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In light of recent events and growing concerns over the spread of COVID-19, The Writers Place Board of Directors has decided to cancel all events scheduled for the months of March and April. This was a difficult decision to make, but in an effort to practice caution and limit the amount of public gatherings in the city, we felt it was the responsible decision to make as an organization. If you have any questions, please check our website for further details.

 

Read a few books. Write a story or two.

We look forward to seeing you when our events pick back up in May.

 

Sincerely,

Board of Directors, The Writers Place


Upcoming events

  • Riverfront Readings

    • 8 May 2020
    • 8:00 PM
    • Nonprofit Village, 31 West 31st ST, Kansas City MO 64108

    May 8th Riverfront Reading


    Featuring: Karen Craigo and Huascar Medina

     

    Karen Craigo is the poet laureate of Missouri.  She is the author of two full-length collections, Passing Through Humansville (Sundress 2018) and No More Milk (Sundress 2016), plus three chapbooks.  A journalist, she is editor and general manager of the Marshfield Mail newspaper in Webster County, and she lives with her husband and two sons in Springfield.


    Huascar Medina, Poet Laureate of Kansas (2019-2021), is the Lit Editor for seveneightfive magazine and a playwright. He’s a member of Topeka’s Speak Easy Poetry Group and the Red Tail Collective in Lawrence. Recent works published can be found in the Latino Book Review,  Flint  Hills Review, Finding Zen in Cowtown (Spartan Press), and Kansas Time & Place: An Anthology of Heartland Poetry (Little Balkan Press 2017). His first collection of poetry is, How to Hang the Moon (Spartan Press). His second book of poetry, Un Mango Grows in Kansas is forthcoming in 2020..



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  • Crystal Field Scholarship Reading

    • 15 May 2020
    • 7:00 PM

    The Writers Place Reading Series presents the annual Crystal Field Scholarship Reading.  Theme for the year is “Fake News.”   

     

     

    The Crystal Field Scholarship Reading is a themed Open Mic event.  This year’s theme is Fake News”  All donations collected for the evening help support the Crystal Field Scholarship for a creative writing student at UMKC.  What makes this scholarship different is that all of the donations come from writers supporting potential writers.  Those unable to attend and still want to give a donation to the scholarship fund can make a check out to The Crystal Field Scholarship Fund and give it to Greg Field or send it to Robert Stewart at New Letters.

     

    All participants must sign up for the event through Maryfrances Wagner as participation is limited to fit a time frame.  Participants write a poem or short fiction or nonfiction piece that reflects the theme in any way they interpret it.  Poets should be prepared to read one poem on the theme and possibly one very short poem of choice (although for the past couple of years we've only had time for the poem on the theme), and fiction and nonfiction writers may read one very short (under five minutes) fiction or nonfiction piece on the theme.

     

    Crystal MacLean Field was an area poet, workshop leader, and teacher.  She published The Good Woman (BkMk chapbook) and My Sister’s Leather Bag (Mid Am Press).  She began a Communiversity writing group that met once a month for twenty years, and she helped establish the Kansas City Writing Series (later the Simpson House Reading Series), one of the first reading series in the greater Kansas City area that began in the 1970’s.  In1987, she died unexpectedly of a heart attack.   This scholarship honors her community contributions, and many of the readers have participated for many years. 

     

    May 15 2020 TWP flyer.jpg


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  • Poetry Reading Circle

    • 18 May 2020
    • 7:00 PM
    • Plaza Library, 4801 Main St, Kansas City, MO 64112

    Poetry Reading Circle Hosted by Catherine Anderson


    We meet at the Plaza Library (small conference room near the reserve books) on the third Monday of the month. The purpose of the Poetry Reading Circle is to come together to read poets of interest to the group and share perspectives. Catherine Anderson introduces a little background information on the poet's biography and approach to poetry. The group takes turns reading the poems and then shares ideas and perspectives in a relaxed atmosphere.  Poets chosen are archived in the Poetry Foundation Web site so that any one can have access to their work. Please, feel free to bring any book or poem of the author we are discussing that you would like to share in addition to the poems on the Poetry Foundation Web site.

