester-long virtual class. She has coordinated a Women Writing for (a) Change retreat on the Isle of Iona off the west coast of Scotland. And facilitates winter writing retreats for Women Writing.
Rebekah retired in 2012 from the Indiana Daily Student newspaper at IU after seventeen years as part of the professional staff.
She has been a part-time senior editor for a self-publishing company since 2019. And is an editor for private clients.
Rebekah retired in 2012 from the Indiana Daily Student newspaper at IU after seventeen years as part of the professional staff.
Rebekah’s first novel, Marigolds in Boxes, was released in September 2024.
A short fiction writer and sometime poet, James Dorr currently harbors a Goth cat named Triana, and counts among his major influences Ray Bradbury, Edgar Allan Poe, Allen Ginsberg, and Bertolt Brecht. An Indiana resident, Dorr invites readers to visit his blog at http://jamesdorrwriter.wordpress.com
Writers Guild Spoken Word Series
Featuring poets
April Ridge and A.S. Coomer (KY)
Music by Boy Dirt Car Open mic to follow
Thursday, October 10 6pm EST
Backspace Gallery inside Bonne Fête
112 West 6th Street on the square in Bloomington IN
APRIL RIDGE scrawls messages in the night on the clouds that dreams are made of. She whispers sweet nothings to the muses of time and revels in the chance to swim in the deep nothingness of silence, if only to shout ‘Echo’ in it. April 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. You can find her on Facebook, Instagram, a few anthologies and magazines, and other echoing canyons of the internet poetry landscape. “April Ridge can take a Disney movie and weaponize it against an audience. For real, it’s like she has crafted an intricate web that’s just sparkling with jewels.” –Jonathan S Baker, Pure Sleeze Press, publisher of April’s debut chapbook MONSTROUS.
A.S. COOMER is a writer & musician. Books include BIRTH OF A MONSTER, THE FLOCK UNSEEN, MEMORABILIA, THE FETISHISTS, & many others. He runs Lost, Long Gone, Forgotten Records, a “record label” for poetry.
Outlaws, Outsiders, and Artifacts have played a part of BOY DIRT CAR from its inception in 1981, along with the nightmarish chaos and improvisation that has exposed evidence of a decaying culture in 1980’s abandoned soundscapes. These sounds have now been replaced with an artifact that echoes the final vision of destruction of the western world. “An American analogue to Einstürzende Neubauten.” –Gapers Block
Sponsored in part by the Indiana Arts Commission, Bloomington Arts Commission, and the Bloomington Urban Enterprise Association
Mark your calendars!
The Book Fair is full, but you can join the waiting list!
If a space opens up, we will contact you by email or text, first come, first served.
Use this form: Yes, Add Me to the Waiting List!
For more information, contact the Writers Guild: contact@writersguildbloomington.com