News

The Writers Place is happy to announce a call for submissions for our first audiobook! We’re looking for writers to share their words, be they fiction, poetry, nonfiction, or uncategorizable.

Submissions are free for Writers Place members. There is a $5 per submission fee for non-members. Multiple submissions are welcome.

Once completed, the audiobook will be free to Writers Place members and contributors, and will be available for purchase worldwide.

Guidelines:

Please submit 1-3 .wav files of you reading your work.

Please make sure that each file does not exceed 5 minutes.

At the beginning of each file, please state the title, the author, and then begin reciting your work.

For an example, please visit: https://thewritersplace.bandcamp.com/releases.

Send your submissions to: writersplacesubmissions@gmail.com. All questions can also be sent to that email address.

Payment for the submission fee can be sent by check to:

The Writers Place

31 W. 31^st St.

Kansas City, MO 64108

or electronically via: https://thewritersplace.wildapricot.org/Donate

Once finished, this audiobook will be available for purchase internationally via bandcamp.com.

By submitting, authors grant The Writers Place permission to publish and sell this work for the purposes of this audiobook. Authors retain all rights for their pieces. We only ask that in future publications, authors acknowledge the previous publication of their work in this audiobook.

Good luck! We can’t wait to hear your voices!

The Reading Series Zoom event on July 23rd featuring Mike James, Shawn Pavey, and Alarie Tennille is now available to view on our YouTube channel. 

The board of directors at The Writer's Place stands together in this moment of national reckoning and commits itself to the work of change that lies ahead for each of us and for our nation. 

We know that we cannot go back to life as it was before a Minneapolis police officer knelt on George Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and forty-six seconds, or back to the way life was before Louisville police shot Breonna Taylor eight times while she slept in her bed in her apartment. We can never accept the vigilante justice that allowed white men in Georgia to hunt and kill Ahmaud Arbery in cold blood while he was jogging. 

We invite you to join us in this collective journey toward change, to help us educate ourselves and each other toward anti-racism, to inspire each other with our art, to embrace all people of all groups with shared dignity, care, and concern.

We say the names of those we’ve lost to the brutality of racial injustice, we speak out against systems that uphold White supremacy, we acknowledge that we can do more to support diverse voices within our own Kansas City community, we are committed to justice and equity for all, and we believe that Black Lives Matter. 

 

This was the 9th year for In Our Own Words, a youth outreach program sponsored by The Writers Place to provide writing and publishing opportunities for young people in grades 7-12 who are underserved. TWP sent teachers into the schools to provide lessons to over 500 students in 7 schools.  The teachers chose the best student poems for an anthology, and each student and school received a copy. The first week in March, TWP held a writing conference and reading by these students with area writers presenting workshops.  The students read their work for parents, teachers, and the public at The Plaza Library.  Copies of this student anthology are available at TWP. The voices in this book are powerful and heard only because of this program by TWP. 

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

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. 

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. 

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.

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.