The Writers Place News

Call for submissions to the Writers Place Yearbook

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 17:08:23 GMT

Remembering poet and TWP board member Ronda Miller

Wed, 11 Dec 2024 19:08:39 GMT

The Writers Place mourns the loss of poet and TWP board member Ronda Miller.

One of Ronda Miller’s favorite sayings: “Poetry is our most natural connection between one another,” applies to her personal life as well as her professional one.

A Life Coach born in Ft. Collins, Colorado, she was raised on a farm by her maternal grandparents in the high plateau region of NW Kansas, where love for the beauty and healing aspects of nature and poetry began. She is a graduate of the University of Kansas, a Fellow of The Citizen Journalism Academy, World Company, and a Certified Life Coach with IPEC (Institute of Professional Empowerment Coaching).

She began volunteering her services as a Life Coach via Grief Works, for those who have lost someone to homicide, in 2008. She served as President of Kansas Authors Club, District 2, and was a Writers Place board member and Coordinator of the Writers Place youth program In Our Own Words at the time of her death. As a poet, Ronda's poems have appeared in numerous journals/anthologies, are transformed into art, hung in museums and can be found at The Smithsonian Art Institute Archives. She has written three books of poetry, and has said, “Writing has been my way of healing, it assists with my spiritual growth, is a release of emotion, leads to self-discovery, and provides a means to connect with others at a core level.

The Writers Place announces call for submissions for 2024 Writers Place Yearbook

Mon, 09 Dec 2024 15:27:17 GMT

Dear Writers Place Member,

We are excited to announce that submissions are open for the next edition of the Writers Place Yearbook. The 2024 Yearbook won’t be complete without a submission from you. Send one poem, one short story, one excerpt from a longer work of fiction or play, or one piece of creative nonfiction. Prose pieces should be no longer than 1500 words, and poetry should not exceed two pages. Any submissions that fail to meet the guidelines will not be included. When you submit your work, include a 50-100-word bio.

To submit, your membership in the Writers Place must be current. If you have let your membership lapse, then you can renew it online at writersplace.org or by mailing a check to Writers Place, 31W31 Nonprofit Village, 31W31st Street, Kansas City, MO 64108. Submissions may be previously published provided you have the rights returned to you. All submissions are due by January 31, 2025. Please send your writing as a word document in an email attachment to bgulley@jccc.edu.

This collection will be published on the Writers Place website and publicized through our email and social media network. A print version will be available for purchase from Amazon. We look forward to highlighting your words.

Sincerely,

The Writers Place Board

The Writers Place is thrilled to announce a call for submissions for our first book of prompts

Thu, 03 Oct 2024 11:40:25 GMT

August 1st Poetry and Jazz Event with River Cow Orchestra

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 14:17:02 GMT

August 1, 2024 Poetry and Jazz event with River Cow Orchestra.

https://youtu.be/5cqw4MtILr4

In Memoriam: David Ray

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 13:41:25 GMT

In Memoriam

The Writers Place wishes to express their sympathy for the loss of one of Kansas City’s great literary figures, David Ray, whose wife Judy was the first Executive Director for the Writers Place.

In the 1960s, David Ray co-founded, with Robert Bly, American Writers Against the Vietnam War, organizing and encouraging “read-ins” at protest gatherings, and in the years since he wrote extensively in response to wars and environmental issues as well as topics of family, grief, and art. His 27 books, mostly poetry but including a memoir, The Endless Search, have chronicled his time in far-flung places such as India, New Zealand and Australia, where he was, as always, writing and teaching. His last book is At Midnight (2023). David was Professor Emeritus from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and former editor of New Letters.

The Writers Place Yearbook (3rd Edition) is now available

Fri, 10 May 2024 14:43:15 GMT

The 2023 edition of the Writers Place yearbook showcases the poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction written by fifty-one of our members. Subjects range from the whimsical to the poignant. Our authors draw on the past while they imagine the future. This collection has everything from beehive burglaries to the Doobie Brothers. One poet doesn’t want “to take a hike,” in every sense of the phrase. Another writer remembers reading as solace after her first resume finds rejection. Many poets reflect that death comes for us all eventually. “Though, I'll hang on for now and lie about my age,” one poet concludes.

To purchase a copy on Amazon, visit Writers Place Yearbook Volume 3: Board, Writers Place, Gulley, Beth: 9798325111198: Amazon.com: Books.

