Tonight, Writers for Blue is offering a special opportunity to learn about writing your first pages. We’ll have four award-winning authors, including myself, Aaron Hamburger, Nancy Johnson, and Pulitzer Prize-winner Jayne Anne Phillips, workshopping seven first-page writing submissions in support of electing Kamala Harris, our first female president—and our 47th. We’ll also hear about ways you might use your words in the upcoming election cycle, including how to write politically-charged topics, canvassing, and more, from writers Charles Coe, Rishi Reddi, Daphne Kalotay, Julia Rold, and Gish Jen.
All of these authors have donated their time, energy, and talents in support of this event. We’re hoping you might follow suit and consider donating to our Writers for Blue campaign. Go to writersforblue.com to get started.
And, if you’re looking for specific links and resources mentioned during the event, see below.
AUTHORS FEATURED:
Charles Coe, author of five books of poetry and one novel, teaches in the Newport MFA writing program, and is renowned both as a writer and a performer; we are honored to have him speaking as well as kindly reading aloud our sample pages.
Aaron Hamburger is author of four acclaimed books of fiction, winner of the Rome Prize and a 2023 Lambda Literary prize; his new novel HOTEL CUBA has been featured on NPR; Aaron does political activism with Swing Left and is on the faculty at Stonecoast MFA.
Author of nine acclaimed books, most recently a ‘best book’ choice by the Oprah Book Club, NPR and the New Yorker, Gish Jen writes about charged issues with humor and heart, as in her latest collection, THANK YOU, MR NIXON.
Nancy Johnson’s acclaimed debut novel THE KINDEST LIE, was a New York Times Editor’s Choice and Indie Booksellers choice; Nancy’s also an Emmy-nominated award-winning journalist as well as author of the forthcoming 2025 novel, PEOPLE OF MEANS.
Daphne Kalotay is the author, most recently, of the story collection THE ARCHIVISTS, winner of the Grace Paley Prize, a Boston Authors Club “Notable Book” and long-listed for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize and Massachusetts Book Award.
National bestselling author of NIGHT SWIM and WOMEN IN BED; Jessica Keener is the Co-Chair with Randy Susan Meyers and, from the start, the driving force of Writers for Blue.
From the iconic story collection BLACK TICKETS through 6 more indelible books of fiction to her 2024 Pulitzer Prize winning novel, NIGHT WATCH Jayne Anne Phillips is—as Caroline Leavitt said on A Mighty Blaze—‘everyone’s literary heroine.’
Rishi Reddi is the PEN New England award winning author of KARMA AND OTHER STORIES and the novel PASSAGE WEST; when not writing, she is an environmental lawyer and lobbies for sound climate policy in her day-job.
Julia Rold is a writer, playwright and Novel Incubator alum who has worked on political campaigns in Massachusetts, NH, NY, Florida, and her home state of Kentucky.
LINKS TO RESOURCES:
DIRECT LINK TO WritersForBlue DONATION PAGE.
WRITERS FOR BLUE website: https://writersforblue.com/
Our partners:
WRITERS FOR DEMOCRATIC ACTION (WDA)
Markers for Democracy: https://markersfordemocracy.org/postcarding (get out the vote cards to Democratic voters. has a monthly writing bootcamp online)
Swing Blue: https://swingbluealliance.org/ (coordinating with Working America on postcard campaign focused on Healthcare for independent voters in PA)
VoteForward: https://votefwd.org/instructions (letter-writing you can download yourself. Excellent examples of positive, nonpartisan "let's go vote!" messages)
More suggested messages (specifically for postcards to swing state voters), stats to support the effort, and ways to order postcards: https://turnoutpac.org/
If folks are interested in supporting Dems in Arizona, Wednesday night at 7pm ET, my Swing Left group is hosting an Arizona Zoom Fundraiser. Sign up here.
Door-to-door canvassing resources.
Canvassing in NH: https://www.mobilize.us/massdems/event/627702/
Canvassing in PA: https://www.mobilize.us/2024pavictory/event/645465/
https://www.31ststreet.org sends out weekly emails with canvassing, donating, phone banking, and letter writing opportunities. Sign up!
One way of targeting critical races is to think about donating to Crimson Goes Blue. It’s a Harvard group, but don’t be put off by that! They do great research, and their record in giving to races that turned out to be super tight, and where money made the difference is impressive. Highly recommended!
Here’s a Slide with a lot of resources about door-to-door canvassing.
LISTS OF AND INFO ON BANNED BOOKS:
https://socialjusticebooks.org/booklists/banned-books/
SWING LEFT: VOLUNTEER IN A VARIETY OF WAYS— LETTER-WRITING, POST-CARDING, CANVASSING, PHONE-CALLING and MORE for DEMOCRAT CANDIDATES UP AND DOWN THE BALLOT:
PEN AMERICA, sponsoring many activities such as WRITING LETTERS to free political prisoners around the world and teaching writing in prisons; also programs addressing online abuse and misinformation:
Photo by sydney Rae on Unsplash
Use Your Words: A Virtual Workshop & A Vital Call to Action