Council for Wisconsin Writers

Supporting Wisconsin writers from 1964 to 2022

Driftless Writing Center

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Literary Icon to Speak/Read from New Book

Prolific author and poet, and past CWW Book-Length Nonfiction contest winner, Paul Zimmer will be at The ARK, 401 East Jefferson St. in Viroqua on Saturday, March 21, at 7 p.m. to read from and talk about his new novel The Mysteries of Soldiers Grove.

Bramble Bookstore and Driftless Writing Center, which are sponsoring the event, say this about Zimmer:

“Paul has published twelve books of poetry, two books of memoir, and a book of essays. His writing has been awarded eight Pushcart Prizes, three for poetry, four for prose, one for fiction, and he was twice awarded Writing Fellowships from the National Endowments for the Arts. Paul directed three ongoing university presses, Pittsburgh, Georgia and Iowa, and initiated the Flannery O’Connor Award Series for short fiction at the University of Georgia Press. Along with the Pushcarts, Paul has received numerous awards for his writing: Award for Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters; five times named Notable Essay from Best Essays of the Year; and his book of poems, Great Bird of Lovewas selected for the National Poetry Series. Paul was at the atomic bomb tests, serving as a draftee in the army in 1954, and witnessed eight atomic explosions from trenches 1 to 3 miles from ground zero; a life changing experience. Paul has been a quiet neighbor here in the Driftless for over twenty-seven years. If you haven’t met him, please do.”

The event is free. While an RSVP isn’t necessary, it would be appreciated.

Books will be available for sale, cash or check only.

For more information, contact: driftlesswritingcenter@gmail.com, Jennifer Morales at (608) 675-3779, Edward Schultz at (608) 624-5155, or Bramble Books at  637-8717 or bramblebooksellers@yahoo.com.

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Teaching Writers to Recognize Self-Imposed Boundaries

Here’s info from poet, writer and performance artist Jennifer Morales about a workshop Wisconsin writers — and those from elsewhere who can make it — might be interested in:

Unsticking the Stuck: Going Farther in Your Writing Through Awareness of Self-Imposed Boundaries
Sat. 18 Oct. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and Sun. 19 Oct. 12 noon-4 p.m.

at the Driftless Writing Center, Viroqua, Wisconsin
$95 ($85 with pre-registration. Email driftlesswritingcenter@gmail.com)

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
All writers get stuck. Self-awareness can help.

When we know what we are here to say, what we say better than most people, who is driving our writing, and what boundaries we place on our own work, we can break through the stuck places that keep us from moving forward.

During this intensive we will engage in fun and revealing individual and group writing exercises that will help you hear yourself as a writer and discover self-imposed limits you place on your writing that might be holding you back. Come prepared to dig deep and get moving.

WORKSHOP LEADER BIO
Jennifer Morales is a poet, fiction writer, and performance artist whose work focuses on questions of identity, complicity, and harm. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University-Los Angeles in 2011. Meet Me Halfway, her collection of short stories about race relations in segregated Milwaukee, will be published by University of Wisconsin Press in spring 2015. Students at Jennifer’s most recent workshop called her a “born teacher” and said the session was “fascinating” and “opened my eyes to a new way into my characters!”

More information about multifaceted Morales, who serves as Council for Wisconsin Writers Development Chair, is at http://www.wiswriters.org/contacts.htm