You can also download a PDF version here: Writers Place Yearbook 2023 Vol 3 Amazon download.pdf

The Writers Place announces call for submissions for third audiobook

Thu, 25 Apr 2024 15:08:25 GMT

Remembering Eve Ott

Wed, 03 Apr 2024 17:39:14 GMT

Eve Ott passed peacefully on March 1, 2024. Eve Ott was a member of the Writers Place for many years and made our writing community all the better for knowing her. She served for over ten years on the programming committee and helped with readings, receptions and special events. Many will miss her genuine and radiant spirit. She was a joyous and happy person despite any adversity and lightened up a room with her wonderful laugh. R.I.P. Eve.

A memorial service for Eve was held Saturday, March 16th at The Pilgrim Chapel

3807 Gillham Road, Kansas City, MO 64111.

Remembering poet Cameron Morse

Thu, 23 Nov 2023 15:28:07 GMT

The Writers Place celebrated the life and work of Cameron Morse at the November 17th reading. Below are a few videos from the reading.

Become a Reading Mentor with Lead to Read

Thu, 20 Jul 2023 14:36:45 GMT

The Writers Place shares office space with a wonderful organization - Lead to Read KC. Their mission is to create a community of readers, one lunch period at a time. They accomplish this by placing volunteers in schools once a week for just 30 minutes to read one on one with an elementary student in Kansas City area schools. Children who can read proficiently by third grade are more successful in school, and their important work aims to increase the number of proficient readers in our community.

The Writers Place board is excited to partner with this organization and as an initial effort, we would like to challenge our membership to become volunteer readers with Lead to Read KC.

The process is simple:

1) Complete a volunteer application at www.leadtoreadkc.org and a required background check (cost of $15).

2) Watch a short training video.

3) Commit to a schedule of reading with one student one day a week (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays between the hours of 11am - 1pm). You may also share a weekly shift with another volunteer if you can commit to volunteering 2x a month, or volunteer as a flex volunteer on a once-a-month basis.

4) Donate new and gently used children's books or make a donation to Lead to Read for the purchase of books.

We know you understand the value of reading and that writers need good readers! We invite you to join us as volunteers with Lead to Read KC. Please make sure to let them know you are with The Writers Place when you complete your application. Thank you for your support of this worthwhile project!

Call for Submissions: MO Humanities

Thu, 15 Jun 2023 11:10:41 GMT

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Open June 1 – July 31, 2023

MO Humanities magazine is interested in technology, discovery, and innovation!

MO Humanities is encouraging Missourians to reflect on the intricate relationship between discovery, innovation, and the human experience. Submissions should ideally consider how Missouri has played a role and may choose to explore how technology-driven change can be an opportunity to build empathy and create a more connected future for Missourians.

Writers are invited to submit work that speaks to this topic in the past, present, and future, especially as it pertains to Missouri and Missourians. MO Humanities is accepting personal, historical, and nonfiction essays, as well as memoirs, poems, digital art, and photography.

For more information and to submit your work, please visit mohumanities.org/magazine-submission.

Advisory Board Member Michael Pritchett offers How It’s Made (for Writers) newsletter

Mon, 01 May 2023 01:28:03 GMT

The Writers Place advisory board member Michael Pritchett is writing a newsletter for writers -- a craft newsletter for fiction.

As Pritchett explains in his recent post, "This newsletter is about craft so if you aren’t into writing craft, get out while you can. More specifically, this newsletter is about scene counting, that vice of novelists and perhaps almost nobody else."

To view the newsletter, How It’s Made (for Writers) (michaelpritchett.co)

To subscribe, visit Blog — Michael Pritchett.

The Writers Place releases its 2023 Audiobook featuring member authors

Sat, 07 Jan 2023 20:03:44 GMT

The Writers Place is pleased to announce the release of its 2023 audiobook, featuring authors reading their original works. The recordings were curated by James Benger and is available for download at http://twpaudiobook.fieldinfoserv.com/

The Writers Place 2022 Yearbook - Now Accepting Submissions

Tue, 20 Sep 2022 16:03:18 GMT

Calling all members! The Writers Place wants to include your work in the 2022 Yearbook. Send one poem, one short story, one excerpt from a longer work of fiction or play, or one piece of creative nonfiction. Prose piece should be no longer than 1500 words, and poetry should not exceed two pages. When you submit your work, include a 50-100-word bio.

To submit, your membership in the Writers Place must be current. If you have let your membership lapse, then you can renew it online at writersplace.org or by mailing a check. Submissions may be previously published provided you have the rights returned to you. All submissions are due by December 31, 2022. Please send your writing as word document in an email attachment to bgulley@jccc.edu.

