Events Calendar

Jan 16 @ 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm

Writers Guild Business Meeting

Virtual via Zoom

For Zoom link please contact:

Joan Hawkins (jchawkin93@yahoo.com)

Tony Brewer (beatnik_a_go_go@yahoo.com)

Kyle Quass (kylequass@gmail.com)

Mon

Contemporary Poetries IU Life Long Learning

Feb 1 @ 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm

Contemporary Poetries

IU Life Long Learning class Four Mondays, February 1–22

Shana Ritter instructor

Through discussion and in-class readings, participants will explore a variety of work by contemporary poets such as Lucille Clifton, Adrienne Rich, Mark Doty, Phillip Levine, Martin Espada, Carolyn Forche, Marge Piercy, Sharon Olds, Cornelius Eady, Dorianne Laux, Natalie Diaz, and Ada Limon.

Together, we will look at what makes a poem both unique and universal at the same time.

TO REGISTER or for more information click on Contemporary Poetries

Wed

Spoken Word Stage Series

Feb 3 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Spoken Word Stage Series

Presented by the Writers Guild at Bloomington

TWO WAYS TO EXPERIENCE:

Drop a note to demand4poetry@gmail.com and we will send you the ZOOM link

watch LIVE on the Writers Guild at Bloomington Facebook page

WEDNESDAY, FEB 3

6pm EST

featuring

authors Shannon Gibney & Ellen Birkett Morris

poet Jen Moore

& music from bassist Stephan Crump

Sponsored in part by the Indiana Arts Commission, Bloomington Arts Commission, and the Bloomington Urban Enterprise Association – Indiana

SHANNON GIBNEY is an award-winning author of books of all kinds — from novels to anthologies to essays to picture books. She writes for adults, children, and everyone in-between. The through-line in all her work is stories that may have previously gone untold. Her books include “What God Is Honored Here: Writings on Miscarriage and Infant Loss by and for Native Women and Women of Color” (University of Minnesota Press, 2019); the young adult novel “See No Color,” and her most recent novel, “Dream Country” (Dutton, 2018). www.shannongibney.com

A native of Louisville, ELLEN BIRKETT MORRIS is the author of LOST GIRLS, a short story collection, and SURRENDER, a poetry chapbook. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Fiction from Queens University – Charlotte. Her short stories have appeared in Antioch Review, Shenandoah, South Carolina Review, Upstreet, and elsewhere. www.ellenbirkettmorris.ink

JENNIFER MOORE was born and raised in Seattle. She is the author of “Easy Does It” (2021) and “The Veronica Maneuver” (2015), both from the University of Akron Press, and a chapbook of centos, “Smaller Ghosts” (Seven Kitchens Press, 2020). Her poems have appeared in Crazyhorse, Bennington Review, Interim, The Cincinnati Review, and elsewhere. An associate professor of creative writing, she currently serves as Director of the School for the Humanities and Global Cultures at Ohio Northern University and lives in Bowling Green, Ohio. www.jenmoorepoet.com

Memphis-bred, Grammy-nominated, Echo Award-winning bassist/composer STEPHAN GRUMP is an active bandleader with twelve critically-acclaimed album releases in addition to numerous film scoring contributions. Known for transforming his instrument into a speaking entity of magnetic pull, his focus on creative instrumental music has led to collaborations with many of the leading lights of his generation. www.stephancrump.com

Thu

Nina Menkes “Dissolution ” film showing

https://cinema.indiana.edu/upcoming-films/screening/2021-spring-program-thursday-february-4-700pm

Feb 4 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Nina Menkes Dissolution (2010) film showing

Special Community Collaboration Grant with IU Cinema

Thursday Feb 4

7 p.m.

Dissolution is Nina Menkes’ extraordinary, experimental adaptation of Dostoyevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment. Following a young Jew living in a predominantly Arab section of Tel Aviv, the story loosely transplants the Russian novel to a present-day region paralyzed by violence. Filmed in high-definition black and white, Menkes’s often exquisite compositions—a single, attenuated shot of the aftermath of a car crash is a miracle of choreography—drive a narrative mired in poverty and spiritual desperation. In English and Hebrew with English subtitles. For Zoom link:

Sun

The Ku Klux Klan in the Heartland by James Madison, a conversation

Feb 21 @ 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm

James Madison, The Ku Klux Klan in the Heartland

Conversation with the Author

Live on Zoom Sunday Feb 21

2 to 3 pm

Part of Coffee with Friends presented by the Friends of Monroe County Public Library

Enjoy a conversation with renowned author and historian, James Madison. Madison will discuss his recently released book, The Ku Klux Klan in the Heartland, in which he details the creation and reign of the infamous organization. He offers a detailed history of this powerful organization and examines how, through its use of intimidation, religious and ethnic intolerance, and the ballot box, the ideals of the Klan in the 1920s have on-going implications for America today. Madison is the Thomas and Kathryn Miller Professor Emeritus of History at Indiana University. The Midwestern History Association recently honored him with the Frederick Jackson Turner Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Friends are delighted to also welcome Carolyn Calloway-Thomas, the Chair of the Indiana University Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies who will facilitate the conversation with Madison. Bring your questions!

