The Gloucester Writers Center is a place for working writers in a working town
Like Vincent Ferrini, poet Linda McCarriston is a native of Lynn. She has two sons and four granddaughters. It took her much longer to settle in Gloucester than it did Vincent (she treasures a copy of No Smoke that he gave her in 2002). Educated in Lynn's Catholic schools, she won some high-school writing […]
Brenda Coultas’ poetry can be found in the recent anthologies: Readings in Contemporary Poetry published by the DIA art foundation, What is Poetry (Just Kidding, I Know You Know) Interviews from the Poetry Project newsletter, (1983-2009) and Symmetries Three years of Art and Poetry at Dominque Levy. This fall Coultas was a featured blogger for […]
Guided Memoir: A small-group experience for new writers Make new friends and nurture your creativity as you write your life story, two pages at a time! Join a small group of 5-10 participants as we support and encourage each other through a powerful reading and writing program. Our focus is on writing and sharing as […]
Yonghong Gu is from Suzhou, China. She is a visiting scholar at UMass Boston. She has studied history, literature and business. She has worked in education and business. Joseph Torra is a poet, fiction writer, editor and teacher. Being Exiled is a novel in progress by Yonghong Gu. She and Joseph Torra are […]
A program of photographs, haiku, and clarinet compositions originating from Halibut Point. Friday evening, April 12, 7:30 at the home of Stephen and Isabella Bates, 2 Masconomo Street, Manchester. Seating 60. Reservations required, (978) 526-1443 or clarone@comcast.net. Admission is free. Donate $20 at the door to the Gloucester Writers Center, receive a […]
Schuyler Hoffman has published two books of poetry: Words in a Foreign Language and The Spaces Between as well as the collaborative poetry-music CD Sacrifice. His work has appeared in The Café Review and in The Anthology of Post-Beat Poetry in translation in China. His new book Signal to Noise explores the myriad ways that […]
Neeli Cherkovski was horn in Los Angeles and has Lived in San Francisco since 1974. He is the author of many books of poetry and prose and books translated into Turkish, German, Italian, and Spanish. He is recipient of a PEN Josephine Miles Award for excellence in literature and the Jack Mueller poetry prize for […]
A mosaic is made of many pieces together, as is our fine city. Three organizations are collaborating to present The Mosaic that is Gloucester: MosaicGloucester; Maritime Gloucester; and the Gloucester Writer’s Center. In Part 3 of the event, The Gloucester Writers Center and The Maud/Olson Library will present What Holds Us Together: This Place in […]
On Sunday, May 5, from 1 to 3 p.m., Literary Cape Ann presents three of our region’s best-selling authors sharing stories about how their books became popular movies and what that career-changing experience was like. Our panelists are Rodman Philbrick, author of “Freak the Mighty,” a middle grade book still taught in schools and […]
Come remember and celebrate Gerrit Lansing with poems, song and stories.
Donald Wellman, poet, editor, and translator, his recent book of poetry is Essay Poems (Dos Madres: Loveland OH). Other books from Dos Madre include The Cranberry Island Series and A North Atlantic Wall; Prolog Pages was issued by Ahadada (2009); Fields (Light and Dust 1995). For several years, he edited O.ARS, a series of anthologies, […]
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Jay Featherstone’s Glass is true to its title as these poems allow the reader to look straight though language to see clearly how joy and loss are inextricably connected (“On the path to impoverishment,/tenderness. // In the long taking away, / hearing festival sounds / through all the streets of the city.”). From Wilkes-Barre to […]
The word 'Community' is the core of Wellspring's Mission Statement, created in 1987. That word expresses the way in which Wellspring's life, work and decisions developed in a relational organizational model, with an ethic of friendship and the practice of mutuality. In the book about Wellspring that Rosemary and Nancy are writing, they explore how […]
In July 1976, a twenty-four-year-old white woman, Margo Olson, was found in a shallow grave in Stamford, Connecticut, with an arrow piercing through her heart. A few weeks later, Howie Carter, her black boyfriend, was killed by the police. Howie and Margo’s interracial relationship held a distorted mirror to the author’s own, with Howie’s best […]
Mary Baine Campbell is a Cambridge-based poet and scholar (of literature and the histories of travel, geography, science and utopia), as well as a climate activist. Her publications include The Witness and the Other World, Wonder and Science: Imagining Worlds in Early Modern Europe and poetry collections The World, the Flesh, and Angels and Trouble, […]
Join us at the Maud/Olson Library for a celebration of Walt Whitman's 200th birthday! Wine, dine, and revel on the deck with us at the M/OL, as we celebrate the man and his work on the eve of his 200th birthday. His poetry will be available in the library to read, discuss, and enjoy. All […]