This collection will be published on the Writers Place website and publicized through our email and social media network. We look forward to highlighting your words.

Sincerely,

The Writers Place Board

The Writers Place now accepting submissions for its second audiobook

Wed, 11 May 2022 13:13:14 GMT

Scenes from Poetry and Jazz at Westport Coffeehouse

Wed, 13 Apr 2022 00:49:09 GMT

See what you missed? Next Westport Coffeehouse Jazz and Poetry event is July 7th. Get it on your calendar!

The Writers Place 2021 Yearbook is now for sale and download

Thu, 03 Mar 2022 14:58:29 GMT

The editors of the Writers Place Yearbook are too modest to call it a “showcase,” but that word describes this anthology perfectly. Poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction reflect the artistry and skill of authors who cherish the written word—exactly why all are active members of The Writers Place, an organization dedicated to the craft of writing. This collection hosts a rich collage of works by several poets laureate, world-known storytellers and novelists, award-winning authors, and those who are at the beginning of their literary journey. The digital version of the Writers Place Yearbook is available at no cost on The Writers Place website. Print copies may be purchased through Amazon. Proceeds benefit The Writers Place.

Purchase a copy online via Amazon, or download a free digital copy below:

https://www.amazon.com/Writers-Place-Yearbook-Beth-Gulley/dp/B09SV37R93

Download a digital copy at no cost:

The Writers Place Yearbook Volume 1.pdf

Bruce Hopkins celebration of life

Fri, 04 Feb 2022 01:30:50 GMT

We are pleased to share this celebration of life for Bruce Hopkins, who was significant to The Writers Place. Former Writers Place Board Member Bruce Hopkins passed away in October 2021. Bruce was instrumental over the years to the Writers Place in so many ways. His legal expertise in nonprofit law was unparalleled, and his warmth and sense of humor shined at our events.

Liquid Imagination - Writers Place poets with River Cow Orchestra

Mon, 29 Nov 2021 01:35:00 GMT

Liquid Imagination – where reality and fantasy blur A collaboration of creative minds. Poets from the Writers place and River Cow Cosmic Orchestra create magic together. Witness this annual event and be prepared for surprises. https://thewritersplace.wildapricot.org/ COSMIC JAZZ by river cow orchestra spontaneous music composers

Remembering Bruce Hopkins

Tue, 09 Nov 2021 16:34:19 GMT

The Writers Place regrets to announce the loss of Bruce Hopkins, a long-time member of the Writers Place Board of Directors who attended all of our events and offered legal advice in nonprofit law. He brought wit and wisdom wherever he went. He died Oct 31, 2021, from a failing heart. He wrote over 45 books including scholarly books on nonprofit law, practical guides about nonprofits for laypeople, memoirs, and poetry over his lifetime. We shall miss him greatly.

You can view his full obit: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/washingtonpost/name/bruce-hopkins-obituary?id=31354729

November featured member: Marianne Kunkel

Sun, 07 Nov 2021 15:24:11 GMT

Marianne Kunkel, our November featured member, is the author of Hillary, Made Up (Stephen F. Austin State University Press) and The Laughing Game (Finishing Line Press), as well as poems that have appeared in The Missouri Review, The Notre Dame Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Rattle, and elsewhere. She is an Assistant Professor of English at Johnson County Community College, where she teaches children's literature and composition. She holds an MFA in poetry from the University of Florida and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. While earning her Ph.D. at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, she was the managing editor of Prairie Schooner and the African Poetry Book Fund. She is the editor-in-chief of Kansas City Voices and Kansas City Voices Youth and chair of The Writers Place‘s Youth Committee. She recently co-edited a poetry anthology, Curating Home (Woodneath Press), with Jose Faus and Glenn North that won the Missouri Library's Association's 2021 Literary Award. In her free time, she loves thrift-store shopping, attending political protests, and cooking vegetarian meals.

www.mariannekunkel.com

The Writers Place Day of the Dead program

Mon, 01 Nov 2021 03:54:30 GMT

The Writers Place hosted its annual Day of the Dead program virtually on October 29th via Zoom. A slideshow of images from the evening and link to access the program recording can be found by clicking the link below.

