Berkshire Festival of omen Writers

Transcription

Fifth Anniversary Season!
Berk shire Fest ival of
e
n
m
W
o
r iter s
W
March
2015
Nourishing and
strengthening
women’s voices
and visions with
writing workshops,
readings, panels &
performances throughout
Berkshire County during
March (Women’s History
Month) and all year round.
See inside for schedule
and check our website
for complete listings:
Berkshirewomenwriters.org
2 • BFWW • March 2015 For full listings and biographies, visit our website at Berkshirewomenwriters.org
Welcome to the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers
Our aim with the Festival is to inspire, nourish and strengthen women’s creative voices
by offering an intensive series of stimulating events that encourage women and girls to
engage with one another and develop as writers. As you’ll see from perusing the pages
of this Program, our Festival is chock-full of the voices and visions of women writers of all
ages, from teens to seniors, with more than 50 workshops, readings, performances and
screenings—at least one event every day of the month of March, taking place at more than
30 venues throughout Berkshire County.
This year’s Festival includes the First Annual Berkshire Festival of Women Writers Book
Expo on March 29. This new book fair for regional writers, publishers and other vendors
features special guest Mary Pope Osborne, who will discuss her incredibly successful
career as a best-selling children’s book author. Acclaimed author Dani Shapiro offers a
March 1 keynote lecture entitled “The Permission to Write,” and throughout the month performances and screenings featuring well-known creative women such as Jayne Atkinson,
Karen Allen, Pamela Yates and Cathryn Michon are interspersed with writing workshops
and readings by dozens of professional authors as well as students from various local
schools and colleges. All events are open to the public and the majority are free, thanks to
the generosity of our donors and sponsors.
The Berkshire Festival of Women Writers began as a grassroots effort in 2011, under the
fiscal sponsorship of Bard College at Simon’s Rock. In response to growing interest and
momentum, the non-profit organization has evolved into a hub for women writers in the
Berkshire region and beyond, now offering year-round events, workshops, retreats, and
publishing opportunities.
For complete biographies of Festival presenters, information about our year-round programming and options for becoming a sponsor, donor or advertiser, visit us online at
Berkshirewomenwriters.org, where you can also sign up for our monthly informational
newsletter.
We look forward to seeing you at many of the outstanding Festival events this year, and
thank you for your support of our work in opening up new spaces and occasions to celebrate women’s creative expression in the Berkshires.
Jennifer Browdy, Ph.D., Founding Festival Director
The Festival is made possible through the hard work of a dedicated team of women: Lorrin
Krouss, Director of Business Development; Robin Zeamer, Program Coordinator; Lynnette
Lucy Najimy, photography, video and publicity; Anna Myers, webmaster and graphic
design; Judith Nardacci, publicity and grant-writing; Pooja Ru Prema, advertising sales;
Iris Bass, copy-editing; and committee members Sahra Brubeck, Melinda Burns, Sharon
Coleman, Joanne Cooney, Pauline Dongala, Jan Hutchinson, Johanna Janssen, Jana Laiz and
Giselle Rose-Burroughs; and student interns Fiona Keane and Jaycee Yao (Miss Hall’s School),
Hanna Brandt and Grace Rossman (Simon’s Rock), Emma Flowers (Bennington College).
The Festival organizing team is excited and proud to present the Fifth Anniversary Season
of the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers, knowing that together with our presenters and
supporters we’ve created something truly unique here in the Berkshires. Nowhere else
in the United States is Women’s History Month celebrated with a month-long calendar
of events dedicated entirely to recognizing the creative force of women writers, which
benefits our communities in so many ways.
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Special Thanks
Sincere thanks and appreciation to all the Festival presenters, venues, sponsors,
advertisers and contributors, without whom this great community event would not
be possible.
2015 Fifth Anniversary Season Festival Donors
(Donors as of January 15, 2015; see up-to-date listing on Festival website.)
$10,000 and above
The Brabson Family
Foundation
The John A. Sellon
Charitable Trust
$5,000 and above
Sally-Jane Heit $1,000 - $4,999
Sherry DeCelle,
Ameriprise Inc.
Felicia and John Hendrix
Eleanor Lord
Mary Pope Osborne
$500 - $999
Baypath University
Joseph and Sue Browdy
Mary Campbell
Christine Hobbie
Alicia Partnoy &
Antonio Leiva
$100 - $499
Katherine E. Bouton
Shirley Bresler
Laura Chekow
Ellen Croibier-Fischman
Susan Crofut
Hilary Deely Carolyn Fabricant
Hope Fitzgerald / The Schwab
Charitable Fund
Marion Jansen
Johanna Janssen
Dona S. Kahn
Lorrin Krouss
Diane F. Lob
Local Cultural Council of AlfordEgremont
Local Cultural Council of Lenox
Local Cultural Council of Northern
Berkshire
Local Cultural Council of West
Stockbridge
Judith Nardacci
Bob and Mary Ann Norris Fund
Onyx Specialty Paper Inc.
Emily J. Rechnitz and John G. Paladino Giselle Rose-Burroughs
The Schwab Fund for Charitable Giving
Lee Schwartz
Lorna Miller Strassler
Timpane Construction Inc.
Hannelore Voness
Harriet S. Wetstone
under $100
Timi Bates
Catherine Brazelton
Linda Brenner
Melinda Burns
Aileen Chester and Suzane Northrup
Allyson Dinneen
Jane Falcone
Jenny Fenig
Audrey and David Kalman
Rachel Kanz
Susie and Frank Kaufman
Sheila Keator
Rosanna Crocitto Kenny
Mary Lou Kersten
Emily Kirshen
Todd Lewis
Deirdre McKenna
Ellen Meeropol
Marilyn Oser
Local Cultural Council of Otis
Christine Polizzo
Sandy Reisman
Karen Richards
Signe Schaefer
Maria Sirois
Mary E. Smith
Janice Smythe
Francine Weinberg
Jacqueline Wilder
Laurie Winfrey Barbara Zheutlin 5 • BFWW • March 2015 For full listings and biographies, visit our website at Berkshirewomenwriters.org
Special thanks to John DiSantis at Quality Printing and our media sponsors:
Berkshire Magazine, The Berkshire Edge, The Shoppers Guide and The Artful Mind;
and thanks to our fiscal sponsor, Bard College at Simon’s Rock.
BERKSHIRE’S SPOOKIEST PLACE
RETHINKING THE RANCH HOUSE
SIMON WINCHESTER’S CITIzENSHIP
ON THE HOPS AND CIDER TRAIL
Berkshire
BERKSHIRE’S SPOOKIEST PLACE
RETHINKING THE RANCH HOUSE
IS REAL ESTATE RISING?
JACOB’S PILLOW AT 80
Berkshire
GETTING INTO
BERKSHIRE CHICVISITS
PRESIDENTIAL
DEAR
HENS, FORGIVE US
INDASHIO:
BACK TO HIS
BAD ROOTS
Berkshire
MARY POPE OSBORNE’S SISTER ACT
WHO ARE VOLUNTEERS IN MEDICINE?
time
MAGAZINE
2012
TAYLOR MALI SPEAKS UP
MAGAZINE
ZIPPING
THROUGH
TREES
LIVING IN
NOWHERE
JULY
SEPTEMBER
GETTING INTO
BERKSHIRE CHIC
FARMING
FINDS
ITS NICHE
Premiere
ISSUE
ocToBER
JOSH PENN:
FROM
OTIS TO
SUNDANCE
HOW
NANCY TAKES A (LONG)
HIKE
BERKSHIRE
ICE CREAM AND FARMEATS
MARKETS
Berkshire
MAGAZINE
bk
style
ZIPPING
THROUGH
TREES
LIVING IN
NOWHERE
IS REAL ESTATE RISING?
JACOB’S PILLOW AT 80
Berkshire to eat
A HIP
FAMILY IN
A HIPSTER
HOME
MAGAZINE
JULY
bk
style
NANCY TAKES A (LONG) HIKE
ICE CREAM AND FARM MARKETS
SIMON WINCHESTER’S CITIzENSHIP
ON THE HOPS AND CIDER TRAIL
MAGAZINE
SEPTEMBER
MAGAZINE
MARY POPE OSBORNE’S SISTER ACT
WHO ARE VOLUNTEERS IN MEDICINE?
ocToBER
time
Berkshire to eat
PRESIDENTIAL VISITS
DEAR HENS, FORGIVE US
berkshiremag.com
berkshiremag.com
HOW
BERKSHIRE
EATS
INDASHIO:
BACK TO HIS
BAD ROOTS
FARMING
FINDS
ITS NICHE
Premiere
A HIP
FAMILY IN
A HIPSTER
HOME
ISSUE
2012
TAYLOR MALI SPEAKS UP
berkshiremag.com
JOSH PENN:
FROM
OTIS TO
SUNDANCE
Your front row seat
to all the action
Your front row seat
to
all the action
berkshiremag.com
berkshiremag.com
berkshiremag.com
berkshiremag.com
berkshiremag.com
facebook.com/berkshiremagazine
Like us. You’ll love it.
facebook.com/berkshiremagazine
Like us. You’ll love it.
Thanks to our 2015 Festival venues:
(Dates of the events held at each venue listed in bold)
Arrowhead Museum, Pittsfield (3/27)
Bard College at Simon’s Rock, Great Barrington (3/1, 3/2, 3/3, 3/8, 3/9, 3/21, 3/31)
Berkshire Community College, Pittsfield (3/12, 3/25)
Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield (3/20)
Berkshire Theatre Group’s Unicorn Theater, Stockbridge (3/13, 3/14, 3/22, 3/24, 3/27, 3/28)
Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Lenox (3/7)
Boulderwood Farm, Stockbridge (3/15)
Bushnell Sage Library, Sheffield (3/21)
Congregation Beth Israel, North Adams (3/10)
Community Access to the Arts (CATA) Great Barrington (3/19)
Crowne Plaza Hotel, Pittsfield (3/29)
Deb Koffman’s Artspace, Housatonic (3/8, 3/24)
Dewey Memorial Hall, Sheffield (3/7)
First Congregational Church, Stockbridge (3/16, 3/18)
Good Purpose Gallery, Lee (3/26)
Lenox Library, Lenox (3/7)
Magic Fluke, Sheffield (3/6)
Mason Library, Great Barrington (3/18, 3/28)
MCLA Gallery 51, North Adams (3/12)
Miss Hall’s School, Pittsfield (3/1, 3/5)
Mission Bar & Tapas, Pittsfield (3/4)
New Lebanon Library, New Lebanon, NY (3/5)
No. Six Depot, West Stockbridge (3/12, 3/21)
The Mount, Lenox (3/14, 3/15, 3/26)
The Triplex Cinema, Great Barrington (3/22)
Otis Library, Otis (3/15)
Stanmeyer Gallery and Shaker Dam Coffeehouse, West Stockbridge (3/16, 3/23, 3/30)
South Berkshire Friends Meeting, Great Barrington (3/24)
Unitarian Universalist Meeting of South Berkshire, Housatonic (3/20)
West Stockbridge Historical Society, West Stockbridge (3/17)
Whitney Center for The Arts, Pittsfield (3/11)
Zaanti Yoga Studio, Lenox (3/10)
Berkshire Humane Society, Pittsfield (3/23)
Congratulations
Berkshire Festival of Women Writers.
