Calendar

Jennifer will talk about what led her to co-author The #ActuallyAutistic Guide to Advocacy: Step-by-Step Advice on How to Ally and Speak Up with Autistic People and the Autism Community. She’ll go on to discuss general advocacy, then focus on family, work and educational topics. Q&A to follow.

This talk is in-person. Masks are required.

Please RSVP to slevine@ewmlibrary.org with the event name and number of attendees.

The #ActuallyAutistic Guide takes an in-depth look at the key elements of effective, respectful, inclusive advocacy and allyship. Every topic was chosen, shaped, and informed by #ActuallyAutistic perspectives. She and Jenna are currently writing, and collecting surveys for, their second collaboration, The #ActuallyAutistic Guide to Teen and Young Adult Advocacy and Activism: Step-by-Step Advice for Autistic Youth and Those Who Care About Them.

Author Bio:
Jennifer Brunton, Ph.D. is the co-author, with Jenna Gensic, M.A., of The #ActuallyAutistic Guide to Advocacy: Step-by-Step Advice on How to Ally and Speak Up with Autistic People and the Autism Community. A neurodivergent parent of an Autistic son and a neurotypical daughter, Jennifer is passionate about making the world a better place for people who think, learn, and experience life in unique ways. Her parenting blog, Full Spectrum Mama, has been advancing civil rights for all—with a focus on neurodiversity and intersectionality—for more than 10 years.

Registration is required. In-person with a max of 15 participants. Click here to register.

Do you have a sense of adventure, a desire to experience new vistas, a keen eye for detail and a storyteller’s flair? These are a few of the elements of the travel writer’s toolkit that Laurie will discuss in this travel writing workshop. You’ll practice in-class writing exercises to awaken the imagination and help guide your interest in writing about the places you’ve traveled or want to travel. You’ll walk away with some ideas to begin, methods to engage your reader, and stimulate your own sense of wonder! This is also a class for those who don’t travel but would like to armchair travel and write about what places intrigue them.

Facilitator Bio:
Laurie McMillan has an MFA in fiction and has led writing workshops for 21 years in all genres. She was the co-founder of the Pittsburgh Memoir Workshop, and several workshop series in venues as diverse as art museums, outpatient clinics, and at the VA. She believes that creativity and community in a safe and supportive environment can help writers do their best work. She is published in several magazines including American Journal of Nursing and the Healing Muse.

This program was funded in part by Emily’s Friends of the Library.

This in-person session is for teens only. Registration is required. Click here to register.

Life is tough, but you’re not in it alone. Hear from local author Maeve Ronan (It’s the Depression for Me) as she shares her personal story and provides practical tips for dealing with depression and anxiety.

This workshop will leave you feeling inspired and empowered with strategies to believe in yourself and in your future. If you’re ready to move beyond the negative thoughts in your head and start genuinely living life again, this workshop is definitely for you.

Join us as we welcome author Tim Spofford for a conversation about his new book What The Children Told Us. Tim will discuss the lives and work of Drs. Kenneth and Mamie Phipps Clark, including Clark/Phipps genealogy (guided by vintage family photos), the Doctors’ famous Doll Test, and their roles as Black activists, humanitarians and intellectualists in Springfield, MA and nationally.

This event is drop-in and masks will be required.

Author Bio:
Tim Spofford’s writing career was inspired by the May 1970 slayings on the Kent and Jackson State campuses amid antiwar unrest. He wrote Lynch Street, the only book about the black students slain in Mississippi. A writing career focused on racial issues in education followed the completion of his first book.

For seven years, Spofford covered educational policymaking for the Albany Times Union, including at the NYS Education Department, the NYS Legislature and the 64-campus State University of New York system. He often interviewed Kenneth Clark, a policymaker on the NYS Board of Regents.

Spofford has taught writing and journalism in schools and colleges and has a Doctor of Arts in English degree from the State University at Albany. He’s published articles in the New York Times, Newsday, Mother Jones, Columbia Journalism Review and other publications. He also worked as a copy editor, most recently at the St. Petersburg Times in Florida, where he coached young editors. Spofford is an avid but unaccomplished hiker, swimmer and landscaper. He lives with his wife, Barbara, in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Lee, Massachusetts.

Join local artist Dave Wallace (incendavery.com) to learn about their process for creating diary comics, and turn your own life into a work of art! Dave will lead participants through exercises that incorporate free writing, character creation, and scripting, before helping us put it all together into a finished comic. Space is limited for this in-person event, so please contact the Youth Department to register. Recommended for ages 9 and up.