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It’s not easy to sneak away from daily life to attend a weeklong writers retreat.  But might you sneak away for a day?  Welcome to the 12-Hour Writers Retreat—a morning-to-night writing experience committed to supporting your work from idea to live reading!  On Saturday, April 19, join 20 fellow writers for a fun (and food!) filled day at Forage.  Enjoy guided writing exercises, unencumbered freewriting time, a supportive workshop, and a final show featuring you!   

This retreat will be hosted by writer-in-residence Toya Wolfe, author of The Last Summer on State Street.

Writers 21+ are encouraged to register.

Welcome to The Rough Draft Reading Series, an open mic opportunity at 2 Roots Art & Wine Gallery that provides local writers a chance to share their in-process creative work.  Writers of all levels and genres are invited to get a little vulnerable and read 3 to 5 minutes of original work before a supportive audience.  No advance registration is required! Just show up and we’ll share until our time runs out! Hosted by Katie Venit. PLEASE NOTE that we will have an informal “happy hour” beginning at 6:15 PM. Buy yourself a drink and meet fellow writers, and sign up for your slot!

Everyone makes mistakes. Some of us, however, have made such ridiculous, embarrassing, and/or shocking errors that they deserve to be shared. Join the Chippewa Valley Writers Guild on March 13th at the Pablo Center to hear five slightly scandalous stories from regional writers Laura Buchholz, Dan Lyksett, Allison Broeren, Jason Schommer and Eric Rasmussen about blunders so epic we have no choice but to enshrine them in story form. The evening will also feature live music by Creeping Charlie and the Roundups. Our shame is your entertainment! Recommended for mature audiences.

$10 tickets.

This December 19 at 7 PM, the Chippewa Valley Writers Guild continues its annual tradition of bringing together musicians and writers to charm and delight our region’s citizens with wintery songs and stories. This year’s Sound and Stories “Joy To The Word” event will feature storytellers John Murphy, S.Z. Putnam, Connie Russell, and The Larson Siblings (Ellie, Grey and Dana), alongside holiday tunes courtesy of The Ukulele Klub.  Bundle up, settle in, and get into the seasonal spirit among some of our region’s best musicians and storytellers! Hosted by B.J. Hollars. See ya at Pablo Center at the Confluence on Thursday, December 19!

Tickets are on sale soon!

Our friends at CVTC are back with their biannual event: Words & Waffles! Join us at 6:30 PM on Thursday. December 5 at Shift Cyclery and Coffee Bar for a festive night of…you guessed it…words and waffles.

Bring a poem to share and receive a FREE waffle!

Welcome to The Rough Draft Reading Series, a new open mic opportunity at 2 Roots Art & Wine Gallery that provides local writers a chance to share their in-process creative work.  Writers of all levels and genres are invited to get a little vulnerable and read 3 to 5 minutes of original work before a supportive audience.  No advance registration is required! Just show up and we’ll share until our time runs out! Hosted by Katie Venit.

Click here for more.

Barstow & Grand is back with their hot-off-the-press issue! On Wednesday, November 20 at 7PM, join editors, readers, and issue 8 contributors at The Brewing Projekt (third floor!) for a celebratory evening of poetry, prose, and fellowship. And don’t forget to pick up your copy of the Chippewa Valley’s literary journal!

Join Wisconsin Public Radio’s “Wisconsin Life” longtime contributors and first-timers from the Chippewa Valley for an evening of live storytelling. Writers will share personal tales and the audience will hear the inspiration behind each piece. WPR’s Maureen McCollum and author B.J. Hollars will co-host the event, which will also air in the future on WPR.

It’s not easy to sneak away from daily life to attend a weeklong writers retreat. But might you sneak away for a day? Welcome to the 12-Hour Writers Retreat—a morning-to-night writing experience committed to
supporting your work from idea to live reading!

On Saturday, October 26, join 20 fellow writers for a fun (and food!) filled day at Forage. Enjoy guided writing exercises, unencumbered freewriting time, a supportive workshop, and a final show featuring you!

This retreat will be hosted by writer-in-residence and former Wisconsin poet laureate Kimberly Blaeser.
Writers 21+ are encouraged to register. All-inclusive pricing: 105.00

Kimberly Blaeser, past Wisconsin Poet Laureate and founding director of Indigenous Nations Poets, is a poet, photographer, and scholar. She is the author of six poetry collections—including Ancient Light, Copper Yearning, and Résister en dansant/Ikwe-niimi: Dancing Resistance. An enrolled member of White Earth Nation, Blaeser is an Anishinaabe activist and environmentalist. She is an MFA faculty member at Institute of American Indian Arts, and a Professor Emerita at University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.

Join former Wisconsin Poet Laureates Kimberly Blaeser and Max Garland for a reading from their latest collections (Ancient Light and Into the Good World Again, respectively) and a conversation on poetry and its place in the modern world. See ya at Dotters Books at 6:15 PM on October 25.

Books will be available for purchase. For more click here.

