Oct 1, 2016

Join the show at the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop’s Literary Vaudeville! The evening will feature tantalizing performances from writers Rita Banerjee, Diana Norma Szokolyai, Megan Fernandes, Claire Ince, Emily Smith, Christina M. Rau, and Frederick-Douglass Knowles II. Enjoy the dexterity of our word-artists and their poetic & prose literary feats!

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Sept 17, 2016

The Cambridge Writers’ Workshop is proud to announce our partnership with theBrooklyn Book Festival.  Join us our Brooklyn Book Festival 2016 Reading,  “Transformations & Disobedience,” an evening of stories, poetry, and song, at Molasses Books (770 Hart Street, Brooklyn, NY 11237) on Saturday September 17!  The evening will kick off at 8 pm, and will feature readings from a wonderful array of talented writers such as Stephen Aubrey, Rita Banerjee, Madeleine Barnes,Ellaraine Lockie, Ben Pease, Anne Malin Ringwalt, Kate McMahon, Emily Smith, Bianca Stone, and Diana Norma Szokolyai, along with a beautiful interludes of music from accomplished songwriters Erica Buettner and Elizabeth Devlin!

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July 28-Aug 5 2016

During the CWW Granada retreat, participants enjoyed What’s at Stake in Poetry taught by Rita Banerjee, Historical Fiction taught by Alexander Chee, and The Socio-Political Power of Hip Hop: Tupac Shakur, Martyr or Menace taught by Frederick-Douglass Knowles II. They also had manuscript consultations, enjoyed taking the architecture of Granada, and ate some delicious tapas!

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July 18-26, 2016

During the CWW Barcelona & South of France Writing Retreat, participants explored Point of View with Bret Anthony Johnston, writing with vulnerability in classes Lily Hoang’s on essays, and learned the nuts and bolts of publishing with Heidi Pitlor. They also consulted in various corners of the Amister Art Hotel about their manuscripts, visited Casa Batllo (one of Antoni Gaudí’s masterpieces), explore ancient churches, and relaxed by the pool.

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April 22-24, 2016 

During the CWW Newport Retreat which has held at our Cape-Cod Style Bungalow writers practiced yoga with Elissa Lewis, wrote themselves naked with Jade Sylvan, and figured out what was at stake with Diana Norma Szokolyai. They also dined together while discussing art and life. 

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March 30-April 2, 2016

The Cambridge Writers’ Workshop is coming to Los Angeles for the AWP Conference (March 30 – April 2, 2016)!  Last year’s AWP was a success with our bookfair table and reading at Boneshaker Books.  This year, you’ll be able to find us at Table 1157 and find information regarding our upcoming Spring in Newport, Rhode Island (April 22-25, 2016) , Summer in Narbonne & Barcelona (July 18-26, 2016), and Summer in Granada, Spain (July  28-August 5, 2016) Writing Retreats.

We’ll also be hosting our AWP Reading at Sabor y Cultura (located at 5625 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028) on Friday, April 1, 2016 from 4-7 pm.  Featured Readers include Rita Banerjee, Jess Burnquist, Julialicia Case, Ariana Kelly, Gwen E. Kirby, Katie Knoll, Ellaraine Lockie, Ondrej Pazdirek, Heather Aimee O’Neill, Brenda Peynado, Esther Pfaff, Jessica Piazza, Jonathan Shapiro, Emily Skaja, and Emily Smith.

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September 20, 2015

Join the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop for a Brooklyn Bookend Reading at Muchmore’s (located at 2 Havemeyer Street) on September 20 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The event will be moderated by Diana Norma Szokolyai and includes writers Rita Banerjee, Jonah Kruvant, Brandon Lewis, Elizabeth Devlin, Lisa Marie Basile, Jessica Reidy, Gregory Crosby, Matty Marks, and Emily Smith. Some of the writers are emerging on the literary scene with a bang, and many other writers have recently published their first or second books, and have received prestigious awards. Enjoy a drink and a bite to eat in the heart of Williamsburg as you hear from some of New York’s most exciting, new voices, many of whom are faculty members for the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop.

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July 23, 2015

During our 2015 Summer in Paris Writing Retreat, the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop organized a reading at the famous Shakespeare and Company bookstore.  The reading featured acclaimed essayist, writer, and Cambridge Writers’ Workshop instructor David Shields, who read from his new book I Think You’re Totally Wrong with Charles Recoursé, who is an editor for Au Diable Vauvert and Shields’s French translator.  Following an introduction by CWW Creative Director Rita Banerjee, the two read select passages from I Think You’re Totally Wrong with Recourse’ reenacting the part of Caleb Powell, Shields’s co-author.  The reading was followed by a Q&A and a book signing outside the store.

A full podcast of the reading is now available on the Shakespeare & Co. SoundCloud.  And additional photos from the event can also be found on theShakespeare and Co. Website.

