Thank you, Kennedy Family Fund

 

Our heartfelt thanks goes to the Kennedy Family Fund, a component fund of the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley, for a $1500 contribution toward our summer and fall activities.

We sought support for advertising and promotion, rent for our office, printing and copying, insurance, accounting fees, author stipends and a director stipend. Many grants strictly fund programming, and we appreciate the CFMV’s recognition that programming isn’t sustainable without administrative support.

The Community Foundation is a critical component of nonprofit funding in the Valley, and we are grateful and honored to continue to be part of the CFMV family, having also received support for the Winter Writing Camp at the first Mahoning Valley Soup.

The Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley is operated exclusively for charitable, educational and scientific purposes which effectively assist and promote the well-being of residents of Mahoning and Trumbull Counties. Information about the Foundation can be found here.

 

 

Win an Armeni Birdbath!

Each summer, we raffle a large piece of art and split the purse with the artist. Thanks so very much to Youngstown sculptor Tony Armeni for collaborating with us. Word is, with an Armeni in your back yard, the birds show up in top hats.

Your donation helps us fund our programs, and we’re so grateful. Good luck! We will draw the winning ticket July 14 at the YSU Summer Festival of the Arts.

This year’s unique birdbath is nearly complete. Here is a pic of last year’s, to whet your imagination. Don’t have a backyard? This would look amazing in your livingroom, or would make the best. gift. ever.

You can purchase tickets (2 for $5) at any of our events, by mail (323 Wick Ave. #9/Youngstown/44504) or here.

 

 

Third Thursday Writers Circle May 16

Would you like some gentle feedback on new work you’ve written? Bring 10 copies (one poem or short story excerpt, 5 pages max.) to the Third Thursday Writers Circle.

We will meet in our office at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 323 Wick Ave. at 6:00, Thursday, May 16. Come to the door on the right, under the stone archway, and ring the buzzer.

Where Sidewalks End

Healthy Community Partnerships:
Where Sidewalks End

Lit Youngstown is proud to be a partner in this Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley initiative that will bring awareness of the intersection of public infrastructure and community health. The project will include photography and community narratives. Visit Where Sidewalks End for more information, including upcoming calls for submissions.

Lou Yuhasz Scholarship

The second Lou Yuhasz Memorial Scholarship is open for submissions.

Each year, we will award one $100 scholarship, and invite the recipient to read their work at the Fall Literary Festival, Oct. 4-5. The winner and runner-up will receive free registration to the Festival.  The 2018 scholarship recipient was D.T. McCrea, selected by Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts Professor Robert Miltner and alumna Amy Sparks. This year’s judges are to be determined.

If you will be a NEOMFA student in fall of 2019 and would like to compete for the prize, please send a cover letter and 10-page writing portfolio (name on cover letter only) to LitYoungstown@gmail.com. The deadline is May 31.

Lou was an enthusiastic writer and Lit Youngstown volunteer and participant, and we miss him. To honor his spirit, we created this scholarship, and are grateful for contributions to the scholarship fund, which will allow us to offer this award well into the future.

Lou’s daughter Jamie offered us this tribute.

Lou Yuhasz was a writer, a husband, a father, a friend, and above all, a teacher. He graduated from Youngstown State University in 1999, with a BS in Secondary Education, concentrating on comprehensive communication. In his senior year, he was the assistant news editor at the Jambar covering the Academic Senate as YSU made the transition from quarters to semesters. He taught as a substitute for a year for Youngstown City Schools, before taking a job at a large health insurance company.

After ten years, and at the age of 48, Lou’s passion for creative writing and teaching led him to quit his job and join the NEOMFA program. Shortly after beginning school, he was diagnosed with stage II cancer of the esophagus. That didn’t stop him though, and he excelled in his classes.

His passion for his school and the program was contagious, and so was the happiness the NEOMFA brought him.  I’ve read a lot of my father’s work throughout my life, but something very special happened when he joined the NEOMFA program.

He was a husband of 26 years, and raised two daughters. His support for his family was unparalleled. His office looked like something out of a Lovecraft novel, with tentacles and gargoyles scattered between the bookshelves housing various scifi and horror novels. He loved to write and tell stories, as well as teaching others the ability to create what they loved.  He would be proud and honored to have this scholarship enable people to follow their passion.

First Wednesday: Bonné de Blas, Monica Kaiser & Sheryl St. Germain

 Lit Youngstown presents a reading with Bonné de Blas, Monica Kaiser & Sheryl St. Germain, Wednesday May 1 @ 7:00 at The Soap Gallery, 117 S. Champion St. No open mic this month. We will also be celebrating National Chocolate Parfait Day.  

