On July 27, 2022, the Board of Directors of The Council for Wisconsin Writers met to vote on the dissolution of the CWW and the transfer of the Wisconsin Writers Contest, along with the organization’s assets, to Arts + Literature Lab, Madison, WI. Adequate notice had previously been given to the organization’s membership as required by the CWW by-laws. The vote was a unanimous “Yes” by all board members. Therefore, according to Wisconsin State requirements, Form 110, “Articles of Dissolution Non-Stock, Not For Profit Corporation” is being filed with the state, to take effect as of August 31, 2022.
Since the Board of the Council for Wisconsin Writers has voted to dissolve the organization, the annual Wisconsin Writers Contest will continue under the guidance of Arts + Literature Laboratory (www.artlitlab.org). You can find information about past Wisconsin Writers Awards and a history of the Council for Wisconsin Writers here. To learn more about future contests, including deadlines and how to enter, as well as other programs for writers, please visit https://artlitlab.org/programs/literary-arts/wisconsin-writers-awards
For questions related to the Council for Wisconsin Writers, you may contact Co-President Ron Czerwien at ronczerwien@gmail.com. For questions regarding Arts + Literature Lab, contact Rita Mae Reese at ritamae@artlitlab.org.
Resolution to Dissolve the Council for Wisconsin Writers
***IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT*** July 7, 2022
To: All Members in Good Standing of The Council for Wisconsin Writers
From: Ron Czerwien, Co-President, The Council for Wisconsin Writers
Regarding: Resolution to Dissolve the Council for Wisconsin Writers
On July 7, 2022 the board of directors for the Council for Wisconsin Writers (CWW), by unanimous vote, passed a resolution to dissolve the CWW and to transfer responsibility for the annual Wisconsin Writers Contest to Arts + Literature Laboratory (ALL) in Madison, Wisconsin, effective August 1, 2022.
The board voted to take this action for several reasons. In recent years, despite numerous attempts, the board has been unsuccessful in recruiting additional members to serve on the board and has been operating with roughly half the number of board members needed to efficiently and effectively conduct the business of the organization, which is to hold the annual Wisconsin Writers Contest. In particular the board has been unable to attract younger and more diverse individuals which it felt was necessary to help perpetuate the organization. Furthermore, the cost of conducting the contest has resulted in a financial loss each year for numerous years. Attempts to fund raise, to guarantee the continuation of the contest indefinitely, have been tried without success.
After meeting with members of the ALL board, the CWW board felt that Arts + Literature Laboratory would be best suited to carry on the contest. Their organization is well established, actively supports the literary arts in Wisconsin, and has the potential to attract a younger, more diverse membership. The assets of the CWW will be transferred to ALL, and by agreement, will be used exclusively to fund future contests. In addition, ALL has experience in fund raising and grant writing which CWW lacked and which will help perpetuate the contest.
Any and all outstanding debts owed by the CWW will be resolved prior to the dissolution. According to Article XII of the CWW by-laws, the organization is required to give members adequate notice:
“adequate notice of a proposed change is posted on the CWW website at least two weeks before the meeting takes place and the meeting is held in a location convenient for members to attend.”
Said meeting will take place two weeks after this Resolution to Dissolve appears on the CWW website. At that time a vote will be taken to approve the dissolution. The meeting will be held via Zoom and a link to attend the meeting will be provided to any member wishing to attend. Any member interested in attending the meeting should contact Co-President Ron Czerwien at ronczerwien@gmail.com.
CWW Contest Winners Feted at Awards Reception
Council for Wisconsin Writers First Place winners and Honorable Mention recipients who were celebrated yesterday at a reception and awards ceremony at Art+Literature Lab headquarters in Madison.
Front row, from left: Jenna Rindo of Pickett, Jennifer Morales of Viroqua, Cara Wreen of Green Bay, Lawrence Tabak of Madison, Kathie Giorgio of Waukesha, Margaret Rozga of Milwaukee.
Back row, from left: DeWitt Clinton of Shorewood, Bruce Campbell of Brookfield, Rochelle Melander of Milwaukee, Lora Keller of Milwaukee, Anthony Bukoski of Superior, John Gurda of Milwaukee, Shannon Schuren of Sheboygan Falls, Jon Etter of Wauwatosa, Craig Reinbold of Wauwatosa.
Poetry Unlocked in Person
From the women of Poetry Unlocked:
POETRY UNLOCKED IS BACK IN-PERSON: NEW TIME AND LOCATION!
