Join us for the Sonoma State Community Writers Festival!
Thursday, April 4, 2024 4pm-9pm
The Sonoma Community Writers Festival is a collaboration between English and Creative Writing faculty and students at Sonoma State University, the Zaum literary magazine staff, and various local independent literary organizations. The mission of the festival is to offer more opportunities for the Bay Area literary community to assemble, network and celebrate diverse voices. The festival programming will occur in the Student Center and other locations on the SSU campus, with scheduled readings and panels in both ballroom and classroom environments, as well as workshop spaces devoted to collaborative writing. There will also be a table bazaar for organizations and publishers to promote their services and products.
No registration is required. The festival is free and open to the public.
Sonoma State University is located at 1801 E. Cotati Avenue, Rohnert Park. General Parking is $5.00, Reserved Parking in Lot D is $8.00. The passes can be purchased in the lots or at the Parking & Information Center at the entry to campus.
Readings from the Mendocino Coast Writers Conference and Noyo Review—Pamela Bordisso, antmen pimentel mendoza, Rashaan Meneses, Virgie Tovar, Ebony Haight, Frej Barty, Eliana Yoneda
Sonoma Valley Room
SSU's Department of Modern Languages and Literatures presents a Bilingual Reading of the Poetry of German Poet Max Sessner—Francesca Bell, Angelika Quirk, Max Sessner
5-5:50PM
Sonoma Valley Room
Sixteen Rivers Press: Voices of the San Francisco Bay Area Watershed—Matthew M. Monte, Rosa Lane, Christina Lloyd, Murray Silverstein, Alice Templeton, Terry Ehret
Bennett Valley Room
Feather Press Presents Birds of Paradise—Jennifer Barone, Cassandra Dallett, Ingrid Keir, Kalechi Ubozoh
Alexander Valley Room
BAQWA Presents: Readings by Bay Area Queer Writers—Liz Faraim, Wayne Goodman, Richard May, R.L. Merrill
Bazaar Writers Salon—Kim Addonizio, Kirstin Valdez Quade, and Kathleen Winter
Bennett Valley Room
Dominican MFA Students and Alumni Reading—Brennen Belogorsky, Bonnie Carasso, Deidre Cavazzi, Caitlin Howery, Matthew Kline, Meg Neville, Dave Seter, Nichole Turnbloom
Stevenson 1201
A Reading of the Napa Valley Writers Conference Staff—Andrea Bewick, Iris Jamahl Dunkle, Caroline Goodwin, Angela Pneuman
Panels and Workshops
4-4:50 PM
Russian River Valley Room
Sebastopol Center for the Arts: Writing Salon—Create & Critique
Linda Loveland Reid
4-5:10 PM
Dry Creek Valley Room
The Art of Brevity: Crafting the Very Short Story
Grant Faulkner
Stevenson 1206
Feasts, Fasts, Fights: Prompts for Writing Stories of Memorable Meals
Marianne Rogoff
Knights Valley Room
Historical Fiction for Beginners
Carla D. Williams
Stevenson 1207
Writing @ Sex and Love
Joey Garcia
Darwin 102
Sitting Room: Our Panoply of PoetsPanelists:
Iris Dunkle, Kim Hester-Williams, Maya Khosla, Patti Trimble, Terry Ehret
Stevenson 1102
Demystifying Small Press Publishing
Peg Alford Pursell, Diane Frank, Bianca Hernandez-Knight, Jennifer Joseph, Sarah Alvarez
From a Reader to a Critic: A Journey to Becoming a Book Reviewer
Panelists: Jane Ciabatteri, Anita Felicelli, Joan Frank, Olga Zilberbourg, Peg Alford Pursell
Dry Creek Valley Room
Writing to Discover Ourselves—in School?
Panelists: John Creger, Dan Zhou, Ishya Bahl
Stevenson 1102
Chicanofuturism Now!
Panelists: Rocio Anica, Scott Russell Duncan, Patrick Fontes, R. Ch. Garcia, Jenny Irizary, Luis Valderas
Darwin 103
Tabletop Storytelling: Gaming as Emergent Narratives
Panelists: Johnny Nolen, Dr. Roberto Faller, Jesse Ragozzino, Dr. Derek Blechinger, David Zeeman
Knights Valley Room
Conjuring Characters in Fiction Writing
Claudia Morales
Stevenson 1201
Applying to Writing Conferences and Residencies: Tips and Advice
Marcy Gordon, Joey Garcia, Iris Dunkle, Chingling Wo, Eliana Yoneda
