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

Ryser Scholarship Awarded
The Writers Guild at Bloomington is delighted to announce
that Hanh Tam Bui is the recipient of the 2020 Ryser Scholarship.
Hanh is a student at Bloomington High School South where she is a member of the Writing Club.
It also happens that the namesake of the scholarship, Joan Ryser, was an English teacher at BHSS.
Hanh will be attending A Gathering of Writers workshop at the Indianapolis Writers Center.
She will attend in March of 2021.
Congratulations Hanh!
A Note
For now, Writers Guild in-person events are cancelled until we are all able to come together again.
We will be listing virtual events and keeping you informed.
Stay healthy, keep well, keep writing, keep communicating.
A statement from the Writers Guild at Bloomington
In light of the continued devaluation of Black lives,
we denounce individual and structural racism.
We urge all people to continue the individual and
collective work toward diversity, equity, and inclusion.
All lives will matter only when Black lives matter.

First Weds Spoken Word Series
virtual version
Featuring poets Erik Fuhrer, Jeffrey Bean, Jennifer Payne
with music by ORTET x Urban Deer
Sponsored in part by the
Indiana Arts Commission, Bloomington Arts Commission, and the
Bloomington Urban Enterprise Association – Indiana
First Weds Spoken Word Series
virtual version
Writers Guild Business Meeting
Virtual via Zoom
Saturday, August 15
3-4:30
For the ZOOM LINK please contact Joan Hawkins (jchawkin93@yahoo.com).
Spoken Word Stage Series
This year the Forth Street Festival of Arts & Crafts
is VIRTUAL
And the SPOKEN WORD STAGE
presented by the Writers Guild at Bloomington
is VIRTUAL
Click HERE to join us in the TENT
https://www.4thstreet.org/spokenwordstage
and visit the artists’ tents and all (except the food)
on the Festival website!

Writers Guild Business Meeting
Virtual via Zoom
Saturday, September 19
3-4:30
For the ZOOM LINK please contact Joan Hawkins (jchawkin93@yahoo.com).
Spoken Word Stage Series
EILEEN MYLES (they/them) came to New York from Boston in 1974 to be a poet, subsequently novelist, public talker and art journalist. A Sagittarius, their 22 books include , , , / & , and . In 2019 they wrote and directed an 18-minute super 8 film, , a puppet road film. See it on youtube. Eileen is the recipient of a Guggenheim, a Warhol/Creative Capital Arts Writers grant, 4 Lambda Book Awards, the Shelley Prize, and a poetry award from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. In 2016, they received a Creative Capital grant and the Clark Prize for excellence in art writing. In 2019 Myles received a poetry award from the American Academy of Arts & Letters. In 2020 they got the Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Publishing Triangle. They live in New York and Marfa, TX. Eileen photo by Shae Detar.
RON WHITEHEAD is a poet, writer, editor, publisher, organizer, scholar, professor. He grew up on a farm in Kentucky. He attended The University of Louisville and Oxford University. As poet and writer he is the recipient of numerous state, national, and international awards/prizes including the All-Kentucky Poetry Prize, the Yeats Club of Oxford’s Prize for Poetry, State of Kentucky Beat Poet Laureate 2019-2021, and many others. He has been a major force behind GonzoFest in Louisville, celebrating the legacy of Hunter S. Thompson. In 2006 Dr. John Rocco (NYC) nominated Ron for The Nobel Prize in Literature. He was recently inducted into his high school’s (Ohio County High) Hall of Fame, representing his 1968 graduating class. THE STORM GENERATION are regular conspirators. Ron photo by Yunier Ramirez.