Award-winning author Cathy Sultan knows the Middle East. An expert on the region’s history and politics, she lived on the front lines in Beirut during the Lebanese civil war. Over the past 20 years, she has led five American delegations to Israel/Palestine and Gaza, and for decades has lectured extensively about the region's complexities. Additionally, she has written both nonfiction and fiction based on her experiences in the Middle East, including her fourth work of fiction, the newly released “Omar’s Choice”—the riveting finale of her Syrian Quartet. This political thriller recounts the dramatic events currently occurring across the Middle East.

On Thursday. Sept. 26 at 6PM join Cathy at the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library for a reading and conversation on “Omar’s Choice” and receive her insights on finding peace in a time of war, both on the page and beyond

Books will be available for purchase.

CATHY SULTAN is an award-winning author of three nonfiction books: “A Beirut Heart: One Woman’s War;” “Israeli and Palestinian Voices: A Dialogue with Both Sides” and “Tragedy in South Lebanon.”  “The Syrian,” a political thriller, was her first work of fiction, followed by “Damascus Street,” and “An Ambassador to Syria.” “Omar’s Choice” is the fourth of a quartet on the Syrian conflict.  Sultan is also a peace activist who served on the Board of Directors of Interfaith Peace Builders (now Eyewitness Palestine) She took her first trip to Israel-Palestine in March 2002 and subsequently co-led five delegations to Israel/Palestine, including a trip to Gaza in 2012. Sultan won USA’s Best Book of the Year Award in 2006 for her memoir A Beirut Heart; USA’s Best Book of the Year Award in 2006 in the category of History/Politics for Israeli and Palestinian Voices. Tragedy in South Lebanon was nominated for Best Book of the Year in the Category of Political Science in 2008; Damascus Street was a finalist for both the Eric Hoffer Award and the Montaigne Medal Award and An Ambassador to Syria won the Independent Press Award for Historical Fiction in 2022.

Welcome to the second installment of The Rough Draft Reading Series, a new open mic opportunity at 2 Roots Art & Wine Gallery that provides local writers a chance to share their in-process creative work.  Writers of all levels and genres are invited to get a little vulnerable and read 3 to 5 minutes of original work before a supportive audience.  No advance registration is required! In-person sign ups may be limited to 15. Hosted by Katie Venit.

On Thursday, May 23, at 7 PM, the Guild will host a virtual watch party for the Madison-based in-person event, “Poetry and the Natural World,” featuring the United States Poet Laureate Ada Limón.  

This watch party event will take place in Centennial Hall 1704 on the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire campus.

Ada Limón will be joined on stage for a Q&A moderated by Dr. Kimberly Blaeser, Academy Fellow and former Wisconsin Poet Laureate. This event is sponsored by the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters.

It’s not easy to sneak away from daily life to attend a weeklong writers retreat.  But might you sneak away for a day?  Welcome to the 12-Hour Writers Retreat—a morning-to-night writing experience committed to supporting your work from idea to live reading!  On Saturday, May 18, join fellow writers for a fun (and food!) filled day at Forage.  Enjoy guided writing exercises, unencumbered freewriting time, a supportive workshop, and a final show featuring you!   

This retreat will be hosted by writer-in-residence Lindsay Starck! Lindsay was born in Wisconsin and raised in the Milwaukee Public Library. She is the author of the novels Noah's Wife (2016) and Monsters We Have Made (2023). Her short prose has appeared in Ploughshares, the New England Review, AGNI, and the Southern Review, among other places. She currently writes and teaches in Minneapolis, where she lives with her husband and her cattle dog.

Writers 21+ are encouraged to register.

Sign-ups begin April 1! Space is limited!

Welcome to The Rough Draft Reading Series, a new open mic opportunity at 2 Roots Art & Wine Gallery that provides local writers a chance to share their in-process creative work.  Writers of all levels and genres are invited to get a little vulnerable and read 3 to 5 minutes of original work before a supportive audience.  No advance registration is required! Just show up and we’ll share until our time runs out! Hosted by Katie Venit.

Join the Wisconsin Academy in partnership with the Chippewa Valley Writers Guild, the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library, the Friends of the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library, and the Wisconsin Poet Laureate Commission for Poetry & Pi(e) 2024. Join us for this incredible opportunity to hear readings by Wisconsin's current Poet Laureate, Nicholas Gulig, renowned poet and Academy Fellow Max Garland, and writer Elan Mccallum. 

This free, hybrid event provides a chance to enjoy poetry readings from three esteemed Wisconsin poets. In-person guests attending in Eau Claire will be able to enjoy scrumptious pies on Pi Day. 

Click here to register for either in-person OR virtual!

The best time for misbehaving is after the sun goes down, and the best place to hear tales with a tinge of naughtiness is at the CVWG’s Sound and Stories: After Dark edition. Join us at the Pablo Center at the Confluence on March 7th at 7:00 PM to hear five slightly scandalous, PG-13 (or so!) stories from local authors Eric Rasmussen, Alli Fine, Samantha Kobs, Tom Giffey, and Pam Anderson. And featuring live music by Pit Wagon! Be prepared to gasp, blush, and enjoy the thrills that only come under the cover of night!

