Tag Archives: Diana Norma Szokolyai

Happy New Year 2015 from the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop!!

Posted on by

CWW-NY2015 Happy New Year 2015 from the directors and staff of the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop! We hope you’re all as excited for 2015 as we are!  We’re planning a delightful, productive year for our writers and artists with plenty of opportunities to travel, write, practice yoga, and network, and we’re looking forward to seeing you at our retreats, workshops, readings, and literary fest events in 2015!

The Cambridge Writers’ Workshop had a wonderful year in 2014.  Over the last twelve months, we’ve had a chance to hold retreats and readings across America and the world, meet exciting writers, yoga practicioneers, and artists, and have found new ways to inspire our own writing.  Our year began with the 2014 Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference in Seattle, WA in February. At AWP 2014, we got a chance to announce our CREDO Anthology of Manifestos & Sourcebook for Creative Writing, promote our new literary internships,  and discuss our Summer 2014 Château de Verderonne Yoga & Writing Retreat, and our AWP 2014 A Night at the Victrola Reading. At AWP 2014, CWW Directors, Rita Banerjee and Diana Norma Szokolyai signed copies of their books, Cracklers at Night and Parallel Sparrows, respectively.  And our A Night at the Victrola, featuring readings from authors such as Rita Banerjee, Diana Norma Szokollyai, Peter Mountford, Anca Szilágyi, Nancy Jooyoun Kim, Pattabi Seshadri, Susan Parr, Johnny Horton, Talia Shalev, Leah Umansky, Dena Rash Guzman, Kevin Skiena, Jessica Day, and Carrie Kahler.  Our AWP 2014 literary reading was even featured in Vanguard Seattle as a top AWP reading event.

After AWP 2014, we were off to our annual writing and yoga retreat to the Château de Verderonne in Picardy, France. The event, which was featured in Poets and Writers and Quail Bell Magazine, was a chance for writers to spend two weeks in the French countryside, participating in writing workshops and craft of writing seminars, yoga classes, and culturally tours of Paris and Chantilly. We liveblogged the entire event as well, sharing dozens of photos from our trip while also allowing our writers to share their thoughts on the experience.

Our New Yorker members also hosted an event as part of LitCrawl Manhattan in September 2014.  Our Literary Masquerade featured readings of poetry, noir, science fiction, and original songs from Diana Norma Szokolyai, Rita Banerjee, Gregory Crosby, Elizabeth Devlin, Jonah Kruvant, and Nicole Colbert.

We also hosted an annual Pre-Thanksgiving Yoga and Writing Cleanse in November 2014. The two day event kicked off with yoga lessons from Elissa Lewis, followed by fresh juice cleanses, and creative writing workshops and craft seminars from Diana Norma Szkolyai, Jessica Reidy, and Jonah Kruvant.  Some of the creative writing classes included on the retreat included “The Art of Withholding,” “The Art of Revision” and “Sense of Smell, Memory, and Narrative.”   Our Pre-Thanksgiving Yoga & Writing Cleanse was an opportunity for the participants to cleanse themselves mentally, spiritually, and creatively before the bustling holiday season, and was even featured in a piece in Quail Bell Magazine.

In 2014, we also began work on CREDO Anthology of Manifestos & Sourcebook for Creative Writing.  The collection will feature personal writer manifestos, essays on writing advice, and writing exercises to help spur creativity. Our staff has greatly enjoyed critiquing and conversing with writers on this publication, and more information about our featured writers will be announced shortly.

In 2014, we also welcomed our first interns to the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop, and these interns include the wonderful  Alex Carrigan, Katy Miller, and Megan Tilley, all of whom have helped the CWW greatly this year. They’ve helped manage our social media and written up post about our events, critiqued and edited submissions for CREDO, shown their talent for graphic design and corresponding with writers and hosts in French, Spanish, and English, and have provided much valuable assistance on our retreats and literary events this year.  We’re excited to have Alex, Katy, and Megan on our team, and we can’t wait to show you what they’ve helped us plan for 2015!

This was also a good year for our individual staff members getting published. Quail Bell Magazine featured plenty of creative writing from our staffers, including Jessica Reidy’s essay on novel research in Paris, Norma and Rita’s Mis/Translation poems, Megan Tilley’s poem “Puddle,” and Alex Carrigan’s poem “When I First Saw Her.” Reidy also had a series of trauma poems featured in Luna Luna Magazine and Tilley was featured in Fictionvale. Szokolyai was also named one of twenty Romani authors you should be reading by VIDA and published in the anthology Other Countries: Contemporary Poets Rewiring History.

