July 2017 Newsletter
Click below to view our full July Newsletter!
ALUMNAE IMPACT GLOBALLY & LOCALLY
Alumna Ruby Hansen Murray focusing on oil conflicts
facing the Osage Nation
It was the steady tick of a pump jack, a sound as much a part of an evening in the Osage as the warm buzz of insects and fireflies, that prompted Ruby Hansen Murray to write about oil. Ruby is a citizen of
the Osage Nation of Northeastern Oklahoma.While at Hedgebrook, Ruby began writing and talking with her writer sisters about the current challenges to the mineral estate, which is held in common by the tribe.
The Osage Nation left the Diminished Reserve in Kansas, the land that
Little House on the Prairie
people entered illegally in the 1870s, for 1.7 million acres of ancestral land they purchased as
reservation
. The elders did everything they could to assure that it would be safe for generations, but when vast oil deposits were discovered, Osages were threatened, swindled and murdered.
Threats come from many directions. To name one, tribal assets are challenged by non-Osages who are landowners in Osage County.Ruby recently began to write about the conflicts, both internal and external, that the tribe experiences related to its mineral resource and to share those essays with tribal leaders.“I’m proud to be among many strong Osage artists and writers. I never feel better than when my art contributes to the tribe. The interest from the women at Hedgebrook encouraged me to translate arcane mineral policy issues that mean so much to us onto the page for general readers.” Her essay “
Our Hearts Beating”
will be published in
As/Us Journal
. Ruby won the 2017 Montana Prize in Creative Nonfiction and was a semi-finalist for 2016
Cutthroat
Fiction Contest.
Alumna
Ladee
Hubbard making cross-cultural connections in Brazil
Having received a fellowship from the Sacatar Institute, this Spring, Ladee Hubbard joined an international group of artists from Lithuania, South Korea, and India, for a writing retreat on Itaparica Island, near Salvador, Bahia, Brazil’s third largest city long celebrated for its African cultural retentions.
Explains
Ladee
, “I couldn’t have imagined a better place to deliver the first public reading of my forthcoming novel,
The Talented
Ribkins
,
than Salvador, the original colonial capital of Brazil and important center of Afro-Atlantic culture.”
The venue for her reading wa
s the Livraria Boto Cor-de-Rosa--The Pink Dolphin-- one of the few independent bookstores in Salvador. The publishing arm of their operation focuses on writers who are underrepresented in mainstream Brazilian publishing.
“My novel, inspired by the work of W.E.B. DuBois, is rooted in particular cultural, literary, and oral traditions that have grown out of the specific context of the United States. Yet the audience was fully engaged and found connections to the Brazilian context. Organized as a conversation, the reading, like the trip as a whole, became an opportunity to actively engage people working and living within a cultural context vastly different from my own.”
Ladee
is the winner of the 2
016 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer's Award.
FEATURED PROGRAM
Watch testimonials from participants and partner theaters.
20th Annual
Women Playwrights Festival
Over the past 20 years, our festival has supported an impressive group of women playwrights by offering public readings with professional actors, and residency time at the retreat in conjunction with dramaturgical support to develop their new plays. Award-winning plays by two of our festival participants were showing on Broadway last month!
GRATITUDE
Thank you Gloria Steinem, Co-Chair, and our entire Creative Advisory Council, for their leadership and inspiration.
“Hedgebrook puts the diversity of women’s voices - marginalized for so long and at such cost - back in the narrative of humanity. Nothing but nothing could be more important right now when the nostalgia of the few for the subjugation of the many is bringing a backlash into power, from Washington to New Delhi. Only stories will help us break through old roles to shared humanity -- and Hedgebrook is a global campfire.” - Gloria Steinem, 2017Pictured above: June meeting in New York. Left to Right: Executive Director, Amy Wheeler; Gloria Steinem; Director of Development & Outreach, Catherine Willis Cleveland; Hedgebrook Board Liaison to Creative Advisory Council, Sarah Ladipo Manyika.
Thank you Alumna Courtney Martin, who collaborated with New York Times graphic journalist Wendy MacNaughton to create this artwork manifesto, which they sold to raise an astounding $22,000 in funds to support Hedgebrook!
One thing we both felt so strongly was that the work of artists had become all the more vital and urgent. This poster is what evolved from those conversations. We chose Hedgebrook as the recipient of our proceeds because I know firsthand what an incredible gift it is for women artists, especially women of color, and what a force for truth and beauty it is in the world.”To purchase a poster this week,click here »
OUR COTTAGE ROOFS NEED REPAIR
We've learned some difficult news, and are reaching out for help...
