Thursday, October 7
* 7 pm *
The Loft Literary Center
Open Book, 1011 Washington Avenue S
Minneapolis, MN
Free and open to the public
Each year, Kate Hopper coordinates a Mother Words Reading to showcase excellent literary nonfiction by women writing about motherhood. This year she will be joined by Bonnie J. Rough, author of the new memoir Carrier: Untangling the Danger in My DNA; and Hope Edelman, author of five nonfiction books: the international bestseller Motherless Daughters (1994); Letters from Motherless Daughters (1995); Mother of My Mother (1999); Motherless Mothers (2006); and The Possibility of Everything (2009), her first book-length memoir.
Do you keep a journal - or wish you could get one started? Literary Mama wants to help.
Three times a month, I'll post a writing prompt that I hope will encourage you to open a notebook and write for 10 minutes. Don't worry about grammar or punctuation - just write. Then let the writing simmer and your mind wander for awhile.
And who knows? Maybe you'll discover a character for your next short story or a theme for a narrative essay. Or maybe you'll use the idea to create a special holiday card or photo album for someone in your family. However you decide to use your journal entry, I know you'll enjoy re-reading it months--and years--down the road.
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Consider these startling statistics from the Confidence Coalition, an alliance of 38 national organizations committed to promoting self-confidence in girls and women so that they may feel empowered to overcome social barriers and be inspired to reach their greatest potential:
- 90% of all women want to change at least one aspect of their physical appearance
- 81% of 10-year-old girls are afraid of being fat
- Only 2% of women think they are beautiful.
- A girl is bullied every 7 minutes in the school yard, playground, stairwell, classroom or bathroom.
- A woman is battered every 15 seconds.
"Lack of confidence can affect so many areas of our lives. Girls start out with big dreams, ideas of changing the world, making their mark. Then over time, their confidence is undermined by the media, the advertising world, parents, friends, adversaries and their own inner voices. They succumb to peer pressure to fit in. They bully others and allow themselves to be bullied. They participate in gossip and intimidation. They become victims of spousal and dating abuse. They participate in risky behaviors like excessive drinking and sexual promiscuity. They stand back and let others take the lead in organizations, in the workplace and in the country. They let others define their self-worth."
Journal Entry: What does a confident child look like? Describe how the child walks, talks, and interacts with others. Is there a specific skill or talent that contributes to the child's confidence? Do the parents contribute to the child's confidence? How? Now, write about a time you saw these attributes in your child.
I don't know how many of you are familiar with the Afghan Women's Writing Project, but it is an utterly amazing project that brings together (mostly American) writers with Afghan women writing students. They do online classes and then publish the pieces on a blog. Their stories are absolutely riveting, compelling, inspiring and illuminating. Right now the founder, novelist Masha Hamilton, is seeking an editor.
She says: the job is about eight hours a week, giving the final kiss to the material that goes on the blog, someone reliable and a self-starter, and yes, it's all volunteer, but for a good cause.
You all know about good causes, volunteering, etc right? ;-)
Anyway, if any of you are interested, it is an INCREDIBLE project. Check it out here http://www.awwproject.org/
and if you would like to pursue the editor position, contact Masha Hamilton at masha@mashahamilton.com.
Led by Local Author Elizabeth Fishel
Welcome New Members This Fall
The Wednesday and Friday morning women's writers' workshops I've led in my Rockridge living room for many years are testimony to the power of writers' groups as catalysts, support, sources of ideas, and inspiration for the literary life.
Part writing class, part support group, part literary salon, our writers' community has morphed through marriages and divorces, motherhood and empty nests, career shifts, illness and recovery, transforming our "diamonds in the dustheap"--in Virginia Woolf's famous phrase--into all varieties of first-person writing. Although we write first for pleasure and self-revelation, many are also getting published: essays, op-ed pieces, newspaper columns, and several memoirs. We've published two anthologies of our writing, Wednesday Writers and Something That Matters that raise money for Bay Area breast care centers.
My own books include Sisters and Reunion, and I've written widely for magazines including Oprah's O, Vogue, Good Housekeeping and Family Circle. My many years of experience help provide guidance to group members in getting happily published.
Our meetings offer a welcome breather from the isolation of creative work and the computer screen's stern stare. The group's positive energy--and that weekly or biweekly deadline--do wonders for everyone's productivity. Shared examples of fine writing help inspire original work, and topical quick-writes in class outwit the inner censor; later, the sloppy first drafts are polished until they're ready to share with a wide audience.
For more information about the new sessions starting this fall, please visit our website, www.wednesdaywriters.com or email me aterfishel@gmail.com
Pentimento is a quarterly publication written for and by individuals with disabilities and their caregivers. The word Pentimento refers to an underlying image in a painting, as an earlier painting or original draft that usually shows through when the top layer of paint becomes transparent with age. Therefore, the word itself implies seeing beyond the surface. That is the mission of this magazine: To challenge its readers to see beyond disabilities thus experiencing the way in which we are all connected.
What makes Pentimento the first of its kind is that it is a magazine for and by the disabled population that is purely literary in nature. Each issue will be filled with well-written personal narratives that avoid medical jargon, research, or advice.
