Hey friends, Craving some in-person connection? Next week has two great opportunities to mix and mingle with fellow lit-lovers. I hope you'll join us! |
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WHEN: Wednesday, 9/25, 6:00–9:00pm
WHERE: Institute of Contemporary Art
WHAT: An after-hours event at ICA
HOW MUCH: Free with RSVP Join us for a lively mix of cocktails and light snacks, all on the house, as you explore ICA's Summer/Fall 2024 exhibitions during exclusive late-night hours. Enjoy art-inspired games on the Terrace, catch short in-gallery poetry readings curated by Blue Stoop, and groove to the beats of Philly-based electronic artist and DJ JEWELSSEA. Featured poets: Cam Simmons, rough draft, and Philipe AbiYouness. |
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Creative Coworking @ Indy Hall |
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WHEN: Friday, 9/27, 9:00am–6:00pm
WHERE: Indy Hall Clubhouse
WHAT: A drop-in coworking meetup
HOW MUCH: Pay-what-you-wish ($0-30) A full day of drop-in coworking, in-person at Indy Hall Clubhouse. Join us for some writing, editing, reading, daydreaming, freelancing, or anything else you’d like to work on. Stay for a few minutes, an hour or two, or even the full day. If you get hungry, we'll have snacks available by donation. |
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In other news, fall classes are open for enrollment. We've got a wide range of class lengths, topics, and price points to choose from, with financial aid (more details below) and payment plans to keep things inclusive. |
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Over the next few weeks, we'll highlight individual classes to give you a better sense of what to expect. The first classes kick off in late September and early October — roughly 2 weeks from today! Space is limited, so don't procrastinate. |
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Starts 9/30 | 9 weeks | Mondays, 6–8 pm ET | Zoom From historical archives to our grandparents' attics, language is all around us. In this generative 9-week class, we will write and workshop poems that incorporate the found materials of our everyday lives. Through writing prompts, out-of-class exercises, and readings from poets including Aracelis Girmay, James Schuyler, francine j. Harris, Linda Gregg, and Taylor Johnson we will look, listen, eavesdrop, and engage with archival materials in order to jostle our poetic imaginations and expand our understandings of what might live in a poem. Instructor: Philipe AbiYouness is a Lebanese-American poet and teaching artist from New Jersey. His work has been published in New England Review, Mizna, Gulf Coast, Pigeon Pages, Muzzle, and the anthologies "Best of the Net 2020" published by Sundress Publications and "We Call to the Eye & the Night: Love Poems by Writers of Arab Descent." He is graduate of the MFA in Creative Writing at Rutgers University, Newark and has received support and fellowships from Vermont Studio Center, Brooklyn Poets, and Bread Loaf Writers Conference. Starts 10/1 | 3 weeks | Tuesdays, 6–8 pm ET | Zoom In this 3-week class, you'll learn the key elements of writing brief humor pieces suited for McSweeney's and other publications in the expanding humor-writing market. Students will generate new work, contribute to a writers-room atmosphere, and collaborate on articles. No humor-writing experience necessary, though some experience writing other genres is a plus. Instructor: Jeff Bender is a fiction and comedy writer whose work has appeared in McSweeney's Internet Tendency, The Hard Times, Electric Literature, Fence, Guernica, and The Iowa Review. In 2023 he co-wrote McSweeney's 8th most-read article. He is a staff writer for the sports-satire brand Sports Riot. |
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All of our fall classes are eligible for financial aid. If you're based in the greater Philadelphia area and low-income, you could save up to 75% on listed tuition prices. Applying for aid is quick and minimally invasive. |
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Need more time to pay for your class? Our payment plans are simpler than ever. Just select Afterpay during checkout to break the cost of your tuition into smaller, more manageable installments — even if you don't qualify for financial aid. Not eligible for Afterpay? Reach out to info@bluestoop.org to request an alternative arrangement. |
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Good news! With your generous support, we have officially crossed the $10,000 milestone. Thank you so much to everyone who pitched in — whether you gave $5 or $500, you made a tangible impact. I'd also like to send out a big thank you to PECO, who just awarded us $7,500 as part of their Powering the Arts program. This grant will allow us to offer more free and low-cost programming in the spring. It's important to us to manage these funds wisely, which means not touching them until January. In the meantime, we're scheduling a bunch of donation-based community events for October, November, and December: Thursdays on the Stoop workshops, Creative Coworking sessions, and a new reading series called Novels in Progress. If you plan to attend these events, or just want to help sustain the offerings, consider setting up a $5 recurring (or one-time) donation at the link below. Thank you for supporting local writers! |
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In solidarity, Julian Shendelman
Co-Director P.S. Looking for literary fun this week? Be sure to check out our community calendar and resource pages. |
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- Thursday, 9/19, 4:00-6:00pm ET: Creative Coworking. Drop-in, creative co-working with peers over Zoom. Stop by for a few minutes or stay for the whole session — it’s totally up to you. You can use this time to write, edit, read, daydream, or whatever best serves your literary life. Free and open to all.