After nearly three decades in the rainy Pacific Northwest woods, our cottage roofs need repair, and it has to happen while the sun is out. Every donation of any size helps us to reach our daunting unexpected need of $125,000.Please consider setting up a monthly gift through
, or giving through our crowd funding campaign, at
https://fundly.com/hedgebrookcottagefund
.
For a one-time gift, please click
Alumnae and New Donor Matching Challenge!
We are deeply grateful to Yana Viniko and Hand In Hand Partners Fund for their generous match. They are challenging Alumnae and new donors to raise the roof!
Donations from Alumnae and new donors will be matched TWICE, up to $10,000. That means every gift up to $10,000 will provide up to $30,000 in support. Donations of every size make a difference, please
We thank you for your support!Hedgebrook is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and donations are tax-deductible. EIN: 80-0012629
UPCOMING CLASSES AND RETREATS
Apply Now
Writers In ResidenceApplications are now being accepted for 2018 residencies of 2 to 6 weeks
Writers in Residence is Hedgebrook’s core program, supporting fully-funded residencies of approximately 40 writers each year. Enjoy a cottage of your own, the time and space to create, the solitude to reflect, and the community to support you... you can have all this as a Writer in Residence, plus lifelong connections with other writers, a view of Puget Sound and a Pacific Northwest forest to inspire you. Application and more »
January 2018
Overseas Master Class in Goa, India
Now open!
The India Master Class in Goa offers the possibility to immerse yourself in Hedgebrook’s unique retreat experience amidst the exotica of India. This is a unique chance to study with a renowned writer in a small-group workshop and enjoy being in residence near the famed white sand beaches of Goa, India. Beloved writer Elmaz Abinader joins Hedgebrook as faculty for the inaugural offering for this India Master Class. Elmaz offers a multi-genre workshop that is open to writers of all backgrounds. Participation is limited to 8 writers to ensure individual attention and create an intimate, supportive writing community. Application and more »
August 2017
Y-We Write
Teen Summer Camp
Join Hedgebrook & Young Women Empowered (Y-WE) for an amazing leadership and literacy summer camp. Hedgebrook will select four of our powerful and experienced alumnae to work closely with Y-WE youth and mentors over the course of the camp. The writers will each present on a different area of literary expression—including poetry, fiction, playwriting, lyrics, spoken word, autobiography, and more!Application and more »
November 2017 Screenwriters Lab
Hedgebrook’s Screenwriters Lab features a week of one-on-one mentoring sessions and workshops led by experienced writers, with Hedgebrook’s singular residency experience. Post-residency, screenwriters have opportunities to connect with Hedgebrook’s growing community of women in the film industry who can offer advice and guidance as they bring their projects to fruition.Click here to learn more »
November 2017
Master Class with Aminatta Forna
The Writer's Toolbox
In this course you will learn how to think like a writer, you will immerse yourself in the imaginative and technical disciplines of storytelling. Every writer at the outset of a new work must make find the most effective means of telling their particular story. The course will introduce you to a specific element of the craft of writing, what I call the writer’s toolbox: tense, structure, perspective, person, voice, dialogue, character.Application and more »
RECENT BOOKS, PRODUCTIONS, AND PRESS
OPRAH Magazine Cottage Industry
an article writen about Hedgebrookhttp://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/Hedgebrook-Women-Only-Writers-Retreat
South Whidbey Record A Glimpse into Hedgebrook playwrights' work
an article writen about Hedgebrookhttp://www.southwhidbeyrecord.com/life/a-glimpse-into-hedgebrook-playwrights-work/Nicole Dennis-Benn launched her book Here Comes The Suna hustle to thrive in Jamica. This lithe, artfully-plotted debut concerns itself with the lives of those for whom tourists can barely be bothered to remove their Ray-Bans, and the issues it tackles — the oppressive dynamics of race, sexuality and class in post-colonial Jamaica.http://www.nicoledennisbenn.com/book.html
IRELAND, PLACE OUT OF TIME by Marcia Reimer
is a collection of poetry and photographs that grew out of a trip to Ireland in October 2015www.marciameier.com/wwbooks
INDECENT by Paula Vogel
recounts the controversy surrounding the play God of Vengeance by Sholem Aschhttp://indecentbroadway.com
Outing The Mermaid by Ann Medlock
Is a Novel of Love, Fear & Misogyny.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCXq-Evi5LY&feature=youtu.be
Hundred Miles to Nowhere: An Unlikely Love Story by Elisa Korenne
tells her story of moving from New York City to rural Minnesota and discovering somewhere, and someone, in the middle of nowhere.https://elisakorenne.com/hundred-miles-to-nowhere-press-release/Alumnae -- Please share your successes with us by emailing kurij@hedgebrook.org, and we’ll feature them in our next newsletter!