MacDowell hosts Monadnock Writers’ Group

On Saturday, Sept. 21, at 9:45 a.m., Monadnock Writers’ Group begins its monthly speaker series at MacDowell’s James Baldwin Library, 100 High St. in Peterborough.

MacDowell Fellows Diana Cao and Joanna Pearson will be featured speakers. The free event provides attendees the opportunity to hear two award-winning writers discuss their works in a setting typically not open to visitors.

MacDowell provides support for nearly 300 artists each year, bringing together multidisciplinary talent to exchange ideas and pursue creative work. Cao is a writer, data scientist, and JD candidate at Harvard Law School.  Her poetry and fiction have appeared in Ploughshares, The Threepenny Review, The Georgia Review and more. She is winner of Nimrod International‘s 2023 Neruda Prize. Her first chapbook, “Relational,” won Sixth Finch‘s 2024 chapbook contest. 

Pearson is a creative writer and psychiatrist. Her novel “Bright and Tender Dark” is an Indie Next Pick and an Amazon Editors’ Pick. Her short story collections have been finalists for literary awards, including the Virginia Literary Awards and Kafka Prize for Fiction. Her collection “Now You Know It” received the 2021 Drue Heinz Literature Prize.  

Since 1984 the Monadnock Writers’ Group has supported local writers of all genres and levels of achievement. Monthly meetings, held on the third Saturday of each month, bring a variety of writers to the Monadnock region to offer their experiences. In addition, MWG publishes periodic anthologies and Smoky Quartz, a semi-annual online journal of literature and art. Throughout the year MWG hosts contests, public readings and informal gatherings to raise awareness of the literary talent in the Monadnock region.  For information, go to monadnockwriters.org and smokyquartz.org.

To make a reservation or for information about Monadnock Writers’ Group activities, send email to monadnockwriters@gmail.com.