Áine’s presentation will focus on writing personal essays--such as those published in The Boston Globe Magazine, Brevity, The New York Times Modern Love series and other publications. She will discuss the risks and rewards of writing about our personal experiences, including why and how she wrote and published her just released essay collection (about immigration) 30+ […]
Judith Wright was born in 1939 and is an artist living in Gloucester, Massachusetts. She became a Freedom Rider and was jailed in the Mississippi State Penitentiary in 1961. Later, in 1964, she spent a year in Meridian, Mississippi working with her husband Sib in the Civil Rights Movement. Acts of Resistance; A Freedom Rider […]
PATRICK DONNELLY is the author of four books of poetry, Little-Known Operas (Four Way Books, 2019), Jesus Said (a chapbook from Orison Books, 2017), Nocturnes of the Brothel of Ruin (Four Way Books, 2012, a Lambda Literary Award finalist), and The Charge (Ausable Press, 2003, since 2009 part of Copper Canyon Press). Donnelly is director […]
Naming the World - a weekend of Personal Essay based on Bret Anthony Johnston’s book. To write well we must be able to "name the world" around us in such a way as to throw a new light on the ordinary, to see the everyday through a different lens - one that measures the now […]
Framing the Story: An Introduction to the Art of the Graphic Memoir Before we can put a single word down on the page, we must first behold the mental image, however fleeting, that informs our meaning-making process. This is what makes the graphic novel such an incredible lesson to us as writers. It teaches us how to frame images in […]
Cathy Curtis is the author of two previous biographies of women artists, RESTLESS AMBITION: GRACE HARTIGAN, PAINTER (Oxford University Press, 2015) and A GENEROUS VISION: THE CREATIVE LIFE OF ELAINE DE KOONING (Oxford University Press, 2017). Her next book will be a biography of the novelist and essayist Elizabeth Hardwick. Curtis was elected to a two-year […]
Ann Charters will be talking about how Charles Olson influenced her a young writer. She met him in 1968, after she had spent the years 1963-65 in the graduate English program at Columbia. Her dissertation was about 19th century writers in the Berkshires, with chapters on Melville and Hawthorne. When she began to read Olson […]
Join us for a night of fun and reading of three completely different kinds of books! Jane Keddy and Barbara Boudreau are both charter members of The Finish Line, a writer's group that formed in the fall of 2011 and continues today. Both women have published books, Boudreau's novel, The Frenchman in 2013 and Keddy's Serial […]
Join us for a night of fun and reading of three completely different kinds of books! Jane Keddy and Barbara Boudreau are both charter members of The Finish Line, a writer's group that formed in the fall of 2011 and continues today. Both women have published books, Boudreau's novel, The Frenchman in 2013 and Keddy's Serial Monogamy earlier […]
Eloise Weld Hodges grew up in Essex, then moved in 1954 with her family to Dolliver’s Neck, Gloucester. As Associate Editor and feature writer for North Shore Magazine (1975-80), she wrote about people and places that illuminated that part of the world. She will read from Wishbone, a collection of essays about family events and related […]
Every Fall, the Gloucester Writers Center organizes volunteers to go into Gloucester High School to help seniors with their college essays. You do not necessarily need to be a writer, but good reading and editing skills are a plus. The volunteers sit in the high school library, and students come in with drafts in all […]
Ellen Wilkin has been writing for 45 years as a poet and essayist, as a technical writer and editor in the computer industry, and as a novelist. Several of her poems were published in THE POETRY JAM SESSIONS, a collection she also edited. Her current project is a science fiction/time travel novel. She also runs […]
Dogtown Writers Festival September 27 and 28 Join us and other fellow writers in exploring and celebrating PLACE, with Cape Ann as a microcosm of the global macrocosm. The festival will be looking at what shapes our progressive future without losing “grounding” in our cultural roots and the history we grow out of. We […]
Mitch Manning is the author of city of water (Arrowsmith, 2019). He’s taught poetry in central China and his poems have been read in Basra, southern Iraq as part of the Boston to Basra Project. He teaches in the English and Labor Studies programs at UMass Boston, and is Associate Director at the Joiner Institute for the Study of […]
The Gloucester Writers Center and Cape Ann Plein Air invite you to share you plein air writing. Join us at Beauport Hotel for an open-mic reading on Wednesday, October 9 at 7:00. Below is a list of locations painters participating in Cape Ann Plein Air often paint from, as well as some prompts for these […]
Patrick Barron grew up in the Pacific Northwest, lived in Northern Ireland, the Netherlands, and Italy for a number of years, and is now based in Boston, where he teaches at the University of Massachusetts. His poems, essays, and translations have appeared in various journals. His most recent books are Towards the River's Mouth (Verso […]
