May 2004

Greetings from Inkberry!

It’s time to bid a fond farewell to April. Our Celebration of Poetry was a smashing success. Shin Yu Pai, Scott Withiam, Diane Lockward, and Sandra Kohler all gave terrific readings, and Sandra’s afternoon poetry workshop met with rave reviews. Thanks to everyone who made the event so much fun — the poets who read and taught, and also the folks who took the class and cheered from the audience!

Now that we’re on a trimester schedule, the sweet and merry month of May kicks off our summer season. Four Inkberry programs start this month: three new, one repeat.

On May 10 we’ll kick off “Writing Mysteries and Thrillers,” an online workshop taught by Carla Coupe. Is your mystery stalled mid-murder? Your thriller missing the thrill? This seven-week class will help you straighten it out! Get the intel here: inkberry.org/workshops/online/#mystery

On May 12, we’ll begin a new session of Wednesday Night Writers, which meets every week from 7-9pm at Inkberry. Want to carve out some time in your week for writing? Feeling the need for some writers’ community? Join us! Learn about it here: inkberry.org/workshops/atinkberry/#Wednesday

On Thursday, May 27, we’ll début a Harry Potter book-and-movie discussion group, focused on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. First, read and discuss the book; then, see the movie en masse (plans call for a weekend matinee); then, meet a final time to rate new director Alfonso Cuarón and talk about how the book translates to screen. Read about it here: inkberry.org/workshops/atinkberry/#Harry

And on May 15, we’re presenting An Evening of Novelists, featuring Ali Benjamin, Pam Summa, and David Essinger. All three are terrific writers, with excellent novels-in-progress. Ali, a North Adams resident, was a student in our first novel-writing workshop; Pam, who lives in Somerville, has been a housepainter, a muralist, and a waitress; and Dave, who lives in Ohio, taught our online Short Fiction workshop this spring. The reading is at 7:30pm, and admission is $5 ($3/free for Inkberry members); join us at our 63 Main Street space for a night of good fiction!

As usual, you can read about all of these events on our website, http://www.inkberry.org; if you’re an Inkberry member, you can also browse our Discussion Forums and peruse our growing collection of MFA program reviews. We just added a review of the University of Oregon Literary Nonfiction Program, so come check that out.

Members can also post and critique generative writing exercises at the Inkberry site. This month’s writing exercises are a “New Food Exercise” and a “Seasonal Goodness Exercise.” Curious? Log in at http://inkberry.org/exercises/ — and if you’re not a member yet, you can become one easily at http://inkberry.org/store/.

I’m personally really enjoying the writing exercises — I like doing them, and I like seeing what other people come up with! I encourage everybody to hop in and post your work; it’s a great way to get feedback from other writers. If you’re new to writing, exercises are a good way to get going, and a low-risk way to practice writing and sharing work. If you’re an old hand, exercises are still useful jump-starters, and there’s always benefit to learning how an audience receives and responds to your work.

Last week, Tom and I taped a new episode of Inkberry’s Bookshelf, our local-access television show, which airs on Willinet, NBCTC, and PCTV. Our May show features Sandy Ryan, Inkberry co-founder and editor of Inklings, our soon-to-premiere anthology of Inkberry student work. Bookshelf airs on Willinet on Tuesday nights at 7pm, and the first screening of the May episode will be on May 4th. Let us know what you think!

In other Inkberry news, we’ve redecorated our display window. (Many thanks to Douglass Truth, whose installation graced our window for the last year.) Next time you’re on Main Street in North Adams, check it out.

And in still other Inkberry news, we’re premiering a new program we’re calling Inkbuddies. We’re looking for people who want to help Inkberry spread the word about our online programs; we’ll reward you with a free Chapbook membership and some nifty Inkberry stuff. Email our volunteer coordinator Elissa Shevinsky for the details: elissa@inkberry.org. (If you live in the Berkshire area and want to help us distribute calendars and flyers for our in-person events, do tell; we trade memberships for that, too.)

We’re always happy to make connections with other organizations whose work is similar to ours. Our newest friend is the Adirondack Center for Writing (http://www.adirondackcenterforwriting.org), which is offering a self-publishing workshop on May 22. If you’re near enough to Paul Smiths to spend the day there, I expect their workshop will be excellent, and I’d love to hear a report of it!

I’d also like to give a plug to the final Railway Café show of the season, which is slated for May 22 at 8pm: they’re presenting Sloan Wainwright. Sloan comes from a long line of gifted singer-songwriters. (Loudon is her brother; Rufus, her nephew. What a family!) She’s a strong songwriter, with a smoky contralto voice. The gig is at the St. John’s Parish Hall, and admission is $12 in advance. Learn more at www.fusf.org/railwaycafe.

I’ve read some good stuff in the last month, including Matthew Pearl’s period mystery The Dante Club (a literary thriller set in 1870s Boston), a bilingual edition of the poems of St. John of the Cross (picked up for fifty cents at the annual Williamstown Book Sale), and volume three of Brian Vaughan and Pia Guerra’s science-fiction comic Y The Last Man. Nutshell review: I recommend all three, for totally different reasons! For now, I’m going to hand the microphone over to Dani, our spring intern from Williams College.

Take an online workshop, try the online writing exercises, savor our evening of novelists, enjoy our new window display: summer is on the way, so celebrate it at Inkberry! See you next time.

— Rachel

Hi, I’m Dani Lerro, the newest Inkberry intern! I’m a junior at Williams College, and I’m really excited about this internship this semester. I’m a Comparative Literature major, so obviously everything Inkberry does is really interesting to me. I love seeing how the events are put together behind the scenes, and how much work goes into everything.

I just got back from a semester in Siena, Italy, where my Italian got infinitely better (especially after a glass or two of vino :) and I was able to study another culture’s literary tradition in depth, from Dante to operas to Calvino. After I graduate next year I’m looking to teach English abroad and then eventually go on to further study in more Literature or Women and Gender Studies.

At Inkberry I’m excited about the ‘Zineberry course that they’re planning to offer sometime in the coming year, because giving adolescents a forum to express their creativity is very important to me. I’ve been sending out emails to creative writing MFA programs, as well as mailing things out to you all and hanging posters around town. I hope everyone has a happy May and if you stop by on Friday afternoons when I’m there, come say hi!

— Dani