While 2014 proved to be a very exciting year for all of us, our staff is quite ready to move on to our next round of exciting events. The CWW will once again table at AWP in Minneapolis from April 8-11, 2015 You can find us at the AWP 2015 Bookfair at Table 954. We will also be planning an offsite reading, and more information about that will come as we get closer to the event.

Join us April 2-5, 2015 for our first annual springtime Writing & Yoga Retreat in beautiful and gilded Newport, Rhode Island.  Our Newport retreat offers the opportunity for writers of all genres and levels to work alongside award-winning authors & editors to hone their craft and expand their writing skills, while working on new or existing projects.  Faculty includes internationally renowned author and writing coach Kathleen Spivack (fiction, poetry, nonfiction), Stephen Aubrey (playwriting,  screenwriting), Diana Norma Szokolyai (poetry, nonfiction), Rita Banerjee (poetry, fiction), and Elissa Lewis (yoga, meditation).  Registration closes on February 20, 2015 and spots are limited, so sign up on cww.submittable.com as soon as you can.

The Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Summer in Paris Writing Retreat will take place July 22-30, 2015 in France. The retreat offers participating writers of all genres and levels to work alongside award-winning authors and editors. Participating writers will hone their craft and expand their writing skills, while working on new or existing projects.  There will also be time to explore the city of Paris in all of its historical, literary, and romantic charm. Situated in heart of Paris’ Montparnasse neighborhood, amongst the fresh and popular open air markets and charming boutiques, the hotel where we will stay is full of charm and our Moroccan themed classroom will offer a wonderful oasis to practice the writing life.  Faculty includes internationally renowned author and writing coach Kathleen Spivack (poetry, fiction, nonfiction), David Shields (fiction, book-length essay), Diana Norma Szokolyai (poetry, nonfiction), Rita Banerjee (poetry, fiction), and Elissa Lewis (yoga, meditation).  If you’d like to join us in Paris, please apply online at cww.submittable.com by May 5, 2015.

And from August 3-10. 2015, join the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop on our summer writing retreat to the cultural oasis of Granada, Spain. Located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains in Andalucía, Granada is one of the gems of Spain and has inspired writers from Washington Irving to Salman Rushdie to Ali Smith. Let the old city stimulate your writing with its winding streets, Moorish history, and evocative landscapes. Or, indulge in delicious Andalucían cuisine and traditional Arab baths. Work with world-renowned authors on your manuscript, or look to the beauty and warmth of Granada to inspire all-new projects.  Faculty includes Rita Banerjee (poetry, fiction), Diana Norma Szokolyai (poetry, nonfiction), Jessica Reidy (fiction, poetry) and Elissa Lewis (yoga, meditation).  If you’d like to join us in Granada, please apply online at cww.submittable.com by April 20, 2015.

We hope you are all as excited for our 2015 events as we are. If you have any questions about our upcoming retreats, please view the pages linked above. If you have any questions we may not have answered, you can email us at info@cambridgewritersworkshop.org, and for inquiries, please email the CWW Directors, Rita Banerjee and Diana Norma Szokolyai, at directors@cambridgewritersworkshop.org.  You can also follow us on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter for more information and updates on any of these events. We look forward to making 2015 a year full of creativity, writing, and renewal, so join us as we make 2015 rock!

– Alex Carrigan & Rita Banerjee

Rita Banerjee & Diana Norma Szokolyai’s “Mis/Translations” feat. in Quail Bell Magazine

Posted on by

Who-LambThis month, Quail Bell Magazine will be curating and publishing a series of “Mis/Translations” poems by Rita Banerjee and Diana Norma Szokolyai.  Rita Banerjee and Diana Norma Szokolyai are the founders and directors of the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop (CWW). You can read about the CWW’s upcoming Pre-Thanksgiving Yoga, Writing, and Juice Cleanse Retreat in Quail Bell Magazine. In the interview, the CWW shares tips on creating a creative discipline of writing, yoga, and self-care.  Rita also discusses the creative writing invention exercise “Mis/Translations” and how it can help kick-start your writing. Rita’s poem, “Who Lamb” was inspired by a Mis/Translation exercise at the last CWW Verderonne retreat. Norma read her own poem, “hullám/wave” in Hungarian and Rita “Mis/Translated” based entirely on the sound and feel of  words that were foreign to her.  – Jessica Reidy

hullám/wave
by Diana Norma Szokolyai
(to be read out loud simultaneously in Hungarian & English)

