You don`t have to be a professional writer to join the Feminist Writers Guild. But you do have to be a feminist.
The organization is ”for any woman who considers herself a feminist and who takes her writing seriously, whether she writes a little or a lot, whether she`s published or unpublished,” says Whitney Scott, the group`s president.
Now in its ninth year, Feminist Writers Guild, a Chicago group, has 175 members-nine of whom will read original material this week during the organization`s ”Annual Fall Reading: Solitude and Community.”
Scott, who teaches English composition at Chicago State University, will read one of her new short stories.
Other members will read poetry and essays.
”We like to choose themes that are wide-ranging, but allow each author to explore a particular segment of the theme,” says Scott, author of ”Listen to the Moon” (Outrider Press, $4), a collection of poems, and now at work on a novel.
”In the past, our themes have been about women and erotica, women and nature, women looking at war and peace,” Scott says. ”For this reading, most of us explored solitude.”
Paula Amann, the guild`s secretary and co-editor of the bimonthly newsletter, will read five poems that she says ”reflect the issues of the need for human connection and love in a somewhat alienated urban
environment.”
In addition to the fall public reading-and one in the spring-the guild sponsors monthly writing-development workshops at the Chicago Public Library`s Sulzer regional branch for what Amann calls ”new writers, blocked writers and writers who need to freshen their fluency.”
Another event is a bi-monthly ”open mike” night at various locations, where women are encouraged to share their writing in a supportive environment. The guild`s newsletter features information on seminars, authors`
appearances in the Chicago area and lists of manuscripts sought by journals and anthologies.
Also particpating in the fall reading are: Barbara Stinchcombe, Carol Gloor, Celia Schwartz, Jennifer Hinton, Patricia Anderson, Patricia Richmond and Stephanie Harris.
The guild`s ”Annual Fall Reading” will be at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday at Women & Children First bookstore, 5233 N. Clark St. Free. Information: 312-769-9299. Members pay $15 per year and receive six newsletters. To join the guild, call 312-728-1453.