Please register with a valid email address at mcpl.info/friends. The link to the Zoom event will be emailed to you 30 minutes before the program begins. Please sign up as one person per household.

Help us spread the word about this program. Indicate you are going on our Facebook event, and invite your friends! https://www.facebook.com/events/752071365707685

If you would like to purchase a copy of The Ku Klux Klan in the Heartland, IU Press is offering Friends members a 30% discount. You will still need to pay tax and the $7 shipping charge. Go to the IU Press web page for the book: https://iupress.org/9780253052186/the-ku-klux-klan-in-the-heartland/ and use the discount code “JamesMadison” at checkout to receive 30% off.

Sun

Last Sunday Poetry Reading & Open Mic Now on You Tube

Feb 28 @ 9:00 am – 9:00 am

Last Sunday Poetry Reading & Open Mic

with guest poets Antonia Matthew and Anna Petro

followed by an Open Mic

You may see this event on You Tube at

Antonia Matthew is from England, where she grew up during World War II. She has lived in Bloomington since 1968 and has been a member of the writing group, Five Women Poets since 1974. She credits the group with keeping her writing. She has published a chapbook, Journey and written a play Home Front. She is a member of the Writers Guild at Bloomington.

Anna Petro is twelve years old and lives in Bloomington Indiana with her parents, her brother, her two dogs, her brother’s Ball Python, and her rescue snails. She loves to write.

Anna will be writing some poems on the same topic as some of Tonia’s poems for an inter-generational dialogue.

Tue

Just Write! IU life Long Learning

Mar 2 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Just Write!

IU Life Long Learning class Three Tuesdays, March 2–16

Shana Ritter instructor

Grab your pen or keyboard for this generative writing class. You’ll learn a range of original prompts to spur writing in different genres and use fast writes and a variety of forms and approaches to stretch your writing muscles and tune your written voice. Intended for all writers, beginning or experienced, you’ll grow your writing practice as a group.

TO REGISTER or to get further information click on: Just Write!

Wed

Spoken Word Series

Mar 3 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

SPOKEN WORD SERIES

Sponsored in part by the Indiana Arts Commission, Bloomington Arts Commission, and the Bloomington Urban Enterprise Association

TWO WAYS TO EXPERIENCE:

Drop a note to demand4poetry@gmail.com and we will send you the ZOOM link

watch LIVE on the Writers Guild at Bloomington Facebook page

featuring poets Steve Henn, Brooke Nicole Plummer, Bree Jo’ann & music from saxophonist Sam Newsome

BREE JO’ANN is the author of Black Glitter (Monster House Press, 2018). She works at the Indianapolis Public Library and lives in Indianapolis. www.poets.org/poet/bree-joann

STEVE HENN wrote Indiana Noble Sad Man of the Year (Wolfson Press 2017), And God Said: let there be Evolution! (NYQ Books 2012), and Unacknowledged Legislations (NYQ Books 2011) and the forthcoming chapbook from Main Street Rag, Guilty Prayer (out Feb/Mar 2021). He has been featured at the Long Beach Poetry Festival, the Uptown Poetry Slam, IUSB Visiting Writer Series, Bloomington Writers Guild series, at the University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg, in the Divedapper Carnival poetry showcase, and elsewhere. He raises the 4 children of he and the late artist Lydia Frances Henn (1980-2013) and teaches in Indiana. www.therealstevehenn.com

BROOKE NICOLE PLUMMER is a writer and musician from the Midwest region. Her first full-length collection of poems, Flyover, Compiled Nothings, was self- published in November of 2018. Her second chapbook, Shaggy Frog, was released in January 2021 through Alien Buddha Press. As a performance artist, she goes by “The Rotten Fruit.” www.neutralspaces.co/brooke-nicole-plummer

An innovator of unconventional sounds on his instrument, SAM NEWSOME has evolved as one of the most important soprano saxophonists in improvised music. Since 2007, Newsome has released six ground-breaking solo saxophone recordings that push the boundaries of his instrument. Albums Blue Soliloquy and Sopranoville both received five stars in Downbeat Magazine. A recipient of the 2016 NYFA Fellowship and the 2020 Instant Award in Improvised Music, Sam works with many genre-stretching musicians on today’s improvised music scene. He has released over 20 recordings as a leader and has appeared on over forty as a side-person. www.somenewmusic.com

Sun

Third Sunday Write

Mar 21 @ 1:00 pm – 1:00 pm

Third Sunday Write

Third Sunday Write offers all writers a chance to share in a writing community and flex and tone their writing muscles through exercises and discussion. While we can’t gather in person we are continuing to gather online. If you’re interested in receiving monthly prompts and having a friendly place to share your writing responses and read others’ please email shana747@gmail.com to get invited to the private FaceBook group 3rdsundaywrite.

Please note: The website notice mentions a date and time but please ignore them. It is a required field we have to fill in.

THANKS!

Sat

Writers Guild Business Meeting