Az állando hullám                                The continuous wave
igaznak hangzik                                     rings true
egymással keresztbe futó hullámok              cross sea
elmerülök a hullám sírban                       I am submerged in a watery grave
érzed?                                                   Do you feel it?
Már jön az érzelmi hullám                       The tidal wave is already coming
Az égbe nyúlik                                       It is reaching for the sky
és a felhök, gyáva mint a nyúl                   and the clouds, timid as rabbits
hallom a folyamatos hullámot                   I hear the continuous wave
beszélsz hullámositásokat                                    you are talking channelings
szeizmikus hullámok idógörbéje                time curve,
a hajadba, hullámos papirszalag             in your hair, streamers
hullám, hullám                                       wave, wave,
hullám                                                  wave

Who Lamb*
by Rita Banerjee

Who lamb.
Who’s into who lamb?
Igor likes Congo Music,
Caress my photo, who lamb.
He said Marion bring me a who lamb,
Sheared.

Azaleas on the bank,
Hollow as eggs
On the bank

Best who lamb with chocolate
Seismic who lamb
Igor likes to pay
For it with
Who lamb
Who lamb
Who lamb

* A “Mis/Translation” of Diana Norma Szokolyai’s poem “hullám/wave.”

Check out the on-going series of “Mis/Translations” poems by Rita Banerjee and Diana Norma Szokolyai at Quail Bell Magazine!  If you are interested in the CWW’s Pre-Thanksgiving Yoga, Writing, and Juice Cleanse Retreat (November 22-23), there is a limited time reduced registration fee. It will only last until Thursday November 20th, so apply now!

CWW’s Artistic Director Diana Norma Szokolyai’s Poem Published in Anthology Other Countries: Contemporary Poets Rewiring History

Posted on by

Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Artistic Director Diana Norma Szokolyai’s poem “Sarajevo” published in groundbreaking anthology Other Countries: Contemporary Poets Rewiring History.  On December 3, the anthology launches in London! See  http://ctrevien.wix.com/rewiringhistory for more info.

DNS's avatarDIANA NORMA SZOKOLYAI

OtherCountriesFrontandBackCover

When editors Claire Trévien and Gareth Prior wrote to me asking if I would like to contribute to their forthcoming anthology last July, I was thrilled to submit to such an exciting project.  The editors set out with the mission of publishing poetry that offer different perspectives on history than the main stream.  I think this is a very important volume, and I thank the editors for putting together this groundbreaking anthology.  My poem, “Sarajevo” was published, and I’m grateful to be in the company of many amazing poets (see the full list below).

The anthology features poems by James Brookes, Matt Bryden, Karen Jane Cannon, David Clarke, Ross Cogan, Sasha Dugdale, Martín Espada, Rebecca Goss, Hel Gurney, Linn Hansén, Emily Hasler, Sarah Hesketh, Holly Hopkins, Kirsten Irving, Jemma L. King, Rose Lemberg, Robin Lim, Éireann Lorsung, Hannah Lowe, Susan Mackervoy, Harry Man, Dawn Manning, Richie McCaffery, John McCullough, Michael McKimm, Lynn Pedersen…

View original post 41 more words

Twenty “Gypsy” Women You Should Be Reading by VIDA: Women in Literary Arts including our own Diana Norma Szkoloyai

Posted on by

MathildeVonThieleFor June, Roma and Traveller History Month, Jessica Reidy of VIDA: Women in the Literary Arts, has written a must-read essay, “Twenty ‘Gypsy’ Women You Should be Reading,” featuring the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Executive Artistic Director, Diana Norma Szokolyai.  In her essay, Reidy writes:

June is Roma and Traveller History Month, which began as an effort to educate people about these culturally rich, diverse, vibrant, oppressed, underrepresented, and misunderstood ethnic groups most commonly referred to as “Gypsies.” Let’s start with the word. Gypsy: the less-accurate term that gadjé (Rromanes for non-Romani people) use to refer to Roma, an ethnic group originating in India around the 11th century. After leaving India, Roma traveled West and were met by hostile, xenophobic Europeans, and so became nomadic due to persecution. Although many Roma are settled today and live all over the world, discrimination, hate crimes, and apartheid are ever-present. Travellers, sometimes known as “Tinkers,” are also traditionally nomadic and historically and presently suffer the same stigma and oppression that Roma suffer; however, they are of Irish ethnic origin and have their own culture and language and tend to live in Ireland and the U.K.