2021 Day of the Dead Celebration

Phil Miller Tribute slideshow

Mon, 25 Oct 2021 13:29:42 GMT

October Featured Member

Fri, 08 Oct 2021 01:47:46 GMT

Our October featured member, Judith Towse Roberts, is an area writer, teacher of creative writing, and poet. Judith graduated from The University of Missouri at Kansas City with a B.A. in English Language and Literature and went on to receive her M.A. in English/Education, as well as a second Masters in Counseling/Psychology. The Mid-America Press has published her book of poetry entitled, Chrysanthemums I Once Thought Sweet, which was a finalist in the Thorpe Menn competition, published student books of creative writing which have won awards for excellence both statewide and nationally, and her works have appeared in many literary magazines as well as Chicken Soup for the Mother’s Soul. Judith retired from Avila University where she taught composition and finished a career of 40 years of teaching in both public and private schools. She has conducted workshops throughout the State and is currently conducting creative writing workshops in the inner city for at-risk students with The Writers Place as coordinator of a program called “In Our Own Words”.

Submissions sought for 2021-22 Writers Place Yearbook

Wed, 06 Oct 2021 11:30:22 GMT

Writers Place Members,

The Writers Place plans to publish a Member Yearbook in 2022. We are excited to offer you the opportunity to publish one piece in our 2021-2022 Writers Place Yearbook. Send one poem, one short story, one excerpt from a longer work of fiction or play, or one piece of creative nonfiction. Prose submissions should not exceed 1500 words. Please include a 50 to 100-word bio.

To be eligible, your membership in the Writers Place must be current. If you have let your membership lapse, then simply renew it in order to be eligible, or you can become a member by joining online at our website (writersplace.org) or sending in a check for membership. A membership lasts for one year, so it may be time to renew.

All submissions are due by December 31, 2021. Submissions may be previously published provided you have the rights returned to you. Please submit a Word document on one poem or one prose piece as an email attachment to bgulley@jccc.edu. We will publish the yearbook on the Writers Place website and publicize through our email and social media network. We look forward to highlighting your words.

The Writers Place Board of Directors

Voices from The Writers Place now available for stream/download

Wed, 15 Sep 2021 15:34:14 GMT

Voices from the Writers Place audiobook is now available to stream/download! Twenty-five writers reading their work.

Stream online at Voices from the Writers Place | The Writers Place (bandcamp.com).

September Featured Member: Polly Alice McCann

Tue, 14 Sep 2021 19:55:01 GMT

Our September featured member is Polly Alice McCann. Polly Alice McCann's lyrical poetry paints a picture of the narratives of the internal heartland. Poet, curator, artist, editor, speaker. She is a writing professor, founder, and managing editor of Flying Ketchup Press. With a B.A. in Studio Art and her MFAC in Writing from Hamline University, Polly shows her art internationally-- recently in the Netherlands and Santa Monica, CA. She has been published in US newspapers and magazines, most recently Rattle Magazine. She credits much of her creative work due to her research on dreams which won her the 2014 Ernest Hartmann award from Berkeley, CA. She says her favorite thing is to tell stories-- other people's, her own-- maybe yours. Find out more at pollymccann.com. You can find her first three books of narrative free verse, Kinlight, Tea with Alice, and Puss ‘n Boötes: Dark Poems. Find her at www.pollymccann.com.

In 2020 she founded Ketchupedia to connect writers, artists, and creatives in the Kansas City area and region through dialogue surrounding resources & collaboration. Ketchupedia helps poets “catch up” with their art, other creatives, and their audience through podcast, radio, and an annual poet in residence to create a single author collection by a regional poet who connects community advocacy and the arts, as well as poetry editor mentorships to exponentially increase the sharing of poetry.

August Featured Member: David Arnold Hughes

Sun, 01 Aug 2021 19:52:50 GMT

For the month of August, we feature David Arnold Hughes. David Arnold Hughes Is a retired Firefighter and poet. He currently lives in North Kansas City MO. David has been a member of TWP since about 2003. He has participated in many readings at TWP, served on the outreach committee, and as a repairer of locks, lights, and other small maintenance issues and was once named, Member Of The Year.

He co-hosted Blue Monday Open Mic.at Uptown Arts Bar, for a couple of years, and guest hosted readings at Corbin Theater in Liberty MO a number of times. He has frequently read at bars, coffee houses, libraries, book stores, and theaters throughout the Kansas City area. He has been published in a number of poetry journals around the Midwest, as well as the west coast and UK.

He has published 3 chapbooks, 2 are still in print. They are, in chronological order: Firefighters And Stained Glass Women, blue chair press 2005, The Sound Time Makes, iUniverse 2008, Born A Stranger, Spartan Press 2017.