We stand with women writers who
help highlight today’s important
social issues through their art.
womensfund.net
Deepening Our Joy Circles
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B
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Events
Please check the website regularly for late-breaking changes or cancellations
due to weather or illness.
Unless otherwise noted, events are free and open to the public on a
first-come, first-served basis.
Events marked with an asterisk (*) require tickets.
Date
Page
From Zero to One: First Books and What We Wish We’d Known —
Karen Skolfield
15
2015 Festival Keynote: The Permission to Write — Dani Shapiro *
15
3/2
Writing for Social Justice — Brenda Oppermann
17
3/3
The Education of the Virgin from the Madonna Comix series —
Dianne Kornberg and poet Celia Bland
17
3/4
Berkshire Dating 101 — Nell McCabe
19
19
3/5
Anatomy of an Indie Novel: Moving from Concept to Publication
— Jeanne Bogino
Miss Hall’s School Student Reading — Fiona Keane and Jaycee Yao
19
Piping and Penning — Nancy Tunnicliffe and Jana Laiz
21
The Extraordinary Women of Windsor Mountain School
— Roselle Kline Chartock
21
Going Back — Lara Tupper
21
Out of the Mouths of Babes An Evening of Mothers Reading to
Others — Suzi Banks Baum and friends
23
Fourteenth Annual International Women’s Day Observance
Disruption: A New Film By Pamela Yates *
25
Risky Business — Susie Kaufman and Joan Embree
25
Learning to Speak Our Capital-T Truth: Women of Color on SelfDiscovery — Kuukua Dzigbordi Yomekpe
27
3/1
3/6
3/7
3/8
3/9
Complete bios and additional information about the presenters available on
the Festival website, Berkshirewomenwriters.org.
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3/10
3/11
3/12
3/13
3/14
3/15
3/16
3/17
3/18
3/19
3/20
Page
Writing Your Own Psalms — Rachel Barenblat
27
Words Aloud — Bhavani Lorraine Nelson
27
The Heroine’s Journey: Creating Your Brave New Story
— Amber Chand
29
Artist and Educator: Balancing Our Academic and Creative Lives
— Maura Delaney
31
Nanny: A Memoir of Love and Secrets — Nancy Salz
31
Desire, Power, and Poetry — Hannah Fries and Diana Whitney
33
When the Sky Falls — Yvette “Jamuna” Sirker and Tony Simotes *
33
Women of a Certain Age — Sonia Pilcer *
35
The Cowgirl’s Call: Writing and Riding — Amy Hale-Auker and
Barbara Newman *
37
Rightful Place: A Question of Dragonflies
— Amy Hale-Auker and Carole Murko *
39
The Journey to Find Balance Within Yourself and the World
Around You — Anastasia Stanmeyer
39
For A Woman Her Age! Performance and Memoir Writing Workshop
— Sally-Jane Heit *
41
Maidens’ Initiation: Menstruation / The Wise Wound
— Pooja Ru Prema
43
In the Beginning Was the Word — Rachel Barenblat, Hannah Fries,
Liz Goodman, and Sokunthary Svay
43
A Celebration of Young Women Writers from Monument
Mountain Regional High School — Lisken Van Pelt Dus
45
Border Crossings: Writing About Sexual Orientation and Gender
Identity — Lee Schwartz
45
Spacious, Gracious, Elderflowering — Jan Hutchinson and
Signe Schaefer
47
How We Look: Self/Reflection — Janet Reich Elsbach, Anamyn
Turowski, and Emily Rechnitz
47
Think Like an Editor: How to Make a Good Manuscript Great
— Robin Catalano
47
Rachel Carson: Life in Balance — Magpie *
49
Date
Founded by a woman,
Teddi C. Laurin, in 1964.
Fostering the growth of
the global photonics industry,
focused on light-based technologies.
Nurturing generations of science and
technical writers and editors.
Laurin Publishing is a proud supporter of the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers.
www.Photonics.com
Page
Writing Our Lives as Fiction and Memoir— Carol Ascher
51
Latin Americana — Jan Conn and Jessica Treat
51
Gutsy Gals Inspire Me® Film Awards Ceremony and Screening
— Cathryn Michon, Karen Allen, and Deborah Hutchison *
53
Screening and Discussion: Breaking Through the Clouds
— Heather Taylor, Deborah Hutchison, and Kelley Vickery *
55
Made in the Berkshires Presents Through the Looking Glass
— Amber Chand, Hilary Somers Deely, Kate Maguire, Corinna May,
and Barbara Sims *
55
Mothers’ Initiation: The Birth Story — Camille Roos
57
Keeping the Balance: Poetry About our Relationship with
Animals — Michelle Gillett, Joan Murray, and Hilde Weisert
57
Write with Your Whole Voice: Maiden, Mother, Crone
— Mary Kate Jordan
59
IWOWWOW (In Words Out Words Women’s Own Words)
— Deb Koffman
59
The Positive Influence of Music on Childbirth — Lisa Rafel
61
“Real Women” Essay Contest Award Ceremony and Celebration
61
Mysteries & Characters: Two Emerging Berkshire Fiction Writers
Read — Frances Roth and Joyce Lautens O’Brien
61
Hear the Stories We Hear: An Evening with the Berkshire County
Commission on the Status of Women
63
Inspired By Melville — Jana Laiz
63
Can You Hear Me, Baby? Stories of Sex, Love and OMG Birth!
— Lisa Rafel and Jayne Atkinson *
65
Poetry from the Ground Up — Lisken Van Pelt Dus
65
A Writer’s Life: An Interview with Mary Pope Osborne — Jenny Laird *
67
2015 Berkshire Festival of Women Writers Book Expo
69
3/30
Wise Women’s Initiation: Menopause — Sarah Nicholson and
Cindy Parrish
71
3/31
My Life in Comics — Barbara Slate
71
3/21
3/22
3/23
3/24
3/25
3/26
3/27
3/27 &
3/28
3/28
3/29
Date
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Be
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Events
From Zero to One: First Books and What We Wish We’d Known
Lecture and panel discussion moderated by Karen Skolfield with Amy Dryansky,
Susan Kan, Sarah Sousa, and Michelle Valois
Miss Hall’s School, Centennial Hall, 492 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, 11 a.m.
This event will be of special interest to writers submitting a manuscript or about to publish a first book. We’ll discuss the happy
but often bewildering aftermath of acceptance: book design,
publicity, the vulnerability of being newly published, postpublication contests, second and beyond books, and the importance
of continuing to write after a manuscript has been assembled
or even published. We’ll also talk about prepublication editing,
researching presses, and contests, realistic publishing expectations, and dealing with a difficult publisher. Although the panel
Karen Skolfield
will focus on life after an acceptance, we will have handouts that
address the business side of preparing a manuscript. Panelists
include a publisher/editor, poets, and a prose writer in various stages of their career. Discussion will be audience-driven—bring your questions! Afterwards, the panelists and
Perugia Press will have books for sale and will be available for some follow-up questions.
Special Event
2015 Festival Keynote: Dani Shapiro
The Permission to Write
Daniel Arts Center, Bard College at Simon’s Rock, 84 Alford Road,
Great Barrington, 7 p.m.
Tickets $15, free for students; see the Festival website for ticket information.
Dani Shapiro
Isabelle Allende wrote multiple novels before she felt she
could list “writer” as her occupation on her tax returns.
Sylvia Plath once wrote that she was “a wife and mother of
two small children” when asked by a publisher to describe
herself. It should come as no surprise that women find it
difficult to give themselves permission to find a voice, and
to sing it. Novelist, essayist, memoirist, and beloved teacher
Dani Shapiro has struggled with this question of permission
herself, and will share the story of her own writing life, as well
as offer inspiration and advice to all of us who are longing for
the right to write.
Sunday March 1
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413-854-1955 or flcberkshire@gmail.com
284 Main St. #7 Great Barrington, MA 01230
The Berkshire Center for Justice is a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit
serving our community since 2006.
$170*
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full salon
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public welcome
gift cards
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413-637-1384
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Monday, March 2
Writing for Social Justice
Workshop led by Brenda Oppermann
This workshop is for writers and aspiring writers who care about issues
concerning social justice and who want to use writing as a means to
promote social justice or criticize the lack thereof. We will focus on
knowing your audience and writing with purpose in order to let your
writing be the catalyst for change in thought, behavior, belief, and
action. Brenda Oppermann, an international development adviser,
has worked on social justice issues for 20+ years, focusing primarily
on minority and women’s rights in areas of conflict and fragile
Brenda Oppermann states. She has worked in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Sudan, Iraq,
and Afghanistan, among other regions, and will share her insights
and experiences on promoting social justice through writing to culturally, politically, and
organizationally diverse audiences.
Tuesday, March 3
The Education of the Virgin from the Madonna Comix series
Poetry reading and gallery talk about a collaborative exhibition in image and word
by artist Dianne Kornberg and poet Celia Bland; reception to follow
Hillman-Jackson Gallery, Daniel Arts Center, Bard College at Simon’s Rock
84 Alford Road Great Barrington
Talk at 5 p.m. on March 3
Exhibition runs February 25–March 26
Gallery hours while college is in session:
weekdays 10 a.m.–8 p.m. / weekends 2–8 p.m.
Spring break from 3/13–3/29: weekdays only
9 a.m.–5 p.m.
In 2009 Dianne Kornberg, an artist living on
an island in Puget Sound in Washington state,
and Celia Bland, a poet on the faculty at Bard
College, began working together on poems
and art that imagined the Virgin Mary in a
variety of real-world guises. Kornberg’s images
interplay with Bland’s poems by usurping her
words and phrases and juxtaposing them with
underlying, proto-feminist exclamations from
“Little Lulu” comics. Their collaboration speaks
provocatively to the infinite iconography of
woman as a physical, sexual, maternal, sacrificial,
and spiritual being.
from Education of the Virgin
Blodgett House, Bard College at Simon’s Rock, 84 Alford Road, Great Barrington, 4 p.m.
Miss Hall’s School
492 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA 01201
(413) 499-1300 • (800) 233-5614
misshalls.org • info@misshalls.org
ALL-GIRLS • BOARDING AND DAY • GRADES 9-12
Wednesday, March 4
Berkshire Dating 101
Reading and open mic hosted by Nell McCabe
Welcoming women of all backgrounds and ages, this event seeks to give voice
to women writers reflecting on the experience of being single and dating in the
Berkshires. While being single and dating in any region provides ample material for
creative work, dating in the Berkshires presents unique challenges and rewards that
will no doubt be highlighted this evening. In addition to invited poets and prose
writers, participation from all women writers is welcomed; please bring your short
creative work focused on dating in the Berkshires. Each writer will have about five
minutes to read.
Thursday, March 5
Anatomy of an Indie Novel: Moving from Concept to
Publication
Reading and panel discussion hosted by Jeanne Bogino
New Lebanon Library, 550 State Route 20, Columbia Pike, New Lebanon, NY, 6:30 p.m.
Publishing a book is a highly collaborative effort. This event will discuss the challenges
of bringing all the pieces together to create the novel Rock Angel: writing, editing,
publishing, marketing and art design. The panel will consist of author Jeanne Bogino;
publisher Wendy Lipp; freelance editor Marlene Adelstein; cover designer Julie Metz
Prashanti; and marketer Gina Coleman, who will serve as moderator of the panel.
Miss Hall’s School Student Reading
Hosted by Miss Hall’s School seniors Fiona Keane and Jaycee Yao
Miss Hall’s School, Centennial Hall, 492 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, (Living Room), 6:30 p.m.
This event will feature young
women writers sharing their
personal stories through creative
non-fiction and poetry inspired by
lived experience. It will be hosted
by Miss Hall’s School seniors Fiona
Keane and Jaycee Yao with the
support of English and Creative
Writing teacher Emily Pulfer-Terino.
Emily Pulfer-Terino and student.
Photo by L. Najimy.
19 • BFWW • March 2015 For full listings and biographies, check our website at berkshirewomenwriters.org
Mission Bar & Tapas, 438 North Street, Pittsfield, 7 p.m.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
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Phyllis and Dale Webb
phyllis @magicfluke.com
dale
292 South Main Street
Sheffield, MA 01257
Friday, March 6
Piping and Penning
Interactive writing workshop with Nancy Tunnicliffe and Jana Laiz
Renowned Scottish bagpiper Nancy Tunnicliffe and award-winning author Jana Laiz
will take participants on a musical and mystical tour of Scotland. Using traditional
pipe music and slides of their recent trip to the Scottish Highlands, Lowlands, and
Islands, Nancy and Jana will lead writers on a journey brimming with fantasy, faerie
faith, and folklore. Using excerpts from Jana’s Celtic fantasy The Twelfth Stone and
writing prompts combined with Nancy’s pipes as a jumping-off point, Jana and Nancy
will invite attendees to put pen to paper in responding to both words and music.
Saturday, March 7
The Extraordinary Women of Windsor Mountain School
Reading and lecture by Roselle Kline Chartock
Boston University Tanglewood Institute, 45 West Street., Lenox, 10:30 a.m.
In a reading and lecture related to her recently published book Windsor Mountain
School: The History of a Beloved Berkshire Boarding School, Roselle Kline Chartock will
introduce some of the extraordinary women who were connected in some way to this
private progressive boarding school, situated in Lenox from 1944 to 1975. In addition
to the school’s founder, Gertrud Bondy, who was one of the first female doctors and
psychoanalysts in the world, there were the women faculty and the many young
women who graduated from this coeducational, integrated school, ahead of its time
in terms of diversity and honoring the individuality of its students. For example, there
were women from prominent families like the Belafontes and Poitiers; women who
became prominent themselves like Matuschka; and so many others, each with her
own unique story.
Going Back
Workshop led by Lara Tupper
Lenox Library, 18 Main Street, Lenox, 3 p.m.
Childhood tends to remain a vivid time, no matter where we
find ourselves now. In this unpretentious writing class, we’ll
recall memories from early days and hear recollections from
others. Using Joe Brainard’s whimsical memoir I Remember as
a model, we’ll tap into tales from our youth and consider how
these recollections have shaped us. The class will consist of
discussion, brief free-writing exercises, and sharing of work by
participants. No writing experience necessary.
Lara Tupper
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Saturday, March 7 continued
Special Event
Laundry Line Divine presents
Hosted by Suzi Banks Baum, featuring readings by Amy Dryansky,
Sarah Hains DiFazio, Janet Elsbach, Lorrin Krouss, Linda Jackson, Nichole
Dupont, Leigh Strimbeck, Serene Mastrianni, Rachel Siegel,
and Suzi Banks Baum
Dewey Memorial Hall, 91 Main Street, Sheffield, 7 p.m.
Suggested donation at the door $10.
First row, left to right: Suzi Banks Baum, Amy Dryansky, Sarah Hains DiFazio, Janet Elsbach,
and Lorrin Krouss. Second row: Linda Jackson, Nichole Dupont, Leigh Strimbeck,
Serene Mastrianni, and Rachel Siegel.
“Out of the Mouths of Babes: An Evening of Mothers Reading to Others”
illuminates the Village and what it takes to nurture mothers in the Berkshires
and beyond. Like writing, mothering can be immensely isolating, even in
the sweetest of communities. Ten women writers from across Berkshire
County will read original writing that rises out of the yearning to connect
with others while raising children. The evening opens with a musical guest
and will also include a film tribute to the Festival and to women who have
found their voices through “Out of the Mouths of Babes.” Visual art will be on
display and socializing over bedtime snacks will close the event.
Out of the Mouths of Babes
An Evening of Mothers Reading to Others
Berkshire Human Rights Speaker Series
& The Berkshire Festival of Women Writers
proudly present a screening of the documentary
A new documentary by Pamela Yates - Skylight Productions
Sunday, March 8, 2015 2-4pm
Honoring International Women's Day 2015
A group of Latin American activist economists set out to confront what they
call the scandal of inequality on their continent with a model that places poor
women at the center of the drive for social change. Guided by the idea that what
the poor lack is access to financial services and information, they bring together
governments, big banks and women marginalized by poverty in Peru, Columbia
and Brazil. Their innovative programs spread financial literacy using digital
education tools that reach three million women from across the region. Could this
new, unorthodox model offer a profound DISRUPTION ? A new approach for
social transformation to eradicate poverty.
Yates is a Guggenheim Fellow, and the Director of the Sundance Award
winning films, When the Mountains Tremble and Granito; the Producer of the Emmy
Award winning Loss of Innocence, and the Executive Producer of the Academy
Award winning Witness to War.
Made possible in part by a grant from the MA Cultural Council
At the Daniel Arts Center,
Bard College at Simon's Rock, Great Barrington, MA
413-644-4400
For more information about this and other talks in our series www.uumsb.org
Contact: Ricky Bernstein rickypenrose@gmail.com 413-229-7993
Sunday, March 8
Special Event
Fourteenth Annual International Women’s Day Observance
Disruption: A New Film By Pamela Yates
Tickets $10, free to students; see the Festival website for ticket information.
A reception will follow the screening, sponsored by Ameriprise Financial.
Co-presented by Berkshire Human Rights Speaker Series.
In Pamela Yates’s new film, a group of Latin American activist economists set out to
confront what they call the scandal of inequality on their continent with a model that
places poor women at the center of the drive for social change. Guided by the idea
that what the poor lack is access to financial services and information, they bring
together governments, big banks, and women marginalized by poverty in Peru,
Colombia, and Brazil. Their innovative programs spread financial literacy via digital
education tools that reach 3 million women from across the region. Could this new,
unorthodox model offer a disruption, a new approach for social transformation and
the eradication of poverty? Yates, a Guggenheim Fellow and director of the awardwinning films When the Mountains Tremble and Granito, will discuss the process of
making the film and its impact.
Risky Business
Reading and discussion presented by Susie Kaufman and Joan Embree
Deb Koffman’s Artspace, 137 Front Street, Housatonic, 4:30 p.m.
Confronting one’s own truth as a writer, there
is a fine line between honest self-reflection and
confessional purging. Similarly, in bearing witness
to the truth of the darkness in the world, there is a
delicate balance between writing in the prophetic
voice and assuming a preachy, hectoring tone.
In this reading and discussion, Joan Embree and
Susie Kaufman will read from their work and
discuss the perils of taking on difficult, sometimes
forbidden, material. They will ask such questions
as: How can we find a middle way between
withholding secrets and using our writing as an
opportunity for self-indulgent catharsis? What is
our obligation, if any, to other people who may
be hurt or offended by what we write? What is the
story that we’re most reluctant to tell?
Joan Embree
Daniel Arts Center, Bard College at Simon’s Rock, 84 Alford Road, Great Barrington, 2 p.m.
Amber Chand
The Heroine's Journey: Creating Your Brave New Story
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Monday, March 9
Learning to Speak Our Capital-T Truth:
Women of Color on Self-Discovery
Student reading hosted by Kuukua Dzigbordi Yomekpe
This will be a presentation showcasing readings by women
students of color at Bard College at Simon’s Rock, a
culmination of a two-month journey of using writing as a
means of self-discovery.
Kuukua Dzigbordi Yomekpe
Tuesday, March 10
Writing Your Own Psalms
Workshop led by Rachel Barenblat
Congregation Beth Israel, 53 North Lois Street, North Adams, 3 p.m.
Rachel Barenblat
The psalms are a deep repository of praise, thanksgiving,
grief, and exaltation, an ancient collection of poetry that
also functions as prayer. In this class, each of us will become
a psalmist. We’ll explore what makes a psalm, read psalms
both classical and contemporary, talk about the emotional
tenor of the psalms and how they work both as poetry and
as prayer, warm up our intellectual muscles with generative
writing exercises, and enter into a safe space for creativity
as we each write our own psalms. After sharing our psalms
aloud and sharing our responses to one another’s work, we’ll
close with a psalm of thanksgiving for our time together.
Words Aloud
Workshop led by Bhavani Lorraine Nelson
Zaanti Yoga Studio, 449 Pittsfield Road, Lenox, 7 p.m.
You’ve written your major opus and now people are asking
you to share it orally. Do your knees begin to quake at the
thought? And when you do get up to read, can you be heard
in the back of a room without a microphone? This workshop
will go a long way in overcoming these and other obstacles
to public presentations of your work. You’ll learn to use your
voice safely and effectively so you can project to the back of
a large room without strain, and you’ll get simple tips that
can transform your comfort level when you present your
work. Bring a brief selection of your work to share.
Bhavani Lorraine Nelson
Blodgett House, Bard College at Simon’s Rock, 84 Alford Road,
Great Barrington, 7 p.m.
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Wednesday, March 11
The Heroine’s Journey: Creating Your Brave New Story
Workshop led by Amber Chand
In this workshop, participants will
explore ways in which they can
design their new story using the
transformative power of fearless
imagination and dialogue with
their future self. They become
time travelers, stepping across the
threshold of their current lives and
story, and exploring the realm of
the possible. To do this, they must
also meet the Guardians at the
Threshold—allies and adversaries
who either support or sabotage their
heroine’s journey. This workshop
will be an opportunity for deep
inquiry and reflection—one that will
support participants in stepping into
their future from an inspired and
enlivened place.
Amber Chand
Coming in Summer 2015!
One-week Leadership Institute for Girls, led by founding Festival
Director Jennifer Browdy, Ph.D.
A special opportunity for girls to develop
leadership skills in communication,
collaboration and creative visioning,
under the guidance of a warm,
knowledgeable educator with more than
25 years’ experience working on social and
environmental justice issues with teens.