Over time, Gypsy became a racial slur, especially in the lowercase “gypsy,” and antigypsyist language is normalized in many languages. In American-English, for example, antigypsyist slurs are idiomatic (eg: That shopkeeper gypped me!). Racial slurs for Roma and Travellers include “Gypsy,” Gyppo,” “Gyp,” and for Travellers specifically, “Pikey” and “Knacker.” Despite this, Gypsy is often appropriated by gadjé and misused to describe anything occult, whimsical, sexual, or criminal, which both perpetuates harmful stereotypes and insultingly implies that “being Gypsy” is a lifestyle choice or a state of mind or spirit. This is particularly problematic considering the current global Romani and Traveller human rights crisis. However, some Roma and Travellers choose to reclaim Gypsy as an act of linguistic and identity empowerment, whereas some Roma, especially of the older generations (like my grandmother) just prefer Gypsy. If you aren’t Romani or Traveller, use Roma and Romani or Traveller instead of Gypsy or any other slurs, and if you are Romani or Traveller, you’re free to reclaim or shun the word Gypsy as you see fit.

DNSDiana Norma Szokolyai—is a young Hungarian-American writer/performance artist of Hungarian and Romani descent. She is Executive Artistic Director of Cambridge Writers’ Workshop, where she teaches and organizes Writing and Yoga retreats in France for adult writers. Her writing on literary communities was recently the subject of a monthly feature on HER KIND by VIDA: Women in the Literary Arts and Quail Bell Magazine. She author of the poetry collections Parallel Sparrows (honorable mention for Best Poetry Book in the 2014 Paris Book Festival) and Roses in the Snow (first runner-up Best Poetry Book at the 2009 DIY Book Festival). In 2011, The Brooklyn Art House Co-op digitized her handwritten chapbook, Blue Beard Remixed & Poems, written for The Fiction Project. Her writing has also been published in Lyre Lyre, the front page of The Boston Globe, Dr. Hurley’s Snake Oil Cure, Teachers as Writers, Polarity, Up the Staircase, Belltower & the Beach, Human Rights News, and Area Zinc Art Magazine, among others. She has released recordings of audio poetry in collaboration with musicians Dennis Shafer, Sebastian Wesman, David Krebs, Peter James, Howl Quartet, and Project 5 a.m. She also co-curates a poetry-music series, performs in CHAGALL PAC and is an interdisciplinary performance artist with the Brooklyn Soundpainting Ensemble. Her interdisciplinary work has been called “avant-garde” by The Boston Globe. She lives in Brooklyn, NY and was educated at Harvard, UConn, AMI, La Sorbonne Paris III and IV, and in her grandmother’s kitchen in Hungary. Website: http://diananorma.com/; Twitter handle: @DNSWrites

Read Jessica Reidy’s full essay for VIDA: Women in Literary Arts here.

Bach’s Inventions + Poetry feat. Diana Norma Szokolyai, Tara Skurtu, Nicole Terez Dutton, Dennis Shafer, & Kathleen Spivack

Posted on by

Bach-GoesPopChagallPAC presents:
BACH’S INVENTIONS + POETRY
Saturday May 3, 2014 * 8pm *  $5/10

OUTPOST 186
186.5 Hampshire Street
Inman Square, Cambridge, MA
[ Central Square T-Stop ]

Join us for a night of poetry and beautiful musical interludes from Bach’s Inventions.  The interplay between baroque music and poetic voices will set you soaring.  Featured poets include CWW Executive Artistic Director Diana Norma Szokolyai, CWW Board Member Kathleen Spivack, and former CWW Board Member Tara Skurtu along with poet Nicole Terez Dutton.  Featured musicians include Brian Abbot on guitar, Jon Amon on sax, Tim Pence on guitar, Dennis Shafer on sax, Alec Watson on piano, and Jobey Wilson on tuba.  This event is featured in The Boston Globe and Tara Skurtu’s poetry is featured on WBUR.