Stephen Fredman is the author of "'Difficulties Are Once More': Charles Olson, John Dewey, and the Rhythm of Experience.” Stephen's talk considers three features of Olson's writing--rhythm, history, and performance--as they occur in works composed during his time at Black Mountain College. The American pragmatist, John Dewey, will be our companion, especially his Art as […]
Stephen Kalaghan is a long time Cape Ann area resident, having lived in Gloucester, MA and Rockport, MA since 1990. Originally from Weymouth, MA, he is a 1986 graduate of Cotting School, in Lexington, MA, and a 1994 graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Boston, where he earned a B.A. Degree, majoring in Theatre […]
Nadine Boughton, M.A., is a writer/poet, collage artist, coach and teacher. Her writing has been published in literary journals, trade books and presented in a number of venues. She studied writing and voice with teachers in the oral tradition, including David Whyte. Nadine’s visual art is represented by the Matthew Swift Gallery in Gloucester and […]
Joey Gould is a non-binary poet from Hopedale who tutors & often works with Mass Poetry for content writing, event planning, hosting, & performing. Their writing has appeared in Drunk Monkeys, District Lit, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, & Memoir Mixtapes. Joey performs in the Boston cast of The Poetry Brothel as Izzie Hexxam & […]
Join us for a marathon reading of Charles Olson's Maximus Poems
The Embodied Voice The embodied voice is one rooted not only in larynx and throat but the Earth; it retains the animal, the sounds of the world rising up through the body. As Charles Olson wrote: whatever you have to say, leave the roots on, let them dangle And the dirt Just to make […]
In Which Side Are You On, author James Sullivan delivers a lively anecdotal history of the progressive movements that have shaped the growth of the United States, and the songs that have accompanied and defined them. Come share in the music with a perfect handful of Cape Ann Musicians singing there own interpretations of these […]
This evening writing workshop is suitable for working adults or those balancing volunteer work with family responsibilities. The Words after Work workshop will cover the following: - An overview of the documented research and benefits on/of expressive writing for personal wellness and resilience - How to develop and maintain a consistent writing practice--even when you work full time […]
Creative nonfiction refers broadly to fact-based essays, written for publication, that emphasize point of view and often employ narration. We will focus on the basics of writing creative nonfiction: purpose, audience, shaping, voice and tone, style, and use of sources. Most class time will be devoted to critiques of student writing, and all students will […]
The news is overwhelming. How do you sort through it? Where to begin? How do you know what's true? Come listen to a journalist outline how she ferrets out information using tools of the trade. You'll learn how to: - Identify a meme or unreported story vs. news written by professional journalists - Figure out […]
Buy tickets here. If you have a story you'd like to tell, please contact Casey Breton at caseybreton@outlook.com.
Come enjoy Tapas appetizers, drinks, and conversation in an intimate setting with novelist and short story writer Andre Dubus III. Andre’s seven books include the New York Times’ bestsellers House of Sand and Fog, The Garden of Last Days, and his memoir, Townie. His most recent novel, Gone So Long, has received starred reviews from […]
A reading from spoKe six including David Rich reading from his essay on Gerrit Lansing, James Cook reading from his essay on Sam Cornish, poems by John Mulrooney, Jim Dunn and Amanda Cook. Hosted by Karina Van Berkum and Kevin Gallagher. David Rich worked as the poet Gerrit Lansing’s archivist from 2017 to 2018, […]
This event will be closed to the public. Please join us for the live stream on Facebook! Peter Almond is a documentary and narrative filmmaker, whose career includes work on public issues as a journalist and in public policy with both US and international projects. Current work include a drama set in the lead up […]
This event has been postponed until the fall.
The GWC is a community Partner with Salem Film Festival again this year. The Guardian says, "...a moody plunge into the anguish of the artistic process...By the end of this movie you’ll realize that Gilliam’s struggles are humanity’s struggles." In 2000, when he Terry Gilliam first attempted a screen adaptation of Cervantes’ masterpiece, Don Quixote […]
In order to keep our community safe, the Gloucester Writers Center has postponed our events for the next month. Looking for something to do? We have a wealth of readings and events archived at gloucesterwriters.org. Visit our media archives to listen to podcasts of our readings or watch videos of past events. We will evaluate […]
Please stay tuned for updates.
Click on down and join us for our first social distance event Join us @ www.facebook.com/GloucesterWritersCenter/ for Let the People Pick the President Jesse Wegman is a member of the New York Times editorial board, where he has written about the Supreme Court and legal affairs since 2013. Our interviewer is GWC Advisory Board member, lawyer […]
Let's have a conversation together about the specifics of being a class traitor in New England. We can define it together. Public figures like Eileen Myles (Arlington, Massachusetts), Carl Andre (Quincy, MA), and Marsden Hartley (born in Maine; painted in Gloucester) will serve as touchstones. Together, we will break down how often (but not always!) […]
Dear Friends, During this time of mass isolation we are hunkering down with our Board to explore, regroup and reimagine how we can best serve the community while moving sustainably into our this unpredictable future. To do this we are temporarily suspending our live programming and events until the invisible storm passes. We want […]
virtual Roger Davis invites you to a scheduled Zoom meeting for the monthly Gloucester Writers Center Open Mic. As usual, each reader will have five minutes to read a piece of prose, fiction, or poetry. In lieu of […]
Mark the Date. Watch the Stream. Ask a the Author. Wednesday, May 6 at 7 p.m. CLICK HERE FOR REGISTRATION DETAILS. Anna Solomon & Charlotte Gordon discuss Anna's new book. Here's what Publisher's Weekly had to say: "Fresh and tantalizing, with fascinating intergenerational discussions about desire, duty, family, and feminism, as well as a surprising, […]
Join our Storyteller in Residence, Casey Breton for our first Virtual Fish Tales on May 22nd thru May 31st. Like so many non-profits in order to continue our mission to the community and keep in touch with our friends we are moving into the virtual. We look forward to be with you LIVE. In the […]
Host Roger Davis invites you to our second Zoom OPEN MIC. Monday June 1st Sign in at 7:15pm here https://us02web.zoom.us/j/71829688421?pwd=UURXYXF0RXVwZTFGYUF5cmgzb2hHZz09 and chat before reading Bring your words get heard. Anyone needing help with Zoom sign in can email Roger at Rdavis@gmail.comMeeting ID: 718 2968 8421 Password: words
Join host Roger Davis on Zoom Bring your words get heard. Sign in at 7:15 below and chat before reading https://us02web.zoom.us/j/71829688421?pwd=UURXYXF0RXVwZTFGYUF5cmgzb2hHZz09 Anyone needing help with Zoom sign in can email Roger at Rdavis@gmail.com Meeting ID: 718 2968 8421 Password: words
Tuesdays July 21, 28, Aug 4 & August 11 7pm EST Peter Almond is a film producer and writer in both documentary and narrative genres. He is currently filmmaker/Writer-in-Residence at the GWC. He wants to give a ZOOM Screenwriting Workshop as a contribution! All proceeds from the workshop will all go to the GWC. These […]
Join Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons, producer of the nonfiction series No, YOU Tell It! (noyoutellit.com), for this generative storytelling workshop. Participants will turn out and trade true tales to examine what makes a powerful, affecting, and expressive story on the page or stage. Have a Fish Tales story you want to hone or a new tale you’ve […]
A Benefit Workshop led by poet Tom Daley via Zoom for the GWC. "If you avoid the conflict to keep the peace you start a war inside yourself.' (Cheryl Richardson) From Hamlet's soliloquy, "To be or not to be," to Katniss Everdeen's conflict between the reluctance to kill and the wish to be a warrior […]
HOSTED BY CASEY BRETON With stories from Rev. Wendy Fitting, Abram Kielsmeir-Jones, Doug Rich, Dick Prouty, Laila Goodman, Bobbie Wayne, and Keith Harris. RESERVE YOUR TICKET TODAY Online Ticket Purchase Available Here OR CALL: 978-281-4433
Storytelling Guru Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons offers four workshops 10am - 11:30 the following Saturdays (Take one for $35 or $25 for two or more) Saturday, Oct 10th - What? vs. Why? Generative workshop that explores WHAT the story is about, but more importantly, WHY it needs to be told? Saturday, Oct 24th - Story Starters Hook readers […]
The Art of Visual Storytelling w/ Anne Rearick October 10, 17 & 24th $175 for workshop - Class maximum 10 This workshop will guide and support participants in honing their storytelling skills through photography. Stories may be personal and explore family and community or address larger societal issues like the Black Lives Matter movement or […]
Our second screenwriting workshop with film producer and writer Peter Almond Starts 7pm EST. Class starts on October 20th and runs four consecutive Tuesdays. Workshop is limited to eight - $150 To save your space email Eileen@Gloucesterwriters.org These 90-minute workshops will consider basic screenplay writing issues involving premise, structure, character and […]
Storytelling Guru Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons offers three more workshops 10:00am - 11:30 (Take one for $35 or $25 for two or more) Saturday, Nov 7th - Story Starters Hook readers with varied techniques to start a story. Saturday, Nov 21st - Aha! Moments Moments of joy, pain, or change that send the story in a new direction. Saturday, Dec 5th […]
The Art of Visual Storytelling w/ Anne Rearick Oct. 31 - Nov. 7 & 14 1-3 pm $175 for workshop - Class maximum 10 This workshop will guide and support participants in honing their storytelling skills through photography. Stories may be personal and explore family and community or address larger societal issues like the Black […]
NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH is an annual internet based creative writing project that takes place during November. This year Gloucester School Teacher, Heidi Wakeman is volunteering with the GWC to facilitate the program. Heidi says, "I've always wanted to write a novel and what better time then now! " Every Monday in November from 7pm to 8:30 the […]
The Return of the 10 Minute Play Over the years M. Lynda Robinson's 10 play workshop produced several award winning shows. If you've ever wanted to write a play this is a great introduction to the craft. Classes planned for November. Four sessions on Zoom. $125 To save your space email: Eileen@gloucesterwriters.org
The Art of Visual Storytelling w/ Anne Rearick Oct. 31 - Nov. 7 & 14 1-3 pm $175 for workshop - Class maximum 10 This workshop will guide and support participants in honing their storytelling skills through photography. Stories may be personal and explore family and community or address larger societal issues like the Black […]
NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH is an annual internet based creative writing project that takes place during November. This year Gloucester School Teacher, Heidi Wakeman is volunteering with the GWC to facilitate the program. Heidi says, "I've always wanted to write a novel and what better time then now! " Every Monday in November from 7pm to 8:30 the […]
Four Thursdays 7-9:00 pm EST November 19, 26, December 3, 10 $75.00 7 person min. enrollment birds dreamed hungry: a poetry workshop on Larry Eigner and Black Mountain Poetry Workshop with Jennifer Bartlett & George Hart This workshop will focus on the work and life of Larry Eigner and his relationship with Gloucester poets, Vincent […]
Storytelling Guru Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons offers three more workshops 10:00am - 11:30 (Take one for $35 or $25 for two or more) Saturday, Nov 7th - Story Starters Hook readers with varied techniques to start a story. Saturday, Nov 21st - Aha! Moments Moments of joy, pain, or change that send the story in a new direction. Saturday, Dec 5th […]
NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH is an annual internet based creative writing project that takes place during November. This year Gloucester School Teacher, Heidi Wakeman is volunteering with the GWC to facilitate the program. Heidi says, "I've always wanted to write a novel and what better time then now! " Every Monday in November from 7pm to 8:30 the […]
NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH is an annual internet based creative writing project that takes place during November. This year Gloucester School Teacher, Heidi Wakeman is volunteering with the GWC to facilitate the program. Heidi says, "I've always wanted to write a novel and what better time then now! " Every Monday in November from 7pm to 8:30 the […]
Storytelling Guru Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons offers three more workshops 10:00am - 11:30 (Take one for $35 or $25 for two or more) Saturday, Nov 7th - Story Starters Hook readers with varied techniques to start a story. Saturday, Nov 21st - Aha! Moments Moments of joy, pain, or change that send the story in a new direction. Saturday, Dec 5th […]
Host Roger Davis invites you to our Virtual OPEN MIC. First Monday of the month! Sign in at 7:15pm and chat. Reading begins @ 7:30 Click Here to go to Zoom or paste this. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/71829688421?pwd= UURXYXF0RXVwZTFGYUF5 cmgzb2hHZz09 Anyone needing help with Zoom sign in can email Roger at 16rdavis@gmail.com Meeting ID: […]
Host Roger Davis invites you to our Virtual OPEN MIC. First Monday of the month! Sign in at 7:15pm and chat. Reading begins @ 7:30 Click Here to go to Zoom or paste this. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/71829688421?pwd= UURXYXF0RXVwZTFGYUF5 cmgzb2hHZz09 Anyone needing help with Zoom sign in can email Roger at 16rdavis@gmail.com Meeting ID: […]
Host Roger Davis invites you to our Virtual OPEN MIC. First Monday of the month! Sign in at 7:15pm and chat. Reading begins @ 7:30 Click Here to go to Zoom or paste this. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/71829688421?pwd= UURXYXF0RXVwZTFGYUF5 cmgzb2hHZz09 Anyone needing help with Zoom sign in can email Roger at 16rdavis@gmail.com Meeting ID: […]
