Community Writers Festival
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.
The festival program is here!
Readings Schedule
| Readings | |
|---|---|
| 4-4:50 PM | |
| Alexander Valley Room | |
| 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 | |
| Russian River Valley Room | |
| Wet Cement Press Reading—Thoreau Lovell, Michelle Murphy | |
| 6-6:50PM | |
| Stevenson 1301 | |
| Bay Area Poets—Peter Kline, Brittany Perham, Randall Mann | |
| Bennett Valley Room | |
| Reed Magazine Reading—Sophie Aust, Allegra Balbuena, Ian Meadows, Dylan Mueller, Ryan Steel | |
| Sonoma Valley Room | |
| Blue Light Press Poets—Diane Frank, Emilie Lygren, Prartho Sereno, Mark Tate, Ellery Akers, Steve Trenam | |
| Russian River Valley Room | |
| South Asian American Read—Amna Ali, Moazzam Sheikh | |
| 7-7:50PM | |
| Stevenson 1301 | |
| Red Light Lit: The Poetics of Seduction-Love, Power, and the Erotic Imagination—Michael Foulk, Yume Kim, Loria Mendoza, Christine No, Noah Sanders | |
| Russian River Valley Room | |
| Take Place: SFSU Creative Writing Program—Laird Harrison, Elodie Townsend, Evan Burkin, Michaela Chairez, Christopher Jones | |
| Sonoma Valley Room | |
| WTAW Press & Betty—Anita Felicelli, Michelle Cruz Gonzales, Lillian Howan, Joanna Choi Kalbus, Julian Mithra, Marianne Villanueva, Olga Zilberbourg | |
| Alexander Valley Room | |
| 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
| 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 | |
| 5:20-6:30 PM | |
| Darwin 102 | Apogee Press Poetry Procedural and Prompts: Channeling, Erasure, Ekphrasis, Collaboration |
| Panelists: Susanne Dyckman, Elizabeth Robinson, Barbara Tomash, Laura Walker | |
| Stevenson 1101 | 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 | |
| 6:40-7:50 PM | |
| Stevenson 1102 | The Joys of Translating and Being Translated—Hosted by the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, SSU |
| Panelists: Petr Hruška, Ági Bori, Francesca Bell | |
| Darwin 102 | Prophet/Profit: On Being a Writer in the 21st Century |
| Panelist: Josh Fernandez, Joey Garcia, Karlee Vincent | |
| Stevenson 1101 | Pathway to Publication for Queer Writers |
| Panelists: Liz Faraim, Wayne Goodman, Richard May, R.L. Merrill | |
| Knights Valley Room | Seven Lessons I Learned from Writing a Memoir |
| Meredith Pike-Baky | |
| Dry Creek Valley Room | Visuals and Narratives: An Ekphrastic Flash Workshop |
| Lita Kurth and Tania Martin | |
| Darwin 103 | The Writer and The Literary Citizen |
| MK Chavez, Gillian Conoley, Alex Mattraw, Michael J. O’Connor, giovanni singleton |
Keynote Discussion
Stevenson Hall 1400, 8:00-9:00 PM
Sam Sax
Hieu Minh Nguyen
Moderated by Kim D. Hester Williams
Contact Us
Any questions? Email Miah Jeffra or contact us through: Instagram, Facebook or Twitter
Hosted by Sonoma State University’s English Department and Zaum Literary Magazine
Sponsors
Instructionally Related Activities, SSU
Zaum, SSU's Literary Magazine