Becca

Happy Holidays & Good Tidings

As darkest day of the year approaches, we hope to bring you some light!

Happy holidays from The Notebooks Collective! We want to thank everyone who joined us to celebrate Saara Myrene Raappana in November and for joining us as we welcomed creatives in conversation throughout the year. 2024 also saw our first ever collective reading and the launch our first series of classes.

We appreciate our guests. We appreciate the teachers and students who trusted us to build them a space to learn together. We appreciate you. You can read a brief year in review here.

We have spent a lot of time behind the scenes reaching out to writers and creatives to build a amazing schedule for next year. Our line up for 2025 is so stupendous and amazing and we are very excited to announce our roster!

In Conversation: 2025!

Our (almost) monthly series is back! We love these intimate conversations between writers who love each other’s work. Join us as our guests share their writing, their creative process, and their love for the written word. Our conversations in January, February, and March are available for registration now. As always our In Conversation events are online, free, and open to everyone. Register to get the Zoom link and reminders.  

Mark Your Calendars:

January 28
Carolyn Oliver & Hannah Larrabee!

February 25
Dzvinia Orlowsky & María Louisa Arroyo Cruzado!

March 18
Cynthia Marie Hoffman & Sarah Kain Gutowski!

April 22
Fleda Brown & Anne-Marie Oomen!

May 20
Richard Hoffman & January Gill O’Neil!

June 17
Jennifer Funk & Guest!

August 19
Valerie Smith & Monica Lee Weatherly!

September 16
Taylor Byas & jason b crawford!

October 21
Iain Haley Pollock & Nathan McClain!

November 11
Nicole Callihan & Zoë Ryder White!

Register Here

Come Together

We’ll not lie and say the election didn’t shake us to our core. We believe now more than ever, community and connection are important. That’s why we are hosting our first Community Hour! Drop in to hear what others are doing in terms of their art and share your own news! If you have suggestions on what you might like to see happen during on these hours — email us!

Register Here

Writing Persona: When A Mask Is All We Can Bear

Join us for a two-hour class with past Notebooks Collective guest and editor at Tahoma Literary Review Jessica Cuello. Jess’s most recent book, Yours Creature, is composed of epistolary poems in the voice of Mary Shelley.

Jess will teach this generative course that will look attentively at poems by AI, Lucie Brock-Broido, and Patricia Smith among others. We’ll explore ways to enter persona and deepen the imaginative possibilities of writing outside ourselves.

Register Here

New Classes – Registration Opening Soon

Pauletta Hansel will return next year to teach two classes – one on epistolary writing and the other on how to give feedback.

We are also excited to welcome past Notebooks guests José Angel Araguz, Jessica Cuello, and Daniel Summerhill, and March 2025’s guest Cynthia Marie Hoffman, who will be offering classes in a variety of topics, including creating new work, managing the editing process, and submitting your work to journals!

We Love to Hear from You

Please feel free to reach out if you have ideas for our community hours, classes you would love to take or teach, and/or if you have good news to share.

A Year in Review

Lisa and I have said before that one of the best aspects of creating The Notebooks Collective is that we are front and center to amazing conversations and creatives. Given that, I wanted to share with you some of the best moments or takeaways from this past year (or three).

2024 started with a brief hiatus. Lisa and I both work full-time and between work, home life, and travel, we didn’t kick off our events until April. 

Reading for Palestine

However, we started with a first for us: a collective reading of all of our previous and upcoming guests. We had 15 readers in addition to Lisa and I. What made this event particularly special to us was that it was used to raise funds for Gaza. We picked three fundraisers to split amongst the donations we received. We were able to raise more than $600, thanks to our generous readers and guests.

Readers Pictured: Jessica E. Johnson, Rebecca Kirk Connors, Suzanne Frank, Karen Rigby, Anne-Marie Oomen, Jessica Cuello, Eileen Cleary, M. Soledad Cabellero, Sarah Ghazal Ali, Lisa Allen, Marcia Karp, Meg Kearney, Kathi Aguero, jason b. crawford, Quintin Collins, and Sara Moore Wagner. Plus Guests.

Pop Culture

Leah Umansky and Melissa Fite Johnson. Leah listens as Melissa reads from her new book.
Leah listens while Melissa reads from her book Midlife Abecedarian.

We hosted Leah Umansky and Melissa Fite Johnson in May and the two of them brought joy and levity when we really needed it. I loved how they both read each other’s poems or requested poems, demonstrating what it really means to fall in love with someone else’s art. Love of pop culture is something that resonates with them. While they discussed it, I thought about how Sweet Valley High, 90210 and Reality Bites impacted me more than I would have expected given what weight we usually assign to culture. 

I was also reminded once again that writers use different tools. Leah talks into her phone all the time and takes notes whereas Melissa schedules one afternoon a week where she has dedicated writing time. The takeaway: you don’t have to write everyday or, if it works for you, you can write everyday; it’s the writing that’s important.

