Author: Donna Ardizzoni

THE DOGTOWN WRITERS FESTIVAL: FINDING WORDS IN PLACE Friday, September 27 and Saturday, September 28, 2019. The Dogtown Writers Festival is an event that the Gloucester Writers Center has designed to provide multiple creative opportunities for writing in unique venues, ensuring that all voices are heard. Join us and other fellow writers in exploring and celebrating PLACE, with Cape Ann as a microcosm of the global macrocosm. The festival will be looking at what shapes our progressive future without losing “grounding” in our cultural roots and the history we grow out of. We will develop our personal connection with the “geography of our being”—the place in which we live, work, and create, whether that place is Cape Ann or beyond. It is what poet Vincent Ferrini referred to as the “Holy Local,” a lens through which to look at the world. Our workshops, keynote speakers, and panel discussions will explore, through dialogue and writing, the themes of: “Words in Place,” “Words Over Time,” and “Words in People—Voices of Cape Ann.” “What cannot be taken away-/the/Temple/outside/me/ in me/ I am inside /of life is the poem.” ~ Vincent Ferrini “Exploration of the HOLY LOCAL, the inner and outer worlds that we are all heir to.” ~Henry Ferrini **THE ENTIRE SCHEDULE FOR THE FESTIVAL IS LISTED BELOW THE WORKSHOPS.  WORKSHOP OFFERINGS:

EVENT DETAILS: FRIDAY, September 27, 2019 5 pm- 7 pm: The Gloucester House, 63 Rogers Street, Gloucester, Ma. This is a pre-Keynote cocktail reception open only to participants of the workshops, moderators, instructors, panelists, and DWF committee members.

7:30 pm: The Joseph Garland Keynote Address will be given by renowned author and journalist, Sandy Tolan. The Master of Ceremonies is author, award-winning photojournalist, and filmmaker, Nubar Alexanian. The evening will also feature Willa Brosnihan, a talented local high school student who will read an original poem. She is a writer/poet, and frequent winner of the Sawyer Free Library’s “Poetry without Paper” contest. Location: Gloucester City Hall, Dale Ave, 2nd floor, Gloucester, Ma. This event is open to the public and free. Doors open at 6:30pm.

Sandy Tolan: The Joseph Garland Keynote Address featured speaker and Workshop Instructor

Sandy Tolan once lived in Gloucester (with Joe Garland as a mentor). Sandy is a best-selling author, and an award-winning radio and print journalist who reports on and comments frequently about Palestine and Israel. He More…

Nubar Alexanian, Master of Ceremonies for “The Joseph Garland Keynote Address”

Nubar Alexanian is an acclaimed photojournalist who has worked for magazines in the U.S & Europe including Life Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic and many others. He has six books in print, including JAZZ with More…

Willa Brosnihan: Young writer and poet

Willa Brosnihan is a high school student and staff writer for Gloucester High School’s newspaper, The Gillnetter, and the co-editor of the school’s literary magazine, The Elicitor. She has placed in the top three of her More…

************************************************************************************************* SATURDAY, September 28, 2019: 9 am- Noon: Cape Ann Museum, 27 Pleasant Street, Gloucester, Ma. For all workshop participants, instructors, moderators, panelists. Morning discussion panels will be moderated by author, JoeAnn Hart.

JoeAnn Hart: Lead Moderator for the discussion panels: “Words in Place,” “Words over Time,” and “Words in People—Voices of Cape Ann”

JoeAnn Hart is the author of the true crime memoir, Stamford ’76: A True Story of Murder, Corruption, Race, and Feminism in the 1970s (University of Iowa Press, April 2019), and the novels Float and Addled. Her short fiction, essays, and More…

Panelists include the authors Charlotte Gordon, Jim Scrimgeour, Alan Weisman, and Anna Solomon. There is also a light breakfast for all workshop participants that morning.

Noon- 1:15 pm: Lunch Break

1:30 pm- 4 pm: WORKSHOPS: There are a variety of workshops to be held in various locations in the Gloucester area. Each workshop description includes the location. Many writing genres are covered including poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and play-writing. There will also be a dedicated onsite workshop in Dogtown Common and a workshop specifically for high school students, ages 14-18.

5 pm- 9 pm: Plenum The Gloucester House Restaurant, 63 Rogers Street, Gloucester, Ma. At the conclusion of the workshops, there will be a dinner/cocktail reception for all workshop participants, instructors, moderators, panelists, DWF volunteers, GWC board members, and invited special guests. There will be a dedicated “Words in People—Voices of Cape Ann” panel with author JoeAnn Hart serving as moderator, featuring panelists best-selling author Anita Diamant and author and Dogtown Common expert, Mark Carlotto. The evening will include food, cash bar, a free book raffle for participants, open mic readings of selected writings from the days’ workshops, and other tailored and themed events.

Anita Diamant: Panelist, “Words in People—Voices of Cape Ann”

Anita Diamant is the author of twelve books. Her first novel, New York Times bestseller, The Red Tent, has been published in more than 25 countries and was adapted into a two-part miniseries by Lifetime More…

Mark Carlotto: Workshop Instructor and Panelist

Mark Carlotto is an aerospace engineer who got lost in Dogtown soon after moving to Gloucester more than fifteen years ago. Since then he has researched, explored, and mapped Dogtown and the inland woods of More…

*************************************************************************************** The Dogtown Writers Festival is generously funded in part by: The Garland Legacy Project Democracy. History. Community. Environment. Throughout his life in Gloucester, historian and writer Joseph E. Garland advocated for a fully engaged citizenry to preserve the city’s integrity, authenticity, and transparency as a democratically participatory community. Joe recognized that the very fabric of Gloucester’s cultural identity was at risk of dissolution in the face of larger industrial shifts fundamentally changing its socioeconomic landscape. His impassioned writing served as a community conscience, prodding citizen involvement in preserving Gloucester’s history and heritage. The Garland Legacy Project arose from the vision of Helen Garland and family members to ensure that Joe’s central values would continue to inspire and guide key endeavors which were dear to him. The Garland Legacy Project honors Gloucester’s history, culture, and natural environment by providing support to innovative Gloucester programs that advance citizen self-governance, historic awareness of place and purpose, leadership in ocean and all environmental stewardship, preservation of the “commonwealth,” the importance of the written word, the literary arts, and the pursuit of peace. The Garland Legacy Project strives to ensure that these defining values embraced by Joe and Helen Garland remain vibrant and relevant, serving to promote a just, compassionate society, a transparent accountable government, and a sustained healthy planet. ************************************************************************************************* The Gloucester Writers Center and the Dogtown Writers Festival committee thanks the Mass Cultural Council for their generous grant and the following organizations and friends for their donation of locations for our workshops and discussion panels. We appreciate their generosity and spirit of community!