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June 30, 2015

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April 9-11, 2015

The Cambridge Writers’ Workshop made an appearance at the 2015 Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference in Minneapolis, MN. There, our organization sold memberships, promoted our upcoming retreats, and advertised our CREDO anthology. The event also included our reading “Books and Bones at Boneshaker Books,” where twelve of our members and friends read a selection of poetry and prose. The event allowed for our members to make new connections and find new writing opportunities.

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April 2-5, 2015

The Newport, Rhode Island retreat took place at a Cape Cod style home nestled into a quiet neighborhood near the beach. We were joined by award-winning and internationally-renowned authors such as Kathleen Spivack (fiction, poetry, nonfiction), Stephen Aubrey (playwriting, screenwriting), Rita Banerjee (poetry, fiction), & Diana Norma Szokolyai (poetry, nonfiction).  Yoga and meditation was lead by Elissa Lewis.

During free sessions in the afternoon, participants had the opportunity to take mansion tours of gilded-era Newport, visit the Newport Museum, listen to some Newport jazz classics, and just relax beside the ocean watching the sailboats and let the stunning location influence their writing.

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January 31, 2015

Our “Winter Workshop For Creativity Through The Senses” offers a relaxing and inspiring triad of experiences and is open to all levels of yogis and writers.  Join CWW’s Diana Norma Szokolyai and Elissa Lewis for a day that will allow you to:

* Immerse yourself in Yoga Sequences that Invigorate & Restore.
* Learn about how Essential Oils can inspire you to create, heal the spirit, and open up the chakras for living in harmony with your surroundings.
* Inspire your writing (for all levels & genres of writers) with a workshop on Writing for the Senses, Making your Reader Feel.

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November 22-23, 2014

The Cambridge Writers’ Workshop will host a Pre-Thanksgiving Yoga and Writing Cleanse at Ashtanga Yoga Shala in Manhattan, NY. The purpose of this event is to allow participants the chance to enjoy a weekend of yoga, juice cleansing, and writing workshops before the holiday season began. With the help of yoga and juice cleansing, the participants were able to cleanse their minds and spirits, and in turn were able to focus their renewed energy on the two workshops hosted by CWW members.

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Saturday, September 13, 2014

 The Cambridge Writers’ Workshop hosts a literary masquerade with writers and performance artists Gregory Crosby, Diana Norma Szokolyai, Jonah Kruvant, Elizabeth Devlin, Rita Banerjee, and Nicole Colbert. Original readings and performances will be intermingled with musings on masks from Pessoa, Kierkegaard, Descartes, Dickinson, de Beer, and more. There will be masks. There will be libations. There will be paint and skin. 

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August 7-20, 2014

From August 7-20, we visited the Château de Verderonne in Picardy, France for our annual Yoga and Writing Retreat. This was our third year visiting a château in the French countryside, where we workedon our yoga practice and our writing projects. We’ll live blogged the event, so check out the link above for program details!

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Friday February 28, 2014

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 at Victrola Cofee & Art in Seattle, WA.  Join us as we celebrate some of Seattle, New York, & Boston’s best writers, and graduates from the University of Washington MFA program.

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November 23 & 24, 2013

Rita Banerjee, Diana Norma Szokolyai, Elissa Lewis, and Jonah Kruvant will be teaching at the Cambridge Writer’s Workshop Pre-Thanksgiving Creative Writing & Yoga Cleanse on at the Ashtanga Yoga Studio Manhattan’s East Village.  The creative writing & yoga weekend will take place on Saturday November 23 and Sunday November 24 from 2-4pm at the Ashtanga Yoga Shala (295 E 8th Street & Avenue B, New York, NY 1009).  Rita Banerjee, Diana Norma Szokolyai, and Jonah Kruvant will teach on playing with odradeks, developing creative writing manifestos, and will feature a variety of in-class writing exercises while Elissa Lewis will teach two hours of intensive introductory and advanced yoga to participants. So before reuniting with family and letting the holidays get underway, treat yourself to a weekend of creativity, yoga, writing, and raw juice cleanses, and transform your mind, body, and page! Registration is now open at: cww.submittable.com

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July 24 – August 7, 2013

Come join us for our second annual writing retreat in France. This year, we will stay at the Château de Verderonne (45 min from Paris), in a lovely and spacious 17th century manor house.  A French chef will prepare all of our meals on site, and we will dine together in the large kitchen or on the terrace. Enjoy walks through the château at your leisure, take refuge writing in the drawing rooms, or relax in the sprawling gardens.  The ancient discipline of yoga directly benefits the creative process. Yoga heals and strengthens posture and chronic tensions common to writers, making writing time more productive. Calm the nervous system through meditation and breathing exercises.  Writers & Co-Directors of Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Diana Norma Szokolyai and Rita Banerjee will be your guides and help you create the space you need to nurture your writing projects. Certified yoga instructor/visual artist Elissa Lewis will guide participants in daily yoga and meditation exercises.