- Wednesday, 9/25, 6:00-9:00pm ET: Later @ ICA. Check out ICA's latest exhibitions while enjoying free cocktails and light snacks. Be sure to catch the poetry performances curated by Blue Stoop! Free with RSVP.
- Friday, 9/27, 9:00am-6:00pm ET: Creative Coworking: Live @ Indy Hall. Just like our regular Creative Coworking session, but in-person in Northern Liberties. Tickets are pay-what-you-wish, starting at $0. Snacks available by donation to Blue Stoop! RSVP required.
- Rolling submissions: We are seeking proposals for Thursdays on the Stoop, a longstanding series of free, virtual workshops for and by our community. Topics range from poetic forms to journaling prompts, performance skills, and more. No formal teaching experience required! We'll start booking these workshops on a rolling basis over the next few weeks, so get your applications in as soon as possible for the best chance at selection.
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We've lowered our rates! Got an event, organization, business, or book to promote? Blue Stoop is now offering affordable ad space here and on our website. |
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BEYOND THE STOOP Here's a quick excerpt from our community calendar. If you've got an upcoming literary event, we invite you to add it to the page. It's free! |
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~~~~~~~~~ Event title Beyond the Page Series - Preview Event at H&H Start time 9/19/2024 7:00pm Location H&H Books, 2230 Frankford Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19125 Description Starting in October, H&H Books will be home to a regular interdisciplinary event series, expanding beyond a straightforward reading. Panel discussions on the overlap between music and poetry, a queer horror and costume night, a visual poetry reading, specialty cocktails and poetry slams, and more! Come to our preview night on September 19th to learn more! Pay what you can $10-15. We will have visual poetry and music with mixed media visuals, as well as a pop-up bar. You will also get the first look at the series events calendar, and first dibs on signing up for future events! Our featured performers are visual poet Anuradha Bhowmik, hybrid writer Juliet Gelfman-Randazzo, and musician and mixed media artist Ntive Flora. // Readings will be on main floor which has wheelchair accessible entrance, and the bar will be down a set of ~10 steps. Link Cost Suggested Donation $10-15 ~~~~~~~~~ Event title Rotary Arts Conversation with Betsy Bolton, Poet Start time 9/20/2024 7:00pm Location Park Avenue Community Center, 129 Park Avenue, Swarthmore, PA 19801 Description Join us for an in-depth discussion with Betsy Bolton, professor of English Literature at Swarthmore College. Betsy is a poet who explores the connections between human beings and the other-than-human world, using nature poetry to invite readers into the more complex moral accounting of ecological history. Link Cost $10 ~~~~~~~~~ Event title Writing from the Edge: A Celebration of Hell Gate Bridge: A Memoir Start time 9/21/2024 7:00pm Location Lot 49, 408 E. Girard Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19125 Description Reading at Lot 49 Readers: Katie Bennett Nikki Volpicelli Sam Heaps Barrie Miskin Link Cost Free ~~~~~~~~~ Event title Alina Grabowski: A Reading and Conversation Start time 9/23/2024 6:00pm Location Kelly Writers House, 3805 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104 Description Join us for a conversation with Alina Grabowski (C’16), who will discuss her debut novel Women and Children First. Told through the eyes of ten local women, Women and Children First is an exquisite portrait of grief and a powerful reminder of life’s interconnectedness. Touching on womanhood, class, sexuality, ambition, disappointment, and tragedy, this novel is a stunning rendering of love and loss, and a bracing lesson that no one walks this earth alone. Link Cost Free ~~~~~~~~~ |
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1315 Walnut Street, Suite 300
Philadelphia, PA 19107, United States |
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