 

CWW’s Diana Norma Szokolyai Gives Poetry Reading in Woodstock, NY

Posted on by

Last Monday, Cambridge Writers’ Workshop’s Executive Artistic Director, Diana Norma Szokolyai read alongside many seasoned poets at the Harmony Café in Woodstock, NY.  After a short picnic and musical session by the side of the beautiful Cooper Lake, saxophonist Dennis Shafer and Diana Norma went into Woodstock and really enjoyed the night of poetry.  Among the luminaries were Donald Lev and beat poet Andy Clausen, a friend of Gregory Corso and Allen Ginsberg.  Here are some photos and a video of Diana Norma’s dual language poem, Hullám/Wave.

Watch a Video of the Hullám/Wave performance on YouTube:
Reading at Harmony, Café, Woodstock, NYHarmony Café Poetry Reading in Woodstock, NY

A Night at the Victrola: CWW AWP 2014 Reading, Seattle

Posted on by

CWW-VictrolaFriday February 28, 2014
8:30-10:00pm
Victrola Coffee & Art
411 15th Ave E, Seattle, WA 98112

The Cambridge Writers’ Workshop presents “A Night at the Victrola,” an AWP 2014 Reading, featuring the talents of Peter Mountford, Rita Banerjee, Diana Norma Szokolyai, Pattabi Seshadri, Nancy Jooyoun Kim, Kevin Skiena, Jessica Day, Anca Szilágyi, Talia Shalev, Carrie Kahler, Dena Rash Guzman, Leah Umansky, Susan Parr, & Johnny Horton.  Join us as we celebrate some of Seattle, New York, & Boston’s best writers, and graduates from the University of Washington MFA program.

2014 AWP Featured Book Signing – Feb 28 (10-11:30am) – Diana Norma Szokolyai

Posted on by

normaDiana Norma Szokolyai will be a featured author at the 2014 Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference in Seattle.  She will be signing her book, Parallel Sparrows (Finishing Line Press) on Friday February 28 from 10:00-11:30am at the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop table (BB29) in the AWP Bookfair.  Diana Norma Szokolyai’s writing has also been published in Lyre Lyre, the front page of The Boston Globe, Dr. Hurley’s Snake Oil Cure, Teachers as Writers, Polarity, Up the Staircase, Belltower & the Beach, Human Rights News, and Area Zinc Art Magazine, among others. 

Emergency INDEX: Documenting Performance Annually, V.2

Posted on by

index2012-coverRita Banerjee, Diana Norma Szkolyai, Gregory Crosby, and Leah Umansky are featured in the new issue of Emergency INDEX: Documenting Performance Annually, for their 2012 Performance of the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Literary Cabaret.  Emergency INDEX, Vol. 2 includes contributions from artists, poets, scholars, activists, advertisers, computer scientists, theater ensembles and filmmakers presenting more than 300 performances made around the world in 2012.  Vol. 2 Editors: Yelena Gluzman, Sophia Cleary; Associate Editors: Andrew Ross, Michael Newton.

This is a bible of performance art activity. And if you are, like I am, a believer in performance art and the value of this ephemeral art activity to change the hearts and minds and consciousness of people, then you need to have this bible in your life. The end. —Martha Wilson

Emergency INDEX, Volume 2 is now available for order.

Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Literary Circus (Brooklyn Lit Crawl 2013)

Posted on by

tumblr_mmzw8ceMze1ris3y8o1_1280Ladies and Gentlemen, step right up to the most end-defying literary event of the decade. Ringleaders Max March-Steinman and Diana Norma Szokolyai host a night of high-flying writing acrobatics drawing from literary treasure boxes of prompts, dialogue, and other surprises. See the incredible syllable juggling poet, whose tongue spits out sounds so quickly that they fly beyond the walls of the tent. Witness the amazing paragraph masquerade; you don’t know which character from which century will make the next appearance. Gasp at the sideshow of special guest story contortionists like the famed Gregory Crosby and more!  This event is interactive and volunteer readers/performers will be called up for interludes of poetry, rants, and character sketches about the circus throughout the ages.