A reading and discussion group for writing instructors and enthusiasts.
Hey writers and writing teachers of all levels, you are warmly welcomed to a slow-moving book club where we read approximately one chapter per meeting, leaving plenty of time for close reading and thinking about implications for our own practices.
We meet once a month!
Tentative Schedule on the right. (Pending the needs of participants, we will slow down, and allocate more time!)
To foster an inclusive space, we have been using the protocol in the image below (click to enlarge) that we update as necessary as a group, and participants will be encouraged to share their preferred name and pronouns if they are comfortable doing so.
For our first series, taking us through 2021-2023, we’re going to be reading two books on reimagining the writing workshop past the writing workshop’s damaging traditions: Felicia Rose Chavez’s The AntiRacist Writing Workshop & Matthew Salesses‘ Craft in the Real World.
We’ll be going through them slowly, roughly a chapter at a time, interspersing them by theme. Come one come all!
Get your copies here:
Felicia Rose Chavez’s (The AntiRacist Writing Workshop) softcover, available from Third Eye Books (Black-owned bookstore in Portland, OR)
Matthew Salesses (Craft in the Real World) Soft cover, or Audiobook–narrated by the author, available from Massy Books (Indigenous and Woman owned bookstore in Vancouver, BC)
If purchasing these books is a hardship, please contact bewriting at wordcraftersineugene dot org and we will work with you.
This book club arose out of Wordcrafters Teacher Talks Series. We’re welcoming in the greater writing community to continue learning and growing together.
This series is free and open to the public! It is also unfunded. We are putting this event on because we want these conversations to happen in our community. If you want to see work like this continue, consider a donation to Wordcrafters to help support these efforts at reexamining our craft!
About the Facilitator:
Leah Velez is a writer and interdisciplinary teaching artist, with over twelve years of experience with children, pre-teens, teens, adults, and senior citizens. She has taught in public schools, alternative schools, summer camps, prisons, universities, and dance studios. Leah focuses on nurturing creativity–and examining the power structures behind the way we think, create, and move. Leah was born and raised in the city of Chicago, the child of political activists. As a fiction writer, she explores intergenerational trauma, whiteness, monstrosity, the impact of place, family relationships, and power, at the intersections of humor and horror. Creative mediums: Writing, Dance, Visual Arts, Cello, and D&D. www.leahvelez.com
Facilitation Style: “I am here as both facilitator and participant. I am not an expert sharing knowledge, I am an instructor looking to improve my own thinking around writing and craft. We are all responsible for how the space feels, the energy we bring, for how we treat one another, and for the relationships we build here. Let’s build something beautiful together!”
SECOND THURSDAY OF EACH MONTH (except starred months) | 4:15-5:30pm
2023 Group Meeting Dates:
Jan 12 | Feb 9 | Mar 16* | Apr 13
May 11 | June 8
Wordcrafters in Eugene Online Studio via Zoom
FREE
Did you know that we have K-12 teacher memberships?
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