We are excited about upcoming WNBA events! We have events for members only and some that are open to non-members as well.

The WNBA provides regular programming at the national level and through our chapters. During the coronavirus pandemic, all events are virtual.

If you are a member, you can join our Bookwoman Book Club, which reads books from the Great Group Reads lists. See what we’re reading in the next few months!

Details for WNBA-National events, such as Zoom links and passwords, are sent out through our Bookwoman Event emails and are posted in our Facebook groups (Bookwoman Book Club and WNBA Talks Books) or on our WNBA Facebook page.

Login information for Chapter events will be sent out by the chapters.

Not all events hosted by Chapters are posted here. Check your Chapter’s website or newsletter for chapter-only events.

We hope you’ll join us!

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Join Us for WNBA Events

WNBA Author Talk: Carolyn Holbrook

Author and educator Carolyn Holbrook joins us to talk about her book, Tell Me Your Names and I Will Testify: Essays, her career, and the power of creative writing to heal and challenge racism.

Holbrook’s personal essays tackle an array of topics from life as a single mother to her many professional accomplishments and from racism and discrimination to the importance of finding your voice.  She tells the story of her own triumphant survival in a world that knocked her down over and over again.

“Carolyn Holbrook’s remarkable book testifies to the power of the arts to heal her own life traumas, both historical and more recent. We see and hear her learn to speak up, and to claim space, in a world designed to keep silent or remove people like her.” —Resmaa Menakem, author of My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies

“The memoir of Twin Cities writer Carolyn Holbrook is one of fortitude and resilience. . . . During a time when this country seems to be in the midst of a historic reckoning, Holbrook’s story should be read as more than a memoir. She sets out to personalize and underscore the resilience that goes into surviving and thriving without resources.” —Star Tribune

7 Simple Mind-shifts that Transform Introverted Authors into Dynamic Speakers

Building a platform for promoting a book is vital to its success, but the most important element of your writer’s platform is you. 

Betsy Graziani Fasbinder, an award-winning author, a licensed psychotherapist, and an in-demand communications trainer, will lead this session that provides mind-shifts and a few simple skills that even the most introverted writer can employ to be a more dynamic, engaging public speaker. Whether you’re just a little nervous or downright phobic about public speaking, it pays for writers to develop the ability to speak about their book or subject with confidence, passion, and sincerity to a single listener or an audience of hundreds. Build your platform? Certainly. But be sure to remember that you’re the one who is going to be standing on it. 

In this session participants will:

• Learn simple mental shifts and instantly applicable skills to transform author events, readings, and talks from “presentations” to “conversations” where listeners feel connected, engaged, and eager to hear more
• Gain understanding about why people attend author events, and how to give them more than they came for
• Learn to utilize what we already know about writing stories, and bring that knowledge to the microphone in order to captivate listeners 
• Learn tips for presenting via ZOOM or other virtual platforms that will instantly improve your “virtual” presence.

Agents, Editors, The Pitch Letter

Join us to hear what two AGENTS, two EDITORS, look for in a PITCH or query LETTER.  This 90-minute panel, moderated by a publishing marketing veteran, is co-hosted by the New York and Boston chapters of WNBA.

The panelists will clarify what elements and information are most important, What Matters to agents, to editors as they review pitch (or “query”) letters, especially for works of fiction or memoir. What ammunition can help an author “sell” their work to an agent? Help an agent sell a writer’s work to a publisher? Help an editor “sell” that book to the acquisition committee?

Moderator: Bridget Marmion

Panelists:

Laura Gross

Johanna Castillo

Margaret Marbury

Tara Parsons

WNBA Nashville Annual Garden Party

It’s time for our annual, members’ only* Garden Party!

Now that many have received Covid vaccinations, we’re so excited to have this event in person. We will be outside and social distancing to be implemented. Extra masks will be available for anyone needing one. RSVP is required. Directions will be emailed 5/10.

We will also host a brief Zoom “meeting” at 6:15 p.m. (CT) for anyone who is unable to attend or is not comfortable attending in person. Hop on and say hello!

SPEAK, OKINAWA — Susan Larson Interviews Elizabeth Miki Brina

Meeting ID: 885 1562 5099

Passcode: 168031

Susan Larson, host of “The Reading LIfe” on New Orleans Public Radio and WNBA–New Orleans founding member, will interview local author Elizabeth Miki Brina. They will discuss Brina’s new memoir SPEAK, OKINAWA, and answer questions from the audience.

The Birth of a Book

From concept to publication: how does a book come into being? Join WNBA-DC as we talk with author Margaret Rodenberg about her new book, Finding Napoleon, and her relationship with her agent, Rachel Ekstrom, and publisher Brook Warner,  as well as the current state of the industry. 

How to Restart Your Writing Life: Goal-Setting Simplified

Feeling a little overwhelmed? Need to refresh those 2021 goals? 

Great news! Every day, week, and month, you have the perfect opportunity to make a new start. 

Whatever your writing, publishing, promotion, or work-life balance goals, Debra Eckerling has you covered!

To set yourself — and your goals — up for success in 2021, join Debra Eckerling, founder of the D*E*B METHOD® and author of Your Goal Guide: A Roadmap for Setting, Planning, and Achieving Your Goals, for a Lunch ‘N Learn for the WNBA-San Francisco chapter.

During this workshop, Deb will discuss how to:

• Create an Updated Mission & Motto
• Set, Re-set, and Map Out Your Professional and Personal Goals
• Organize your Work-Space, Home-Space, and Digital Space
• Find Better Work-Life-Writing Balance
• And more

Atlanta April Book Club

We’ll have our virtual book club. For May, we’ll be reading an Agatha Christie mystery.

WNBA Connects

If you are looking to expand your network, meet fellow booklovers, and learn about new people, come to our networking event!

Normally, our monthly networking sessions are for WNBA members only, but we are opening up this month’s event to everyone. You can even bring friends if you like!

We know people are busy, so if you can only stay for a little bit or you come late, that’s totally fine.

The event is scheduled to last for an hour, but if we have a large turnout, we might extend the time for those who’d like to stick around.

It’s an informal event, so you don’t need to prepare an elevator speech. Just come, chat, and hang out.

There will be door prizes too!

South Asian Author Panel

May is Asian History Month!

What’s it like growing up in India or Pakistan? What’s it like growing up South Asian in the United States? And what kind of writing and books results from those experiences?

Join WNBA-SF for a panel discussion with three South Asian women writers — Sumbul Ali-Karamali, Anniqua Rana, Mytrae Meliana, and author/moderator Rajika Bhandari —who share their writing and discuss how place, history and cultural identity play a part in their work.

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Attend

If you’d like to attend a WNBA event, please follow the direction found in each event.

If you aren’t a WNBA member, but you would like to attend some of our members-only events, you can join at any time!

We have chapters across the country, and our Network membership is perfect for anyone who does not live near one of our chapter cities.

Participate

If you’d like to be part of a panel or author talk or give a webinar or workshop, please simply email Julie at communications [at] wnba-books.org.

Check Back Soon for More WNBA Events

New events are coming, so check back soon. All event details are sent via our Bookwoman event emails, so make sure you are signed up.

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