Log in

News

<< First  < Prev   1   2   3   4   Next >  Last >> 
  • 13 Mar 2020 10:05 AM | Anonymous

    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 - May. 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 at our events when it is safe to do so.

     

    Sincerely,

    Board of Directors

    The Writers Place

    https://thewritersplace.wildapricot.org


  • 26 Feb 2020 7:32 AM | Anonymous

    Let the beautiful roses in the historic Laura Conyers Smith Municipal Rose Garden inspire your child/student to write an original poem!  The Kansas City Rose Society is now accepting submissions for its Poetry Contest. 
     
    How to write: 

    • Each original poem MUST include the word “rose” at least once. 
    • The poem must be typed or legibly hand-written on 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper. -- *Be sure to keep a copy for your child!
    • Only one entry per child, please.
    • The child’s name, school, grade, and city must be included. 
    • Parent’s phone number and email address should be included on the back side of the paper.  


    Who can enter / 3 categories: 
    Open to children in the greater KC area.

    • Grades 3 and 4,
    • Grades 5 and 6
    • Grades 7 and 8​

    Winners:   

    • There will be one winner for each category. 
    • Each winner will receive a cash prize of $50.00 and a certificate   
    • Winning poems will be published on the KCRS website in mid-May!



      

    Judges:  poets from Kansas city Writers Place


    For more information and to enter, visit https://www.kansascityrosesociety.org/2020-poetry-contest.html. 


  • 16 Feb 2020 10:22 AM | Anonymous

    With regrets, The Writers Place bids farewell to another of Kansas City's great literary figures, Dan Jaffe.  Jaffe was Professor Emeritus of UMKC and founded BkMk press where he was its longtime managing editor until he retired.  He also was one of the founders of the Mark Twain Creative Writing Summer Workshop.  Although he wrote many books of poetry and gave many reading around the country, he combined his poetry with his love of music and became known around Kansas City as the Jazz Poet.  At the Blue Room and other venues around the Greater Kansas City area, Jaffe performed his work with local jazz celebrities.  His wife, Jo Ann Jaffe was an accomplished classical pianist, and the two of them put their talents together to present a number of recitals and special events around town before her death.  Many of Kansas City's talented writers were once students of Dan Jaffe, and The Writers Place honored him with its first Kansas City Writer Award in the early 1990's. 

  • 29 Jan 2020 5:48 PM | Anonymous

    The Writers Place is sad to announce the loss of one of its special members, Charles Ferruzza.  Charles served as Executive Director and President of The Writers Place and was a long standing board member. 
    Charles has been a Kansas City prominent figure for many years where he's been an editor for the Pitch, a Food Critic for Central Standard, and has hosted so many public events.

  • 19 Nov 2019 9:54 PM | Anonymous

    Maryfrances Wagner, TWP board member and devoted volunteer, has been selected as the 2020 Missouri Arts Council's Individual Artist Missouri Arts Award honoree. Wagner was selected for her contributions as a poet, arts volunteer, mentor, teacher, community leader, and advocate for cross-cultural arts. Since 1983, the Missouri Arts Council and the State of Missouri have been honoring our state’s arts heroes—the people who make the arts happen. The annual Missouri Arts Awards celebrate people, organizations, and communities that have made profound and lasting contributions to the cultural and artistic climate of the state. Honorees are selected by an independent panel in six categories: Arts Education, Arts Organization, Creative Community, Individual Artist, Leadership in the Arts, and Philanthropy.

    The 2020 Missouri Arts Awards will be presented in a ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda in Jefferson City beginning at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, February 5, 2020. Everyone is invited to attend.


  • 7 Aug 2019 3:27 PM | Anonymous

    My Story:
    Why The Writers Place was Critical to my Success as a Writer

    By Alan Robert Proctor

     

                I began writing as a child – stories of flying snowmen, poems to convince my mother to stop smoking:

                            I wish you would

                            I truly do

                            Stop smoking that awful brew

                            Of tobacco, filter, smoke and trash

                            That simply does nothing but fall to ash…

     

                It continues that like in sing-song rhyme. I began publishing poems in college and became a humor columnist in the 80s. Many friends in Oklahoma, where I lived for 22 years, helped me in my writing endeavor, but it wasn’t until I moved to Kansas City in 2006 that my writing really took off. Soon after arriving, I joined The Writers Place (TWP) and began to enroll in workshops and seminars – many of them. I was so active that TWP recruited me for the board where I served for three years. My first book, The Sweden File, Memoir of an American Expatriate, a hybrid memoir which I co-authored with my late brother, Bruce, was published in 2015. I workshopped early versions of it at TWP and credit Jo McDougal particularly for helping me finalize it in her memoir workshop.

                My second book, Adirondack Summer, 1969, published in 2018 was again workshopped at TWP. Most notably, I remember Brian Shawver’s fiction seminar in which he (and some of the participants) made very helpful comments on content. Then, during a seminar at TWP with the late Bob Chrisman, Bob suggested that we “turn a fairy tale on its head.” That got me started on Grinn’s Fairy Tales: Out Loud Stories which I self-published. I’ve already started a Volume II.

                My debut book of poetry, Abacus, is currently on submission and owes its existence to many poetry workshops at TWP and many fellow poets – too numerous to name – who provided suggestions and guidance. After a poetry seminar with Denise Low, the group and I were so impressed with her insight, I asked her to continue meeting with us in my home – which she did. I attended her TWP-inspired workshops for almost two years! Abacus would never have come to be without her counsel and those of my fellow poet-participants.

                Finally, The Other Day Ago, a book of fiction, old essays and humor which I am still compiling contains several newer short stories I wrote and published after workshopping them at TWP.

                The Writer Place has been an invaluable asset to me. And here is my way of thanking TWP: for every book TWP has helped me complete (whether published or not), I pledge $10.00 to TWP general fund; for every essay/and or short story I have published in part with TWP guidance, I pledge $2.00; and for every poem workshopped at TWP and subsequently published, I pledge $1.00. In all, I am pledging $71.00.

                I urge all friends of TWP who have taken seminars, workshops or attended lectures or readings that influenced work which you have published or of which you are particularly proud, to pledge likewise. If you value what TWP offers to aspiring writers, please follow my lead. This community asset deserves our support.

                Thanks,

     

                Alan Robert Proctor 

               

    Alan's specific challenge to us all is simple, "If you value what TWP offers to aspiring writers, please follow my lead. This community asset deserves our support." 

    Click here to make a donation that represents the value TWP has brought to you.

  • 27 May 2019 9:04 AM | Anonymous

    The Writers Place will host a Gallery Show opening on Sunday, July 7th at 2:00pm at the Nonprofit Village, 31 W. 31st ST, Kansas City MO 64108. Artists Nano Nore and Carlyle Raine will be featured. 

    For more information on the event, visit the Gallery Show page on our website. 


  • 1 Jan 2019 8:24 PM | Anonymous

    The Writers Place has a new home! As of December 1st, our office is located in the Nonprofit Village at 31 W 31st Street, KCMO, between Main and Broadway. We look forward to serving the greater Kansas City area through more community outreach, including exploration of new venues and making more connections with writers and supporters of the literary arts. Please consider renewing or signing up for a membership and volunteering today.


<< First  < Prev   1   2   3   4   Next >  Last >> 

(c) 2023 The Writers Place

31 W. 31st ST, Kansas City MO 64108


Phone: 816-281-8311

Email: info@writersplace.org 


Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software