Check the Festival website for more details
and registration information, available soon!
Jennifer Browdy
Whitney Center for the Arts
42 Wendell Avenue, Pittsfield, 7 p.m.
Photo: WILLIAM WALDRON
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Thursday, March 12
Artist and Educator: Balancing Our Academic and Creative Lives
Panel discussion led by Maura Delaney, with Nell McCabe, Jessica Passetto, Emily Pulfer-Terino, Peggy Rivers and Julianna Spallholz First row: Maura Delaney, Nell McCabe, Jessica Passetto.
Second row: Emily Pulfer-Terino, Peggy Rivers and Julianna Spallholz
This panel discussion is devoted to exploring the variety of ways that five women
educators who are also artists make time for work, family, and craft. Being both an
artist and an educator presents a unique challenge: How does one devote the time
and energy to nurturing creativity in others and still have the energy left over to devote
time to one’s own creative self in addition to all the other demands that life and work
place on each of us? The five panelists will each read a short piece reflecting on the
trials and triumphs of balancing teaching and creative work with family and friends
and all the other obligations and passions that we fill our lives with. Following the
readings, our moderator will accept questions from the audience and lead everyone
in a discussion of this important topic.
Nanny: A Memoir of Love and Secrets
Reading and discussion by Nancy Salz
No. Six Depot, 6 Depot Street, West Stockbridge, 7 p.m.
In her book Nanny: A Memoir of Love and Secrets, called “powerful” and “wrenching” by
New York Arts, Nancy Salz writes of the conflicted love she felt for her beautiful but distant
mother and the loving nanny who raised her until her teens. Searching for her late nanny’s
life story, Salz was able to recover an intense bond that survived derision and death and
unearth secrets kept for nearly fifty years. In this reading and discussion, Salz will read
from and tell the story of her memoir, which Kirkus Reviews praised for its “insight into the
issues of class that often separate domestic caretakers from their charges.”
Berkshire Community College, Susan B Anthony (SBA) Lounge, 1350 West Street,
Pittsfield, 12:15 p.m.
The Unruly Jewels of
Linda Kaye-Moses
Plumdinger Studio
Meet the Artist at
Paradise City
Arts Festivals
20-22 MARCH 2015
Marlborough, MA
23-25 MAY 2015
Northampton, MA
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Thursday 3/12 continued
Desire, Power, and Poetry
Reading and discussion with Hannah Fries and Diana Whitney
Desire and power, power and
voice—these red-hot themes have
shot through poetry perhaps since
its inception (just ask Sappho), and
they are as rich and complex as ever
for women poets today. Join us for
a delicious evening of poetry with
two women writers who explore
themes of desire in their work.
With lush language and startling
confessions, Diana Whitney’s first
book, Wanting It, tells a story of selfHannah Fries
Diana Whitney
discovery through love and desire.
A blogger for the Huffington Post,
Whitney is known for her frank, unapologetic personal essays as well as her poetry.
Hannah Fries’s poems often play with the power dynamics embedded in gender and
sexuality, sometimes speaking through the voiceless women characters of the Bible
and mythology.
Friday, March 13
When the Sky Falls
Staged reading of a new play by Yvette “Jamuna” Sirker
directed by Tony Simotes
Berkshire Theatre Group’s Unicorn Theater, 6 East Street, Stockbridge, 7:30 p.m.
Tickets $15; a portion of the proceeds will benefit the Festival.
See the Festival website for ticket information.
Playwright Yvette “Jamuna” Sirker collaborates with
renowned director Tony Simotes, former artistic director
of Shakespeare and Company, on a staged reading of
Ms. Sirker’s play based on her own experience of living
through Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. When the Sky
Falls was developed Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway
and is the winner of MultiStages Theater’s New Works
Contest, Epic Theater Center’s Sunshine Series, and
was a Lark Play Development Center Playwrights’ Week
Finalist. Tony Simotes will direct a diverse cast of actors
from Shakespeare and Company and New York City.
Yvette Jamuna Sirker
MCLA Gallery 51, 51 Main Street, North Adams, 7 p.m.
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Saturday, March 14
Women of a Certain Age
Reading hosted by Sonia Pilcer with Agi Clark, Enid Futterman, Debby Mayer,
and Norah Walsh
Tickets $20, benefits the Festival and includes signed copy of The Last Hotel by
Sonia Pilcer; see the Festival website for ticket information.
Sponsored by Ameriprise Financial
Sonia Pilcer, Agi Clark, Enid Futterman, Debby Mayer (photo by Sabine Vollmer von Falken Photography),
and Norah Walsh
We are women writers of a certain age, who grew up in the ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s. If our
mothers lived this long, they were retired, if they had ever worked. Not only do we
continue to write our lives, but we are navigating through the turbulent waters of the
Internet, not to mention facing the challenge of publishing old-fashioned books and
marketing them. A dialogue will follow the readings.
There’s always so much
going on at the Berkshire
Festival of Women Writers!
Check our website regularly
and subscribe to our
newsletter to make sure you
hear about:
• our year-round writing
workshops
• writing retreats
• readings
• publishing opportunities
• and more!
Berkshire women writers sharing their writing . . . some
published, some unpublished and some in the process of being
published. At Shaker Dam Coffeehouse & Stanmeyer Gallery.
The Mount, 2 Plunkett Street, Lenox, 2 p.m.
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Traditional Ayurvedic Bodywork
Ayurveda, a 5,000 year-old science from India offers a balanced,
nourishing approach to health & well being.
Berkshire native, Laura Spucches has been practicing Ayurveda for
over 6 years. She is a graduate of the Kripalu School of Ayurveda &
Kerala Ayurveda Academy, and is currently working on a Masters in
Maharishi Ayurveda & Integrative Medicine.
AllowYourselfToBe@gmail.com
(413) 528-VEDA
Saturday, March 14 continued
Special Event
The Cowgirl’s Call: Writing and Riding
Multimedia western experience with Amy Hale-Auker
produced and hosted by Barbara Newman
Tickets $30; see the Festival website for ticket information.
Proceeds of this event benefit the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers.
Sponsored by Cowgirls Are Forever, a film in development on the American
cowgirl, and T.P. Saddleblanket.
Barbara Newman and Amy Hale-Auker filming for Cowgirls Are Forever. Maggie Creek Ranch. Elko, Nevada
Amy Hale-Auker, WILLA Award–winning writer, ranch woman and treasured
speaker, takes us on a journey where the wind, the rain, the sun, and the
grass are never taken for granted. Inspired by the land, the work, and her bold
cowgirl spirit, “The Cowgirl’s Call: Writing and Riding” shares the raw depth and
breadth of ranch life, including storytelling, readings and cowgirl slam poetry,
interwoven with film, photography, and music. Amy says, “Sleeping wrapped
in wool and canvas and the ink-black night, directly on the ground, for several
nights at a time, bathing in wood smoke and sweat and work, creates an
appreciation for this planet and its delicate balance.” The beauty is that this
deep awareness lends itself to showing up on the page.
Berkshire Theatre Group’s Unicorn Theater, 6 East Street, Stockbridge, 7 p.m.
Fresh • Local • Organic
Community Matters.
Shop Co-op
www.berkshire.coop
42 Bridge Street • Great Barrington, MA • 413.528.9697
Stanmeyer Gallery
&
Shaker Dam Coffeehouse
2 Main Street, West Stockbridge, MA
Where the power of
photography and the
brilliance of human rightsbased coffee unite for the
advancement of social
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and liquid illumination.
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413.232.7707 | Open 7 days a week 8am-4pm Mon through Thurs | 8am-6pm Fri, Sat & Sun
Sunday, March 15
Rightful Place: A Question of Dragonflies
Writing workshop presented by Amy Hale-Auker, followed by western-themed
luncheon hosted by Carole Murko of Heirloom Meals.
Tickets $25; limited to 20 participants. See the Festival
website for ticket information.
A portion of the proceeds benefits the Berkshire
Festival of Women Writers.
Sponsored by Heirloom Meals and Cowgirls Are Forever.
A rare opportunity to join acclaimed teacher Amy Hale-Auker in an informal, fun,
and intimate workshop. True to her love for the natural world, the focus will be on
becoming an observer and bringing the powerful metaphors of nature into your
written work. These priceless wonders are flying overhead, hatching at your feet,
flowing in the stream, and parching in the sun. They are here, all around us. Bring
your appetite for adventure, along with your own writing materials. We will discuss
the process and distillation of everyday life into prose and poetry.
The Journey to Find Balance Within Yourself and the World
Around You
Writing workshop led by Anastasia Stanmeyer
Otis Library, 48 North Main Street, Otis, 11 a.m.
Space is limited; e-mail astanmeyer@berkshiremag.com to register.
As women, we find ourselves often times seeking
balance in our daily lives, on many levels—internally,
socially, politically, environmentally. Writing is a
means of expressing that struggle to find balance.
Anastasia Stanmeyer asks participants to share
writings of no more than 700 words that exemplify
that quest, and how that balance has been resolved—
or unresolved. We do some focused freewriting
about the whole concept of balance, and why it is
even sought. The workshop will conclude with a
discussion of the challenges of finding balance, and
constructive feedback on the writing shared.
Anastasia Stanmeyer
Boulderwood Farm, Stockbridge, 10 a.m.–2 p.m.
Sunday, March 15 continued
Special Event
For a Woman Her Age!
Performance and Memoir Writing Workshop
with Sally-Jane Heit
With musical director Uel Wade
Tickets $15; all proceeds benefit the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers.
See the Festival website for ticket information.
Once again, Sally-Jane Heit breaks the rules!
Taught by the best…
“Speak only when spoken to.”
“Don’t bite your nails.”
“Cross your legs.”
“Always wear clean underwear.”
FUGGETABOUT IT!!!
Sally-Jane Heit, photo by Annie Leibovitz
In Technicolor, irreverence, and music Sally-Jane
writes, acts, and sings about the absurdities of
life. After the show and a spot of tea with sweets
(after all, it is The Mount!), you are invited to share
your own rule-breaking experiences. In a dynamic
writing workshop, dig deep to uncover the bad girl
that made you the good girl that you are today.
Are you looking to get your writing
further out into the world? The
Berkshire Edge EDGE WISE column,
curated weekly by founding Festival
Director Jennifer Browdy, welcomes
submissions by women writers from
the Berkshire region.
Any topic of interest to you, as a local woman, will be of interest to the
readers of EDGE WISE. A personal voice preferred; 500-1,000 words.
View EDGE WISE columns at TheBerkshireEdge.com (enter Edge Wise in
the Search field to locate all the columns to date).
Send queries or submissions to
Jennifer@berkshirewomenwriters.org.
The Mount, 2 Plunkett Street, Lenox, 2 p.m.