Bonné de Blas is an MFA candidate in Poetry at the NEOMFA. She received an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Tennessee and a JD from Case Western Reserve University School of Law. She is the author of chapbooks The Act of Dwelling (NightBallet Press) and The Rule of Contraction (Kattywompus Press) and her essay in Older Queer Voices: The Intimacy of Survival, Lambert and Einstein, eds. received a Best of the Net nomination.

Monica Kaiser is a graduate assistant at Kent State University and is pursuing a NEOMFA creative writing degree. She is the author of Still Sifting, and is passionate about the environment, ecopoetics, conflict management, and how these genres intersect. She lives with her husband, son, two rabbits, and her father.

 

Sheryl St. Germain is a poet and essayist whose work has received numerous awards. Her most recent book, a poetry collection, The Small Door of Your Death, was published by Autumn House Press in 2018. Sheryl directs the M.F.A. program in Creative Writing at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, and is co-founder of the Words Without Walls program. 50 Miles (forthcoming, Etruscan Press) is a memoir in linked essays that addresses addiction and alcoholism. The book traces the life of the author’s son, Gray, a talented but troubled young man, and his death from a drug overdose at thirty, as well as the author’s own recovery from substance abuse.

Youngstown Foundation Support Fund

Profound thanks to the Youngstown Foundation for including us in the Support Fund! The Foundation will gift us a 10% bump for donations of $100 or more.

 

Third Thursday Writers Circle April 18

Would you like some gentle feedback on new work you’ve written? Bring 10 copies (one poem or short story excerpt, 5 pages max.) to the Third Thursday Writers Circle.

We will meet in our office at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 323 Wick Ave. at 6:00, Thursday, April 18. Come to the door on the right, under the stone archway, and ring the buzzer.

Seeking Proposal Submissions for Fall Literary Festival

CALL FOR PROPOSALS FALL LITERARY FESTIVAL 2019

Lit Youngstown seeks proposals for presentations, workshops, craft talks and creative readings for our 3rd annual Fall Literary Festival to be held October 4-5 at Youngstown State University. The two-day festival will feature an acclaimed faculty: Nin Andrews (poetry), Christopher Barzak (fiction), Erica Cardwell (essay, creative nonfiction), Jill Christman (creative nonfiction), Michael Croley (fiction),  George Ella Lyon (poetry, essay), Philip Memmer (poetry), Philip Metres (poetry, essay). To read more about our visiting writers, please visit the Fall Literary Festival page.

Submit proposals here.

General Information

This year’s conference will be centered around themes of cultural identity and representation in writing and publishing. Sessions will be 50 minutes. Proposals may include panel and roundtable discussions, creative readings, or workshops. Group and individual proposal submissions are welcome. Individual proposals and creative readings will be grouped into panels by conference organizers.

Individuals are limited to two proposal submissions, please. Accepted presenters will be required to register for the conference at the early bird registration fee of $40. There will be opportunities to apply for needs-based stipends. The proposal deadline is midnight, May 10.

Presentation Topics

We seek proposals from a diverse cross section of voices and experiences, and encourage submissions from African American and Black, Latinx and Chicanx, Asian American, disabled, LGBTQ and non-binary, immigrant, native, rural, older, and resource-poor writers. All genres are welcome and encouraged.

Submit proposals here.

Possible topics for proposals include:

Creative writing outreach in prisons, with immigrants, etc.
Responsibly engaging diverse voices and perspectives
Writing about identity and marginalized experiences
Lack of representation in publishing
Navigating the publishing industry as marginalized communities
Writers with disabilities
Creative reading
Creative writing workshop
Creative writing pedagogy
Community-based writing programs
Residencies, conferences and other opportunities
Developing best practices in your craft
Collaboration and mentoring
MFA programs
Literary topics in all genres
Writing for mass media: journalism, blogging, podcasts, radio, etc.
Children’s and YA writing and publishing
Storytelling
Speculative fiction
Screenwriting
Playwriting
Comics & graphic novels
Film & new media
Hybrid & short forms
Older writers publishing
Strategies for teaching and researching writing
Engaging and sustaining a writing life

Food for Thought: Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation

Cokie Roberts spoke to a packed house at Stambaugh Auditorium last year, and we have selected her book to conclude our series of titles by recent author visitors to the Valley. About Founding Mothers, the Washington Post writes, “Just because the founding mothers were unappreciated in their own time doesn’t mean we have to continue the trend.”

You can find copies of the book at the Mahoning and Trumbull County libraries, YSU Maag Library via OhioLink, and at the YSU Barnes & Noble.

Food for Thought book discussion will be hosted by our community partner Cultivate Cafe, 901 Elm St., on Wednesday, May 8, from 6:00-7:00 pm. If you would like to order a bite to eat, please arrive well before the counter closes at 6:00. Haven’t read the book yet? No worries. Join us.

We will take the summer off and resume this fall with a series on humankind and the natural world.