I’m thrilled that the Journal of Expressive Writing will be hosting my next Monologue Play Lab Showcase on Wed., April 2, 2025 at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on Zoom! I hope you’ll join us!

I look forward to writing with you from your personal photos in my next free online webinar, April 1, 2025, at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on Zoom. All writing levels are welcome. This is a multi-genre writing opportunity. You will draft new writing from your personal photo that you are excited to develop as poetry, prose, memoir, monologue or family writing. I look forward to writing with you!

Join me for my 4-week monologue play lab which begins Wed., February 26, 2025, from 7-9:00 p.m. Eastern on Zoom, and includes writing sessions on March 5, March 12, same times, & a showcase, free & open to the public, on Zoom, Wed., April 2, 2025, from 7-8:30 p.m. featuring talented actors performing participant’s monologues.

EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT EXPIRES SOON

COST: $175 BEFORE FEB. 15. $195 AFTER

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 7:00 P.M. EASTERN ON ZOOM

Please join Kelly DuMar for this reading of new writing by participants in her recent IWWG Writing Webinar: Putting Our Grandmothers on the Page. Ten writers will read their new writing in prose, poetry and more about the grandmothers who have influenced their lives. Grandmothers are a universal archetype and a rich territory for creative writing. But we face challenges of writing past cultural stereotypes and breaking historical silences. How do we leap beyond sentimentality to grapple with shifting historical changes and cultural expectations? This panel of readers will share new writing from prompts of personal photos, objects, and memory. Please join us to listen to the voices of grandmothers––you’ll be inspired to explore your own grandmothers.

Readers: Greta Sesheta, Jeanne Schneider, Sharon B., Laura L Balius Engel, Leslie Beth Neustadt, Kathy Kluge, Helene Kelly, Holly Bonsara, Paula Mate, Karen Webber

Kelly DuMaris a poet, playwright and workshop facilitator from Boston. She’s author of four poetry collections and she teaches Play Labs and produces Monologue Showcases for the International Women’s Writing Guild and the Transformative Language Arts Network. Kelly produces the Featured Open Mic for the Journal of Expressive Writing.

Sunday, November 17, 2 pm ET

A Reading & Celebration featuring poets from the new issue of Passager. Featuring contest winner Joyce Schmid, cover artist Janet Waters, and honorable mentions from the 2024 Passager Poetry Contest.

Register to Listen on Zoom

Are you LOCAL? Please join me at this in-person author panel, followed by my FREE WRITING WORKSHOP in Sherborn [Metrowest Massachusetts] November 2nd, from 1:00-4:00 p.m. at the Sherborn Library, sponsored by Aesop's Fable in Holliston, MA as part of the Sherborn 350 celebration. At 3:00 p.m. I will lead a writing workshop open to all. Bring a personal photo to write from. (No advance registration required). Hope to see you there!

In Person at the Sherborn Library, Sherborn, MA

Tuesday, October 22, 2024, 6:00 p.m.

Presented By The Sherborn Library & Kelly DuMar

ABOUT THE EVENT:

Local creative writers from the collective will read fascinating, beautifully crafted writing in poetry, prose, fiction & memoir. Kelly will facilitate a Q&A, prompting the audience to enhance their own creative impulses and practices. Members will reveal how writing in an ongoing workshop strengthens and sustains their creative writing practice. Free and open to the public.Refreshments will be served!

ABOUT THE CHARLES RIVER WRITING COLLECTIVE

The Charles River Writing Collective, (previously the Farm Pond Writing Collective), was founded in Sherborn, MA by Kelly DuMar and Elizabeth Sheehan in 2015. Since then, this multi-genre creative writing group has met weekly in Sherborn from September through June each year. Twice a year the collective holds open readings where members share writing they have been developing in the workshop as they work toward publication.