Moon Rites
an 8 week series begining in April
exploring the
Wisdom of Menstruation
Tools for:
Easing painful periods
Healing our inheritance
Reclaiming menstruation
as a spritual practice
for more info
email laughcrylouder@gmail.com
or visit Women's Tool's at
PoojaPrema.com
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environmental films
March 15th - Tower Theater
in South Hadley
• • •
April 11th - Mahaiwe &
April 12th - Triplex Cinema
in Great Barrington
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Monday, March 16
Maidens’ Initiation: Menstruation / The Wise Wound
Workshop led by Pooja Ru Prema
A writing workshop delving deeper into the openings
created by Pooja Ru Prema’s 2013 interactive
installation “Rites of Passage,” this session will focus
on menstruation as a spiritual initiation and as a
woman’s tool for self- knowledge. Menstruation is a
girl’s entry into womanhood and into her “maiden”
years, heralding her fertility and sexual ripening. It
also initiates her into being a complex and cyclical
creature whose inner rhythms wax and wane up until
menopause. To validate menstruation is an act of
reclamation and resistance in a culture that shames
women for this most basic and ubiquitous female
function and source of power.
Pooja Ru Prema
This workshop is part one of a three-part series based
on the Rites of Passage Project. The other two events in
the series will take place on March 23 and March 30.
In the Beginning Was the Word
Reading and panel discussion by women writers of faith: Rachel Barenblat,
Hannah Fries, Liz Goodman, and Sokunthary Svay
First Congregational Church, 4 Main Street, Stockbridge, 7 p.m.
In her book The Nakedness of the Fathers, poet Alicia Ostriker writes, “By the time the
spiritual imagination of women has expressed itself as fully and variously as that
of men, to be sure, whatever humanity means by God, religion, holiness, and truth
will be completely transformed.” This multigenre reading and panel discussion will
feature four Berkshire women writers—with backgrounds in Christianity, Judaism,
and Buddhism—whose work is influenced by their faith, either overtly or just beneath
the surface. The participants will each give a short reading and speak about the
intertwining of their life in writing and their life in faith.
day’s work might turn out to have been a mess. So what?
“ Your
Vonnegut said, ‘When I write I feel like an armless legless man
with a crayon in his mouth.’ So go ahead and make big scrawls and
mistakes. Use lots of paper. Perfectionism is a mean, frozen form
of idealism, while messes are the artist’s true friends.
—Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
”
Stanmeyer Gallery and Shaker Dam Coffeehouse, 2 Main Street,
West Stockbridge, 4 p.m.
Working with you to create a personalized plan for your
nutritional health and giving you the tools to achieve it.
Most major health insurance accepted.
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Tuesday, March 17
A Celebration of Young Women Writers from Monument
Mountain Regional High School
Hosted by Lisken Van Pelt Dus and other MMRHS faculty
This celebratory reading will feature a mixed-genre selection of work by young
women writers. The young writers will each read a short selection (no more than five
minutes) of poetry, fiction, drama, journalism, or creative nonfiction. Participants will
be selected by Monument Mountain English faculty members, who will also moderate
the event.
Wednesday, March 18
Border Crossings: Writing About Sexual Orientation and
Gender Identity
Workshop led by Lee Schwartz
Mason Library, 231 Main Street, Great Barrington, 3 p.m.
Lee Schwartz
Berkshire
Festival of
Women
Writers
If you do not fit into society’s rigid gender
boxes—if you or someone you know and
love is gay, queer, or questioning society’s
idea of male and female, this is a workshop
where you can hear those voices and write
out your own truth. If you feel the mainstream
of literature is not echoing your voice, this is a
workshop for you. We will create a supportive,
confidential space to write about the doubts,
fears, and fierceness of living authentically.
As a participant you will be given gentle
prompts to write and celebrate your LGBTQ
child, relative, friend, or yourself.
Become a Friend of the Festival!
For more information on supporting the Festival,
visit us online at berkshirewomenwriters.org,
or e-mail Festival Director Jennifer Browdy at
info@berkshirewomenwriters.org.
West Stockbridge Historical Society, 9 Main Street, West Stockbridge, 7 p.m.
going for a flower
an inspired collection of poems culled
from years of CATA writing workshops…
Buy
your copy
today!
$15.99
Available at the CATA Boutique & The Bookloft,
Great Barrington. Also available online at:
communityaccesstotheARTS.org
40 Railroad Street, Suite. 6 / Great Barrington
art, history,
natural science
make inspiring connections!
Open daily: Monday-Saturday 10 to 5; Sunday noon to 5
39 South St., Pittsfield, MA 413.443.7171 Berkshiremuseum.org
Spacious, Gracious, Elderflowering
Wednesday, March 18 continued
Workshop led by Jan Hutchinson and Signe Schaefer
First Congregational Church, 4 Main Street, Stockbridge, 7 p.m.
Aren’t we each many different people in one lifetime—
changing, evolving, and transforming through the decades?
If we do not want to keep trying to act young in an everaging body, what imaginations can help us step toward an
unknown future with interest and inner strength? Are there
essential human qualities that can only come alive in us
Jan Hutchinson and Signe Schaefer through the process of aging? In the last third of our lives we
may want to grow quieter, differently creative, more inwardly expansive, even more spiritual.
As twenty-first-century life becomes ever faster and more pressured, is it our elder possibility
to create pockets of calm in which true humanness and wisdom can thrive? We will use writing
exercises to reflect on and honor the inner spaciousness and generosity that can flower in our
later years to become a true source of healing in the world.
Thursday, March 19
How We Look: Self/Reflection
Reading and discussion with CATA writing faculty Janet Reich Elsbach,
Anamyn Turowski, and Emily Rechnitz
Community Access to the Arts (CATA) Studio, 70 Railroad Street
(behind Triplex building), Great Barrington, 6:30 p.m.
Community Access to the Arts (CATA) nurtures and celebrates the creativity of people with
disabilities through shared experiences in the visual and performing arts. In this event,
faculty and artists from the CATA writing program consider looking at ourselves, looking
at one another, and being looked at. Drawing from conversations and written exchanges,
CATA writing faculty Janet Reich Elsbach, Emily Rechnitz and Anamyn Turowski will read
and reflect on the collected thoughts of the women writers in the program on the topics of
personal appearance and perception.
Friday, March 20
Think Like an Editor: How to Make a Good Manuscript Great
Lecture by Robin Catalano
Berkshire Museum, 39 South Street, Pittsfield, 3 p.m.
Space is limited; please call 413.443.7171 ext. 10 to register.
Ever heard the adage that great writing is more about revision than about the act of
putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard)? Whether your goal is to submit a fiction
or nonfiction manuscript for publication or simply to be the best writer you can be, this
seminar will optimize your chances by teaching you to become your own first editor.
We’ll cover what professional editors look for in a story or manuscript, the best and worst
times to self-edit, how to highlight your strengths and identify and improve on your
weaknesses, when to stop editing, and much more.
Program begins after the Women of Spirit in the Berkshires Potluck at 5:45 p.m.
“Rachel Carson: Life In Balance” is co-sponsored by Graham Dean,
Lori Levinson, Dennis Downing and Crystal Essence.
Friday, March 20 continued
Rachel Carson: Life in Balance
Musical performance by Magpie,
including readings and discussion,
hosted by Barbara and Graham Dean
Admission at the door $10. A portion of
the proceeds will benefit the Berkshire
Festival of Women Writers.
Rachel Carson was most famous for
her 1962 book Silent Spring, a warning
about the devastating environmental
ramifications of the unbridled use of toxic
pesticides in our world. Her writings were
all magnificent explorations in prose of
the beauty and complexity of the natural
world, much of it focused on aquatic life
and the oceans.
Magpie
Internationally renowned singer-songwriters Terry Leonino and Greg Artzner,
known as the folk duo Magpie, have compiled a beautiful and moving collection of
Rachel Carson’s writings, interwoven with
songs that extend and expound upon the
themes and concerns about which she
wrote. Terry and Greg spent three years
researching Carson’s writing to come
up with a portrait in performance of the
great author, showing the far-reaching
complexity of her work, and its prescience
in setting forth the ecological struggles
we have yet to overcome.
Rachel Carson
Unitarian Universalist Church,
1089 Main Street, Housatonic, 7 p.m.
Robin’s Nest Press
Creating your voice for today’s world
Brochures, Flyers, Newsletters
Business Cards
Email Marketing
Website Management & Design
Robin Zeamer
home/office 413-528-7995 / cell 917-796-5047
Robinsnestpress@gmail.com | www.Robinsnestpress.com
Clowning as An Inner Journey
Workshops & Events
"The clown is a poet in action... she teaches us
to laugh at ourselves." -H. Miller
Laura Geilen
laura@nosetonose.info
nosetonose.info
518.929.5392
Saturday, March 21
Writing Our Lives as Fiction and Memoir
Writing workshop led by Carol Ascher
Carol Ascher
Aimed at women who are beginning to write as well as
those who have written either fiction or memoir and
would like to transition to the other genre, this threehour workshop will explore why each of us tends to
think in terms of memoir or fiction when we consider
writing about our experiences, how we can shift to a
different genre, and the benefits and limitations of each.
The workshop will include two work sessions, divided
by a lunch break, in which we write the same material
as fiction and memoir. Using these fairly short pieces,
we will end by discussing such issues as narrative voice,
pacing, character, and dramatic arc in both memoir and
fiction. Bring your own writing implements (laptop or
notebook) as well as a bag lunch.
Latin Americana
Reading and discussion led by Jan Conn and Jessica Treat
No. Six Depot, 6 Depot Street, West Stockbridge, 2 p.m.
Jan Conn and Jessica Treat will each read from their published and new works dealing
with their travels in Latin America. Ms. Conn writes and publishes in lyrical, narrative
and Japanese poetic forms. She has been working and traveling in Latin America since
her early twenties, and many of her poems reflect the landscape/environment, politics, people, and flora and fauna that flourish there. Ms. Treat
lived in Spain for a year as a
child, and in Mexico City for
four years, retaining a strong
connection with that mysterious and marvelous city.
Her poems and short stories
explore relationships among
people, including family and
pets, in Mexico City and elsewhere. A discussion of travel
writing in general, and Latin
American travel writing in particular, will follow the readings.
Jan Conn
Jessica Treat
Bushnell-Sage Library, 48 Main Street, Sheffield, 11 a.m.
Karen Allen Fiber Arts
Featuring textile & clothing designers from around the world!
The Mayan Store
Guatemala
Handbags
Belts
Komarov
Wallace Sewell
Los Angeles
Dresses/Blouses
Skirts
London
Scarves/Shawls
Blankets
Marika Charles/
Match
Schenectady, NY
Sweaters/ Shawls
T-Shirts
8 Railroad Street Great Barrington, MA
413.528.8555 karenallen-fiberarts.com
■
■
“Yoga begins with
listening.” R. Freeman
Workshops, Courses,
Events, Daily Classes,
and a lot of heart.
SrutiYogaCenter.com
33 Railroad Street
Great Barrington
MAY 28 - 31, 2015
BIFFMA.ORG
Saturday March 21 continued
Special Event
Gutsy Gals Inspire Me® Film Awards
Ceremony and Screening
Hosted by Karen Allen and Deborah Hutchison
Tickets $20. See the Festival website
for ticket information.
