Hi, I’m Catherine. I’m a teacher in Metro-West Boston, and an aspiring writer, so likely most of my posts will be in that domain. With that, I’m proud to announce…

The New and Emerging Writers Series, with whom I was privileged to connect in mid-2007, has posted its spring schedule.

NEWS is an organization dedicated to exposing local authors by giving them a chance to read their material in a public setting, and then letting them drink wine and be fabulous together after the reading for some self-promotion. I first heard about NEWS from a fellow writer and English teacher, and since doing a reading, I’ve had several calls and emails about doing other local events, and now have the opportunity to chapbook a children’s story I wrote early last year.

NEWS is not for the faint of pen.

Seriously, I credit this organization with everything good that’s happened in the last six months of my literary existence. There’s no better way to get exposure than to do so with other barely-on-the-radar, shamelessly self-promoting writers. The experience is priceless, and the whole thing is just so prettily packaged: reading with like-minded smartypants in a restored vintage movie theater, in the greatest city on the East coast, and wine in a dusty little bookshop afterward with the same remarkable minds from the reading. Tennessee Williams and Robert Lowell, eat your heart out.

Now, if you’re self-conscious and doubtful like I was at first, just stop by and listen for a few, and join us after the reading to check it out. You’ll have a good time, I promise. You don’t even have to RSVP— just show up and be your magnificent self.

Sunday, March 9 2008: Readings are “mixed bag”, which includes fiction, poetry, personal essays, lyrics—anything you’ve written and want to share with the group.

Sunday, April 6, 2008: Poetry Extravaganza in honor of National Poetry Month.

Where: The Regent Theatre, 7 Medford Street Arlington

When: Events start at 4 pm.

Small gathering for attendees and readers is after the reading at The Book Rack, 13 Medford Street Arlington.