    Catherine Anderson’s third poetry collection, Women with a Gambling Mania, appeared in 2014 with Mayapple Press and was named as one of the Kansas City Star’s top 100 books of the year. She is the author of The Work of Hands (Perugia Press) and In the Mother Tongue (Alice James Books). Poems and essays have appeared in the Southern Review, Prairie Schooner, the Midwest Quarterly, Imagination & Place, The Boston Sunday Globe Magazine, The New Virginia Review, and many others. In 2013, she was the recipient of the Gary Gildner Poetry Award offered by the I-70 Review, and in 2010, she won the Crab Orchard Review’s Richard Peterson Poetry Prize. For two decades she lived in Boston where she edited a community newspaper and taught English. She now lives in Kansas City where she has been working with the region’s refugee communities for over eleven years.


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  • Open Mic Night

    • 25 May 2020
    • 7:00 PM
    • Quaker House, 4405 Gillham Road, Kansas City MO


    Open Mic Night

    7:00pm

    Quaker House, 4405 Gillham Road

    Come share your writing at a free open mic hosted by Sharon Eiker!


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  • Poetry + Jazz Improv with River Cow Orchestra

    • 11 Jun 2020
    • 7:00 PM
    • Westport Coffeehouse Theater, 4010 Pennsylvania

    Westport Coffehouse Poetry & Jazz Improv

    Featuring Lindsay Weishar, Alexej Savreux, Kevin Rabas, Alarie Tennille, Jason Preu, Malcolm Cook

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  • Riverfront Readings

    • 12 Jun 2020
    • 8:00 PM
    • Nonprofit Village, 31 West 31st ST, Kansas City MO 64108

    June 12th Riverfront Reading


    Featuring: Ida Fogle and Brandon Whitehead


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  • Poetry Reading Circle

    • 15 Jun 2020
    • 7:00 PM
    • Plaza Library, 4801 Main St, Kansas City, MO 64112

    Poetry Reading Circle Hosted by Catherine Anderson


    We meet at the Plaza Library (small conference room near the reserve books) on the third Monday of the month. The purpose of the Poetry Reading Circle is to come together to read poets of interest to the group and share perspectives. Catherine Anderson introduces a little background information on the poet's biography and approach to poetry. The group takes turns reading the poems and then shares ideas and perspectives in a relaxed atmosphere.  Poets chosen are archived in the Poetry Foundation Web site so that any one can have access to their work. Please, feel free to bring any book or poem of the author we are discussing that you would like to share in addition to the poems on the Poetry Foundation Web site.

    Catherine Anderson’s third poetry collection, Women with a Gambling Mania, appeared in 2014 with Mayapple Press and was named as one of the Kansas City Star’s top 100 books of the year. She is the author of The Work of Hands (Perugia Press) and In the Mother Tongue (Alice James Books). Poems and essays have appeared in the Southern Review, Prairie Schooner, the Midwest Quarterly, Imagination & Place, The Boston Sunday Globe Magazine, The New Virginia Review, and many others. In 2013, she was the recipient of the Gary Gildner Poetry Award offered by the I-70 Review, and in 2010, she won the Crab Orchard Review’s Richard Peterson Poetry Prize. For two decades she lived in Boston where she edited a community newspaper and taught English. She now lives in Kansas City where she has been working with the region’s refugee communities for over eleven years.


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  • Open Mic Night

    • 22 Jun 2020
    • 7:00 PM
    • Quaker House, 4405 Gillham Road, Kansas City MO


    Open Mic Night

    7:00pm

    Quaker House, 4405 Gillham Road

    Come share your writing at a free open mic hosted by Sharon Eiker!


    Show details

  • Poetry Reading Circle

    • 20 Jul 2020
    • 7:00 PM
    • Plaza Library, 4801 Main St, Kansas City, MO 64112

    Poetry Reading Circle Hosted by Catherine Anderson


    We meet at the Plaza Library (small conference room near the reserve books) on the third Monday of the month. The purpose of the Poetry Reading Circle is to come together to read poets of interest to the group and share perspectives. Catherine Anderson introduces a little background information on the poet's biography and approach to poetry. The group takes turns reading the poems and then shares ideas and perspectives in a relaxed atmosphere.  Poets chosen are archived in the Poetry Foundation Web site so that any one can have access to their work. Please, feel free to bring any book or poem of the author we are discussing that you would like to share in addition to the poems on the Poetry Foundation Web site.

    Catherine Anderson’s third poetry collection, Women with a Gambling Mania, appeared in 2014 with Mayapple Press and was named as one of the Kansas City Star’s top 100 books of the year. She is the author of The Work of Hands (Perugia Press) and In the Mother Tongue (Alice James Books). Poems and essays have appeared in the Southern Review, Prairie Schooner, the Midwest Quarterly, Imagination & Place, The Boston Sunday Globe Magazine, The New Virginia Review, and many others. In 2013, she was the recipient of the Gary Gildner Poetry Award offered by the I-70 Review, and in 2010, she won the Crab Orchard Review’s Richard Peterson Poetry Prize. For two decades she lived in Boston where she edited a community newspaper and taught English. She now lives in Kansas City where she has been working with the region’s refugee communities for over eleven years.


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  • Open Mic Night

    • 27 Jul 2020
    • 7:00 PM
    • Quaker House, 4405 Gillham Road, Kansas City MO


    Open Mic Night

    7:00pm

    Quaker House, 4405 Gillham Road

    Come share your writing at a free open mic hosted by Sharon Eiker!


    Show details

  • Poetry + Jazz Improv with River Cow Orchestra

    • 13 Aug 2020
    • 7:00 PM
    • Westport Coffeehouse Theater, 4010 Pennsylvania

    Save the Date!

    Westport Coffehouse Poetry & Jazz Improv

    Featured writers will be announced soon.

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  • Riverfront Readings

    • 14 Aug 2020
    • 8:00 PM
    • Nonprofit Village, 31 West 31st ST, Kansas City MO 64108

    August 14th Riverfront Reading


    Featuring: Gregg Ventello and Vicki Garton


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  • Poetry Reading Circle

    • 17 Aug 2020
    • 7:00 PM
    • Plaza Library, 4801 Main St, Kansas City, MO 64112

    Poetry Reading Circle Hosted by Catherine Anderson


    We meet at the Plaza Library (small conference room near the reserve books) on the third Monday of the month. The purpose of the Poetry Reading Circle is to come together to read poets of interest to the group and share perspectives. Catherine Anderson introduces a little background information on the poet's biography and approach to poetry. The group takes turns reading the poems and then shares ideas and perspectives in a relaxed atmosphere.  Poets chosen are archived in the Poetry Foundation Web site so that any one can have access to their work. Please, feel free to bring any book or poem of the author we are discussing that you would like to share in addition to the poems on the Poetry Foundation Web site.

    Catherine Anderson’s third poetry collection, Women with a Gambling Mania, appeared in 2014 with Mayapple Press and was named as one of the Kansas City Star’s top 100 books of the year. She is the author of The Work of Hands (Perugia Press) and In the Mother Tongue (Alice James Books). Poems and essays have appeared in the Southern Review, Prairie Schooner, the Midwest Quarterly, Imagination & Place, The Boston Sunday Globe Magazine, The New Virginia Review, and many others. In 2013, she was the recipient of the Gary Gildner Poetry Award offered by the I-70 Review, and in 2010, she won the Crab Orchard Review’s Richard Peterson Poetry Prize. For two decades she lived in Boston where she edited a community newspaper and taught English. She now lives in Kansas City where she has been working with the region’s refugee communities for over eleven years.


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  • Open Mic Night

    • 24 Aug 2020
    • 7:00 PM
    • Quaker House, 4405 Gillham Road, Kansas City MO


    Open Mic Night

    7:00pm

    Quaker House, 4405 Gillham Road

    Come share your writing at a free open mic hosted by Sharon Eiker!


    Show details

  • Poetry Reading Circle

    • 21 Sep 2020
    • 7:00 PM
    • Plaza Library, 4801 Main St, Kansas City, MO 64112

    Poetry Reading Circle Hosted by Catherine Anderson


    We meet at the Plaza Library (small conference room near the reserve books) on the third Monday of the month. The purpose of the Poetry Reading Circle is to come together to read poets of interest to the group and share perspectives. Catherine Anderson introduces a little background information on the poet's biography and approach to poetry. The group takes turns reading the poems and then shares ideas and perspectives in a relaxed atmosphere.  Poets chosen are archived in the Poetry Foundation Web site so that any one can have access to their work. Please, feel free to bring any book or poem of the author we are discussing that you would like to share in addition to the poems on the Poetry Foundation Web site.

