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
Jul
3
Wed
Writers Guild Spoken Word Series
featuring Ross Gay (poetry), John James (poetry), Shana Ritter (poetry and fiction)
music by Hoosier Darling (gospel trio)
+ an open mic
$5 suggested donation
SHANA RITTER‘s newly completed novel, In the Time of Leaving, is set in Spain in 1492. Shana grew up in New York but lives out in the country near Bloomington, Indiana. Her poetry and short stories have appeared in Lilith, Fifth Wednesday, Georgetown Review and others. Her chapbook, Stairs of Separation, was published by Finishing Line Press.Shana has been a recipient of the Indiana Individual Artist Grant multiple times. She offers workshops, interviews and readings.
JOHN JAMES is the author of The Milk Hours, selected by Henri Cole for the Max Ritvo Poetry Prize (Milkweed, 2019). He is also the author of Chthonic, winner of the 2014 CutBank Chapbook Award. His poems appear in Boston Review, Kenyon Review, Gulf Coast, Poetry Northwest, Best American Poetry 2017, and elsewhere. A digital collagist, his image-text experiments appear in Quarterly West, The Adroit Journal, and LIT.
ROSS GAY is the author of three books of poetry: Against Which; Bringing the Shovel Down; and Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. His collection of essays,The Book of Delights, was released by Algonquin Books in 2019.
Jul
15
Mon
Jul 15 @ 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
A Miniature History of Miniature Books
Maureen Maryanski and Sarah McElroy Mitchell from IU’s Lilly Library will present a short history of the world’s tiniest books.
Jul
21
Sun
Jul 21 @ 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Writers Guild Annual Picnic & Social in the Park
Join us for a summer picnic in the shade of the Waterfall Shelter at Cascade Park. 
If you like, you can bring your family, bring a friend.
Bring a dish to share, some writing to read, and relax with other writers on a summer’s afternoon.
Aug
7
Wed
Writers Guild Spoken Word Series
featuring Michael Luis Dauro (poetry), Rachel Ronquillo Gray (poetry), Jen Maher (fiction/memoir)
music by Urban Deer ORTET (experimental/mod classical)
+ an open mic
$5 suggested donation
At Indiana University, Dr. JEN MAHER‘s area of expertise covers gender and popular culture; second and third wave feminism; gender and modern memoir, feminist history/theory, the politics of assisted reproduction, and femininity and horror. She is the winner of two campus-wide teaching awards and is currently the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Gender Studies. She writes personal essays at the intersection of academia and popular culture. Her work has been collected in three anthologies, and she has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
Born and raised in rural Nevada, RACHEL RONQUILLO GRAY is a Kundiman, Pink Door, and VONA fellow. Her work is forthcoming or appears in Tinderbox Poetry, Hyphen Magazine, Tahoma Literary Review, Digging Through the Fat, Radar Poetry, and other places. She currently lives, writes, and makes food in Bloomington, Indiana. You can find her at medusaironbox.com and on Instagram or Twitter @medusaironbox.
MICHAEL DAURO is a poet, tarot-slinger, and beekeeper living in Bloomington, Indiana. He is a Millay Colony Resident Artist, Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship finalist, Pushcart Prize nominee, and a CantoMundo fellow. His work has appeared in As/Us, StoryScape, At Length, Phantom Drift, Rattle, Sonora Review, and others. Michael is currently working on his speculative epic, Sierra Amnezia. He’s also totally non-ironically into spaghetti westerns and pro wrestling.
ORTET combines ambient field recordings and spoken word samples with an improvisational musical sound bed, exploring the edges of music, culture, and location. Its first release, PARIS SUITE, on URBAN DEER RECORD CVLT is available now at www.urban-deer.com.
Aug
10
Sat
Aug 10 @ 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Homefront
Homefront a radio play by Tonia Matthew, will be performed and recorded as live radio theatre on Saturday, August 10.
It is based on letters that Tonia exchanged with her father during World War II, her adult memories/narration, and historical broadcasts.
It’s a beautiful piece that shows how personal and political history connect and how they change us.
Last year we presented a table reading of HOMEFRONT. Join us as a live audience for the recording of this production.
Readers include: James Dorr, Richard Fish, Jamie Hook, Joan Hawkins, Dennis McCarty, Eric Rensberger, Andre Seewood, Thea Smith, Eric Zobel. Sound by Tony Brewer, with help from Richard Fish.
Free and open to the public.
Aug
17
Sat
Aug 17 @ 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm
Writers Guild at Bloomington Monthly Business Meeting
Open to all members.
