Inkberry Takes Root

STREET SCENE

INKBERRY TAKES ROOT: The inkberry is a tough little shrub with evergreen leaves that grows wherever it can get a hold.

“That’s kind of like us,” said Sandy Ryan, one of the founders of a new literary arts organization in North County that has used the inkberry as its namesake.

The soil is plenty rich in these parts for such an endeavor. Sandy, along with her friends Emily Banner and Rachel Barenblat-all with strong writing and editorial credentials- got to talking a few months ago about the famed Guild Complex in Chicago, a writers’ Romper room where readings, workshops and master classes are held. Emily had been working there.

“She’d tell us all these stories about it,” said Sandy, “and we’d say, ‘Wow, I really wish there was something like that here.’ And we were like, ‘Let’s do it.’”

The goal: create a space where every level of writer can take workshops; where established local and national writers could come and give readings; and where the connections between life and writing are fortified.

“In my opinion,” said Sandy, “writing has become this rarefied art. That needs to stop.”

Having secured space at Main Street Stage in North Adams and having partnered with Papyri Books in North Adams, Inkberry’s first writing workshop, “Introduction to Creative Writing: Mixed-Genre Workshop,” begins in April, as do its first book groups, “Classic Science Fiction” and “New England Voices.” A reading series begins in June with the poet Donald Hall, a winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and a Pulitzer Prize nominee.

Inkberry, a tax-exempt, nonprofit corporation, is funded entirely by grants and private contributions. Check out its Web site for a schedule of events and workshops: www.inkberry.org.