Writing Wrongs: Social Change In Narrative Nonfiction
Wed. 9/19,
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Between the Lines is a reading series where award-winning local authors discuss the craft of writing. In September, journalists Christopher Johnston and Nikki Delamotte will discuss how they use research and reporting to take on social issues such as mental health and sexual assault. Learn tips for navigating difficult topics, talking to experts and survivors, and crafting compelling narratives that can create real-world change.
Nikki Delamotte is a freelance journalist whose work regularly appears in Cleveland Scene Magazine, Cleveland Magazine, The Plain Dealer/Cleveland.com, Thrillist, Fresh Water Cleveland, Destination Cleveland and more. Christopher Johnston has published more than 3,000 articles in numerous publications, including American Theatre, Balanced Living, Christian Science Monitor, Cleveland Magazine, Crain’s Cleveland Business, History Magazine, The Plain Dealer, Scientific American, and Time.com. His book, Shattering Silences: Strategies to Prevent Sexual Assault, Heal Survivors, and Bring Assailants to Justice was published by Skyhorse Publishers in May 2018. He is currently writing a biography of a Green Beret who served with distinction in Afghanistan where he was gravely wounded and required several years to recover. |
Writers and Readers: Paul Beatty
Sat. 9/22, 2pCleveland Public Library Louis Stokes Wing, 525 Superior Ave, Cleveland OH 44114
$: FREE |
CPL & Lit Cleveland's Writers and Readers series continues with award-winning novelist Paul Beatty!
Paul Beatty is the author of Tuff, The White Boy Shuffle, Slumberland, and two books of poetry as well as the editor of Hokum: An Anthology of African American Humor. His 2015 novel The Sellout made him the first American to win the Man Booker Prize in Fiction and earned the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction. The Sellout tells the story of a modern-day farmer who reinstates slavery in a scathing satire brimming with Beatty’s outrageous humor and rumbling across his self-proclaimed “Richter scale of racism.” Beatty, who set out to see if he could make himself flinch, certainly brings the reader to face to face with race, popular culture, racism, and language in America. “It is,” he says, “about embracing the profoundly profane, the absurd…because the stuff that’s most inappropriate is oftentimes the most necessary and the most beautiful.” Related events Lit Cleveland will host a related workshop titled "It's All About Race: Using Poetry to Disrupt Racism" at 10:30a with Dr. Mary E. Weems. Click here to learn more. Facebook Live Book Discussion Join Cleveland Public Library and Literary Cleveland staff in a live online discussion of Paul Beatty’s work on Mon, Sep 17 at 12pm: facebook.com/clevelandpubliclibrary Learn more about this year's Writers and Readers series. |
The Sherlock Project
Sat. 9/29,
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Part crime scene. Part collaborative game. Part exploration of 21st Century storytelling techniques. “The Sherlock Project” is a creative exercise that seeks to find new ways of collaborating and innovating through the process of exploration and discovery. Inspired by the work of the Columbia University School of Arts’ Digital Storytelling Lab, this creative writing session seeks to ignite your imagination through game playing, investigation, and imagination. There will be a murder. There will be a discovery. There will be a whole new story...your story! Facilitated by local playwright Eric Schmiedl.
Presented with Playwrights Local as part of the 4th Annual Cleveland Playwrights Festival. Learn more here. |
Writers and Readers: José Antonio Vargas
Sat. 10/13, 2pCleveland Public Library Louis Stokes Wing, 525 Superior Ave, Cleveland OH 44114
$: FREE |
CPL & Lit Cleveland's Writers and Readers series continues with acclaimed journalist José Antonio Vargas!
In 2011, José Antonio Vargas revealed his life as an undocumented immigrant in an essay published in The New York Times Magazine, and he appeared a year later with other undocumented immigrants on the cover of Time Magazine in connection with a follow-up cover story that he wrote. As the political climate continues to fuel the storms around those in the United States without documentation, Vargas sparks conversation about both sides of this contentious issue. He produced and directed the feature film Documented as well as the MTV television special White People, which explored what it means to be young and white in an America of changing demographics. He is the founder and CEO of Define American, the nonprofit organization that uses the power of story to transcend politics and shifts the conversation about immigrants, identity, and citizenship in a changing America. His memoir, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen (September 2018), promises to advance both his personal story and the larger conversation about American identity. Facebook Live Book Discussion Join Cleveland Public Library and Lit Cleveland staff in a live online discussion of Jose Antonio Vargas’ work on Tues, Oct 9 at 12pm: facebook.com/clevelandpubliclibrary Learn more about this year's Writers and Readers series. |
Cleveland Stories Reading and Book Launch
Weds. 10/24, 6-8pSeeds of Literacy east side location, 13815 Kinsman Road, Cleveland OH 44120
$: FREE |
Join us at Seeds of Literacy for a special reading and celebration of our Cleveland Stories: Vol 1 anthology! Pick up a free copy of the anthology and enjoy readings by contributors and light refreshments. Readers TBA.
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Lit Cleveland Type-In
Thurs. 10/25, 7-9pFelice Urban Cafe
2nd & 3rd Floors, 12502 Larchmere Blvd, Cleveland OH 44120 
$: FREE for Lit Cleveland members; Non-members, please purchase a membership in advance or at the door |
Compose a line, a poem, or a ditty on a variety of old typewriters while enjoying the company of Lit Cleveland members! Hearty hors d'oeuvres provided, cash bar and sample menu also available. $5 tickets for typewriter time, a small sampling of typewriter art for sale, plus the wall of Type-In creations available for sale, all to benefit Lit Cleveland. Black and White attire encouraged.
Please note: this event is free for Lit Cleveland members. Non-members, please purchase a membership in advance or at the door. |
Writers and Readers: Susan Orlean
Sat. 11/10, 2pCleveland Public Library Louis Stokes Wing, 525 Superior Ave, Cleveland OH 44114
$: FREE |
CPL & Lit Cleveland's Writers and Readers series concludes with celebrated writer and Cleveland native Susan Orlean!
The author of Saturday Night, The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup, Rin Tin Tin: the Life and the Legend, and The Orchid Thief (which became an Academy Award-winning film), Susan Orlean describes her Cleveland childhood as “happy and uneventful…back when the Indians were still a lousy team.” Studying literature and history, she dreamt of writing long stories about interesting things but had no idea how to become a writer. There was no guidebook. So, she set off on a path to law school and a career, landing by chance in an interim gig at a now-defunct magazine, then a weekly alternative paper, and, eventually, Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, and The Boston Globe, before moving to New York, publishing her first book, and becoming a staff writer for The New Yorker. Her experience is, perhaps, the best proof of the truism: to be a writer, one must write. Orlean’s newest title, The Library Book (October 2018), reopens the unsolved mystery of America’s most catastrophic library fire, underscoring and exploring the treasured place that libraries hold in our culture and in our hearts. Related events Lit Cleveland will host a related workshop titled "How to Create Creative Nonfiction" with Christopher Johnston at 10:30a. Click here to learn more. Facebook Live Book Discussion Join Cleveland Public Library and Literary Cleveland staff in a live online discussion of Susan Orlean’s work on Mon, Nov 5 at 12pm: facebook.com/clevelandpubliclibrary Learn more about this year's Writers and Readers series. |