    Catherine Anderson’s third poetry collection, Women with a Gambling Mania, appeared in 2014 with Mayapple Press and was named as one of the Kansas City Star’s top 100 books of the year. She is the author of The Work of Hands (Perugia Press) and In the Mother Tongue (Alice James Books). Poems and essays have appeared in the Southern Review, Prairie Schooner, the Midwest Quarterly, Imagination & Place, The Boston Sunday Globe Magazine, The New Virginia Review, and many others. In 2013, she was the recipient of the Gary Gildner Poetry Award offered by the I-70 Review, and in 2010, she won the Crab Orchard Review’s Richard Peterson Poetry Prize. For two decades she lived in Boston where she edited a community newspaper and taught English. She now lives in Kansas City where she has been working with the region’s refugee communities for over eleven years.


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  • Open Mic Night

    • 28 Sep 2020
    • 7:00 PM
    • Quaker House, 4405 Gillham Road, Kansas City MO


    Open Mic Night

    7:00pm

    Quaker House, 4405 Gillham Road

    Come share your writing at a free open mic hosted by Sharon Eiker!


    Show details

  • Poetry + Jazz Improv with River Cow Orchestra

    • 8 Oct 2020
    • 7:00 PM
    • Westport Coffeehouse Theater, 4010 Pennsylvania

    Save the Date!

    Westport Coffehouse Poetry & Jazz Improv

    Featured writers will be announced soon.

    Show details

  • Poetry Reading Circle

    • 19 Oct 2020
    • 7:00 PM
    • Plaza Library, 4801 Main St, Kansas City, MO 64112

    Poetry Reading Circle Hosted by Catherine Anderson


    We meet at the Plaza Library (small conference room near the reserve books) on the third Monday of the month. The purpose of the Poetry Reading Circle is to come together to read poets of interest to the group and share perspectives. Catherine Anderson introduces a little background information on the poet's biography and approach to poetry. The group takes turns reading the poems and then shares ideas and perspectives in a relaxed atmosphere.  Poets chosen are archived in the Poetry Foundation Web site so that any one can have access to their work. Please, feel free to bring any book or poem of the author we are discussing that you would like to share in addition to the poems on the Poetry Foundation Web site.

    Catherine Anderson’s third poetry collection, Women with a Gambling Mania, appeared in 2014 with Mayapple Press and was named as one of the Kansas City Star’s top 100 books of the year. She is the author of The Work of Hands (Perugia Press) and In the Mother Tongue (Alice James Books). Poems and essays have appeared in the Southern Review, Prairie Schooner, the Midwest Quarterly, Imagination & Place, The Boston Sunday Globe Magazine, The New Virginia Review, and many others. In 2013, she was the recipient of the Gary Gildner Poetry Award offered by the I-70 Review, and in 2010, she won the Crab Orchard Review’s Richard Peterson Poetry Prize. For two decades she lived in Boston where she edited a community newspaper and taught English. She now lives in Kansas City where she has been working with the region’s refugee communities for over eleven years.


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  • Open Mic Night

    • 26 Oct 2020
    • 7:00 PM
    • Quaker House, 4405 Gillham Road, Kansas City MO


    Open Mic Night

    7:00pm

    Quaker House, 4405 Gillham Road

    Come share your writing at a free open mic hosted by Sharon Eiker!


    Show details

  • Riverfront Readings

    • 13 Nov 2020
    • 8:00 PM
    • Nonprofit Village, 31 West 31st ST, Kansas City MO 64108

    November 13th Riverfront Reading


    Featuring: Randy Ratliff and Polly Alice


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  • Poetry Reading Circle

    • 16 Nov 2020
    • 7:00 PM
    • Plaza Library, 4801 Main St, Kansas City, MO 64112

    Poetry Reading Circle Hosted by Catherine Anderson


    We meet at the Plaza Library (small conference room near the reserve books) on the third Monday of the month. The purpose of the Poetry Reading Circle is to come together to read poets of interest to the group and share perspectives. Catherine Anderson introduces a little background information on the poet's biography and approach to poetry. The group takes turns reading the poems and then shares ideas and perspectives in a relaxed atmosphere.  Poets chosen are archived in the Poetry Foundation Web site so that any one can have access to their work. Please, feel free to bring any book or poem of the author we are discussing that you would like to share in addition to the poems on the Poetry Foundation Web site.

    Catherine Anderson’s third poetry collection, Women with a Gambling Mania, appeared in 2014 with Mayapple Press and was named as one of the Kansas City Star’s top 100 books of the year. She is the author of The Work of Hands (Perugia Press) and In the Mother Tongue (Alice James Books). Poems and essays have appeared in the Southern Review, Prairie Schooner, the Midwest Quarterly, Imagination & Place, The Boston Sunday Globe Magazine, The New Virginia Review, and many others. In 2013, she was the recipient of the Gary Gildner Poetry Award offered by the I-70 Review, and in 2010, she won the Crab Orchard Review’s Richard Peterson Poetry Prize. For two decades she lived in Boston where she edited a community newspaper and taught English. She now lives in Kansas City where she has been working with the region’s refugee communities for over eleven years.


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  • Open Mic Night

    • 23 Nov 2020
    • 7:00 PM
    • Quaker House, 4405 Gillham Road, Kansas City MO


    Open Mic Night

    7:00pm

    Quaker House, 4405 Gillham Road

    Come share your writing at a free open mic hosted by Sharon Eiker!


    Show details

Past events

6 Mar 2020 Worlds Beyond: Speculative Fiction Reading
29 Feb 2020 Digging with the Golden Shovel: A Poetry Workshop
24 Feb 2020 Open Mic Night
21 Feb 2020 TWP Reading Series
17 Feb 2020 Poetry Reading Circle
14 Feb 2020 Riverfront Readings
27 Jan 2020 Open Mic Night
20 Jan 2020 Poetry Reading Circle
18 Jan 2020 Little and Fierce: The Micro-Memoir
17 Jan 2020 TWP Reading Series
30 Dec 2019 Open Mic Night
16 Dec 2019 Poetry Reading Circle
15 Dec 2019 Riverfront Holiday Open Mic
25 Nov 2019 Open Mic Night
18 Nov 2019 Poetry Reading Circle
16 Nov 2019 The Rough Draft or Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg? Or Both?
15 Nov 2019 TWP Reading Series
9 Nov 2019 Meet and Mingle and Help The Writers Place
8 Nov 2019 Riverfront Readings
28 Oct 2019 Open Mic Night
26 Oct 2019 (CANCELLED) Memoir and Memory: Writing Your Story
25 Oct 2019 Day of the Dead 2019
22 Oct 2019 (CANCELLED) Tighten Your Prose: The Economy of Words
21 Oct 2019 Poetry Reading Circle
19 Oct 2019 The Poem as Journey
18 Oct 2019 TWP Reading Series
13 Oct 2019 Haunted Words Open Mic benefit for the Philip Miller Memorial Scholarship Fund
10 Oct 2019 Westport Coffeehouse Theater
5 Oct 2019 Grace in 14 Lines: The Sonnet
4 Oct 2019 Meet and Mingle and Help The Writers Place
30 Sep 2019 Open Mic Night
27 Sep 2019 TWP Reading Series
21 Sep 2019 Recovery Reading
21 Sep 2019 South Branch Library Reading
21 Sep 2019 Ready, Set, Submit!
20 Sep 2019 TWP Reading Series
18 Sep 2019 Happy Hour at O'Dowd's
16 Sep 2019 Poetry Reading Circle
15 Sep 2019 Recovery Reading
13 Sep 2019 Riverfront Readings
26 Aug 2019 Open Mic Night
19 Aug 2019 Poetry Reading Circle
16 Aug 2019 TWP Reading Series
14 Aug 2019 Dining for Dollars at Blue Moose Bar & Grill
8 Aug 2019 Westport Coffeehouse Theater
29 Jul 2019 Open Mic Night
15 Jul 2019 Creative Writing Summer Camp
7 Jul 2019 Nonprofit Village Art Exhibit Hosted by The Writers Place
24 Jun 2019 Open Mic Night
21 Jun 2019 TWP Reading Series
17 Jun 2019 Poetry Reading Circle
14 Jun 2019 Riverfront Readings
1 Jun 2019 TWP Presents Writing Joy
20 May 2019 Poetry Reading Circle

(c) 2019 The Writers Place

31 W. 31st ST, Kansas City MO 64108


Phone: 816-281-8311

Email: info@writersplace.org 


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