Monday, May 9
PERFORMANCE POETRY WITH CUJO!
6:30 pm
Acoca Coffee & Café
500 West College Avenue, Appleton
Poetry Unlocked is excited to welcome spoken word poet and hip hop artist Cujo to ACOCA Coffee on May 9! Cujo is known in the Green Bay arts community as the host of Spoken Word Nights.
Arrive early to grab a drink or sandwich, then enjoy a special poetry performance from Cujo.
Open mic to follow; interested readers can sign up at the event.
ABOUT OUR FEATURED ARTIST:
Whether through performance poetry or hip-hop music, CUJO is intent upon speaking “Truth to Power.” Through sharing his own journey into self and exposed vulnerability, listeners are guided inward and will find themselves exploring what it is that truly defines their own journey.
ON DECK FOR POETRY UNLOCKED:
6/13/22 Nancy Austin & Margaret Coombs
7/11/22 Round Robin at City Park (weather permitting)
These events are brought to you, in part, by the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets (WFOP), an organization founded for the creation, promotion and enjoyment of poetry throughout the state of Wisconsin. To learn more, visit www.wfop.org.
OTHER READINGS & EVENTS IN THE AREA
Belonging Through Poetry at the Appleton Public Library
Every 4th Wednesday, the library is supporting a monthly, virtual group that will explore life’s big topics in poetry with the hopes of creating connections and a sense of belonging in the community. To learn more about the April topic, click here: https://bit.ly/3ND59LA
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwoc-qhrj8iGdxObAwqie5iqvYkbKKGobjX
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Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets offers Poetry at Large, a series of writing workshops to complement engaged and active poetry readings and other fellowship events. The workshops are designed to help you take your writing to the next level with the challenge to delve deeper and activate what matters.
Villanelle: The Fine Art of Repeating Yourself
June 16 & July 14, 7-8:30 p.m.
Featuring Marilyn L. Taylor
The real key to writing a memorable villanelle? It lies in mastering the skill of repeating yourself—which is great news for poets. Because every once in a while, a memorable phrase or sentence will spring to mind—something that’s so insightful, so fresh, that your Inner Poet suddenly starts asking: shouldn’t this little gem be transformed into a villanelle, so it can become the repeated refrain? Maybe it should!
So why not give it a shot? It’s going to be intensive, it’s going to be fun, and you may find your poetry striding boldly into places where it’s never gone before.
Workshops are free, a benefit of WFOP membership and part of our mission to promote poets and poetry in Wisconsin. We only ask that you register in advance for both Part 1 and Part 2 to authenticate all participants. Once you register, you will receive a Zoom link to the session.
To learn more and register, click here: https://www.wfop.org/poetry-at-large-events/6/14/2022/6/villanelle-the-fine-art-of-repeating-yourself-part
SUBMISSION OPPORTUNITIES
Submit to Bramble for the Summer 2022 Issue
Deadline May 15, 2022
Guest Editor: Kathleen Serley
Bramble welcomes poems in any form and style, about any subject. For this issue the Guest Editor is especially interested in reading epistolary/letter poems. Think emails, online chats and texts as well as that all-too-rare, but special gift, the traditional letter. Write to “the person next door” or – as in an apostrophe poem – to an absent or inanimate subject. Explore literary and visual form. Inspire us. Make us laugh. Warm our hearts. Send us your missives. Maybe poems are just unsent letters to begin with.
For submission guidelines:
https://www.wfop.org/bramble-how-to-submit?fbclid=IwAR3dqpscyRpcAvRk4S2Mgxl1V2Z-eGnJNJnbaNubLZ6dYIIfrrdGIYoIejs
CWW AWARD WINNERS ARE!
COUNCIL FOR WISCONSIN WRITERS ANNOUNCE CONTEST RESULTS FOR 2021 WORK
Sixteen Wisconsin writers have won First Place Awards and Honorable Mention Recognition in the Council for Wisconsin Writers contests for work published or produced in 2021.
The Council awards first-place winners in seven contests $500 and a week-long writing residency at Shake Rag Alley in Mineral Point. Honorable Mention recipients receive $50 and a residency at Ernest Hüpeden’s Painted Forest, Valton, WI. Winners of the CWW Young Writers Award receive $250 for First Place and $50 for Honorable Mention. All contests are judged by out-of-state judges except for the Young Writers Award, which is judged by the CWW Board of Directors.
