December 2006

Greetings from Inkberry!

Last month was a typical November in many ways—while our workshops and reading series were well underway, a small army of interns and volunteers helped us to get letters out to our to members and friends, requesting support for our work in the coming year. Thanks to everyone who offered extra hands! Members and friends, if you’ve already sent your support—thank you! If you haven’t sent your support, please don’t forget us! As always, send us news about opportunities, accomplishments, and publications.

I received rave reviews from students enrolled in Joanna Luloff’s on-line fiction writing workshop, which will come to a close this month. If you didn’t sign up for Joanna’s class this time, look out for her again next year. Naomi Novik and Paul Park gave a fantastic reading and Q&A at MCLA—the audience didn’t want to let them go! (always a good sign). We’ll be finishing up this year’s reading series with a special Wordplay at Papyri Books tonight at 7:30. The evening will feature MCLA students involved in Inkberry’s college creative writing workshop, run by poet and MCLA senior Sarah Russell. Read more about Sarah (and her fellow Inkberry intern, Courtney) in the People section of this edition of inkmail.

I hope this finds you well and looking forward to time with friends and family. Best wishes for a peaceful and happy holiday season!

Jill

If you are receiving this inkmail in error or would like us to send news by snail mail instead, please contact us at info@inkberry.org.

In the Community

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of serving as a community advisor to students involved the Berkshire Institute for Student Activism (BISA)—a conference held on the Williams College campus and organized by AmeriCorps* VISTA Volunteer Sadie Miller. The conference brought students from area colleges together to create action plans focused on issues ranging from healthcare to coalition building to youth empowerment. I spent the day with a terrific group of students from Williams College and Berkshire Community College who are committed to unlocking opportunity for local children through writing programs centered on tutoring and mentorship. Read more about the kickoff BISA conference view=article&session=news&id=8364>here.

Inkberry is brought to you by…(People)

I don’t know what we’d do without our college interns. They support us in all aspects of our work—from helping with the less exciting tasks of filing, photocopying, and data entry to assisting in program development, grant research and writing, event planning and coordination—the list is endless! This semester, MCLA students Sarah Russell and Courtney Llewellyn have brought great energy to our home on Main Street. Thanks you two, for everything you do! Read about Sarah and Courtney in their recent blogpost < href=http://inkberry.org/inkblog/>here.

Inkberry member Jennifer Mattern wrote us with the news that her blog Breed ‘Em and Weep has made it to the finalist round of the 2006 Weblog Awards in the Best Parenting category! You might know Mattern as a freelance writer and playwright (her most recent play, Like Home was produced at Main Street Stage in North Adams last May to rave reviews). If you don’t know her as a mommy, you’re missing out—especially if you have kids of your own. Take a look of a few of her recent posts here and follow the link to the Weblog Awards to cast your vote. Congratulations Jennifer!

Happening this month

Wordplay – TONIGHT – Saturday, December 9th at 7:30 at Papyri Books featuring poet Sarah Russell and fellow writers from Inkberry’s college creative writing workshop group. On the second Saturday of every month, Inkberry and Papyri Books bring local writers together to read from their fiction, poetry and non-fiction. Find out more about this reading and about WordPlay here.

Thursday Night Critique—December 21st at 7:30 at Inkberry led by Inkberry’s workshop facilitator, Bill Belcher. You got yourself in the chair and wrote the draft. Print the draft and bring it to Inkberry. Writers need feedback. Get it here.

The Moon is Broken – Don’t miss this exhibition featuring the work of ten regional poets, based on images from the Williams College Museum of Art photography collection. This coming spring, Inkberry will offer creative writing workshops focused on the exhibition and geared to children and adults in the community. For more information about this exhibit, and about Inkberry’s upcoming collaboration with the WCMA, go here.

Opportunities

Call for writers: food historian, editor (and Inkberry member) Linda Berzok is seeking submissions for a new book on Women, Recipes and Stories. Read more about this opportunity here.

Call for readers The David & Joyce Milne Public Library is looking for readers to perform classic and contemporary plays at the library. Read more about this opportunity here.