Washington Writers’ Workshop hosting a variety of talented authors

The month of September is a time of beginnings. School starts, there are new sports and new clubs to join. It is also a season of new programs and events at the Washington Public Library. Our Washington Writers’ Workshop is going on its twelfth year and will resume on Saturday, September 14 at 10 a.m. This free monthly program is for adults and teens who enjoy writing in all genres. We have poets, novel writers, and several folks who are writing their memoirs. A big part of this ongoing program is hosting visiting authors from all over Iowa to work with us. We are fortunate to also have a partnership with the University of Iowa Arts Share who sends writers from the prestigious Iowa Writers’ Workshop. These visitors spend the first hour of our meetings giving presentations on the craft of writing where we always learn something new. We have found that many of their lessons apply across the board. So even if you see that a poet is coming to present, and you do not write poetry, please don’t think that session is not for you. Our memoir writers and fiction writers have learned a lot from poets!

Fortunately, we have had great success with the WWW over the years and the quality of the program has only improved. I am enthused about the newest season which will be kicked off with Mary Jedlicka Humston in September, who visited us some years ago. Humston is a former high school teacher who graduated from UNI with a B.A. in English Education. She has had several hundred poems and essays published and has presented programs on cancer, chronic illness, prayer, writing, and little free libraries. She co-authored Mary and Me: a Lasting Link Through Ink. Mary will be giving a presentation on the art of letter writing, something that she believes should be preserved and celebrated.

In October, we are delighted to bring Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey back to our community to work with the WWW. He will be giving a workshop on spoken word poetry, which is his specialty. Rainey is an author, performer, and producer. He has published two books, Look, Black Boy and Heart Notes, he has released two spoken word albums, and produced his first short film, Willing to Grow. He is the winner of several poetry slams across the United States. When he is not writing and performing he is actively curating a community of spoken word poets in Iowa City. Rainey is not only going to give a workshop, he will also be our featured author at the WPL’s annual Author Fest, occurring the same day.

We also have plans to host Steven T. Berry during April before Washington’s Farm to Film Festival. Berry is an award-winning independent filmmaker and a retired professor from Howard University’s Department of Media, Journalism and Film and will be working with the WWW on writing for film. As you can see, we like to try to bring in a wide variety of writers to enrich our own writing experiences.

So, if you have always wanted to write but never actively pursued it, you should join us at the Washington Writers’ Workshops. Email leann.kunz@washington.lib.ia.us to get on the reminder list. You will be allowed to submit written pieces for critique or you can simply attend to learn. Some participants come just to hear our speaker during the first hour. This is a warm and welcoming group of writers and we have built a community who support one another. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?