Mississippi Poet Laureate and Author
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Events

 
Credit: Bruce Newman

Credit: Bruce Newman

 


Oct
15
7:00 PM19:00

Portland, Maine: Climate Aid

Climate Aid: The Voice of the Forest, will be at the beautiful Merrill Auditorium in Portland on Sunday, October 15 at 7PM.  The Merrill is housed in Portland's City Hall and holds 1,908 seats.   Beth Ann will be there in support of Protect Ancient Forests, and Maggie Rogers will be playing a concert.

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Apr
12
7:30 PM19:30

NYC, The Moth Mainstage

The Moth in NYC I’ll be telling a story, live, at the NYU Mainstage theater!

The Moth is true stories, told live and without notes. The Moth celebrates the ability of stories to honor both the diversity and commonality of human experience, and to satisfy a vital human need for connection. It seeks to present recognized storytellers among established and emerging writers, performers and artists and to encourage storytelling among communities whose stories often go unheard.

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Mar
26
12:00 PM12:00

Zoom class: Build Me a Hummingbird of Words: How to Distill Your Life in a Micro-Memoir

What should we do when we have the urge to write our stories, but we can’t figure out how or where to start? This all-levels, interactive zoom masterclass, conducted through The Rowe Center, will provide strategies for those seeking to answer this question, and our main strategy will be this: start small.

Our inspiration for this class will be the hummingbird. The hummingbird is the only bird that can fly forward, backward, sideways, and, for short distances, upside down. Precisely because they are so small, hummingbirds can do things other birds can’t do. In this class, we’ll look at tiny texts and study the things that they can do because they are small. How can attention to the tiniest literary creations challenge and inspire us? How can writing small trick us into writing our big stories?

The schedule for this five-hour online class will go like this: Beth Ann will begin with an hour and a half craft talk that introduces you to word-hummingbirds such as the monostich, the 6-word memoir, the aphorism, the ten-second essay, and the American Sentence. In this first segment of the master class, she’ll intersperse ten things she’s learned from writing tiny texts. Then she’ll turn class attention to her favorite short form, the micro-memoir. In today’s increasingly heterogeneous landscape, cross-genre works that blend inheritances from multiple literary parents have a new urgency and popularity. Combining the extreme brevity of poetry, the narrative arc of fiction, and the truth-telling of creative nonfiction, the micro-memoir is an exciting hybrid. It’s also unusually user-friendly, especially for writers who feel overwhelmed or intimidated when faced with telling their truths. This portion of class will end with a writing prompt. You will have one hour to draft, take a break, or join Beth Ann, a certified Pilates instructor, in an optional stretch session. Next, when we come back together, you’ll have the opportunity to share your micro-memoirs in small groups. And the last hour will be a general discussion and time for any questions.

https://rowecenter.org/build-me-a-hummingbird-how-to-distill-your-life-in-a-micro-memoir/

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Feb
9
6:00 PM18:00

Zoom Craft Class on Micro-Memoirs, Lafayette Writers Studio

https://www.lafayettewritersstudio.com/adult-classes

Build Me a Hummingbird of Words: Micro-Memoirs. Length of Class: 2 hours

The hummingbird is the only bird that can fly forward, backward, sideways, and, for short distances, upside down—hummingbirds can do things other birds can’t do precisely because they are so small. In this class, we’ll look at tiny texts and learn what can be accomplished in a small space that can’t be accomplished in a bigger one. What can we learn by radically shifting scale? How can attention to the tiniest literary creations challenge and inspire us? We'll look at word-hummingbirds such as the monostich, the 6-word memoir, the aphorism, the ten-second essay, and the American Sentence. We’ll end with a focus on the micro-memoir. Combining the extreme brevity of poetry, the narrative arc of fiction, and the truth-telling of creative nonfiction, the micro-memoir is an exciting hybrid form that blends inheritances from multiple literary parents. I’ll share ten things I’ve learned from writing micro-memoirs, and we’ll end class with a prompt so students can write their own.

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May
27
to May 30

Bar Ilan University, Tel Aviv, Isreal

19:00-20:30 Rana Werbin & Beth Ann Fennelly reading and in conversation with

Marcela Sulak

 

Monday, May 30 Beck Auditorium

 

10:00-11:30  HOW WE GOT WHERE WE ARE NOW

Carra Glatt moderator

Beth Ann Fennelly, Kim Echlin, Ariela Freedman, Ayelet Tsabari

getting started, revising, publishing strategies and stories

 

11:30-13:00 LUNCH

 

13:00-14:30 Translation panel –moderated by Evan Fallenberg

Mitch Ginsburg, Joanna Chen, Leah Hartman

15:00-16:30 Hybrid Literature workshop with Beth Ann Fennelly & Marcela Sulak


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Feb
3
to Feb 17

Zoom class: Maine Media Workshops

This class will be held in a live, online format using the Zoom Platform.
Class meets for five sessions (Wednesday+Sunday) 3-4:30pm ET

This course will be comprised of all-level, intensive, interactive craft classes designed to introduce students to new exciting new forms of memoir.  We’ll look in depth at various aspects of craft with the goal of better understanding how memoirs become memorable.  Session will include prompts for generating new material and revising older material.

https://www.mainemedia.edu/workshops/item/hummingbirds-hermit-crabs-frogs-and-strangers-creating-memorable-memoir-online/

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Mar
16
7:00 PM19:00

National Museum of Women in the Arts, D. C.

The O.B. Hardison Poetry Series, directed by Teri Cross Davis for the Folger Shakespeare Library, will be on the move for this event to be held at the National Museum of Women in the Arts on Monday, March 16, 2020. This will be a joint reading with Camille Dungy and Tina Chang.

https://www.folger.edu/events/camille-dungy-tina-chang-beth-ann-fennelly

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