Events

Book Launch: In Just the Right Light

Saturday, April 6th, 2018; 6-8pm
Soap Gallery, 117 S. Champion St.
Youngstown, OH 44503

Please join us for a night of literature and entertainment at the Soap Gallery as we celebrate the release of In Just the Right Light, a collection of stories by William R. Soldan. Featuring work in a variety of genres by multiple local and regional writers, the evening will include a brief reception with light refreshments followed by a book signing and a chance to hang out with the authors.

Winter Writing Camp

Saturday, February 24, 2018; 10am-4:30pm;
Main Library & St. John’s Episcopal Church, Wick Ave.

William will be leading a workshop titled Flash Fiction, Prose Poetry, and Other Cross-Pollinations: An Exploration of Hybrid Forms. Hybrid forms aren’t new by any means, yet their malleability encourages us to push against boundaries in ways traditional forms don’t. Here, we’ll discuss various “cross-genres,” study some examples, and experiment, so you’ll leave class creatively stimulated, with a broader sense of the potential for hybridity in your own writing.

Through Others We Find Our Own: Amplifying Voice in Fiction

November 4 to December 6, 2017; 10-11:30am;
Lit Youngstown – St. John’s Episcopal Church, 323 Wick Ave. Course fee: $25. Registration closed.

Ask many beginning writers what they struggle with and you’ll no doubt get a wide range of responses—getting started, finishing, writing dialogue, world-building, and so on—but invariably “finding my voice” is at the top of everyone’s list. So what do we mean by finding our voice? Well, usually what people mean is that they’re searching for their style, that trademark something that makes their work memorable and identifiable, that element that sets it apart from everything else. And while writing and writing often is the only non-negotiable criteria for achieving this, often the best path to discovering your voice as a writer is learning to create distinctive voices in your work—that is, generating stories and poems that crackle with life. This will be our aim during this six-week course. Through a combination of lecture, discussion, and practice, you will learn different ways through which “voice” can be achieved. You will learn that it isn’t just how someone says something but what they say that contributes to the voice of a particular piece of writing. You will learn how setting details and point-of-view can influence voice and how the very structure of our sentences can speak volumes about character and circumstance. By the end of our time together, you will walk away with not only a completed piece of fiction, to which I will have provided detailed feedback, but also the tools with which to identify and amplify the voices contained in your future work.

First Wednesday Reading Series

Wednesday, December 6, 2017 – 7pm
The Soap Gallery, 117 S Champion St, Youngstown, OH 44503

NEOMFA Reunion Reading features Chris Alonso and William R. Soldan of Youngstown and Sara Tracey of Akron. Open mic to follow.