Award winners will be celebrated on Saturday, May 14, 2022, at a reception from 3 p.m.-4 p.m,
followed by the awards presentation and readings by First Place Winners, at the Arts + Literature Laboratory, 111 S. Livingston Street #100, Madison, Wisconsin.
The winners are:
EDNA FERBER FICTION BOOK CONTEST – Judge: Kevin McIlvoy, Asheville NC
Anthony Bukoski of Superior for The Blondes of Wisconsin: Stories published by University of Wisconsin Press
Shannon Schuren of Sheboygan Falls, Honorable Mention, for Where Echoes Lie published by Philomel Books
EDNA MEUDT POETRY BOOK AWARD – Judge: Allison Joseph, Carbondale IL
Dewitt Clinton of Shorewood for Hello There published by Word Poetry Press
Margaret Rozga of Milwaukee, Honorable Mention, for Holding My Selves Together: New and Selected Poems published by Cornerstone Press
ZONA GALE SHORT FICTION AWARD – Judge: Hasanthika Sirisena, Selinsgrove PA
Jennifer Morales of Viroqua for “The Doorman” published in Fire & Water: Stories from the Anthropocene, Black Lawrence Press
Kathie Giorgio of Waukesha, Honorable Mention, for “Recipe” published in Evening Street Review
LORINE NIEDECKER POETRY AWARD – Judge: Leslie Monsour, Los Angeles CA
Jenna Rindo of Pickett for five poems published in various journals
Lora Keller of Milwaukee, Honorable Mention, for five poems published in various journals
NORBERT BLEI/AUGUST DERLETH NONFICTION BOOK AWARD – Judge: Harriet Brown, Syracuse NY
Lawrence Tabak of Madison for FOXCONNED: Imaginary Jobs, Bulldozed Homes, and the Sacking of Local Government published by University of Chicago Press
Bruce Campbell of Brookfield, Honorable Mention, for A Fullness of Uncertain Significance published by Orange Hat Publishing
KAY W. LEVIN AWARD FOR SHORT NON-FICTION – Judge: Ed Kemmick, Billings MT
Craig Reinbold of Wauwatosa for “What WE Might Salvage” published in AGNI Magazine
John Gurda of Milwaukee, Honorable Mention, for “Education of a Southside Barfly” published in Milwaukee Magazine
TOFTE/WRIGHT CHILDREN’S LITERARY AWARD – Judge: Michelle Houts, Rockford OH
Rochelle Melander of Milwaukee for Mightier than the Sword: Rebels, Reformers, and Revolutionaries Who Changed the World Through Writing published by Beaming Books
Jon Etter of Wauwatosa, Honorable Mention, for Yet Another Dreadful Fairy Book published by Amberjack Publishing/Chicago Review Press
YOUNG WRITERS – Judges: CWW Board of Directors
Cara Wreen of Green Bay for her poem “Tea Assortment”
Addison Rahmlow of Slinger, Honorable Mention, for her poem “Nobody, etc.”
POETRY UNLOCKED IS BACK IN-PERSON: NEW TIME AND LOCATION
This list of poetry readings, workshops, submissions and more comes to you from the women of Poetry Unlocked: Katie Chicquette, Cathryn Cofell, Sarah Gilbert, Bobbie Lee Lovell and Laura Winkelspecht:
Monday, April 11
MARYANN HURTT & LISA VIHOS
6:30 pm
Acoca Coffee & Café
500 West College Avenue, Appleton
Poetry Unlocked is thrilled to be back in person again, but at a new location and new time. Join us to hear our two featured readers, followed by an open mic (we invite you to read one piece, two if they are short). Acoca has a variety of great coffees, wines or beers, with light menu options.
Maryann Hurtt is fascinated by the strange tension between beauty and a harsh world. Now retired after thirty years working as a hospice RN, her chapbook, River, explores issues of resiliency, pain, and beauty. Once Upon a Tar Creek: Mining for Voices was published this past year. Tar Creek has been called the “worst environmental disaster no one has heard of” and she is passionate its stories are remembered. Hurtt traveled to Oklahoma in October to be a featured reader at the Chikaskia Literary Festival. Her books can be ordered through www.maryannhurtt.com, Turning Plow Press, or Amazon and other online book distributors.
