The second annual AWW weekend was a resounding success! We started with fellowship and connections at the keynote Friday and ended with some of us sharing our work on Sunday. Here are some highlights.
Friday’s keynote by Ruben Quesada was wonderful. He read some of his work and then spoke about writing being like shining a light in the darkness. One participant said, “He was warm, inviting, and inspiring. Loved his flexibility to maneuver between questions over his writing process, ideas on craft, and editorial experience.” He gave us prompts within his talk and encouraged us to write to inspire ourselves as well as audiences. I loved taking with him during the Q&A, and the rapport he built with us all in a short time was striking.
Saturday’s classes went over well, too! Kathleen Rooney’s course on flash fiction lead students through examples and then prompts. In the post-event survey, one person explained, “Kathleen's class on the short-short form was great! I loved the sample stories she used as a bridge to each prompt, and I loved the prompts themselves. I'm sure I will use what I learned in the class to generate some new work, which is what I was hoping for.” Allison Joseph’s “Code to the Ode” was also well-received. “Allison definitely brings the party. Her CODE for an ode, hints for writing an ode, the focus on celebration, and the wonderful reading examples really brought to life a form that could be seen as very traditional,” was a response from one writer.
Friday night’s dinner and faculty reading were a good way to end the day with some energy and relaxing. Some people visited Yellow Bird Books, one of our sponsors, and others had a cocktail on the patio at Craft Urban while I set up upstairs. The room got a little loud with all our conversations, but the food and drinks were good, and we all left pretty tired after a long day of writing and creating.
Sunday we capped off the weekend with a large group generative activity with Nick Markevicius and a casual, seated open mic. That format made everyone more comfortable and we’ll definitely keep it next year!
Soon, I’ll be posting about next year’s faculty and registration. I’m also going to doing some building on the AWW website, and this year I’ll be securing 501c3 status, so I can fundraise and hopefully start offering scholarships. As always, I take past participant feedback as I plan the next year’s events, so I’ll keep what’s working with small class sizes and dynamic faculty with strong teaching backgrounds, and tweak some things (more diet soda!) as I can. I’m excited about next year’s event already!
In the meantime, we still have our monthly writers group and the poetry book group. See the listings below for more ways to keep your writing momentum going!
Events Coming Up from AWW and Others
July 1: Join AWW for our monthly writing group at the Santori Branch of the Aurora Public Library, room 305. We meet every first Tuesday to write from a prompt and share any work we’d like to get feedback on (or not, just share), from 7-8:30. We’ve been hosting about 7-10 writers each month and it’s been a wonderful group.
July 8 (meets every other Tuesday): Fox Valley Writers is a community dedicated to the idea of helping writers of all skill levels connect and grow with one another. Often cited as the writers’ group for those who don’t care for traditional writing groups, we use a combination of imaginative exercises, personal attention to each author’s needs, and positive, constructive feedback from peers to empower ourselves to create and share our best stories, memoirs, essays, and poetry. Our hybrid meetings are simultaneously in-person and live on Zoom at 7:00 p.m. at the following link, https://discord.gg/p78p4GH2 or in-person at Messenger Library, North Aurora, IL. Contact: Nik V. Markevicius, Facilitator, foxvalleywriters@gmail.com
July 28: The Drink and Draft Poetry Roadshow has its next meeting centered on Kim Addonizio’s book Ordinary Genius, chaptersBLANK BLANK BLANK. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t joined before, since the group discusses writing around the chapter topics, does some prompts together, and also reads some poetry the leaders bring. It’s a really nice way to stay inspired and connected. Meets monthly at 9:30 am at the Batavia Public Library conference room, immediately to the right when you enter the library, or online. See the link to their newsletter above for more info.
Sept 17: Join AWW and Yellow Bird Books to discuss a book of poetry at 7:00 pm. The poet will join in on Zoom to read a couple of poems and answer our questions! This time we’re reading and talking about Tiffany Hsieh’s book Pork Fluff, which documents being part of an immigrant family who moves from Taiwan to Canada.
June 5-7, 2026: Our annual AWW retreat! Mark your calendars and look for more information in upcoming newsletters and our website.
