Cambridge Writers' Workshop

Flashback. Versailles -Orangerie. 2018 Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Paris Writing Retreat.

Poet Michael Mercurio hosts and curates "What the Universe Is," a poetry reading series featuring poets and writers Rita Banerjee and Amanda Shaw reading at 7:30 pm EST on Tuesday, February 11, 2025. Register for the reading on Zoom and join the reading live at: bit.ly/WTUIFeb2025! And here's more information about the reading & writers below:

Make some time for poetry during this shortest of months. Come hear two exceptional poets read for you on Zoom, so you don’t have to leave the house in these cold & dark days. Let these poets bring you light & warmth!

Rita Banerjee is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing and Director of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. She is author of Disobedient Futures, CREDO: An Anthology of Manifestos and Sourcebook for Creative Writing, Echo in Four Beats, “A Night with Kali” in Approaching Footsteps, and Cracklers at Night, and co-writer of the documentary Burning Down the Louvre. Her work appears in Academy of American Poets, Poets & Writers, PANK, Nat. Brut., Hunger Mountain, Tupelo Quarterly, Isele, Vermont Public Radio, and elsewhere. She serves as Senior Editor of the South Asian Avant-Garde and Executive Creative Director of the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop. She received a Vermont Arts Council Creation Grant for her new memoir and manifesto on female cool, and one of the book’s opening chapters “Birth of Cool,” was a Notable Essay in the 2020 Best American Essays, and another chapter, “The Female Gaze,” was a Notable Essay in the 2023 Best American Essays.

Amanda Shaw is the author of It Will Have Been So Beautiful (Lily Poetry Review Books, 2024). Based in Washington, DC, she is a teacher and editor at the World Bank and other international organizations. Her poems have appeared in LEON Literary Review, Spoon River Poetry Review, The Mid-Atlantic Review, and Lily Poetry Review, which she recently joined as the reviews editor. Over the last 25 years, she has taught students of all ages and backgrounds in New York, Boston, Detroit, and Rome, Italy.

It’s very easy to register at bit.ly/WTUIFeb2025 — make sure you don’t miss out!

CWW Co-Director Diana Norma Szokolyai is honored to be reading alongside these fabulous poets at this salon featuring .d.scrimgeour Sun Feb 2nd 4-6 pm, Wicked Good Books, 260 Essex St. Salem, MA! If you’re in town, come join! Poets

So my birthday is coming up on October 16th and all I want for my birthday is for you to support Jezmina Von Thiele and Paulina Stevens, my phen ( meaning sister in Romanès, the language of the Romani people), by coming to this event Friday October 18th at my studio ChagallPAC

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tarot-spirit-communication-tickets-1006525353427

Or if you’re not local please support them by ordering their book Secrets of Romani Fortune Telling available widely wherever books are sold!

Salem folx, these Romani fortune tellers are the real deal, and bot like a lot of fake posers out there.

Here’s what they have to say

We are so excited to be in Salem, MA on October 18th at ChagallPAC , a Romani owned and run arts space, to celebrate our new book Secrets of Romani Fortune Telling with a ritual and workshop: Tarot for Spirit Communication! We will learn how to use the tarot deck to connect with ancestors, spirit guides, and even plant and animal spirits. The veil is thinnest as we get closer to October 31st, and it’s the perfect time to come to Salem, MA to celebrate the spirit of the season. Romanistan musician, Viktor, will also be accompanying us with beautiful ambient guitar to aid our tarot work.

Bring a notebook, pen, and tarot deck. The book will be available to purchase as a package with a ticket, or individually, and we’re happy to sign copies 🧡

Roma are a diasporic Indian ethnic group associated with fortune telling, such as tarot, palmistry, & tasseomancy, because of our relationship with this work as a survival trade in the face of centuries of persecution and perseverance. This work is an effort to create awareness of Romani skills and efforts, and re-center cultural context in these types of divination.

Workshop is lead by Secrets of Romani Fortune Telling authors, and Romanistan podcast cohosts, .vonthiele & of . The book is published by . Tickets on event•brite.

Day 5 We made it to Prague and couldn’t be more excited! Today we engaged in a workshop entitled “Myth and Magic” with . We discussed the elements of myths and fairytales and were challenged to write our own! We also were able to visit the where we explored the life of Franz Kafka. There were so many interesting installations and photographs from his life. We enjoyed some wonderful dinner in the Old Town. “A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us. That is my belief.”-Kafka.

Day 4 we are off to Prague! Some of us took a plane and some of us took a train. See you soon! 🥳✈️🚞

Day 3 of our Budapest and Prague Writing Retreat. Today we engaged in writers’ workshop and used the Liz Lerman critical response method, which centers the writer’s voice and prioritizes areas they are seeking feedback on. Our writers were truly engaged with one another’s work and really put a lot of effort and care into their feedback, questions, and suggestions for revision. After we finished workshop, we spent time at the , where we were able to sit back and relax. Tomorrow we are heading to Prague so stay tuned!