The poems of Lisa Vihos have appeared in many poetry journals and she has published four chapbooks. She has two Pushcart Prize nominations and numerous awards from the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets and the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters. She is a founding editor of Stoneboat Literary Journal and the Sheboygan organizer for 100 Thousand Poets for Change. In 2020, she was named the first poet laureate of Sheboygan where she hosts the podcast Poetry on Air for Mead Public Library. Her first novel, The Lone Snake: The Story of Sofonisba Anguissola, will be released in May, 2022 from Water’s Edge Press.
ON DECK FOR POETRY UNLOCKED:
5/9/22 Performance Poet & Hip Hop Artist Cujo!
6/13/22 Nancy Austin & Peggy Turnbull
These events are brought to you, in part, by the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets (WFOP), an organization founded for the creation, promotion and enjoyment of poetry throughout the state of Wisconsin. To learn more, visit www.wfop.org.
OTHER READINGS & EVENTS IN THE AREA
Poetry Alive!
Saturday, April 2 at 1 p.m.
Manitowoc Public Library, Balkansky Room
Seven community leaders will read their favorite poems, and seven local poets will read their poetic responses. Light refreshments will be served. This event is free and open to the public. Please feel free to contact Peggy Turnbull or Emilie Lindemann (emilieblindemann@gmail.com) with questions.
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Friday, April 8
AUSTIN SEGREST
Half Price Books, Appleton
Poet and Lawrence Professor Austin Segrest will be reading from his new book, Door to Remain, which won the 2021 Vassar Miller Prize. He will be reading along with LU senior students Mads Layton, Carla I. Plascencia, and Molly Ruffing.
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Belonging Through Poetry at the Appleton Public Library
Every 4th Wednesday, the library is supporting a monthly, virtual group that will explore life’s big topics in poetry with the hopes of creating connections and a sense of belonging in the community. To learn more about the April topic, click here: https://bit.ly/3ND59LA
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwoc-qhrj8iGdxObAwqie5iqvYkbKKGobjX
*******
Are you passionate about education, meeting people from different backgrounds, and helping others? Become a tutor! Fox Valley Literacy is a non-profit organization that provides free, confidential, one-on-one tutoring for adults in reading, writing, English Language, and U.S. citizenship as well as small group English language classes. We currently have a waiting list of +50 students ready to be matched with a volunteer. No teaching background or bilingual skills are required! Tutors receive initial training and ongoing support and education from staff.
Fox Valley Literacy students have a broad range of goals! You will be matched with a student based on your interest and availability. Meet with your student once a week for one hour. Email our volunteer coordinator, Paola, for more information! paola@foxvalleylit.org
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WFOP Spring Conference, April 29-30, 2022
The WFOP is planning for an in-person conference this spring.
Place: The Pointe Hotel and Suites, Minocqua WI
Theme: Getting the Word Out
Features: Keynote Speaker Dasha Kelly, the current WI Poet Laureate, plus panels on publishing and bringing poetry to communities, jails, schools, and other institutions.
Cost: The early bird rate is $65 for members, $95 for non-members, which includes breakfast and lunch on Saturday. After April 15 and at the door, rates go up $10. For more on the event including hotel accommodations, visit here: https://www.wfop.org/conferences
If you would like to attend but would be interested in a carpool, email conference coordinator Nancy Austin at nancy.austin0116@gmail.com
*******
Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets offers Poetry at Large, a series of writing workshops to complement engaged and active poetry readings and other fellowship events. The workshops are designed to help you take your writing to the next level with the challenge to delve deeper and activate what matters.
Villanelle: The Fine Art of Repeating Yourself
June 16 & July 14, 7-8:30 p.m.
Featuring Marilyn L. Taylor
The real key to writing a memorable villanelle? It lies in mastering the skill of repeating yourself—which is great news for poets. Because every once in a while, a memorable phrase or sentence will spring to mind—something that’s so insightful, so fresh, that your Inner Poet suddenly starts asking: shouldn’t this little gem be transformed into a villanelle, so it can become the repeated refrain? Maybe it should!
So why not give it a shot? It’s going to be intensive, it’s going to be fun, and you may find your poetry striding boldly into places where it’s never gone before.
Workshops are free, a benefit of WFOP membership and part of our mission to promote poets and poetry in Wisconsin. We only ask that you register in advance for both Part 1 and Part 2 to authenticate all participants. Once you register, you will receive a Zoom link to the session.
To learn more and register, click here: https://www.wfop.org/poetry-at-large-events/6/14/2022/6/villanelle-the-fine-art-of-repeating-yourself-part