Introducing BALA: After a wave of poetry activity in our town (much of it tied to a grant from the Pulitzer Foundation), my friend Anna Paige and I found ourselves talking about the need for more writing activities and events in Billings, MT. With a little bit of serendipity and some good old fashioned networking, we met one of the founders of the Helena Area Literary Arts. Realizing that what they do is AMAZING we decided to create a version of their organization here in Billings.
And so we would like to introduce Billings Area Literary Arts (BALA), a new organization dedicated to building and enhancing literary arts in and around Billings, Montana.
BALA will be offering a variety of events dedicated to writing, starting with a series of Write-Ins.
Write-In: to occupy a place as a form of creation.
On the first and third Monday of every month, Billings Area Literary Arts (BALA) will host an hour of dedicated time and space to write. Participants are invited to come to MoAV Coffee to write, edit, revise, or share as part of the writing process. Moderators Anna Paige and Ashley Warren will be available to give feedback on short pieces or excerpts from longer works as well.
Join us for our first Write-In!
Monday, November 7th
5:30-6:30PM
MoAV Coffee
2501 Montana Ave.
*Please bring whatever writing tools you like to use. (Paper, pens, laptop, tablet etc.)
In addition to these Write-Ins, we’ll be scheduling more events in the near future. Here’s a sneak peek:
Flight of Writers: In collaboration with Harper and Madison and Lilac, BALA will host a night of writing, food, wine, and art. Guests will enjoy pairings of literary, culinary, and artistic courses, a true feast for the senses.
A Reading of Her Own: These readings will be dedicated to showcasing female-identified writers who will share short, 800 word or 8-minute long memoirs at an open-mic night.
If you would like to be added to the BALA mailing list, please send an email to billingsliteraryarts at gmail dot com.
Another cool thing I’m doing: I am honored to have been selected as an Artist-in-Residence with the Billings Public Library, specifically in the TECH Lab, an education and creation hub reserved for teens.
During my time as Artist-in-Residence, I have been helping teens write letters to the next president as part of the national project Letters to the Next President 2.0 hosted by the National Writing Project.
Our project was covered by the local news this week–our clip begins at 9:12.