Memoir-Poets

Jessica E. Johnson and Tyler Mills

In June we hosted two memorist-poets: Jessica E. Johnson and Tyler Mills. What I took away from this conversation was how a  poet’s observational skills, which they transform words into poetry, have the same power in memoir. In fact I think they both were able to make some really amazing connections between environmental destruction and family breakdowns between the lure of scientific discovery and what its impact can be. I loved learning that Jessica wrote her book length poem Metabolics within the writing phase of her memoir project: being constrained in one genre allowed her to burst forth in another.

Self Persona

Eugenia Leigh listens as Diannely Antigua explains the thinking behind her poem

Eugenia Leigh and Diannely Antigua visited us in July. I came away from that event with the euphoria of the first date that went well. Diannely uses her past diaries to create found poems. I was intrigued by the idea of exploring my own journal entries and diaries for language and emotional fodder for poems. I learned how difficult it is to be that vulnerable with oneself and how the creation of a second self can give you the tools to explore these areas of our lives with just enough distance. 

Ekphrasis

Karn Rigby and Danika Stegeman

In August, Karen Rigby and Danika Stegeman blew us away because of their attention to detail and interest in art and their relationship: Karen was Danika’s mentor. It’s amazing how they have both grown in their writing careers. I also was reminded how we use art in all its forms (from Hieronymous Bosch to The Love Boat) to make meaning through our writing.

Narrative vs Speculative

Marcus Myers and Rivka Clifton discuss their partnership

In September, I came away from our conversation knowing the joy of creating a community and the wonder of long-term creative partnerships. Marcus and Rivka met in grad school, founded Bear Review together, and are still collaborating and sharing work with each other even while their work goes in very different directions; Marcus’ is more narrative style and Rivka’s is more lyrical and bodily speculative.

Celebrating Saara

And we closed 2024 with the celebration of late poet Saara Myrene Raappana.  Her husband Eric Doise and poets Haley Cotton and Lauren K. Carlson read from Saara’s award-winning book Chamber after Chamber. Interspersed between poems were anecdotes about Saara and her impact on everyone who knew her.  I still cry when I think about this event because our poems are our voices and to read Saara’s poems was to have her breath with us in spirit.

Support Writers!

You can purchase any of the books from this past year (or the upcoming season…) through our bookshop storefront. Support these wonderful poets and writers by buying their books!

Classes!

A screenshot from Sara Moore Wagner’s class on Folklore

We also branched out and offered a few classes this year taught by past Notebooks guests Jessica E. Johnson, Eileen Cleary, Sara Moore Wagner, and Pauletta Hansel. These classes brought students to learn about organic/inorganic forms with Jessica, creating our own folklore with Sara, all the wonderful tools for revision with Eileen, and two different workshops from Pauletta: finding the poems in family stories and how to put together a manuscript.

Coming soon

The past few years have been amazing, from the people I’ve met to the poets we’ve worked with to the classes we have put together and we can’t wait to bring you our 2025. 

In Celebration of Saara Myrene Raappana

An evening of poetry and remembrance hosted by Eric Doise, husband of late poet Saara Myrene Raappana. Eric was joined by Lauren K. Carlson and Halley Cotton, all of whom read from Saara’s collected work, Chamber After Chamber, which was awarded the Juniper Prize for Poetry. Saara was also the author of the chapbooks A Story of America Goes Walking (Shechem Press) and Milk Tooth, Levee, Fever (Dancing Girl Press).

A gifted poet and teacher, Saara left a legacy of not only powerful and award-winning poetry, but also as an educator, mental health pioneer and animal lover. Her great warmth, intelligence and kindness was evident to all who knew her and will be celebrated in this one-of-a-kind reading.

We invite you purchase her book. Please use the code CHAMBER at checkout to receive a 30% discount. A donor has offered to contribute $10 for every book purchased at a reading to her scholarship fund. If you already have her book, we also invite you to make a gift in her honor by donating to her scholarship fund by making a contribution and writing Saara’s name in the comments field.

The Reading

In Conversation: Marcus Myers & Rivka Clifton

Poets and co-founders of Bear Review, Marcus Myers & Rivka Clifton have grown together as poets, even as their own work is aesthetically different. As Marcus says, “This sharing and cheering each other on, discussing craft and aesthetics, swapping and giving books with and to each other has led, in some ways directly and in others indirectly, to our creating Bear Review.”

The Event

In Conversation: Eugenia Leigh & Diannely Antigua

We welcomed poets Eugenia Leigh & Diannely Antigua to The Notebooks Collective for an evening of conversation about creativity and connection. We are thrilled to host this In Conversation, in which the poets discussed their newest books, Bianca and Good Monster respectively, among other things.

The Event

In Conversation: Jessica E. Johnson & Tyler Mills

Writers Jessica Johnson & Tyler Mills join the Notebooks Collective to discuss their new memoirs, Mettlework and The Bomb Cloud, which both invoke their family history and how the personal and the politic intertwine.

About Mettlework

“…The resulting journey encompasses Johnson’s early memories, the story of the earth told in the language of geology, bits of vivid correspondence, a mothering manual from the early twentieth century, and the daily challenges of personal and collective care in a lonesome-crowded Pacific wonderland. Mettlework traces intergenerational failures of homemaking, traveling toward presence and relationship amid the remains of extractive industry and unsustainable notions of family.”

About The Bomb Cloud

“A shimmering memoir defined equally by its lyrical prose and profound historical implications, The Bomb Cloud untangles the intersecting strands of information running through a family mystery shaped by national secrets…Extending from the poems in Mills’ Hawk Parable, this memoir wrestles with her grandfather’s likely involvement in a top-secret bomb wing that trained in the New Mexico desert, taking the reader to the very edge of the unknowable.”

The Event

In Conversation: Leah Umansky & Melissa Fite Johnson

We welcomed poets Leah Umansky & Melissa Fite Johnson to The Notebooks Collective to celebrate their new books on May 14, 2024. They talked about their love of pop culture, forms, how they cultivate their writing practice, and more.

About Of Tyrant

“What does it mean to live in a country at war with itself–historically, spiritually, politically? Where does this sickness originate? In poems both personal and sweeping in scope, Umansky opens the door to all the possible answers, pointing outward but also in, to the twists and turns of our collective psyche.”

About Midlife Abecedarian

“Midlife Abecedarian is a nostalgic collection that takes the reader on a journey through time. It provides a template for a life well-lived, even if you’re only halfway through. Conjuring memories and a sense of satisfaction and comfort, Midlife Abecedarian is a map to things remembered and things best left forgotten.”

Watch the event below!

The Notebooks Reading: Video

On April 16, 2024, the Notebooks Collective held its first collective reading. We did so in honor of National Poetry Month and to celebrate the collective impact we can have when we work together. This reading will allow us to share the brilliant words of our collective while raising money for direct aid to Gaza. With the help of guests and readers, we raised $600 dollars to donate across three fundraisers. As the situation worsens, new ways to help are being added to the Operation Olive Branch spreadsheet. Please consider giving time or money to this urgent need.

Featuring!

The reading features the work of Quintin Collins, Sara Moore Wagner, Lisa Allen, Claire Schwartz, Sarah Ghazal Ali, Kathi Aguero, Jessica Johnson, Suzanne Frank, Anne-Marie Oomen, Meg Kearney, jason b crawford, M. Soledad Caballero, Marcia Karp, Eileen Cleary, Rebecca Kirk Connors, Karen Rigby & Jessica Cuello.

Good News: January

Sarah Ghazal Ali’s first poetry collection Theophanies is out January 16th, 2024, and signed pre-orders can be purchased from Pegasus Books here! You can hear her read poems from this forthcoming collection.

Jessica E. Johnson will publish her first memoir, Mettlework, this May. The book delves into her unusual upbringing during the 1970s and ’80s, interwoven with the story of her transition to parenthood in post-recession Portland, Oregon.

Pauletta Hansel‘s 10th collection, Will There Also Be Singing? will be out in April 2024 from Shadelandhouse Modern Press. Poet and teacher Jeremy Paden writes, “Pauletta Hansel’s Will There Also Be Singing? could be subtitled, Found Poems, Centos, and Other Songs Woven from the World Around Us. In this collection of poems, the Former (and First) Poet Laureate of Cincinnati writes a poetry of witness that is also a masterclass on how to work with collage. Much like the Kentucky artist Robert Morgan, whose sculptures are made from an accretion of found objects, Hansel takes news clippings and historical essays, poems and social media posts, and places them next to each other and layers them on top of each other until a poem emerges.” Two poems from this collection published in Rattle can be read online here.

Amy Hoffman spent the past year working on a collection of writings by the late LGBTQ activist Urvashi Vaid, together with her sister Jyotsna Vaid. In addition to being a well-known and important figure in the gay rights movement, Urvashi was a very dear friend for 40 years, & the book, a labor of love, is due out in spring 2025. In addition, she helped organize a series of 3 panels with Boston’s LGBTQ History Project in honor of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Boston weekly Gay Community News, where she was an editor from 1978-1982+. Amy moderated the 2nd panel, on GCN’s content & controversies.

Jennifer Martelli’s book (which she reads from here), The Queen of Queens, won the Italian American Studies Association Book Award and was also named a “Must Read” by the Massachusetts Center for the Book.

The Library of Michigan (LM) announced Anne-Marie Oomen as the recipient of the 2023-2024 Michigan Author Award.

Jennifer (JP) Perrine‘s poem, “Spell to Leave Behind a Life,” was included in the Zines + Things anthology, Journeys: What We Carry, What We Leave Behind. The Maine Review published their flash essay, “You-Are-Not-Mad Lib” and their essay, “Portrait of My Mother in Mint Green,” was published in Oregon Humanities’ Winter 2024 issue.

신 선 영 Sun Yung Shin and the poet and novelist Vi Khi Nao have co-written a book of poetry THE SIX TONES OF WATER, that will be published by Ricochet Press in fall 2024.