Reading and Writing Groups
If you want to join a non-credit workshop or discussion group, start here! A number of reading and
writing groups convene at the Writers or online and most are open to new members. If you don't see
the sort of group you hope to join, contact Writers House Director Jessica Lowenthal for ideas about
how to start a new group.
Alumni Online Book Groups
For Penn Alumni and Penn families. To join an Online Book Group, all you need is an email account and a willingness to engage in free and perhaps freewheeling discussion of an interesting book. Groups convene online for a week, ten days, or a month and cover all kinds of writing. Recent discussions have included short stories by Richard Ford, poems by Emily Dickinson, and the films of Alfred Hitchcock.
Jabberwocky: Writing for Children
Interested in writing for kids -- stories, poetry, picture books? Jabberwocky will bring together all those interested in writing, illustrating, or otherwise being involved in the world of literature for children. If you've ever considered writing for kids, come check out Jabberwocky! For more information email Tracy Byford (tbyford@sas.upenn.edu) or Kermit Oswald III (chaosthethird@gmail.com).
Lacan Study Group
The Philadelphia Lacan Study Group & Seminar has been meeting since 1989. It is an open seminar devoted to the discussion of Lacan's main ideas and their application to broader clinical, social, and cultural issues. It functions by discussions of individual texts and presentations by internationally distinguished guest speakers. The Philadelphia Lacan Study Group aims to foster an atmosphere of collective work by which to advance Lacanian theory and practice. All are welcome. Project Director: Patricia Gherovici (pgherovici@aol.com).
Penn and Pencil Club
A creative writing workshop for Penn and Health Systems Staff. If you're a Penn employee and want to work on your creative writing, contact Karen Murphy (ktmurphy@mail.med.upenn.edu).
Pennomicon
A writing group for those who create worlds of fantasy, science fiction and horror. Whether your medium is short story, novel, or screenplay, bring an idea to discuss, pages to read, or a writer's block to smash, in the company of like minded visionaries. Please contact Matthew Spizuco (pennomicon@comcast.net) for details.
Backyard Workshop: a community for emerging and newly established prose writers
You are somewhere between the world of undergrad writing workshops and getting your first collection/novel published. Maybe you have a chapbook out or have won some contests, or maybe you have already published a collection and are looking to gain momentum for a second. You read and write with reckless abandon and have a stack of books on your nightstand that is about to fall over. Perhaps you’re assembling a portfolio of work to apply to MFA programs.
f you are any of these things, and definitely a writer of short stories, novels, or prose poetry and live in Philadelphia, consider becoming part of Backyard Workshop. Backyard is a new group that is open to members determining format and commitment. It will be a workshop space, it will be a community. It will be unpretentious and inclusive, it will be serious and seriously awesome. Backyard will meet in the Kelly Writers House at Penn University and in a West Philly space TBA after KWH closes for the semester.
Interested? Contact: Emma Eisenberg (eisenberg.emma@gmail.com). Please include a resume/bio and one short (no more than 15 pages) work of prose that shows a little bit of what you’re about.
The Play's the Thing
An exploration of playwriting through an open-ended reading and discussion group. Meetings are held at KWH and through Skype. All are welcome, you do not need to be affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania or have a previous playwriting background. For more information, contact Amy Freeman at plays.philadelphia@gmail.com.
Suppose An Eyes
A poetry working group where poets can come to share and discuss their work. Open to all. Contact Pat Green (patricia78@aol.com).
Virginia Woolf Discussion Group
For Virginia Woolf, the politics is in the writing. With this in mind, our discussions will focus on Woolf's language and how it functions in her texts. Specific works will be chosen by the group after our first meeting. At this meeting we'll discuss her essay-writing practice, and focus on her 1940 essay: "Thoughts on Peace in an Air Raid." This essay - quite relevant to our world today - is available online, or in Virginia Woolf's /The Death of the Moth./ The discussion will range from Michel de Montaigne to the Dixie Chicks.
Group leader Judith Allen holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Delaware. A Virginia Woolf scholar, she has taught at the University of Delaware, Penn State University, and Penn's College of General Studies. She has published articles on the writings of Virginia Woolf and James Joyce, and is currently writing a book on Virginia Woolf and language.
Writers Workshop
For writers, published or working in that direction, interested in sharing their stories while giving and receiving feedback. This is a mixed genre group -- fiction writers, memoirists, creative nonfiction writers and essayists. Writing is submitted via the Internet, but critiqued in person using a traditional writers workshop format with scheduled meetings. For more information, please contact Martha Turner (m-turner@verizon.net).
34th Street Poets
For more than ten years, the 34th Street Poets have met weekly to workshop new poems, identifying the strengths in each poem and mapping out possible revisions to improve it. Their work ranges from experimental forms to carefully crafted sonnets. The group is not currently taking new members.