Write, Edit, Share

Three Months of Writing Events

Join Oak Ridge’s Poet Laureate, Dr. Erin Elizabeth Smith, and writers of all experience levels for three events from September to November which highlight the main components of the writing experience—writing, editing, and sharing the work with your community. Even if you haven’t written anything in years, this is a great opportunity to get your words down on paper again! All of these events are open to writers of all genres including poetry, fiction, and memoir! Participants can join for one or more of the events.

On September 16th from 2-4PM at the Oak Ridge Public Library, we will gather for two hours of a generative writing sessions which will feature group-created prompts and spaces for folks to write and share the work they create. This event is meant to help you to get pen to page and will focus on writing poetry and/or flash fiction. Please be sure to bring something to write on/with.

On October 21st from 2-4PM at the Oak Ridge Public Library, we will come together to in small workshop groups to share our work and offer suggestions for revision. Participants should plan to bring (8) print copies of a piece of work that they would like to discuss; these pieces can be created at the previous WES event or something entirely new. Please bring no more than (1) poem or up to (4) pages of prose (fiction or nonfiction).

On November 18th from 2-4PM at the Oak Ridge Public Library, we will have a showcase of the work created and edited during the previous two events with an open mic night. Writers will be able to read new work, join in community with other writers, and celebrate the writing everyone has created. This will be a true open mic night, so participation in previous events is not required.

To sign up for dates and details, visit us at http://tiny.utk.edu/ORliterary.

Erin Elizabeth Smith (she/her) is the Executive Director of Sundress Publications and the Sundress Academy for the Arts. She is the author of three full-length collections of poetry, most recently DOWN (SFASU 2020). Her work has appeared in The Kenyon Review, Guernica, Ecotone, Crab Orchard, and Mid-American and has received support from the Academy of American Poets. Smith is a Distinguished Lecturer in the English Department at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and the Poet Laureate of Oak Ridge, TN.