The Gutsy Gal Award is presented to authentic women who have taken risks, understanding the odds, undaunted by challenge and setback. Women who are determined
and passionate – but know how to laugh! Join renowned actress Karen Allen and filmmaker and Gutsy Gals Inspire Me® founder Deborah Hutchison as they present the
Gutsy Gal Grand Prize Film Award to filmmaker Cathryn Michon, writer and director of
Muffin Top: A Love Story, along with other award-winning women filmmakers. Then we’ll
settle in for a good laugh (and maybe a few tears?) as we screen Muffin Top: A Love Story,
a feature film comedy that challenges Hollywood’s notions of women and body image.
Left: Cathryn Michon in Muffin Top: A Love Story. Top right : Karen Allen, bottom right: Deborah Hutchison
Daniel Arts Center, Bard College at Simon’s Rock,
84 Alford Road, Great Barrington, 7 p.m.
For the third year in a row,
Fairview Hospital has achieved
It takes a team!
Sunday, March 22
Breaking Through the Clouds
Screening and discussion hosted by Gutsy Gals Inspire Me® and the Berkshire
International Film Festival
The Triplex Cinema, 70 Railroad Street, Great Barrington 11 a.m.
Breaking through the Clouds, winner of the Gutsy Gals Film Award for Best Feature
Length Documentary, is the remarkable story of 20 courageous women pilots and the
first women’s national air derby, which took place in August of 1929. Screenwriter and
director Heather Taylor will join in conversation with Deborah Hutchison, founder of
Gutsy Gals Inspire Me® and Kelley Vickery, founding director of the Berkshire International Film Festival, about the challenges faced by women writers and directors of films.
Special Event
Made in the Berkshires Presents:
Through the Looking Glass
Berkshire Theatre Group’s Unicorn Theater, 6 East Street, Stockbridge, 3 p.m.
Tickets $30. See the Festival website for ticket information.
A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers.
Amber Chand, Hilary Somers Deely, Kate Maguire, Corinna May, and Barbara Sims
Through The Looking Glass: Musings from the Pens of Berkshire Women Writers honors
Berkshire women who exemplify the diversity of women’s writing in the 19th and 20th
centuries; we are also honoring the thread that joins these women together: desire versus duty, the dilemma of self-realization versus the socially accepted self-sacrifice of the
times in which they lived. With the Berkshires as their palette, these women filled their
journals, letters, and stories with their concern for broad cultural and social issues, as
well as the issues of particular interest to women. Their individual voices resonate with
recognition as we see ourselves in the looking glass of their experience. Selected readings—from writers including Francis Anne Kemble, Harriet Martineau, Edna St. Vincent
Millay, Catharine Maria Sedgwick, Sheila Weller and Edith Wharton—will be performed
by Karen Allen, Amber Chand, Hilary Somers Deely, Kate Maguire, Corinna May, Barbara
Sims and guests. There will be a talkback with the cast following the performance.
Tickets $10 at the door.
KEEPING THE BALANCE:
Poetry about our relationship with animals
Poets Michelle Gillett, Joan Murray, Hilde Weisert
read poems celebrating our mysterious
and vital animal connections, followed by audience Q&A
Monday March 23, 7–8:30 PM
Free! Contributions of unopened food for the
Community Pet Food Bank are welcome
Berkshire Humane Society
214 Barker Road
Pittsfield, MA 01201
born gently.
born safely.
born at home.
Shivani Lash, Midwife, CPM
413.441.3466
Shivani.Lash@gmail.com
Monday, March 23
Mothers’ Initiation: The Birth Story
Workshop led by Camille Roos
Camille Roos
Giving birth is one of the greatest initiations a woman
experiences, on the threshold of life and death as she
delivers a new being into the world. The birth story locates
the mother in a constellation of confrontation, surrender,
and negotiation with the unexpected. It carries all prior
experience toward the moment of crowned release, where
one’s individuality is rewritten. The births of our children set
the stage for motherhood in a guttural telling of the mother’s
capacity to extend herself beyond imaginable limits. In this
workshop, we will trace and unpack the relevancy of our
birth stories, including miscarriages, subsequent children,
and the complex mix of emotions, hormones, history, and
power (or lack thereof) that comprise our initiations, before
and long after birth.
This workshop is part two of a three-part series based on the Rites of Passage Project; the
third part takes place on March 30.
Keeping the Balance: Poetry About our Relationship with Animals
Poetry reading with Michelle Gillett, Joan Murray, and Hilde Weisert
Berkshire Humane Society, 214 Barker Road, Pittsfield, 7 p.m.
Contributions of unopened food for the Community Pet Food Bank are welcome.
Michelle Gillett, Joan Murray, and Hilde Weisert
In the presence of literary-minded cats, dogs, and other animals at the Berkshire
Humane Society, three poets will read poems celebrating our mysterious and vital
animal connections, followed by a discussion with the audience. The evening opens
with an introduction to the Humane Society from poet and Berkshire Humane
educator Mary Koncel, and after the reading Mary will offer a tour of the facility.
Stanmeyer Gallery and Shaker Dam Coffeehouse, 2 Main Street, West Stockbridge, 4 p.m.
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Tuesday, March 24
Write with Your Whole Voice: Maiden, Mother, Crone
Workshop led by Mary Kate Jordan
You’re your mother’s daughter, back generation after generation. So, you already carry
your own internalized version of maiden, mother, and crone (Persephone, Demeter,
and the Gorgon in western European mythology). But these archetypal tales are
incomplete without including Gaia, the Earth, as an active participant in the drama.
That changes everything. This workshop will explore the ways She, as maiden, mother,
and crone, plays with fire, earth, air and water to create our world. As we balance
shamanic storytelling and time for writing, Gaia will prompt you to discover and use
your whole voice in, and beyond, this workshop.
IWOWWOW (In Words Out Words Women’s Own Words)
Deb Koffman’s Artspace, 137 Front Street, Housatonic, 7 p.m.
Suggested donation $6 at the door.
A Festival favorite returns! This special women’s edition of In Words Out
Words (IWOW), a monthly open mic
for storytellers, poets, musicians, and
performers, provides a vibrant, supportive platform for women writers to
perform or read their own work: poetry, stories, songs.
Reserve your five-minute-maximum
slot by e-mailing Deb Koffman at
deb@debkoffman.com
or calling 413-274-1212.
Left: photos from past years’ IWOWWOW events.
Right: Deb Koffman
South Berkshire Friends Meeting, 280 State Road, Great Barrington, 2 p.m.
ARTI ROSS KELSO, LMT
Optimal Wellness Lifestyle Strategies
owlswitharti.com
413.441.2997 arti@owlswitharti.com
Multidimensional Healing Bodywork
Sustainable Wellness Consulting
Ayurveda and Yoga
Compassionate Communication
Life Transition Ceremonies
for individuals and groups
FEEL GOOD
ABOUT
ART
40 MAIN ST • LEE, MA
Supporting &
Showcasing Artists
with AUTISM & LD
Tuesday, March 24 continued
The Positive Influence of Music on Childbirth
Interactive lecture with author Lisa Rafel
This interactive lecture will explore the potent and profound
influence that music can have in the birthing process from
pregnancy to the first months of life. Lisa Rafel’s play Can You
Hear Me, Baby? directed by Jayne Atkinson, will be presented
on March 27 and 28 at the Unicorn Theatre as a fund-raiser for
the Berkshire Festival for Women Writers and WAM Theatre.
Lisa Rafel
Wednesday, March 25
“Real Women” Essay Contest Award Ceremony and Celebration
Boland Theater, Berkshire Community College, 1350 West Street, Pittsfield, 6:30 p.m.
Sponsored by BCC and the Gladys Allen Brigham Center
Keynote speaker Jana Laiz.
The 29th annual “Real Women” Essay Contest encourages Berkshire County students to
use narrative, poetic, or interview formats to write about the (mostly) ordinary women
who have had an extraordinary influence on their young lives. “She always tells me life
is about appreciating what you have and finding the courage to be happy. She’s worth
more than a million bucks to me!” At the heartwarming award ceremony, student winners and their special women are recognized and applauded by their peers, family
and friends. A booklet of prizewinning writings is distributed, and several pieces are
read aloud.
Thursday, March 26
Mysteries & Characters: Two Emerging Berkshire Fiction
Writers Read
Reading and discussion hosted by Jessica Treat, with Frances Roth and Joyce
Lautens O’Brien
Good Purpose Gallery, 40 Main Street, Lee, 5:30 p.m.
A reading by two emerging Berkshire women writers of new work in short fiction and
poetry, centering on mystery and character, followed by a discussion on the writing
process. Frances Roth and Joyce Lautens O’Brien are mature women writers who have
worked in various fields (website content management and theater work in one case;
editing in the other) but who are now coming into their own as writers of poetry and
fiction. Their voices are fresh, exciting, and distinctive. Their stories and poems center
on mystery, character and the friction sometimes found in relationships.
Berkshire Theatre Group’s Unicorn
Theater, 6 East Street, Stockbridge, 7 p.m.
CELEBRATE THE NEXT GENERATION OF
BERKSHIRE WRITERS!
sponsored by
The 16th Annual
Edith Wharton Writing
Competition
Awards Ceremony and Reception
April 26, 2015
2:00 p.m.
EdithWharton.org
413-551-5100
Thursday, March 26 continued
Hear the Stories We Hear: An Evening with the Berkshire
County Commission on the Status of Women
The Berkshire County representatives to the
Massachusetts Commission on the Status
of Women (MCSW) advocate, organize,
and work to cultivate and promote access
to education, health, wellness, economic
independence, and safety from violence for
all Berkshire County women and girls. Come
meet the commissioners and hear them share
the women’s stories that have informed their
reports. Those stories led to their collective
belief that providing children and youth with Gwendolyn Hampton VanSant
lessons on self-esteem, happiness, consent,
values, engagement, civics, cultural literacy, and resilience will be the foundation
needed to create sustainability, equity, and freedom for healthy women leading to
healthy communities. A reception will follow the discussion.
Friday, March 27
Inspired By Melville
Writing workshop led by Arrowhead writer-in-residence Jana Laiz
Arrowhead Museum, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, 1:30 p.m.
Space is limited to 15; newcomers to this workshop will receive priority.
To register, e-mail jana@janalaiz.com.
Jana Laiz
At the 2013 Berkshire Festival of Women Writers,
Herman Melville’s study was packed to overflowing with
writers hoping to be inspired by working in the study
of one of America’s greatest writers. The enthusiastic
response and the poetry and prose that emerged that
day were testament to the power of place and the spirit
of Melville. Due to very limited space, many writers
were turned away. This workshop will be limited to
fifteen people with preregistration required. We ask that
those who already participated give others a chance.
