This is a Community Announcement from Spring Writes Literary Festival. It was not written by The Ithaca Voice. To submit a community announcement, please send them to Matt Butler at mbutler@ithacavoice.org.
WHAT, WHEN, WHERE:
From Wednesday, May 3rd through Sunday, May 14th, there will be over thirty literary themed events taking place at locations in downtown Ithaca and on Zoom — all free and open to the general public.
CHECK OUT THE SCHEDULE:
The state of events is really spectacular, thanks to over 120 (!) local participating writers who proposed a wide variety of offerings. Find the schedule, writers, and more at SpringWrites.org
LET’S GET REGISTERED:
The excitement generated by bringing the writing community together with each other and audiences is palpable, enhanced by people craving not only excellent literary programming, but also community connections.
Help make that happen by sharing the festival info with your literary loving friends and by registering for events.
(There’s only one registration form for all 20 live events. The form is on the events page or here.) No fee – no ticket needed – we just collect names in case there are any changes to the schedule and to see how many people are coming.)
WHAT YOU’LL FIND:
12 group readings, 5 workshops
(with 7 more through September), 6 panel discussions, 2 happenings, 3 evening multi-genre performances.
Readings include an open mic for poetry and prose, multiple thematic and performative readings by established authors, past and present Tompkins County Poet Laureates, Ithaca College writing students, “Haudenosaunee Voices,” and storytelling events.
Workshops include “From Memory to Memoir,” “Writing the Queer Body,” “Writing Through Trauma,” and other subjects including writing with intention, creating our own myths, and a fantasy writing workshop specifically for teens.
Panels discussions cover subjects such as writing about grief, revisions, the experiences of translators,“The Femmiliar Art of Profit Making Passions,” and the creation of intergenerational plays.
Special events include the Ithaca Book and Zine Fest at Buffalo Street Books, Collage Day at the Tompkins County Public Library, two collaborative performances across multiple art forms, and jazz poetry at Seven Of Jazz Lounge.
ABOUT SPRING WRITES:
The Festival is a program of the Community Arts Partnership of Tompkins County and got its start in 2009 from an invitation from New York State Council on the Arts to create programming designed to shine a light on the abundance of literary talent in our region and to bring writers and audiences together. Since then, it has grown from 12 events that first year, to over 40 events.
The Spring Writes line-up is juried from an open call for proposals. Tompkins County writers are given priority, but there’s also events by writers from as far away as Brooklyn. There is a groundswell of writers who wish to participate, to help plan and organize events, and to get even more writers on board.
A 2022 attendee wrote: “This was my first year attending Spring Writes events and I was completely unprepared for how powerful an experience it would be. We are so fortunate that we have such amazing artists in our community that so generously share their stories and their expertise!”
THANK YOU SPONSORS AND FUNDERS:
The Spring Writes Literary Festival is supported with grant funding from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), and Poets & Writers, both with public funds from the office of the Governor and the NYS Legislature. The Tompkins County Tourism Program provides marketing support.
We thank our wonderful Sponsors: Ithaca College, CFCU Community Credit Union, M&T Bank, the Marriott in Ithaca, Odyssey Bookstore, Wegmans, WITH -FM 90.1, Ithaca Voice, Cinemapolis, and WSKG Public Media.