July Featured Member: Gary Lechliter

Wed, 30 Jun 2021 01:41:04 GMT

Gary Lechliter is a birder, poet, and editor. He has written poetry since 1981 and gives credit to Michael Heffernan, Jim McCray, Tom Wilson, Brian Daldorph and Philip Miller as mentors. James Tate, William Stafford, Mark Strand and Anne Sexton have influenced his writing style. He is recipient of the Langston Hughes Award and the David Ray Award. He is the author of four books of poetry and the edited anthology The Shining Years. In addition to managing editor of I-70 Review, Gary is an editor for Woodley Memorial Press. He holds an advanced degree in psychology and worked in the Mental Health field for many years. He and his wife Camille will be re-locating to New Mexico in 2021.

Featured Member: Beth Gulley

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 14:13:57 GMT

Beth Gulley lives in Spring Hill, Kansas and teaches writing at Johnson County Community College. She has an MA from UMKC and a PhD from the University of Kansas. When not writing about teaching, Beth primarily writes poetry.

She in 2018 published a chapbook, $!*# Hole Countries: A Find and Replace Meditation. Her poems also appear in the Bards Against Hunger Anthology, From Everywhere a Little: A Migration Anthology, the Thorny Locust, and The Gasconade Review Presents: Storm A’Comin’, Kansas Letters to a Young Poet, and the 105 Meadowlark Reader. She has been a proud member of the Facebook group 365 Poems in 365 Days since 2015, and her poems appear in all three of the 365 Poems in 365 Days anthologies.

Beth serves on the Riverfront Reading Committee and is a Writer’s Place board member. When not writing and teaching, she loves thrift store shopping, traveling, and drinking coffee. More information can be found on her blog at https://timeeasesallthings.wordpress.com/.

Featured Member: Catherine Anderson

Fri, 14 May 2021 15:00:56 GMT

For the month of May, we are featuring member Catherine Anderson. Anderson’s most recent collection of poetry is Everyone I Love Immortal (Woodley Press). Other collections are Woman with a Gambling Mania (Mayapple Press), The Work of Hands (Perugia) and In the Mother Tongue (Alice James Books). A recipient of the Cornelia C. Ward Fellowship in Poetry at Syracuse University where she received an MA in English, she has received awards from the Massachusetts Artists Foundation, The Crab Orchard Review and the I-70 Review. In 2019, she was a finalist for the Jake Adam York Auburn Witness Poetry Prize from the Southern Humanities Review. Poems have also appeared in bosque, the Dunes Review, the Laurel Review and other journals. She lives in Kansas City and works at Jewish Vocational Service where she heads programs for spoken language interpreters from the city’s immigrant communities. On the third Monday of the month she facilitates the Poetry Reading Circle sponsored by The Writer’s Place.

Everyone I Love Immortal, Woodley Memorial Press

http://woodleypress.org/books

Woman With a Gambling Mania, Mayapple Pres

http://mayapplepress.com/woman-with-a-gambling-mania-catherine-anderson/

Featured Member: Wayne Courtois

Wed, 14 Apr 2021 01:00:16 GMT

This month, The Writers Place is featuring Wayne Courtois. Wayne has been involved with The Writers Place since 2010, has served as a board member and is currently a member of the TWP Programming Committee.

Wayne is author of the award-winning memoir A Report from Winter, the literary novel Tales My Body Told Me, and the gay erotic novels My Name Is Rand and In the Time of Solution 9. His fiction, nonfiction, and poetry have appeared in many anthologies and journals, including The Shining Years, I-70 Review, Hibernation and Other Poems by Gay Bards, and Assaracus (poetry) and Jonathan (fiction) from Sibling Rivalry Press.

Wayne is owner and sole proprietor of The Art of Grants, LLC, and as a grant writer has raised millions for HIV/AIDS services, hospice care, and the arts. He lives in Kansas City with his husband of 32 years, author and translator Ralph Seligman.

Featured member: William Trowbridge

Thu, 18 Mar 2021 14:34:43 GMT

This month TWP is featuring member William Trowbridge. Bill has served as a Writers Place board member and is currently a member of TWP programming committee. William Trowbridge’s ninth poetry collection, The Complete Fool, is forthcoming from Red Hen Press in 2022. His latest, Oldguy Superhero: The Complete Collection, came out from Red Hen in 2019. His other collections are Put this on, Please: New and Selected Poems, Ship of Fool, The Complete Book of Kong, Flickers, O Paradise, and Enter Dark Stranger. His poems have appeared in more than 40 anthologies and textbooks, as well as on The Writer's Almanac, AnAmerican Life in Poetry, and in such periodicals as Poetry, The Gettysburg Review, The Georgia Review, Boulevard, The Southern Review, Plume, Columbia, Rattle, The Iowa Review, Prairie Schooner, Epoch, and New Letters. He lives in the Kansas City area and teaches in the University of Nebraska Low-residency MFA in Writing Program. He was Poet Laureate of Missouri from 2012 to 2016.