The workshop will include a tour of Arrowhead, a brief
history of Herman Melville’s life there, readings from
Melville and Jana’s work, and writing prompts and
exercises. Jana will facilitate, holding the container for
writers to safely write and share in this sacred space.
The Mount, 2 Plunkett Street, Lenox, 5:30 p.m.
E
Da
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ta
cs
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Thank you, BFWW
for FIVE years
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helping words
sing and dance
New CD available at:
joannespies.bandcamp.com
cdbaby.com
and at local music and bookstores
DiaPraxis:
Coaching & Facilitating Group Synergy
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Innovation & Engagement
Aligned Teamwork
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For Business, Non-Profits & Community Groups
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DiaPraxis.com
413.528.5296
Friday, March 27 continued
Special Event: Friday 3/27 and Saturday 3/28
Can You Hear Me, Baby? Stories of
Sex, Love and OMG Birth!
A performance piece written by Lisa Rafel, directed by Jayne Atkinson
Three performances:
Friday March 27 at 7 p.m., Saturday March 28 at 2 and 7 p.m.
Tickets $35–$50; see the Festival website for ticket information.
A benefit for the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers and WAM Theatre.
Left: Lisa Rafel. Right: Jayne Atkinson
A theatrical presentation of monologues interweaving stories and original
songs by Lisa Rafel, dramatizing the beauty, challenges, humor, personal
courage, losses, miracles, and profundity of birth. How someone is born
has potentially lifelong implications. Hearing the stories of others can be
inspiring, funny, heart-wrenching, empowering, and also healing. Based on
true stories, Can You Hear Me Baby? is as funny as it is touching and it inspires
connection to the miracle of life. A panel discussion follows the Saturday
matinee. The Saturday evening gala performance will culminate with a party
celebrating the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers and WAM Theatre.
Saturday, March 28
Poetry from the Ground Up
Poetry workshop led by Lisken Van Pelt Dus
Mason Library, 231 Main Street, Great Barrington, 10 a.m.
A poetry-writing workshop incorporating both physical and verbal centering exercises,
interweaving approaches from martial arts and writing practices. Participants will be
guided through a series of physical grounding exercises and low-stakes writing prompts,
with opportunities to interact and build on one another’s creative and physical energy.
Berkshire Theatre Group’s Unicorn Theater, 6 East Street, Stockbridge.
Special Events
Weddings ● Rehearsal Dinners ●
Special Occasion Parties ● Bar/Bat
Mitzvah's ● Corporate Functions ●
Private Meeting Rooms ●
Quinceanera’s ● Expo’s
Sales & Catering Office:
413.553.2180
Crowne Plaza Hotel Pittsfield – Berkshires
179 Rooms ● Indoor Pool, Jacuzzi & Sauna ● Fitness Room
Complimentary Wi-Fi ● Business Center ● IHG Rewards Points
Featuring full on-site restaurant, One West Restaurant & Lounge ●
12,000 square feet of meeting/special event space
One West Restaurant &
Lounge
American Contemporary Cuisine
by
Chef Mike Mongeon
Open 7 Days a week
Breakfast ● Lunch ● Dinner
Daily Specials
Open to General Public
Reservations: 413.553.2251
1 West Street, Pittsfield, MA 01201 ● www.berkshirecrowne.com
Custom event lighting provided by: MusiChris DJ & Lighting Services www.djckrisplankey.com
Sunday, March 29
Special Event
A Writer’s Life: An Interview with Mary Pope Osborne
Hosted by Jenny Laird
Tickets $15, proceeds benefit the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers; see the
Festival website for ticket information.
A special event to kick off the first annual Festival Book Expo! Mary Pope Osborne
has been writing books for young readers since 1982, including more than fifty
young adult novels, picture books, retellings of myths and folklore, biographies,
and mysteries. She is best known for her #1 New York Times best-selling Magic Tree
House series, which has sold more than 120 million books worldwide. In this in-depth
interview, Mary will share with grown-ups the joys of writing for all ages. How did
she first get published? What are the secrets of nurturing a long-lasting writing life?
Mary is the former president of the Authors Guild and a strong advocate for childhood
literacy. She has spoken at the United Nations and made many media appearances,
including on Rock Center with Brian Williams and NPR’s All Things Considered. At the
Festival she will offer a behind-the-scenes window into her life and writing career in a
frank and thoughtful discussion with Berkshire writer Jenny Laird.
Jenny Laird © Christina Lane Photography
Mary Pope Osborne, photo © 2012 by Elena Seibert
Crowne Plaza Hotel, 1 West Street, Pittsfield, 11 a.m.
THE ATR E FOR EV ER YO NE THAT
BEN EFI TS WO ME N AN D GIR LS
givebacks in the Berkshires it was
“Until WAM began doing these charity
embrace local social programs as a
rare for a theatre company to actually
created a new paradigm.”
matter of their core mission... WAM has
 Berkshire on Stage and Screen
In our first five years, WAM Theatre...
...DONATED OVER $15,000 to 7 BEN
(4 local and 3 international)...
EFICIARIES
ART
...provided work to over 100 THEATRE
ISTS,
75% OF WHOM ARE WOMEN
m
... launched an education outreach progra
that served MORE THAN 100 PEOPLE.
Women Writers
We congratulate the Berkshire Festival of
to creating
on their first five years and look forward
future!
more positive change together into the
JOIN US FOR WAM’S 2015 EVENTS!
For tickets and info visit WAMtheatre.com
Book Expo
Special Event
2015 Berkshire Festival of Women Writers Book Expo
Crowne Plaza Hotel, 1 West Street, Pittsfield, 1–5 p.m.
Calling book lovers of all ages!
The Festival Book Expo offers a
special opportunity to mingle
and talk with outstanding
authors, publishing companies,
writing programs, and booksellers in the Berkshire region,
along with other related businesses and vendors.
Book sales at the Festival closing party, 2014
Join us for what is sure to be one
of the most memorable events
of the 2015 Fifth Anniversary
Festival Season, complete with
readings, children’s activities,
raffles, and lots of great books!
Check the Festival website for a
complete schedule of readings
by Berkshire women writers.
Sunday, March 29 continued
Invaluable tools
for easing stress,
anxiety,
or sleeplessness
at any age...
Mary Campbell
Spiritual Counseling
Sensual Coaching
Retreats & Workshops
Your
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& a Calm, Clear Mind
Ed O’Malley, PhD
Master Certification in Neurofeedback
Board-Certified in Sleep Medicine
Certified Nature Awareness Guide
linge de maison
Mary is an ordained inter-spiritual minister
working with individuals & couples
to cultivate deeper intimacy with
self, others & the world.
DiviningBeauty.com
linengb.com
drapery-workroom.com
Great Barrington MA
eddom7@gmail.com
(203) 216-3323
williamcaligari.com
Monday, March 30
Wise Women’s Initiation: Menopause
Stanmeyer Gallery and Shaker Dam
Coffeehouse, 2 Main Street, West
Stockbridge, 4 p.m.
Menopause, along with menstruation and childbirth, is being
reclaimed as one of the most profound and powerful initiations
of a woman’s life. Having traveled through maidenhood and
motherhood, whether literally or
Sarah Nicholson and Cindy Parrish
figuratively, a woman enters into
her wisdom or crone years through the threshold of menopause. Many women
speak of claiming their truth, their voice, their body, and their relationships at this
time in ways they never could until then. We will talk and write about the liberation
that is possible at this time, as we confront a culture that would have us suppress
our deepest knowing.
Tuesday, March 31
Barbara Slate: My Life in Comics
Exhibition and gallery talk by Barbara Slate
Hillman-Jackson Gallery, Daniel Arts Center,
Bard College at Simon’s Rock
84 Alford Road, Great Barrington
Talk at 5pm on March 31st
Exhibit on view from March 31–April 16
Gallery hours: weekdays 10 a.m.–8 p.m. / weekends
2 p.m.–8 p.m.
Barbara Slate is a pioneer among women in
the comics industry. My Life in Comics displays
original pages, synopses and rough sketches
demonstrating the process of illustrating a comic
book or graphic novel. Slate has created, written,
and drawn for Marvel, DC, Archie, and Disney
Comics as well as created several graphic novels.
She teaches sequential art using her critically
acclaimed textbook You Can Do a Graphic Novel
and is a Comic Con keynote speaker.
Barbara Slate self-portrait
Workshop led by Sarah Nicholson
and Cindy Parrish
our donors
have great
clothes;
our shoppers
have great
taste.
recycling year ‘round to benefit PS21
32 main street chatham 518.392.7333 chathamrewraps.com
Now that
you’re
revved up,
come join us
June 4-7
in Saratoga
Springs, NY
That is, if you’re ready to rock the world...
Women’s Voices, Women’s Visions:
Creativity, Leadership, Cultural Change
sponsored by Livingkindness Foundation
http://womensvoiceswomensvisions.com/
art immersions • EVE talks • workshops • activism awards
Berkshire Festival of Women Writers
Spring Reading Series
What Matters
Great Barrington Train Station, 659 Main Street, Great Barrington, 5 p.m.
E. E. Cummings said “Well write, for God’s sake, it’s the only thing that matters.”
A reading by Four Way Books authors Sara London, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, and
Cammy Thomas, hosted by Michelle Gillett.
A reception will follow the reading.
Michelle Gillett, Sara London, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, and Cammy Thomas
Saturday, May 2
Women Write on Labor
Sandisfield Arts Center, Sandisfield,
5 Hammertown Road, 4 p.m.
Hosted by Jennifer Browdy
A May Day reading by women writers
on the topic of “labor,” in any sense of
the word.
Please send your submissions
(750 words max) to Jennifer Browdy
for consideration, at PO Box 377,
Housatonic MA 01236. Be sure to
include your name and e-mail address.
Deadline April 10.
Jennifer Browdy at the Sadisfield Arts Center
Saturday, April 25
Pamela Read Hardcastle
fresh and innovative design
outrageous combinations
natural beauty
workshops,
interior installations and
special events
landscape and
garden
www.pamelareadhardcastle.com
413.229.8812 pamelareadhardcastle@gmail.com
Lorrin Krouss
Join the conversation!
www.VibrantLife.ning.com
www.AnalesaBerg.com
Heartfelt Congratulations
from the Myers family!
Alice, John, and Lisa, &
Frank and Anna Sabatini
Congratulations on the
First Five Years of the
Berkshire Festival of
Women Writers
Illustration & Graphics
anna-myers.com
Phil Timpane
Construction
Special thanks to our 2015 Festival community venues:
Lenox Library, Lenox MA
Otis Library, Otis, MA
Mason Library, Great Barrington, MA
Bushnell-Sage Library, Sheffield, MA
New Lebanon Library, New Lebanon, NY
Congregation Beth Israel, North Adams, MA
First Congregational Church, Stockbridge, MA
Unitarian Universalist Meeting of South Berkshire, Housatonic, MA
South Berkshire Friends Meeting, Great Barrinton, MA
Berkshire Humane Society, Pittsfield. MA
West Stockbridge Historical Society, W. Stockbridge, MA
Congratulations to
Jennifer Browdy for
FIVE amazing years.