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June 16, 2013

Join the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop & Armchair/Shotgun this Sunday June 16 for our radio-play Roy Rogers: The Missing Atomic Scientist @61Local #Brooklyn!!

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June 9 – July 14, 2013

Translation, often a matter of taste, involves factors such as accuracy to the original word and translation of an author’s, even a text’s, style. The cultural literacy needed to understand and translate a joke or a folk saying makes translation a more complex task than plugging words into a translator. In this course students will delve into the art of translation by comparing and contrasting two different versions of five classic works and using translation to inspire and motivate new craft techniques and writing practices within their own work.

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May 18, 2013

Ladies 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.

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April 13 & 27, May 11 & 25, June 8 & 22, 2013

Come enjoy a cup of tea, some fine vegan cuisine, and literary talk. Meet other writers and people from the publishing & editing world. Discussion topics, writing prompts, literary games, and suggested reading lists will be provided by the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop facilitator. Participants will also be encouraged to share resources and writing with each other. Special guests will share their expertise from various sectors of the writing/publishing field. The salon is meant to be discussion-driven and is not meant to be ‘taught’ in the traditional sense. Participants in the literary salon will be encouraged to share their views, engage in lively debates, and contribute their own ideas on topics.

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March 17 – May 26, 2013

Creating and developing a character, no matter how autobiographical, is difficult. Though writing down one’s experience may seem easier, in the end a writer has to look closely and objectively at her character. A writer has to treat a character as an “other,” although there may be pieces of the writer in each character. This class will introduce various aspects of character development. Students will use contrasting environments and unfamiliar situations, as well as “other” voices and perspectives to understand the deep desires and fears of their characters. Any of the exercises may develop into a longer, well-developed story for the latter half of the class. Alongside workshopping each participant’s stories, we will read and discuss the work of well-known writers, developing and using our descriptive commentary skills for constructive critique and using the class community to give each participant vital feedback about her work.

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March 9, 2013

Boston Conservatory Performance
Featuring Diana Norma Szokolyai, Rita Banerjee, & Dennis Shafer

Judson Evans and the Garden hosts the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop & Chagall Performance Arts Collaborative for an evening of poetry reading with interdisciplinary performance of poetry, music, and movement.  Poetry performance intertwined with the live composing art of Soundpainting will feature poets Diana Norma Szokolyai and Rita Banerjee (CWW directors), and Soundpainter Dennis Shafer as well as Boston Conservatory students.

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March 8, 2013

Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Off-site AWP Reading

Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Off-site AWP Reading featuring writers Rita Banerjee, Diana Norma Szokolyai, Gregory Crosby, Leah Umansky, Ian Singleton, Pattabi Seshadri, Jane Chakravarty, Arto Vaun, & more!

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March 7, 2013

Revival of the Literary Salon with the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Panel
AWP 2013 Conference 9 am, Hynes Convention Center Room 202, Boston

How do writers create viable writing communities outside of the MFA paradigm? We will explore how the revival of salon culture has created new spaces for literary communities and debates. Having opened its Brooklyn studio in 2011, the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop holds writing workshops, literary cabarets, residencies, and retreats abroad. Panelists will discuss how new local and international literary salons help create viable communities of artists and push the conversation of cutting edge art.

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August 22-31, 2012

The Cambridge Writers’ Workshop hosted a 10-day writing and eco-living retreat at Château de Sacy in Picardy, France from August 22-31, 2012. The retreat featured craft of writing seminars, intensive writing sessions, daily workshop classes, three organic meals/day and lodging at the chateau as well as trips to Paris, Versailles, and the French countryside.

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May 19, 2012

On May 19, 2012, the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop hosted a Literary Cabaret at the inaugural Brooklyn Lit Crawl. The Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Literary Cabaret took place at 6 pm at Ceol Bar in Brooklyn and featured performances and readings by writers Diana Norma Szokolyai, Rita Banerjee, Gregory Crosby, and Leah Umansky. Audience members were also joined in the dramatic performances! The CWW Literary Cabaret received some wonderful press and was written about in Time Out New York, the PEN American Center, the Village Voice, and the NY Daily News!

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April 21, 2012

On April 21, 2012, the CWW held a literary salon conversation at the 2012 Mass Poetry Festival in Salem, MA. The panel entitled On Writing and Craft with the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop took place Saturday April 21 from 2:45-3:45 at the Salem Community Charter School, Room 4, and featured writers Diana Norma Szokolyai, Rita Banerjee, Kathleen Spivack, Arto Vaun, Samantha Milowsky, and Gregory Crosby.

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March 3, 2012

On March 3, 2012, the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop hosted an off-site reading at AWP in Chicago, IL. The AWP Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Reading included writers Rita Banerjee, Pattabi Seshadri, Jessica Piazza, Brandon Krieg, Rebecca Lindenberg, Marc McKee, Tara Skurtu, Derek JG Williams, Colleen O’Brien, and Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein.