Write Wilmington

Tell us what you’d like to see next season and share your opinion on time, format, and potential in-person meetings!

Use this link: https://forms.gle/8zBAhpHnT59oaKbY7
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Get ready for the last session of the season! You won’t want to miss it 😎☀️
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Our last session of the season is this Friday with none other than Sayantani Dasgupta, professor of creative writing and founder of our program!💫🎉

Born in Calcutta and raised in New Delhi, Sayantani Dasgupta received her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Idaho. Her most recent book is the short story collection Women Who Misbehave. She is also the author of Fire Girl: Essays on India, America, & the In-Between—a Finalist for the Foreword Indies Awards for Creative Nonfiction. She serves as an Associate Professor at UNC Wilmington and is the founder of Write Wilmington, an online writing initiative that’s free and open to writers of all levels and skills. Besides the US, Sayantani has also taught writing in India, Italy, Colombia, and Mexico.
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It’s almost time for a writing session! 💫☀️
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Join us this Friday for our penultimate session of Write Wilmington for this season! 💛💫

Bharati Jagannathan teaches History at Miranda House, University of Delhi. Her area of research is religion, specifically, the early history of Śrīvaiṣṇavism, a living religious tradition of Tamil Nadu, a state in the deep south of India. bharati also writes fiction and poetry; her ten books for children ranging from the ages of five to twelve range from illustrated short story books to a novella. Her collection of short stories, A Spoonful of Curds, was published in 2020 by HarperCollins.
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We’re looking forward to Jess’s session in the morning! Hope to see you there! ☀️
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Part II: Dr. Stephanie Caulder, Dean of the College of Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts, Sayantani, and Reader Nic; Write Wilmington bookmarks courtesy of Kimberly Cheatham, from Instructional Diversity and Inclusion; Reader Nitya showing off her talent for making earrings; our audience; Justine, WW team member who organized this event; and Taylor who graciously lent us the space for the evening💫

What a night! Join our sessions on Friday mornings at 9 am, EST ☀️ and keep an eye out for future events!
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As you can see, our inaugural Write Wilmington reading at the Fuzzy Needle was a success! We spent the evening basking in the glow of community while our readers lit up the stage ☀️ The audience ranged from first timers to every timers, and from BFA students to the Dean of the College of Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts, Dr. Stephanie Caulder—it was truly indicative of how writing brings people together. 💫

Join our sessions on Friday mornings at 9 am until April 26th and keep an eye out for future events!
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Let’s welcome Jess Ram, former Write
Wilmington coordinator! She’s back to lead
Friday’s session!💫

Jessica Nirvana Ram is an Indo-Guyanese poet
and essayist. She earned her MFA from the
University of North Carolina Wilmington and
her BA from Susquehanna University. Her
work appears in Hayden’s Ferry Review, Honey
Literary, Prairie Schooner, among others.
Jessica’s debut poetry collection EARTHLY
GODS is forthcoming with Variant Literature in
2024. Her chapbook IN THE AFTERMATH
is forthcoming with Prismatica Press in 2024 as
well. Find her on Twitter .
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To wrap up this series, I’ll introduce Write Wilmington instructor and UNCW faculty member Michael Ramos, who will read from his debut book The After: A Veteran’s Notes on Coming Home💫
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Reminder: the fun begins at 9 a.m.💫
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Nic Sims is on the roster to share her work Friday night! Swipe for details☀️
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Jana Carver is set to read this Friday night! Swipe for more details⭐️
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Introducing Mahlaynee Cooper, the session
instructor for this Friday!☀️

Mahlaynee Cooper, the Founder of Speak Ya
Peace NC, champions awareness of
injustices through Art and Activism, with her
band SolTree Reign adding a musical
dimension to their endeavors. Performing at
notable venues, Mahlaynee, originally from
Brooklyn, NY, emphasizes a deep affection
for children and advocates for their rights
through the non-profit “Love our Children.”
Actively involved in The Juneteenth
Committee, the National Black Caucus, and
the NAACP, she imparts her knowledge as a
teaching artist, recently completing a
residency exploring the early roots of HipHop. Recognized as a “Wilmington Woman to
Watch” in 2022, Mahlaynee graduated from
the Wilma Leadership Institute in 2023,
embodying her belief in truth, justice, and
humanity, as expressed by Baba Malcolm X.
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We’ll also hear from Lisa Malone! Swipe for
more information.
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Get ready to write up a storm!⚡️🌩️💫
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Next up, Rebecca Gummere! Swipe for more details⭐️
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Meet Nitya! Swipe to see the rest of our line-up and keep an eye out for more intros!⭐️
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We look for writer-teachers deeply invested in their communities, who are known for their teaching abilities, and are committed to being playful (yet deeply serious) when it comes to pursuing their own creativity.

Once instructors are finalized, they are contacted months in advance with detailed instructions on what to expect and what makes a typical Write Wilmington attendee. Instructors have full freedom with regards to designing their prompts SO LONG AS they are universal given our attendees come from all over the world.

So even though our theme this season is Writers at Play, and we are here to encourage all manners of playfulness, the Write Wilmington team is also serious that your one hour with us is very well-spent. 💫

Former Write Wilmington social media
Manager Becca Hannigan will lead Friday’s
session!💫⚡️

Becca Hannigan is a fiction writer based in
Denver, Colorado. In May 2023, they graduated
with an MFA from the University of North
Carolina Wilmington, where they taught
undergraduate students and worked as fiction
editor for Ecotone. Along with teaching, she
has worked on staff at the Sewanee Young
Writers’ Conference and as an intern for the
Brink Literacy Project, teaching workshops.
Their work has been published in Story
Quarterly, the Rumpus, 303 Magazine, Juked,
and elsewhere.
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See you in the morning!
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BFA Coordinator Tim Bass will lead our session this Friday. Don’t miss it!

Tim Bass is the coordinator of the BFA Program in Creative Writing at UNCW. His teaching includes classes in grammar, fiction, and creative nonfiction. He has an MFA degree from UNCW and a B.A. in journalism from UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former newspaper reporter.
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We’re pleased to share that we’ll host our inaugural Write Wilmington Reading on Friday, April 5!🎉

Join us at the Fuzzy Needle at 7 pm to hear from members of our community, including Write Wilmington instructor Michael Ramos, author of The After: A Veteran’s Notes on Coming Home.
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It’s about that time! Register for tomorrow’s session ✅
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We’re on spring break this week, so we’ll see
you March 15 with UNCW professor David
Gessner!
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Welcome the weekend and write with us tomorrow!
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UNCW alum and Write Wilmington attendee Courtney Justus will lead our session this Friday. You won’t want to miss it! 💫☀️
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Courtney Justus was born in Houston, Texas, raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina and now lives in the suburbs of Chicago. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of North Carolina Wilmington. She is a Tin House YA Workshop alumna, a Best of the Net nominee, and a recipient of residencies from SAFTA and the Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities. She is currently at work on a novel about an aspiring journalist, found family, and what it means to come home. Her work appears in The Acentos Review, Anti-Heroin Chic, Isele Magazine, Defunkt Magazine and elsewhere.
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Here’s your weekly reminder to do something for yourself and enjoy a moment of writing in community 🗒️🖌️☕️
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This week’s session will be led by our very own host, Meghann Blackman! 💫🖌️
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Meghann Blackman is an MFA candidate at the University of North Carolina in Wilmington. She currently serves as the managing editor of Ecotone and the host of Write Wilmington, an online writing community. A native of Southern Appalachia, Blackman’s writing applies a speculative lens to the intricacies of family and place. Her work has been published in miniskirt magazine.
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