Cambridge Writers’ Workshop is excited to announced that Diana Norma Szokolyai will be serving as a panelist for the WNBA Award 2023. This award will be presented to GrubStreet founder Evie Bridburg on Friday June 2nd, 2023 at Porter Square Books located on 25 White Street, Cambridge, MA. The event will begin at 6:00 p.m. with a “networking hour.” The panel discussion and award presentation will begin at 7:00 p.m. This even is open to the public and refreshments will be served. For more information email boston@wnba-books.org or check out their website https://wnba-books.org/wnba-award/

Award Recipient:

Eve Bridburg, Founder and Executive Director of GrubStreet

Eve Bridburg is the Founder and Executive Director of GrubStreet. Under her leadership, the organization has grown into a national literary powerhouse known for artistic excellence, working to democratize the publishing pipeline and program innovation. An active partner to the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture, Eve was the driving force behind establishing the country’s first Literary Cultural District in downtown Boston.

Having graduated from its inaugural class, Eve remains active with the National Arts Strategies Chief Executive Program, a consortium of 200 of the world’s top cultural leaders. She has presented on the importance of literary arts centers and the intersection of arts and civics at numerous conferences. Her essays have appeared in The Boston Globe, Huffington Post, Cognoscenti, Writer’s Digest and TinHouse.

Eve serves on the Advisory Board of The Loop Lab, a Cambridge-based nonprofit dedicated to workforce development for underrepresented youth in the digital storytelling and media sectors. Eve worked as a literary agent at The Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary Agency for five happy years where she developed, edited, and sold a wide variety of books. Before starting GrubStreet, she attended Boston University’s Writing Program on a teaching fellowship, farmed in Oregon, and ran an international bookstore in Prague.

Here are the featured Panelists Below:

Natalie Obando, Host
WNBA National President

For nearly two decades Natalie Obando has worked in the world of books as a literary publicist. She is the founder of Do Good Public Relations Group, a literary PR firm that helps authors and publishers connect with their perfect reader through strategic and social good-based campaigns. Natalie is also the founder of the grassroots organization Women of Color Writers Podcast and Programming. As the current National President of the Women’s National Book Association (WNBA), she oversees all eleven chapters across the nation as well as the national board and national programs. She is the founder and chair of Authentic Voices—a four-month-long program that immerses people from marginalized communities in a writing, editing, marketing, and publishing masterclass. Natalie has been a speaker at literary conferences across the United States, helping authors and publishers promote their work and drive equity in publishing.

Serina Gousby, Panelist
Program Manager, Boston Writers of Color

Serina Gousby is a writer, calligrapher, and Program Manager of the Boston Writers of Color program at GrubStreet. She oversees programming, engages with members through media outlets and monthly newsletters, and provides opportunities and guidance to self-identifying writers of color. As a poet, her work is published in Pangyrus, and she has performed at the Boston Poetry Marathon, HUBWeek, and Literary Death Match. Serina holds a BA in English with a concentration in Creative Writing and minor in Black Studies from Suffolk University. When she’s not writing poetry, she’s either writing on her blog, The Rina Collective, or creating artwork.

Namrata Patel, Panelist
Author

Namrata Patel is an Indian American Amazon bestselling author of contemporary fiction. Her debut, The Candid Life of Meena Dave, was critically acclaimed, including being named on The Center for Fiction’s best novel long list. Her writing examines diaspora and dual-cultural identity among Indian Americans, multi-generational tensions tied to assimilation, and historical awareness of Indian American achievements. Her sophomore novel, Scent of a Garden, will be released in June 2023. Namrata has lived in India, New Jersey, Spokane, London, and New York City and currently calls Boston home. She has been writing most of her adult life.

Diana Norma Szokolyai, Panelist
Co-founder/Artistic Director, Cambridge Writer’s Workshop

Diana Norma Szokolyai is a writer, teacher and co-founder/Executive Artistic Director of Cambridge Writers’ Workshop. She is co-editor of CREDO: An Anthology of Manifestos & Sourcebook for Creative Writing and author of the poetry chapbooks Parallel Sparrows, and Roses in the Snow. Her poetry and essays appear in publications like Critical Romani Studies, The Poetry Miscellany, The Boston Globe, Up the Staircase Quarterly and MER VOX Quarterly. Her poetry has been anthologized in Other Countries: Contemporary Poets Rewiring History, Stone to Stone: Writing by Romani Women, and Teachers as Writers, as well as translated into German for the anthology of Romani poets from around the world Die Morgendämmerung der Worte, Moderner Poesie–Atlas der Roma und Sinti. She was awarded a 2021 Center for Arts and Social Justice Fellowship at Vermont College of Fine Arts She was award as 2021 Center for Arts and Social Justice Fellowship at Vermont College of Fine Arts for her work translating Romani poets into English. Other honors include honorable mention for Best Poetry Book in the 2014 Paris Book Festival and finalist for Hunger Mountain’s 2020 May Day Mountain Chapbook series. Together with Dennis Shafer, she founded ChagallPAC, an interdisciplinary arts organization that hosts performances, readings, and workshops, with a gallery space on Artists’ Row in Salem, MA. A first generation American of Hungarian Romani heritage, she holds an M.A. in French Literature & Cultural Studies from UConn, an Ed.M in Arts in Education from Harvard, and an M.F.A. in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts.