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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!

Download the pdf

 

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 RoomSebastopol Center for the Arts: Writing Salon—Create & Critique  
 Linda Loveland Reid
4-5:10 PM 
Dry Creek Valley RoomThe Art of Brevity: Crafting the Very Short Story
 Grant Faulkner
Stevenson 1206Feasts, Fasts, Fights: Prompts for Writing Stories of Memorable Meals
 Marianne Rogoff
Knights Valley RoomHistorical Fiction for Beginners
 Carla D. Williams
Stevenson 1207Writing @ Sex and Love
 Joey Garcia
Darwin 102Sitting Room: Our Panoply of PoetsPanelists: 
 Iris Dunkle, Kim Hester-Williams, Maya Khosla, Patti Trimble, Terry Ehret
Stevenson 1102Demystifying Small Press Publishing 
 Peg Alford Pursell, Diane Frank, Bianca Hernandez-Knight, Jennifer Joseph, Sarah Alvarez
5:20-6:30 PM 
Darwin 102Apogee Press Poetry Procedural and Prompts: Channeling, Erasure, Ekphrasis, Collaboration
 Panelists: Susanne Dyckman, Elizabeth Robinson, Barbara Tomash, Laura Walker
Stevenson 1101From 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 RoomWriting to Discover Ourselves—in School?
 Panelists: John Creger, Dan Zhou, Ishya Bahl
Stevenson 1102Chicanofuturism Now! 
 Panelists: Rocio Anica, Scott Russell Duncan, Patrick Fontes, R. Ch. Garcia, Jenny Irizary, Luis Valderas
Darwin 103Tabletop Storytelling: Gaming as Emergent Narratives
 Panelists: Johnny Nolen, Dr. Roberto Faller, Jesse Ragozzino, Dr. Derek Blechinger, David Zeeman
Knights Valley RoomConjuring Characters in Fiction Writing
 Claudia Morales
Stevenson 1201Applying to Writing Conferences and Residencies: Tips and Advice
 Marcy Gordon, Joey Garcia, Iris Dunkle, Chingling Wo, Eliana Yoneda
6:40-7:50 PM 
Stevenson 1102The Joys of Translating and Being Translated—Hosted by the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, SSU
 Panelists: Petr Hruška, Ági Bori, Francesca Bell
Darwin 102Prophet/Profit: On Being a Writer in the 21st Century
 Panelist: Josh Fernandez, Joey Garcia, Karlee Vincent
Stevenson 1101Pathway to Publication for Queer Writers
 Panelists: Liz Faraim, Wayne Goodman, Richard May, R.L. Merrill
Knights Valley RoomSeven Lessons I Learned from Writing a Memoir
 Meredith Pike-Baky
Dry Creek Valley RoomVisuals and Narratives: An Ekphrastic Flash Workshop
 Lita Kurth and Tania Martin
Darwin 103The 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

Kim D. Hester Williams

 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