Writers-helping-writers Salon meets the third Monday of each month via Zoom for the foreseeable future from 7 to 9 PM.
To attend please RSVP to lois@requist.com
Since September, writers have been meeting, talking about their needs, and reading pieces they’ve written for comments and critique. While some of this writing has been in response to prompts, others have brought something they are currently working on.
Publishing is such a large issue! We’re attacking it in bits and pieces. Three people with considerable experience have shared what has happened to them in the process of being published. One woman who had her book published through a company she paid to publish it, brought the book and advised us not to use that company.
The Memoir Writing Group has been meeting for over a year.
The group reads and offers suggestions and criticisms of each other’s work. We meet via Zoom the first and third Fridays of each month from 10 am to noon. Membership is limited. To inquire about attending please email lois@requist.com
“The Storytellers” on OZCAT Radio
Talented area writers read their work on “The Storytellers,” a regular segment of “Artbeat,” hosted by Benicia’s own fabulous DJ Lala. Air time is 10:00 a.m., the third Thursday of each month on OZCAT Community Radio (KZCT 89.5 FM, Vallejo and streams live at http://ozcatradio.com/ozcat.pls.
Our Storytellers read original fiction, memoir, personal essays and other prose the third Thursday of each month.
If you would like to read your work on “The Storytellers” please go to www.californiastorytellers.com or email californiastorytellers@gmail.com for more information. Because everyone loves a good story!
Tune in. Get your game ears on! And write something wonderful to read on the radio!!
“GOING THE DISTANCE—YEARNING TO BREATHE FREE”
brings together writings that offer strength, hope, and solidarity in this time of viral pandemic, systemic racism, economic hardship, and climate crisis.
Benicia Literary Arts is now part of Amazon's Smile charities donation program.
Shop at smile.amazon.com and use this link to direct your donation Benicia Literary Arts.
Amazon will donate to us 0.5% of your eligible purchases with no fees or extra cost. Choose Benica Literary Arts as your charity.
Benicia First Tuesday Poets’ Group
Who: Anyone who writes, reads, or is even a little intrigued by poetry.
What: Read your poetry for a supportive community; listen to others; take part in conversation.
(The first and third choices are optional.)
When: 7 p.m. on the first Tuesday of every month from September through June
How: Until coronavirus abates we’re meeting via Zoom.
To get on the list for notification and links, email Mary Susan Gast: msgast45@gmail.com
Poems for Our Website
Submit your poems—written, audio, or linked—for the “Featured Poets” page of beniciafirsttuesdaypoets.org. No membership required; no geographic restrictions. For information, contact: beniciapoet@gmail.com
This column of poetry and short prose is published three times weekly in the Benicia Herald and is posted at Going The Distance.
Due to space limitations, prose pieces of fewer than 350 words, or poems of fewer than 30 lines, with a maxiumum of 30 characters per line work best.
Send your writing to msgast45@gmail.com
. . . yearning to breathe free . . .
Our Benicia Literary Arts logo was drawn by Mary Shaw
Benicia Literary Arts, will soon publish an anthology of short prose works, Carquinez Review 2020. The selected writers hail from Benicia and throughout the North San Francisco Bay region. Benicia Literary Arts' editor in chief, Mary Eichbauer, describes the collection as "26 introspective pieces set in disparate places, from Vermont and Oklahoma, to Mars and beyond." Books may be pre-ordered here and should be ready in time to give as holiday gifts. You will be contacted when your pre-order is ready to pick up at Bookshop Benicia.
The stories were selected by a blind-review process using a panel of six judges who rated the large turnout of submissions from accomplished writers. "Our poets and authors . . . are familiar names at open mics, in bookstores and at exhibits throughout the Bay Area," writes project editor Jim White, in the Introduction to Carquinez Review 2020.
Comments by early reviewers include, "vivid sensory images," "considerable dramatic tension," and "it kept this reader engaged from the first to the last sentence." Two talented Benicia artists contributed to the book. The cover photo was the work of Beth Grimm (Beth Grimm Creative Arts). Book designer Jan Malin created the 'feel' of the book with images of flowing waters that reflect a Bay Area vibe.
The book's title is a nod to an earlier edition, published in 2000 by Dave Badtke which showcased Benicia and the North Bay region’s artists and writers. To view a list of story titles and authors, and to pre-order books: click here.
The price is with tax included.
Pre-order by credit card
