In 2018, WWS hosted five public career development workshops led by local professionals, which were livestreamed and archived on our public Facebook page. At these free, public events we orientated 66 new members into our community and granted nearly $900 to existing members to help with submission fees. In September, we hosted our 5th Annual Submission Blitz at The Faculty Bar in East Hollywood where those in attendance racked up 35 total submissions in four hours.
On our blog, we celebrated 131 publications and awards in our monthly WWS Publication Roundup edited by Laura K. Warrell, and we brought two new series: “Breathe & Push,” essays focused on the strength and space to breathe through bleak circumstances and push our creative works into the world, edited by Noriko Nakada, and “Writing on Budget” edited by Lisbeth Coiman. Nakada also published the original essay, “Why LAUSD Teachers Might Strike” on our site, and we are happy to support LA teachers. Another piece of advocacy we are proud of is, “WWS statement against the Trump Administration’s racist immigration policy,” a collective piece led by blog editor and leadership team member, Lauren Eggert-Crowe.
On our leadership team, we wished farewell to long-time team member, Ramona Pilar Gonzales who is taking a step back from WWS planning to focus on her career goals, and we welcomed two new members, Noriko Nakada and Ryane Granados.
In 2019, we have many exciting things in store starting with the announcement of The Kit Reed Travel Fund for Women-Identifying & Non-Binary Writers of Color. Two $340 grants will be awarded in 2019 to writers seeking advancement through participation in a conference, workshop or residency. Kit Reed was a prolific novelist and short story writer who advocated for her marginalized students, colleagues, and writer friends. This fund was made possible by a donation from Reed’s family in honor of her work as a writer, feminist, professor, and mentor.
Our first ever, anthology is also in the works. More details on the open call to come at AWP19 where we are hosting a WWS Happy Hour on Thursday, March 28th at Nucleus Portland from 3pm-6pm.
Lastly, be sure to join us for our WWS Workshop & New Member Orientation series beginning Saturday, February 9, 2019 at 10am with “You Need a Website! A Practical Guide to the What, Why, and How of Building (or Strategically Updating) Your Author Website” with Li Yun Alvarado.
If you would like to support our programming and help fund speaker honorariums and submission fee grants, you can now donate here.
From the WWS Leadership Team: Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, Lauren Eggert-Crowe, Ryane Granados, Ashaki M. Jackson, Noriko Nakada, Ashley Perez, Tisha Marie Reichle-Aguilera, and Rachael Warecki.