Creative non-fiction essay submissions should be polished with strong imagery, affect, and good narrative arc. Creative non-fiction essays receive payment upon publication as does accepted art work for the cover. Poetry is also desired.
In addition, we are seeking unpaid submissions to The Reader's Pen and "Uncut." The Reader's Pen topic is "Taking a Chance" due by November 1st for the January 2011 issue. "Hope" is the next Reader's Pen Topic due by February 1st for the April 2011 issue.
To learn more about Pentimento Magazine and see detailed guidelines on the submission process, please visit www.pentimentomagazine.org
Do you keep a journal - or wish you could get one started? Literary Mama wants to help.
Three times a month, I'll post a writing prompt that I hope will encourage you to open a notebook and write for 10 minutes. Don't worry about grammar or punctuation - just write. Then let the writing simmer and your mind wander for awhile.
And who knows? Maybe you'll discover a character for your next short story or a theme for a narrative essay. Or maybe you'll use the idea to create a special holiday card or photo album for someone in your family. However you decide to use your journal entry, I know you'll enjoy re-reading it months--and years--down the road.
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Congrats to these LM Staffers!
Cassie Premo Steele, Colunmist: "I have three new publications coming out this fall: a book of poetry called This is how honey runs, published by Unbound Content; a novel, Shamrock and Lotus, published by All Things That Matter Press; and an essay in the anthology, Who Should Be First? Feminists Speak Out on the 2008 Presidential Campaign. Mothering runs throughout all of them as a theme-- mothering as inspiration, the difference between generations of mothers, mothering as challenge, and mothering as catalyst for healing and change."
Vicki Forman, Reviews Co-Editor: "I've been awarded the 2010 PEN USA award in creative nonfiction for my memoir, This Lovely Life. LM was the first place that gave me a home in which to tell my story, and I can't tell you how much that meant to me."
Christina Marie Speed, Literary Reflections Co-Editor: "My poem, 'O, September,' was published and can be heard at Vox Poetica. I wrote the poem as part of my writing group's project to write a series of poems that addressed each month in a coquettish, teasing manner. This poem came to me one afternoon in early August, when I was feeling particularly flirty and counting the days until school began. I reworked some of the phrasing and wording, but 'O, September' is very close to its original form.
I was also invited to read 'O, September' and some of my other work at reading sponsored by Vox Poetica and Caper Journal, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It was a terrific event, and a meaningful experience to meet the editors of these two respected journals, and mingle with other poets."
Kate Hopper, Literary Reflections Co-Editor: "I presented a session on how to improve blog writing and take blog posts to the next level at the Minnesota Blogging conference - the first of its kind in the state. It was a one-day conference meant to bring together hundreds of talented and creative bloggers from across Minnesota to learn, share, and collaborate. I wanted to be a part of it because I think it's so important to remember that even though many of us spend our days alone in front of our computers, we're still part of a community, and I wanted to help support that community.
Suzanne Kamata, Fiction Co-Editor: "I'm happy to announce that Russian translation rights to my novel Losing Kei have been sold to Ripol Publishing in Moscow. A chapter of Losing Kei was originally published as a short story (Gan) in Literary Mama."
Ann Hood writes about motherhood like nobody else, from the troubled, pregnant teenager of her novel Ruby, to her bestselling memoir of loss and grief, Comfort. In between Hood has written ten other books as well as popular essays for the New York Times' Modern Love column, Tin House and O: The Oprah Magazine.
In her latest novel, The Red Thread, Hood tells the story of six couples in the process of adopting girls from China. (Hood herself adopted a girl from China after the loss of her five-year-old daughter, Grace, from a virulent form of strep, in 2000.) Each couple has a powerful and emotional motivation behind the decision to adopt, but what makes the book even more moving is Hood's choice to tell the stories of the Chinese mothers who give up their babies, and why. These storylines truly become the "red thread" that connects the families, and their children, from one continent to another, and one history to another. Highly recommended!
DATE: Tuesday, September 14
TIME: 6:30-8:30 (new time!)
LOCATION: The Libertine Library at Gild Hall,15 Gold Street, NYC
FREE ADMISSION
Darin Strauss
celebrated author of Chang and Eng
and the memoir Half a Life
Jennifer Egan
Acclaimed Great American Novelist
and author of The Keep and
A Visit from the Goon Squad
With Special Guest
Abby Sher
Writer, parent, and recipient of The
Pen Parentis Fellowship for New Parents
Join the conversation...
Celebrate contemporary literature and cutting-edge parenting with like-minded readers and writers at Pen Parentis.org.
Do you keep a journal - or wish you could get one started? Literary Mama wants to help.
Three times a month, I'll post a writing prompt that I hope will encourage you to open a notebook and write for 10 minutes. Don't worry about grammar or punctuation - just write. Then let the writing simmer and your mind wander for awhile.
And who knows? Maybe you'll discover a character for your next short story or a theme for a narrative essay. Or maybe you'll use the idea to create a special holiday card or photo album for someone in your family. However you decide to use your journal entry, I know you'll enjoy re-reading it months--and years--down the road.
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