If you are a Writers Place member and would like to be featured, please contact Cory Unrein or Maryfrances Wagner.

Event Recording: Show-Me State: MO Lit Mags Virtual Event (3/4/2021)

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 01:41:13 GMT

Call For Submissions For The Writers Place's First Audiobook!

Tue, 01 Dec 2020 03:39:23 GMT

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!

July 23rd Reading Series Zoom Event - Recording Available To View

Mon, 27 Jul 2020 14:17:00 GMT

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.

TWP Board Statement Affirms Black Lives Matter

Thu, 18 Jun 2020 15:09:01 GMT

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.

In Our Own Words Completes 9th Year of Programming

Wed, 10 Jun 2020 06:44:27 GMT

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.

Statement From The Writers Place Board re: COVID-19 related cancellations

Fri, 13 Mar 2020 15:05:04 GMT

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

KC Rose Society Children's Poetry Contest

Wed, 26 Feb 2020 13:32:35 GMT

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.

The Writers Place Remembers Dan Jaffe

Sun, 16 Feb 2020 16:22:53 GMT

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 Remembers Charles Ferruzza

Wed, 29 Jan 2020 23:48:47 GMT

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 Honored With 2020 Missouri Arts Award

Wed, 20 Nov 2019 03:54:37 GMT

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.

Donation Challenge!

Wed, 07 Aug 2019 20:27:24 GMT

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.

The Writer Place Gallery Show

Mon, 27 May 2019 14:04:50 GMT

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.

A New Era for The Writers Place

Wed, 02 Jan 2019 02:24:20 GMT

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.

The Writers Place News

Call for submissions to the Writers Place Yearbook

Remembering poet and TWP board member Ronda Miller

The Writers Place announces call for submissions for 2024 Writers Place Yearbook

The Writers Place is thrilled to announce a call for submissions for our first book of prompts

August 1st Poetry and Jazz Event with River Cow Orchestra

In Memoriam: David Ray

In Memoriam

The Writers Place Yearbook (3rd Edition) is now available

The Writers Place announces call for submissions for third audiobook

Remembering Eve Ott

Remembering poet Cameron Morse

Become a Reading Mentor with Lead to Read

Call for Submissions: MO Humanities

Advisory Board Member Michael Pritchett offers How It’s Made (for Writers) newsletter

The Writers Place releases its 2023 Audiobook featuring member authors

The Writers Place 2022 Yearbook - Now Accepting Submissions

The Writers Place now accepting submissions for its second audiobook

Scenes from Poetry and Jazz at Westport Coffeehouse

The Writers Place 2021 Yearbook is now for sale and download

Bruce Hopkins celebration of life

Liquid Imagination - Writers Place poets with River Cow Orchestra

Remembering Bruce Hopkins

November featured member: Marianne Kunkel

The Writers Place Day of the Dead program

Phil Miller Tribute slideshow

October Featured Member

Submissions sought for 2021-22 Writers Place Yearbook

Voices from The Writers Place now available for stream/download

September Featured Member: Polly Alice McCann

August Featured Member: David Arnold Hughes

July Featured Member: Gary Lechliter

Featured Member: Beth Gulley

Featured Member: Catherine Anderson

Featured Member: Wayne Courtois

Featured member: William Trowbridge

Event Recording: Show-Me State: MO Lit Mags Virtual Event (3/4/2021)

Call For Submissions For The Writers Place's First Audiobook!

July 23rd Reading Series Zoom Event - Recording Available To View

TWP Board Statement Affirms Black Lives Matter

In Our Own Words Completes 9th Year of Programming

Statement From The Writers Place Board re: COVID-19 related cancellations

KC Rose Society Children's Poetry Contest

The Writers Place Remembers Dan Jaffe

The Writers Place Remembers Charles Ferruzza

Maryfrances Wagner Honored With 2020 Missouri Arts Award

Donation Challenge!

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

The Writer Place Gallery Show

A New Era for The Writers Place

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