With rarely granted permission of the T. S. Eliot Estate, John Farrell committed to memory the 886 lines of Four Quartets and now tours internationally with his recitation of Eliot’s epic poem. An unquestioned masterpiece of 20th-century literature, Four Quartets is a complex, deeply moving meditation on time, memory, and human striving toward the divine.

Free event

Spoiling a Notebook is a workshop led by Dan Kois and designed for anyone who, faced with a blank page, isn't sure where to start. This class works especially well for teachers, bartenders, musicians, pipefitters, and anyone else who isn't sure about “being a writer” but still has stories to tell. However, the workshop is fun and useful even if you are the bestselling author of dozens of books. Based on the teaching practice of MacArthur “genius” grant winner Lynda Barry, the class will surprise you with memories you've forgotten, inspire you with playful exercises, and encourage you with enthusiastic acceptance. Come one, come all!

Pre-registration required

Participants will learn several one-page book structures, work on a bit of content, and create their own zine (small book). Bring drawing utensils (Sharpies, pens, pencils, markers, crayons…) and writing materials of your choice. Some colored pencils and pencils will be available. If you have any of these items, bring them: scissors, exacto-knife, cutting mat, ruler, or bone folder.

Pre-registration required

Back by popular demand! This workshop will meet Saturday from 9 am to noon, take a one-hour break, then reconvene for song-finishing from 1 to 3 pm. Emlen and Stookey will offer songwriting techniques in a group setting to aspiring songwriters of all levels and genres If you only have a melody, we'll help you find a lyric. If you only have a lyric, we'll help you find a melody. Bring your ideas!

Pre-registration required

Everyone’s a critic, but as A.O. Scott— longtime movie reviewer for the New York Times and now critic at large for that newspaper’s book review section—has often pointed out, that’s not a bad thing. Critical thinking can and should inform almost every aspect of artistic creation, of civil action and of our interpersonal lives.

What makes for great criticism? And why do some critics miss the mark? Is criticism itself an art? Drawing on his three decades of reviewing film and books, Scott, in conversation with Alicia Anstead, will discuss these and other questions, describing the new challenges facing professional critics in the Internet Age, and why he made the leap from movie reviewing to writing about the current literary scene.

Free event

Enjoy a casual chowder supper—fish chowder, corn chowder, Tinder Hearth bread, salad, and sweets—between the poetry reading and the conversation with A.O. Scott and Alicia Anstead.

Tickets $15 here

Spend time with a variety of poetic voices at this year’s reading. Word welcomes the following poets to our stage: Meg Weston, co-founder of both Poets Corner and the Camden Poetry Festival; Chen Chen, whose work has appeared in The New York Times and three editions of The Best American Poetry; Meghan Sterling, Program Director at MWPA and winner of the Paul Nemser Book Prize (2022). Finally, in a special tribute, Maine’s fifth Poet Laureate Stuart Kestenbaum (2016-2021) will read the work of the late Paul Nemser of Harborside, poet of “a thousand brilliances’ (Red Mountain Press), who died earlier this year.

Free event

Even the most seemingly casual podcasts require plenty of advanced writing and editing to achieve an effortlessly interesting result. If you’re a fan wondering what goes on behind the scenes of your favorite podcasts, a practiced podcaster looking for tips to take your pod to the next level, or a beginner who’s not sure how to start, this panel will offer the perspectives of both professional and DIY podcasters on how to write a fascinating podcast script. Speakers include award-winning writer/producers from Slate and New Hampshire Public Radio, who have worked on such podcasts as Bear Brook and Decoder Ring.

Free event

Want to learn about the unique craft of feature film and television screenwriting? In this session, Jim Picariello discusses what makes screenwriting so different from other types of narrative prose, and introduces general formatting standards of film and TV screenplays.

We will discuss common guidelines for developing a script's story, pacing, and best practices for writing scene descriptions, action, dialogue, and character descriptions and relationships. And we'll watch some fun movie clips while reading along to the scripts.

Pre-registration required

Can a happy poem wreck us? And how can we avoid sentimentality or is that a risk we just need to take? In this generative session, led by Chen Chen, we’ll look at Ross Gay’s essay, “Joy Is Such a Human Madness” (from his collection The Book of Delights) as a compass for our discussion and a starting point for writing about/from/through happiness, joy, and pleasure. Within the genre of happy poem, we’ll think about poems that celebrate love, sex, community, and connection of various kinds.

Pre-registration required

In a presentation for kids age 5 and older, author/illustrator Marty Kelley offers an engaging, fast-paced explanation of how he creates his wacky stories and illustrations. Marty will explain the writing process from generating ideas to writing rough drafts to editing and revising.

Free event

In this workshop, led by Meg Weston, we’ll read some examples and write from prompts to find those rich kernels of memory that might expand into a memoir.  Whether you’ve written tomes or attempting to put pen to paper for the very first time, this workshop will be generative and affirming, using the Amherst Artists & Writers (AWA) method of facilitating a safe window to get past our inner (and outer) critics so we can write!

Pre-registration required

Described by the New Yorker as “a realist with a speculative bent of mind, a writer of postmodern inclinations with the instincts of an old-fashioned entertainer,” Jennifer Egan has written about deep-sea divers during World War II, a sleeper terrorist, fashion models, and an aging hipster trapped in a haunted Eastern European castle. Her most celebrated novels, however, are about popular music and its power to transcend time and space. A Visit From the Goon Squad, published in 2010, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the National Book Critic’s Circle Award. Its multiple, time-traveling, interlocking narratives circle the lives of Bennie Salazar, an aging former punk rocker and record executive, and Sasha, his troubled assistant. Egan’s 2022 novel, The Candy House, is a sequel of sorts, revisiting many of Goon Squad’s characters as they grapple with the ways technology has changed art and life in the past decade.

Free event

You're invited to a benefit reception for Word! Help us kick off the weekend festivities, meet some of the featured literary luminaries and support the future of Word.

Join us for fall inspired libations and delicious hors d'oeuvres/light supper in advance of the Friday keynote with Jennifer Egan, at nearby Emlen Hall.

Ticketed event, purchase here

Join us for the launch of Word 2023 with the opening of the annual Word. Art. exhibit, featuring the work of Warren Lehrer, Margaret Rizzio,Buzz Masters, Susan Webster, Patricia Wheeler, Diane Zaitlin, Meg Wolfe, Heather Lyon, and Stu Kestenbaum.

Kicking off the opening will be a reading and performance by Warren Lehrer & Adeena Karasick from their new book of poems Ouvert Oeuvre: Openings, a collaboration.

Free event