Our things literary.
What books would you choose if you could read just five, desert-island-style, over and over and over again? That’s the question BOOK CITY ★ Roanoke contributor Ashley Wilson Fellers will ask local writers, booksellers and literacy advocates in the a fresh series, Desert Island Reads. In this installment, Ashley checks in with Sara Geres, program director at… Continue reading ★ Desert Island Reads: Blue Ridge Literacy’s Sara Geres
September 14 - 23 marks Welcoming Week, a national effort led locally by the City of Roanoke and a dozen nonprofit organizations. Planned events will bring together immigrants, refugees, and native-born residents to promote the benefits of welcoming everyone in our community. To mark Welcoming Week, we asked Roanoke Public Libraries Director Sheila S. Umberger and Blue… Continue reading ★ Celebrating WELCOMING WEEK with the team at Roanoke Public Libraries and Blue Ridge Literacy
On March 1st, Roanoke’s Art by Bus program announced Tim Thornton as the 2018 Writer on the Bus. A component of Art by Bus, Writer on the Bus is a joint effort of Ride Solutions, the Roanoke Arts Commission and Valley Metro, highlighting public transportation in the region with literary, performing, and visual arts. Tim… Continue reading ★ Tim Thornton named 2018 Writer on the Bus
Melody Warnick tapped the resources and skills she developed as a freelance journalist to create a compendium of community engagement and placemaking strategies. This Is Where You Belong: Finding Home Wherever You Are (Viking/Penguin, 2016) is both personal essay and how-to guide, encouraging creative and committed participation in the world around us. The world around Warnick is… Continue reading ★ Melody Warnick loves where she writes
Congratulations Bryan Hancock and the Soul Sessions team for four years of creating a supportive space for new voices. Get some background on Soul Sessions in this 2017 post, or far better, head out to Theater 3 on Saturday, 2/10, to the anniversary show. Soul Sessions IV: The Love Movement- will feature musical guest… Continue reading ★ Celebrate four years of Soul Sessions Saturday, 2/10
An opportunity offered Roanoke by its surrounding universities is a chance to retain some of the talented, energetic students the schools attract. During their tenure here, we introduce them to our community and hope that something sticks. Fortunately, Marissa Mazek stuck. The 28 year-old Roanoke Public Libraries community services assistant moved to Roanoke to attend… Continue reading ★ Marissa Mazek sticks around to make a difference
Issue 24 of Ecotone, the journal of place-based writing, features the work of former Roanoke resident Martha E. Park. In her stay, Park immersed herself in Roanoke and the historic Gainsboro community, and her new illustrated work is a result of close study during that period. To mark the publication, Martha told us a little about… Continue reading ★ Martha Park renders a community
In a BOOK CITY, we each have a voice. We use it to connect, to advocate, to share, to teach, and to question. We do this with words on paper, with some of that writing getting polished up into printed form. And now that we have a responsive local book store that emphasizes the work of… Continue reading ★ On local voices and local support at Book No Further
Join Bryan Hancock and the Soul Sessions family on Wednesday, December 20, for a potluck, spoken word performances, and music by Jane Gabrielle of Radar Rose. Sign ups begin at 7:45 for performers and for this seasonal Soul Sessions, holiday themed poetry is welcomed. Soul Sessions is located in downtown Roanoke at 16 West Marketplace… Continue reading ★ Seasonal Soul: Final Soul Sessions of 2017 Wednesday
Write Stuff!—Mill Mountain Theatre’s young playwrights program, returns for its second year in 2018. The playwriting competition is open to middle and high school students and the deadline for submissions is Dec. 31, 2017. Winning plays will be selected by a panel of Mill Mountain Theatre (MMT) professional artists. The chosen plays will be performed… Continue reading ★ Mill Mountain Theatre’s Travis Kendrick asks young playwrights to Write Stuff!
BOOK CITY ★ Roanoke 