The Room to Write

We are always glad when Mother Nature cooperates (mostly:) and we are all able to enjoy a beautiful day by Lake Q for the annual Festival by the Lake, which took place on Saturday, June 8th this year!  With five local authors, three typewriters and two guest poets under our tent, there was something for everybody. Our guest authors were Susan Sabbatelli, Regina Mouradian, Sally Chetwynd, Karin Gertsch, and Christine Ricci-McNamee. Three children's authors and three adult authors (only possible with five authors because the talented Karin Gertsch writes for kids and adults!  A new feature at our tent this year was  the very popular and really fun poetry on demand fundraiser where passersby were able to talk briefly with our Poet for Hire.  Colleen Getty kicked it off at the beginning of the day, but the real stars waxing poetic for most of the day were Paul Angelosanto and Kerri Bonner Leonard pictured below. Our poets raised just over $100 for TRtW's programming! Special thanks

Our Seniors and Veterans Programming year wraps up on Tuesday, May 21st with an Open Mic Session at the Wakefield Senior Center at 1:30pm and that is the last of what has been a fulfilling year for those who attended either the Wakefield Senior Center or the Stoneham Senior Center on any given Tuesday since programming began in September 2023.  We run our programming like an academic year with a break in the summer for our all-volunteer team of coordinators and facilitators, but we are already looking forward to the variety of programs we will be offering starting in the fall. There are too many things to include in this one blog post, but let's recap the last month or so.  April 9th: Guest speaker: Nancy Reily, owner of Lady with a Pen , talked about the art of calligraphy and design. In addition to teaching classes and giving lectures, Nancy ran an invitation and calligraphy shop in Wakefield for twenty years.  After her talk, participants had a chance to try their hand at callig

Wow--April sure did keep us busy in all the best ways! We were invited to collaborate with the Arts Collaborative of Wakefield for their April Art Exhibit and Sale at the Albion Cultural Exchange and we committed fully to the collaboration! The theme of the exhibit and sale was "Tell Me a Story" and so we participated in three ways with an added bonus Writers and Illustrators Meet & Greet to boot!  1. An exhibit pairing 13 written pieces with 13 pieces of art. 2. Local Author Table featuring authors living all around us. 3. 3 Family Friendly Storytime Art Hours featuring 6 local authors. Writers who participated in the Artist/Writer collaborative exhibit were: Marilyn Lamkin, Cate Daniels, Susan Jepson, Sally Chetwynd, Eddie Brophy, Jennifer Revill, Kerri Leonard, Linda Malcolm, Sara Desmond, Eileen Worthley, PJ Carmichael, Janie Smith, & Alice Getty. You can see an example of their work on our North of Boston Writers Network blog with more to follow:  Shoes by Alice

We had so much fun bringing back our Young Writers and Illustrators Meet, Greet & Create event from its post-pandemic hibernation on Tuesday, March 12th at the Boys & Girls Club of Wakefield.  The authors who participated were,  in alphabetical order, are: Janet Costa Bates ( Rica Baptista: Llamas, Iguanas, and My Very Best Friend ), Rebecca Caprara ( Spin ), Carol Gordon Ekster ( Trucker Kid ), Betsy Ellor ( My Dog is  NOT  a Scientist ), Fred Gracely ( Misfit’s Magic ), Samantha Lewis ( Nature Activity Book for Little Ones ), Kari Percival ( How to Say Hello to a Worm ), Shawn M. Peters ( The Unforgettable Logan Foster  Book #1), Lisa Stringfellow ( Comb of Wishes ), Susan Tan ( My Kingdom of Darkness : A Branches Book, Pets Rule! #1), Dirk Tiede ( Paradigm Shift ) and Kip Wilson ( One Last Shot ). We were eager to welcome  TWELVE  local authors and give away over  100 BOOKS for FREE  to all ages, preschool to high school, thanks to an  Employee Vibrant Community Grant from