Come visit the monthly business meeting of the Writers Guild.
Meet the movers and shakers, the discussants and decision makers, and add your moves.
Become involved!
Aug
28
Wed
Aug 28 @ 6:09 pm – 7:09 pm
Poetry Slam!
At the Monroe County Public Library, Ground Floor
Ages 12-19
Please register for a performer spot. Call Kevin MacDowell 812-349-3050
The Ground Floor is hosting a poetry slam with the aid of local writer PDVNCH. Teens have the opportunity to help plan the event, workshop their own poetry, then run the event and perform it.
Aug
31
Sat
Aug 31 @ 10:00 am – Sep 1 @ 6:00 pm
Writers Guild Spoken Word Stage
Fourth Street Festival of the Arts & Crafts
Saturday, August 31, 10am-5pm
Sunday, September 1, 10am-6pm
at the intersection of 4th and Dunn Streets
2 days of poetry, prose, storytelling, radio theatre, and more!
New acts every 30 minutes throughout both days!
PLUS
Poetry On Demand, where festival goers may request a custom poem
from a fleet of crafty poets who will type it up in short order!
SCHEDULE
SATURDAY AUG 31
10:30 Jennifer Sue Payne (poetry)
11:00 Patsy Rahn (poetry)
11:30 5 Women Poets (poetry)
12:00 Shanna Ritter (poetry + fiction)
12:30 Joan Hawkins (fiction)
1:00 Arbutus Cunningham (storytelling)
1:30 Fig Tree Fellowship Radio Players (audio theatre)
2:00 James Dorr (horror fiction)
2:30 Adam Henze (poetry)
3:00 Monroe County Civic Theatre
3:30 The Tuesday-Xavier Collective (poetry)
4:00 Tay Elena (poetry)
4:30 Tony Styxx (poetry)
5:00 Brian Boucher (poetry)
5:30 Butch D’Ambrosio (NY sonnets)
SUNDAY SEP 1
10:00 Eric Rensberger (poetry)
10:30 New Leaf New Life volunteers (poetry and fiction)
11:00 Jason Ammerman + Kyle Quass + Tony Brewer (poetry + music)
11:30 Zilia Balkansky-Selles (poetry & prose)
12:00 Grace Curtis (poetry)
12:30 Juliana Crespo (fiction)
1:00 Jasper Wirtshafter (poetry)
1:30 The Whitman Sampler
2:00 Bloomington High School South
2:30 Bloomington Storytellers Guild
3:00 Monroe County Civic Theatre
3:30 Hiromi Yoshida (poetry)
4:00 PDVNCH (poetry)
4:30 Andy Hubbard (poetry)
Sep
4
Wed
Writers Guild Spoken Word Series
Featuring from Five Women Poets, a writing workshop formed in 1974: Tonia Matthew, Peggy Squires, Anya Peterson Royce, Leah Helen May
musical guest TBA
+ an open mic
$5 suggested donation
TONIA MATTHEW, originally from England, has lived in Bloomington since 1968 She is a member of Five Women Poets and with them has published three chapbooks and put out a cd. She grew up during WWII and this informs much of her work. Her play “Home Front,” which is built around the letters that she received from her father, who was fighting in Burma in WWII, was presented as a radio drama on August 10th in the auditorium of the Monroe County Library.
MARGARET FISHER SQUIRES grew up in or near the capital cities of the United States, India, and Turkey. The third time she and her husband moved to Bloomington, they put down roots, and raised their daughter here. Margaret is a psychotherapist. She finds that Nature sustains her, and she would like to return the favor. Her current amusements include playing the Ticket to Ride board game and not finding time to write fantasy stories. She is grateful for the continuing support of friends, the Writers Guild, and Five Women Poets. She would like you to know that people are more creative when working at a messy desk.
ANYA PETERSON ROYCE has spent the better part of her life listening and observing, hearing people and landscapes into speech. Then she spends even more time finding the right words to capture the sense of their stories.Poetry and ethnography require the same honesty and beauty in the telling. It is based, she thinks, on the discipline of the craft and the courage to go beyond it to where the meaning lives.
LEAH HELEN MAY is a native of Monroe County, attended a county grade school and University High School In Bloomington. Her interest in gardening eventually led to a lifetime of work in her family’s greenhouse business. She loves poetry and began to attempt writing it while in high school. A poetry seminar taught by Sandra Gilbert at Indiana University led to participation in the local writing group Five Women Poets. Her work has been published in several chap books published by that group.
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