Currently, the Charles River Writer’s Collective members include: 

Karin Stanley (South Natick, MA)

Karen Edwards (Newton, MA)

Phyllis Rittner, (Watertown, MA)

Leanne Labelle (Medfield, MA)

Elizabeth Davies (Medfield, MA)

Deborah Burke Henderson (Ashland, MA)

Lisa Chin (Medfield, MA)

Mary Ladany (New York State)

Barbara Azzoli (New Jersey)

Kas Sobey (PA

ABOUT KELLY DUMAR

Kelly DuMar is a poet, playwright and workshop facilitator from Sherborn. She’s author of four poetry collections, including jinx and heavenly calling, published by Lily Poetry Review Books in March 2023. Her poems and images are published in Bellevue Literary Review, Tupelo Quarterly, Thrush, Glassworks, Flock and more, and her images have been featured on the cover of About Place, Josephine Quarterly, Synkroniciti, Cool Beans, Etymology, Confetti and Young Ravens Literary Review. Kelly teaches a variety of creative writing workshops, in person and online, and she teaches Play Labs for the International Women’s Writing Guild and the Transformative Language Arts Network. Kelly co-founded and facilitates the Charles River Writing Collective (previously the Farm Pond Writing Collective) now in its 9th year. Her home is the rural Charles River where she walks and captures images of the wetlands in all weather. Reach her at kellydumar.com

NIRVANA TEA TALK Featuring the CHARLES RIVER WRITING COLLECTIVE––

New Writing in Prose, Poetry, Memoir, Creative Nonfiction & Fiction by Local Women Writers

Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, 6:00 p.m.

Presented By Founder/Facilitator Kelly DuMar

The Charles River Writing Collective, (previously the Farm Pond Writing Collective), was founded in Sherborn, MA by Kelly DuMar and Elizabeth Sheehan in 2015. Since then, this multi-genre creative writing group has met weekly in Sherborn from September through June each year. Twice a year the collective holds open readings where members share writing they have been developing in the workshop as they work toward publication.

Nirvana Tea Talks inspire ideas that engage our CommuniTEA, enlighten the mind, and spread joy. While tea is served, creative writers from the collective will read fascinating, beautifully crafted writing in poetry, prose, fiction & memoir. Kelly will facilitate a Q&A, prompting the audience to enhance their own creative impulses and practices. Members will reveal how writing in an ongoing workshop strengthens and sustains their creative writing practice.

Tickets for Nirvana Tea Talks can be purchased online and advance purchase is required as seating is limited. Tickets include a pot of tea and treat to enjoy whilst the speaker of the evening presents.

Friends, as you know, I facilitate the monthly open mic for the Journal of Expressive Writing, and I'm excited to feature poet HeatherTreseler, winner of the May Sarton Poetry Prize reading from her award-winning new book Auguries & Divinations! Join us in the open mic - you can register here to read:

https://www.journalofexpressivewriting.com/sign-up

Sept. 26 at 7:00 p.m. ET

If you want to attend, but not read, you can register here

I'm really looking forward to producing two showcases featuring the new monologues by writers in my IWWG Summer Play Lab at Roger Williams University this August.

Registration is open!

Showcase I, Sunday, September 8, 2024, 7:00 p.m. ET

A Dream Reclaimed, by Desiree Rucker, performed by Jamila Capitman

Shared Cookies, by Joy Dryer, performed by Tonya Quillen

Wedding Picture, by Luz Vasquez, performed by Lida McGirr

This Time [Excerpt], by Veronica Picone, performed by & Shannon Kenny & Lida McGirr

Elli Q Rising, by Maureen Foyle, performed by Elly Burke

The monologues will be performed by talented actors, free and open to everyone, on Zoom.

I’m honored to be a featured reader, reading new poems about grandmothering, as part of the TLAN Virtual Salon, and I hope you will join me!

TLA Network Virtual Salon

Sunday, August 11, 2024

Join Us!

5:00–6:30 pm EDT (UTC-4)

4:00–5:30 pm CDT // 3:00–4:30 pm MDT // 2:00–3:30 pm PDT // 9:00-10:30 pm UTC

Click here to find your timezone.

Our Virtual Salons feature TLAN members who all use the written, spoken, or sung word for personal and community transformation. TLAN members have incredibly generous spirits, and we are excited to provide a venue to feature their artistic work.

Our August Salon will feature some surprise guests from among the amazing Power of Words 2024 presenters!Audience members: Registration is FREE and open to anyone, not just members of TLAN and will take place online via Zoom. 

After the reading, there will be an artist talkback and time for questions and engagement from the audience. 

You must register if you would like to attend: a Zoom link will be sent to all registrants the day before the event. We look forward to seeing you there!

Please join us, Monday, February 11, 2024, for the IWWG Play Lab Monologue Showcase, featuring monologues written during the Winter 2024 Play Lab. These brand new monologues, written by Play Lab participants, will be performed by actors, live, on Zoom, followed by a Q&A. More details about writers and actors will be announced soon.

Please e-mail kellydumar@kellydumar.com to pre-register or learn more.