There is so much more
yet to come.
Congratulations on Five
Vibrant Years!
Analesa Berg
Expansive Leadership:
Creativity. Spiritual
Psychology.
Multicultural Wisdom.
Rosemary Starace
M.A., The creative process in the arts
Creative process consultations
with poets and visual artists
||
Since 1988
Manuscript reviews
studio visits
conversations
groups
❍
Go deeper
into your work
star@rosemarystarace.com • 413-242-2660
www.rosemarystarace.com
Why on Earth? Signe Eklund Schaefer
Biography and
the Practice
of Human
Becoming
Why on Earth? invites us to explore our
own meaning-filled life journey, to bring
conscious attention to how we go our path,
so that we may more freely perceive our possibilities and our responsibilities along the
way of our personal and shared becoming.
ISBN 978-1-62148-040-2 | 254 pages | $25
SteinerBooks
610 Main St., Gt. Barrington, MA 01230
703.661.1594 | www.steinerbooks.org
The truth is, the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers has an ambitious
agenda. It’s not just about inspiring women and girls to put their ideas on
paper, or about getting the voices of more women and girls into the public
sphere in our local region, although these are certainly among our goals.
rk
Be
s
shire Fest ival of W
iter
r
om e n W
What the Festival really aims to do, quite simply, is to change the world,
one woman at a time. Help us make it happen.
Find out about becoming a business sponsor or making your taxdeductible donation to the Festival at Berkshirewomenwriters.org
For more information contact contact Festival Director Jennifer Browdy
at info@berkshirewomenwriters.org / 413-528-7224
Thanks for your support! We can’t do it without you!
Become a Friend of the Festival
and Change the World!
h
s
a
l
p
S
Make a
with
s&
usines
h
Fres B sentials!
Es
Social
Posters
Catalogs • Banners
Flyers • Post Cards
Business Cards • Announcements
Invitations • Save the Date
Brochures • Rack Cards
Call today for a free quote
Neighbors Helping Neighbors Become Successful
35 Bridge Street • Great Barrington, MA 01230
t: 413.528.2885 • f: 413.528.9220 • typesetting@kwikprintinc.com
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Promoting earth-friendly production methods.
Partial or 100% Recycled Paper Stocks Available
FSC Certified Paper Stocks
Soy Inks
Family
ocal!
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ShopOLperated Since 19
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&
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Consignment Accepted By Appointments
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252 Main Street
Great Barrington, MA 01230
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Located on the 2nd Floor of the Yellow House
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GOURMET GELATO AND TREATS
HAND CRAFTED
IN THE BERKSHIRES
OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK
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55 PITTSFIELD/LENOX ROAD
ROUTE 7, LENOX MA
413-637-9820
chocolatesprings.com
menu changes daily
413 528 5050
178 Main Street,
Great Barrington
STONECOAST MFA
IN CREATIVE WRITING
Creative Nonfiction • Fiction • Multimedia • Poetry
Popular Fiction • Scriptwriting • Writing for Social Change
“The friends and mentors whom I
encountered at Stonecoast continue to
define my essential writing community.”
— Melanie Drane, poet, Stonecoast alumna
and recipient of the Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer’s Award
APPLY TODAY
Since 2010 Stonecoast has been ranked by Poets & Writers as
one of the nation’s top ten low-residency M.F.A. programs, and
has become known for providing a superb, open-minded, and
progressive education in the art of writing. For more information,
please visit:
usm.maine.edu/stonecoastmfa
(207) 780-4386 or e-mail gradstudies@usm.maine.edu
2015-006A-7
Prairie Whale
RACE MOUNTAIN TREE
SERVICES, INC.
SHEFFIELD, MASSASCHUSETTS
Tree & Shrub Healthcare
Maintenance & Removals
Structural Support
Fertilizing & Pest Control
Snowplowing & Sanding
P.O. Box 603, 750 Berkshire School Road
Sheffield, MA 01257
P: (413) 229.2728
E: Support.Racemtn@verizon.net
•
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Weddings, Bar / Bat Mitzvahs, Sweet 16s
Baby Showers, Birthday Parties, Dances
Workshops, Conferences, Meetings, Lectures
Performances, Recitals
Lectures, Film Screenings
Office, rehearsal, and
performance space
available
91 Main St. Sheffield, MA
info@deweyhall.com / 413-229-2357
RENT DEWEY HALL FOR YOUR EVENT:
Shop by while your at it.
A beautiful collection of distinctive Designer
clothing for women... in sizes XS thru 2X.
Emphasizing personal attention from owner
Sandra Hotchkiss. Also: jewelry, bags, accessories.
8 Center Street, West Stockbridge, MA (413)-232-0200 - OPEN DAILY 11-4
•Open Daily: 1
Poetry in motion...
A wide range of art mobiles in all colors and shapes
for indoors and out. “Made in the Berkshires”
and performing worldwide!
HotchkissMOBILES Gallery
8 Center Street, West Stockbridge, MA • 413-232-0200
Open Daily: 10-5 www.artmobiles.com
Mention or bring this ad... get 10% Off on any Mobile thru 6/’15
Shop
Fresh & Local
in North County
Cooperatively Owned
Williamstown • 413-458-8060 • wildoats.coop
a voiced community, we all flourish.
”
“ In—Terry
Tempest Williams
For a dream garden, full of inspiration...
Ward’s
Where Gardeners Grow
10% off your purchase with this ad.
Good through 3/31/15 on full price items.
Ward’s Nursery & Garden Center
600 S. Main St. - Gt. Barrington
Open Daily Year Round
www.wardsnursery.com
writing astonishes its writer first. Be bold. Be honest.
“ Good
”
—Mary Pipher
817 Main Street - 413.591.8702
www.gbhistory.org
FIND YOURSELF HERE!
Personal Training • Aquatics Center • Early Childhood Education
Fitness & Aquatics Classes • Youth Enrichment • Free Community Suppers
Health & Wellness Workshops • And so much more!
15 Crissey Road | Great Barrington, MA | www.berkshiresouth.org | 413.528.2810
You Can Love More
Heart Tools for Couples:
8 Ways to a Loving Relationship
by Bill Grosser and Ani Nadler Grosser
Available at:
The Bookloft, Great Barrington・The Bookstore, Lenox
Amazon
www.compassionaterelationships.com
Serious Injury Representation
Family and Divorce Law
1330 MASS MoCA Way
North Adams, MA 01247
(413) 663-3200
Asset Protection and Estate Planning
Business Representation
2 South Street, Suite 115
Pittsfield, MA 01201
(413) 442-0049
169 North Street
Bennington, VT 05201
(802) 442-3233
www.docatty.com
Over 100 Years of Service to Our Community
69 Church Street, Lenox, MA . 413 637 0340 . M-S 10-5, Sun 11-4
DONOVAN & O’CONNOR, LLP
Attorneys and Counselors at Law
entrées
available
½
casual french dining
dinner only • 150 Main St., Lee
413.243.6397 cheznousbistro.com
We offer a wide selection of
ceramic, carpet, hardwood,
glass, bamboo, marble, and
much more!
We’ve been flooring people
since 1983!
www.the-floorstore.com
12 Main Street West Stockbridge, MA
232-7175
The Floor Store
2015
INTERNATIONAL
YOUTH
SUMMIT
July 19 – 29
Bard College at Simon’s Rock
info@musicincommon.org * 413-229-9939
ROSANNE CASH May 17 at 7pm
grammy-winning artist
14 Castle St, Gt Barrington, MA • www.mahaiwe.org • 413.528.0100
10 CASTLE STREET • GREAT BARRINGTON • MASS 01230
TEL: 413-528-5244 • LIVE JAZZ FRI & SAT
WWW.CASTLESTREETCAFE.COM • INFO@CASTLESTREETCAFE.COM
MICHAEL BALLON, CHEF PROPRIETOR
CIRQUE ZIVA Mar 15 at 7pm
award-winning chinese acrobats
The Old Inn on The Green
fine dining ♦ lodging ♦ catering
Dining by Candlelight, Fireside Ambiance
Nightly A La Carte except Saturday Prix Fixe ~Tasting Menu~
Serving from 5:30pm to 9:30pm
Wednesday – Sunday
$30 Welcome Menu $30
3 courses with Choices
Appetizer, Entrée, Dessert
Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday
ZAGAT: “The best bargain in the Berkshires”
Best Restaurant with an Inn
Yankee Magazine
Best of Boston, Berkshires
Restaurant, General Excellence
Boston Magazine
134 Hartsville New Marlboro Road
New Marlboro, MA 01230
www.oldinn.com
Served from 11:30am
Martin Lewis Chef - Owner
AT NIGH T
49 Railroad St., Great Barrington,
MA 413-528-5455
49 RAilRoAD St. • GReAt BARRinGton, MA • 413-528-5455
FLYER DISTRIBUTION
We’ll hand-post your
8.5x11 event flyers, in the
Berkshires, for a FLAT FEE!
visit mvsoffice.com for details
Your Local and Virtual Office Support
Mary Vasquez-Slack, Virtual Assistant
mary@mvsoffice.com
413-446-1988
Breakfast
Served
All DayAll Day
Breakfast
Served
Lunch
Lunch
from 11:30 a.m.
DR. J ay W i s e , D D S
D r . Cas e y J o n es , D M D
3 1
P a r k
l e e ,
m a
( 4 1 3 )
p l a z A
0 1 2 3 8
2 4 3 - 1 2 2 2
D r j ay w i s e d d s . c o m
T h i s i s wh e r e
h e alt h , b e au t y a n d
we l l b e i n g b eg i n .
T hat ’ s O Ur B u s i n es s .
U N I TA R I A N U N I V E R S A L IS T
M E E T I NG OF SOU T H BE R K SH I R E
We meet on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. in
Our New Church at
1089 Main Street
Housatonic, Great Barrington, MA 01236
413-358-3877
email: info@uumsb.org
www.uumsb.org
h
UUMSB – A voice of liberal religion in the heart
of beautiful Berkshire County, Massachusetts
W E W E L C OM E E V E RYON E
We make the world a more beautiful place.
{
Change your Habits
Change your Life.
Expert Medical Hypnotist & Transformational Life Coach
SUSAN SPIEGEL SOLOVAY
917.881.0072
Great Barrington, MA & Hudson, NY
healingwithhypno@fairpoint.net ❖ hypnocoachny.com
}
Be in the know
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I read it every day!”
Subscriber Michael Wolkowitz, West Stockbridge
Read the Berkshires’ fastest growing publication
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covering the full range
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griff
griffin
Congratulations Berkshire Festival
of Women Writers
179 main street
great barrington
528 5000
life should surprise
Your anywhere, anytime
community link to life in the
Southern Berkshires
Southern Berkshire
141 West Avenue, Great Barrington, MA
413-528-0095 • Fax 413-528-4805 • www.shoppersguideinc.com
Celebrating the writer
in all of us!

Berkshire Festival of omen Writers

Transcription

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