Write Action T-Shirts

Write Action T-shirts are now on sale. Be the first on your block––or cow pasture––to have this cool article of clothing! Available in men’s and women’s styling, pre-shrunk 100% cotton, with Write Action’s distinctive logo/mascot, our literary cow, on the front. Designed and drawn by artist Aaron Distler, Brattleboro native, alumni of the Putney School and Rhode Island School of Design.

The T-shirts come in five (5) colors: gold, black, cobalt blue, red, and lavender.

Women’s style has a lower neck-line and cap sleeves. It is available in black, blue, and lavender.

Men’s standard T-shirt styling comes in all colors except lavender.

Sizes for both men’s and women’s styles are S, M, L, XL.

T-shirts cost $12, payable to Write Action, via PayPal on the Write Action web site (writeaction.net) or send a check to Write Action, PO Box 822, Brrattleboro, Vt 05302. Be sure to include size and color. Please add $2 for shipping and handling.

STROLLING OF THE HEIFERS 2009

Calling all Write Action members:

Write Action will once again march in the Strolling of the Heifers parade on Saturday, June 6th. We’d love to have you join us for this fun occasion. Write Action T-shirts will be available to purchase at cost and wear along the route. Contact Write Action by calling 254-9595, or email info@writeaction.net, or just show up! We’ll be congregating on Flat Street – look for our banner. We invite you – and challenge you — to come up with a sign to carry that connects writing/literature with agriculture, cows, etc. Example: “Literature is milk for the mind and heart.” Get creative! And join us for a stroll with the cows.

As in the past two years, we’ll have a table on the Retreat grounds. This year, we will again have a collection of books authored by Write Action members donated to raise money to help keep us doing what we do. We will have some hot-off-the-press copies of Tim Mayo’s new book, The Kingdom of Possibilities, and Jacqueline Gens’ chapbook, Primo Pensiero, among them. If you have a book or books you’d like to donate to the cause – and those of you who already have, once again, Thank you! – you may bring it/them by on Saturday morning to our table, or leave it in the box provided in the hallway of Arlene Distler’s house at 22 Prospect Street in Brattleboro. Someone will be at the table starting at 10 a.m. Saturday morning. Specify if it’s a 50-50 split or 100% donation on a card with your name and book title. *This year we will have newly minted Write Action T-shirts for sale with our adorable literary cow logo, in 5 colors, all cotton, including a cap-sleeve woman’s style, and in sizes S-XL. Hear about plans underway to celebrate Write Action’s 10th birthday (2010), the addition to our web site of Members’ Pages, and other new and exciting developments. You may even get to meet one of our illustrious Write Action Radio Hour hosts! And let us know what you’re up to – if we have room, we’ll give you space for your flyers, cards, etc.

2009 Write Action Contest

Write Action is pleased to announce its Fifth Annual Writing Contest. There
will be a $50 book gift certificate to a local bookstore for the first place
winners in each of the two categories, short story and poetry, and $25 book
gift certificates for each of the second and third place winners in each
category.

New this year will be a youth category for ages 18 and under. There will be
a first-place winner in poetry and prose, and honorable mentions in each
category. The winners will be awarded a $25 gift certificate to a
Brattleboro book store. Entries should indicate on the cover page that they
are for the youth category.

There are no assigned topics. To qualify each entry must be submitted in
four typed hard copies rather than one; prose should be double spaced. Short
stories will be limited to 1500 words, poems to no more than one page each
but there may be up to two poems (two pages) counting as one entry; each
poem should be printed on a separate page and each will be judged
separately.

Entries will be judged by distinguished panels of published authors. The
first entry by each writer is free but each additional entry (for a maximum
of three) will require a $5 fee. All entries must be postmarked by June 30,
2009. Judging will be completed on or about August 1st and the winners
notified before the annual Write Action picnic later in August. The winners
will be announced at the picnic and invited to read their entries there and
at the Literary Festival in late September/ early October. First place
winners in both prose and poetry will again have their entries published in
the Brattleboro Reformer.

How to enter: mail typed hard copies to Write Action Contest, P.O. Box 822,
Brattleboro, VT 05302 postmarked no later than June 30, 2009, or drop off at
39 Allerton Avenue, Brattleboro no later than that date. The author’s name
should not appear in any form on the text pages but only on the cover page
with phone number, e-mail address if any, and postal address so that the
judging may be done anonymously. Only one cover page is needed no matter how
many entries by one person. If you have any questions, please call 254-9586
or 254-7755.

Write Action Poetry Circle in Honor of National Poetry Month

Photos from the Poetry-magazine sponsored poetry circle hosted by Write
Action on April 18th.

Edmund Brelsford, linguist extraordinaire, “moderated” discussion prompted
by the April Poetry magazine which featured international poetry,
translated, with commentary from translators.

Present were:
Mary Mathias, Linda Aldrich, Barbara Benoit, Terry Hauptman, Toni Ortner,
and Arlene Distler

Next Writeaction Radio Hour November 23 hosted by Chard deNiord

Amer Latif, a professor at Marlboro and translator of Rumi, will join Chard deNiord on WVEW 107.7 FM Radio this coming Sunday on November 23 at 5:00PM to talk about and read poems of Rumi.

Writeaction Radio Host, Tom Ragle

Tom Ragle took an A.B. in Ancient Greek History and Literature at Harvard University and a B.A. and M.A. in English Language and Literature at Oxford University. He later served as President of Marlboro College (1958-81), Director of the Salzburg Seminar (1983-89), and Special Consultant to the United Nations Development Program in Beijing, China, on the teaching of English literature at the university level (1989-91). He also served two years each as a visiting professor and Special Assistant to the President at the University of Vermont and Trinity College (Vermont). Since retiring in 1993 he and his wife Nancy have lived in Guilford, Vermont in the home in which Nancy grew up. He serves on the board of Write Action.

English and American Poetry presented by Tom Ragle
Second Sunday of Every Month

Octgober 12, 2008
Miscellany: Different Voices in English and American Poetry

November 9, 2008
The Sonnet in English

December 14, 2008
John Donne

January 11, 2009
Alexander Pope

February 8, 2009
William Wordsworth

March 8, 2009
Robert Browning

April 12, 2009
Gerard Manley Hopkins

May 10, 2009
Walt Whitman

June 14,2009
Emily Dickinson

July 12, 2009
Thomas Hardy

August 9, 2009
William Butler Yeats

September 13, 2009
Robert Frost

Writeaction Announces Weekly Radio Hour on WVEW 107.7 FM

Announcing the Write Action Radio Hour every Sunday at 5:00 PM on WVEW, Brattleboro Community Radio (107.7 FM) or live streaming at http://www.wvew.org/live.m3u

In October 2008, Write Action inaugurated a weekly radio show on Brattleboro Community Radio WVEW 107.7 FM. Different radio hosts alternate each week beginning on the first Sunday of the month with Jacqueline Gens and Chard deNiord hosting a thematic talk show featuring poetry, music and conversation around a seasonal or relevant topic. Tom Ragle’s series on the second Sunday of the month focuses on readings in classical English and American poetry with commentary. Edmund Brelsford hosts the third Sunday of the month covering international poets. A local writer TBA will interview local writers every fourth Sunday of the month. On the rare occasion of a fifth Sunday, Write Action Radio Hour will feature a Write Action or local prerecorded literary event. All radio hosts are experienced writers and teachers. The year-round series promises both to educate and entertain Individuals interested in poetry whether they write or not.

Please join us for the Write Action Radio Hour every Sunday at 5:00 -6:00 PM on Brattleboro’s Community Radio station WVEW 107.7 FM. Listeners may access the show in Brattleboro at 107.7 FM or via the internet through live streaming on the WVEW website at http://www.wvew.org/live.m3u

To view playlist/topics currently under development for each show, host biographies, an annual calendar of programs or to post a comment about a particular show, please check the Write Action Blog at http://www.writeaction.wordpress.com/

Check back for individual host pages here at our web blog. Coming Soon!

WRITE ACTION CONTEST WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Winners in the Write Action 4th annual Literary Contest were announced at the Write Action annual Writers’ Picnic on Sunday, August 17, 2008. The Picnic was held in Guilford at the home of Tom and Nancy Ragle. Entertainment was provided by Bob Tucker on the accordian.

Gift certificates to local bookstores, The Book Cellar, and Everyone’s Books were the prizes. First place winners won $50 gift certificates; second and third place winners won $25 gift certificates. Top winners will have their work published in the Brattleboro Reformer.

First place in the prose division went to Susan Johnson of Jacksonville, VT, for her story “Ms Belle’s Is Diner.” Second place in prose was awarded to Janice Mitchell-Love of Saxton’s River, for “The 3 a.m. Blues, Part I: Jess’s Story.” Third place in prose went to Jenny Gelfan, Quechee, VT for “Family Home.”

Poetry winners were: First place, J. Kates of Fitzwilliam, NH, for his poem “Opera.” J. Kates also won second prize for “Riding the Reservoir.” There was a tie for third place: Lynn Valente, Marlboro, VT, for “Rural Essay,” and Judith Dickerson-Nelson of Townshend, VT, for “Tender Days.”

Thanks to the Judges of the contest, who will be rewarded with a pot luck dinner this fall, prepared by the Write Action Board. Prose judges were Benson Bobrick, Suzanne Kingsbury, and Bob Tucker. Poetry judges were Rob Lawson, Tim Mayo, and Brian Mooney.

Contact: Mary W. Mathias, mtoo@verizon.net, 254-7755

WRITE ACTION ANNUAL WRITERS’ POTLUCK PICNIC

Write Action will hold its annual potluck picnic on Sunday, August 17th  from 1-5p.m. at the spacious and lovely grounds of the home of  Tom Ragle on Melendy Hill. The public is invited.

There will be opportunity for networking, good food (grill available), hearing each other’s latest work, and music. Announce your recent  publishing triumph, or writing project. There will be a 5-minute time slot for each writer participating in the open reading.

Winners of Write Action’s 2008 poetry and prose contests will be announced.

Directions to the picnic:
Go south on Rte 5, past Guilford Country Store, over stone bridge, take next right, go 6/10ths of a mile to red farmhouse/barn on right.

Questions? WriteAction2004@aol.com or call 254-9595
www.writeaction.net

Write Action Workshop in Poetry & Jazz

The following poets participated in the Write Action workshop and performance in poetry and jazz presented at the Vermont Jazz Center in Brattleboro, Vermont on July 20, 2008. During the morning session, writers worked with Verandah Porche followed by an afternoon session with musicians, Eugene Uman, Jamie McDonald and Bob Weiner. The video is a brief segment of the final performance later that evening. This event was made possible with grants from the Vermont Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Crosby Foundation.

Verandah Porche — “Secret Slime”

Alan Petraske — “We Are Not of Course” [see video]

Marya Tudor — “In Praise of Spring” [see video]

Arlene Distler — “Provincetown Pier” [see video]

Linda Aldrich — “I’ve Seen Them Kiss In Paris” [see video[

Elizabeth Lewis — “Can’t Call Back”

Alan Petraske — “Because You’re You”

Elizabeth Lewis — “Sextet”

Arlene Distler — “Antiquity — At The Met”

Emily Peyton — “From Another Life”

Marya Tudor — “Chords”

Linda Aldrich — “Photo For My Father”

Patricia Pedroza — “Palabras”