Warrior Writers -From The People Who Know War Closely-Too Closely

Join Warrior Writers this week for readings in NJ and Boston! View this email in your browser

Friends, We'd love to take this opportunity to give you some highlights from the summer and to invite you to be part of our growing community. We hope you'll be joining us at our upcoming events to share your stories and creative talents, and to connect with other writers and artists. We're grateful to our volunteer Lynn Estomin, who overhauled and gave a new look to the Warrior Writers website over the summer – it now runs more smoothly for iPhones and iPads! We've added a handful of new artists and more information on ways to get involved with Warrior Writers. Keep an eye out for upcoming events near you! Following a weeklong Combat Paper and Warrior Writers workshop at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts this past May, Somalia War veteran Sarah N. Mess felt like a totally different person leaving. "From bottom to top, my body feels lighter," she said. Her comment is a testament to the power of writing and art to effect change, both personally and as part of a community.

HAPPENINGS Wednesday, October 14 at 7pm Warrior Writers reading to open "Love in the Time of War,” a concert, reading and discussion devoted to war, memory and the role art plays in healing at Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Wamfest in Lenfell Hall (285 Madison Ave, Madison, NJ). Celebrated film composer Paul Cantelon will perform with Grammy-nominated singer Angela McCluskey and author J. Mae Barizo in her poem “The Killing Time,” and discuss her family’s history as POWs in a Japanese war camp. Thursday, October 15 at 7:30pm  Warrior Writers poetry presentation to open "Lyric in a Time of War" at Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Wamfest in Lenfell Hall. The American String Quartet will blend fiction, poetry and music in a meditation on war and remembrance. Joined by Kingsley Tufts Award-winning poet and essayist Tom Sleigh and National Book Award winner and veteran Phil Klay, they will perform a moving tribute featuring readings interspersed with the music of Beethoven and Shostakovich's String Quartet #8.  Thursday, October 15 at 7pm  Monthly Warrior Writers reading and open mic night at the Cambridge Friends Meeting House (5 Longfellow Park, Cambridge, MA) Contact: Eric Wasileski, ericwasileski@gmail.com Thursday, October 22 at 3pm Monthly Warrior Writers workshop at UMass Boston (100 Morrissey Blvd, Boston, MA) Contact: Caleb Nelson, calebsn@gmail.com Saturday, October 24 at 7pm Warrior Writers reading at the Greenfield Annual Word Festival's Archibald MacLeish Veterans Stage (Arts Block, 289 Main St, Greenfield, MA) Contact: Eric Wasileski, ericwasileski@gmail.com Wednesday, October 28 at 6pm  Reception, arts showcase, and preview of PBS documentary On Two Fronts: Latinos & Vietnam at WHYY Studios (150 N. 6th Street, Philadelphia) Contact: Lovella Calica, lovella@warriorwriters.org Over the summer, we hosted several weeklong workshops that have been transformative for participants. In June, the Old Oak Dojo hosted our annual Boston Warrior Writers Retreat in conjunction with the William Joiner Institute Writers' Workshop at UMass Boston, bringing together more than 40 veterans, family members, and volunteers for community gatherings, workshops, readings, and master classes led by Bruce Weigl, Fred Marchant, Larry Heinemann, Kevin Bowen, Sean Davis and other talented writers throughout the week. A highlight of the retreat was a Warrior Writers reading on the lawn of the Longfellow House in partnership with the National Park Service. (Several Warrior Writers also had the opportunity to read at Emily Dickenson's house as part of the Amherst Poetry Festival earlier this month!) Warrior Writers participated in a two-week residency with the emerging Veterans Art Movement in conjunction with the Department of Art Practice the University of California in Berkeley. The residency culminated with readings and art exhibitions at Mullowney Printing and UC Berkeley's Worth Ryder Art Gallery. We're excited to announce that there will be more programming in the Bay Area soon as well! Warrior Writers co-founder Aaron Hughes was awarded a Fellowship with The Mission Continues to serve with Warrior Writers in the Bay Area beginning later this month. For more information or to get involved, contact Aaron at bayarea@warriorwriters.org. In August, we held the last of our weeklong workshops with active duty service members for 2015 in the DC area. In collaboration with the USO Metro and Combat Paper NJ, the writing, papermaking, and printmaking workshops culminated with an art exhibition and spoken word performance at the Workhouse Arts Center. Warrior Writers is partnering with the City of Philadelphia's Mural Arts Program to work with the internationally-renowned artist Michael Rakowitz. Michael will weave together the personal stories of Iraqi refugees and Iraq War veterans with cultural traditions, music and sound to create scripted passages that will serve as the backbone of a performance on Independence Mall and a 10-episode radio program and podcast. Among others, the performance will feature Aaron Hughes and former broadcast journalists Bahjat Abdulwahed (dubbed the “Walter Cronkite of Bagdhad”) and his wife Hayfaa Ibrahem Abdulqader. This fall in Philadelphia, we're also partnering with the Kimmel Center to lead a series of workshops that will culminate with public events next winter and spring, including the performance piece Holding It Down: The Veterans' Dreams Project as part of the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts. Our work wouldn't be possible without your continuing support! Please make a tax-deductible donation to Warrior Writers today and empower us to continue bringing veterans together for free workshops, retreats, performances, and exhibitions! You can also support our work by ordering our anthologies. For more information about upcoming events or anything else, email us at info@warriorwriters.org. Best wishes, Lovella, Rachel, Kevin, Jeremy, Maggie ... Website Facebook Twitter Donate

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