Join Oxbow Writer’s Retreat participants for a free reading in the lobby at The Oxbow Hotel. Listen to brief and freshly written works composed by our writers throughout the day.

This December 14 at 7 PM, the Chippewa Valley Writers Guild is continuing its annual tradition of bringing together musicians and writers to charm and delight our region’s citizens with wintery songs and stories. This year’s Sound and Stories “Joy To The Word” event will feature storytellers John Hildebrand, Elan Mccallum, Bonni Knight and Dalton Hessel alongside holiday tunes courtesy of The UKE Klub.  Bundle up, settle in, and get into the seasonal spirit among some of our region’s best musicians and storytellers! Hosted by B.J. Hollars.

Come join us to celebrate the release of issue #7! The evening will feature readings from a selection of issue #7 authors, music, and a cocktail crafted especially for the event by The Lakely's mixologists. Connect with local writers and learn more about the journal. We can't wait to see you there! Thank you to our co-sponsor, L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library.

For more visit here.

Join Pulitzer-prize finalist Chloé Cooper Jones (Easy Beauty) and CV Writers Guild director B.J. Hollars (Year of Plenty) for a conversation on memoir writing, personal discovery, and writing toward unexpected revelations on the page. This is a virtual event.

This event is co-sponsored by the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library. Registration is available here: https://lephillips.librarycalendar.com/event/memoir

About the presenters:

Chloé Cooper Jones is a professor, journalist, and the author of the memoir Easy Beauty, which was named a best book of 2022 by The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, TIME Magazine, and was a finalist for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Memoir. She was also a Pulitzer Prize finalist in Feature Writing in 2020. She is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, a Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant recipient, a Howard Foundation Fellow, and an Associate Professor of Writing at Columbia University. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

B.J. Hollars is the author of several books, including Year of Plenty is forthcoming from the University of Wisconsin Press this spring.

It’s not easy to sneak away from daily life to attend a weeklong writers retreat.  But might you sneak away for a day?  Welcome to the 12-Hour Writers Retreat—a morning-to-night writing experience committed to supporting your work from idea to live reading!  On Saturday, Oct. 28, join 20 fellow writers for a fun (and food!) filled day at Forage.  Enjoy guided writing exercises, unencumbered freewriting time, a supportive workshop, and a final show featuring you!   

This retreat will be hosted by writer-in-residence Nickolas Butler.

Sign-ups begin in September.

Cost: $85.00

Join David Shih for a reading and conversation on the occasion of the publication of his book, Chinese Prodigal: A Memoir in Eight Arguments.

David Shih is a Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin—Eau Claire, where he has taught since 1999. He holds degrees from the University of Texas, the University of Oregon, and the University of Michigan. He has published in national outlets such as the New York Times, The New Republic, The Progressive, Slate, NPR’s Code Switch, Electric Literature, and Inside Higher Ed, and he has presented his ideas at local, state, and national levels, including NPR’s All Things Considered, WPR’s The Joy Cardin Show, and WNYC’s All In with Alison Stewart.

Books will be available for purchase.

This event is co-sponsored by the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library.

Welcome, writers, to our third-ever writers’ reunion! This is a low-key social hour for writers of all levels and genres (or just folks who want to chat with writers!). Buy yourself a beverage (non-alcoholic beverages are available as well) and learn more about our community of writers, or simply reconnect!

Join 12-Hour Writers Retreat participants for a live reading of their freshly written work! Hosted by writer-in-residence Amy Fleury.

Join Hmong writers and storytellers for an afternoon of literary arts! This event will feature an array of Hmong writers from our region. Hosted by poet S.Z. Putnam. This event will be held at the Eau Claire Area Hmong Mutual Assistance Association on 1320 W Clairmont Ave., Eau Claire, WI.

Join novelist Toya Wolfe for a reading and discussion from her debut book, The Last Summer on State Street.

This event is co-sponsored with the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library, ORSP, CRRJ, McIntyre Library, and the UWEC Center for EDI.

Derick Black (guitar, vocals) and 2020-2024 Eau Claire Writer-in-Residence Ken Szymanski (spoken word nonfiction) recreate the life of Mike Teclaw, a long-gone small-town cheesemaker and tavern owner. Teclaw is also Szymanski’s grandfather—one he never knew. Together, through interwoven gospel, blues, stories, and songs, Szymanski and Black will work to turn a tombstone back into a man.

Co-sponsored by the Chippewa Valley Writers Guild, the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library, and the Genealogical Research Society of Eau Claire.

How do real-world experiences translate to the creation of art—and stories, poems, and essays most of all? Join fiction writer Cathy Sultan, nonfiction writer Patti See, and poet Bruce Taylor for a panel discussion on how life experiences shape art, no matter what genre you’re in. Hosted by Eau Claire Writer in Residence, Ken Szymanski.

Co-sponsored by the Chippewa Valley Writers Guild and the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library.

L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library, 6:30M, April 13, 2023