…And let the Writer’s Center show you how!
The Writer’s Center (TWC) in Bethesda, MD, is a literary arts nonprofit serving writers and anyone who wants to write. In a non-pandemic year, TWC offers 300 creative writing workshops spanning a wide range of genres, and nearly 100 readings, panels, and other literary events. This year, we managed to move all that programming online!
Maintaining a sense of connection this past year has, of course, been a challenge. Our weekly “Virtual Craft Chat” series, launched during lockdown, has become a robust gathering place for our local literary community, which now includes attendees from all over.
Featuring a wide range of esteemed local and national authors with newly published books, these online happy hours focus on how the person wrote the book, rather than on its contents. The chats are informal discussions with lots of opportunities for attendees to ask the authors about their work. All are free and open to the public.
Chat guests have included Bryan Washington, discussing Memorial, his debut novel (2020 National Book Critics Circle finalist); Patricia Lockwood on No One Is Talking About This, her highly acclaimed debut novel; Deesha Philyaw discussing The Secret Lives of Church Ladies (winner, 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award); and poet and novelist K-Ming Chang on Bestiary (winner, National Book Award 5 Under 25).
Upcoming craft chats include DC’s own Melissa Scholes Young, author of the forthcoming novel The Hive (winner, Literary Fiction Category, 2017 Best Book Award from American Book Fest, for Flood); poet Chet’la Sebree on Field Study (winner, 2020 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets); and nonfiction writer Clay Risen, author of The Impossible Collection of Whiskey and The Crowded Hour (the latter a 2019 New York Times Notable Book of the Year).
You can catch all our past events here.
We can’t wait until we can welcome you back to our building. In the meantime, we’ll see you at the 2021 Washington Writers Conference!
