By the end of the spring session in April, we hope to publish a booklet of ITWOW poetry/prose/fiction/words! This is an new, exciting venture for us, and we need your wonderful words!
Feel free to submit poems, essays, short fiction pieces (less than 1000 words), etc. You may submit as many as you like. However, if you submit more than one piece, there is no guarantee everything you submitted will be included.
The deadline for submission is April 19 (subject to change).
So, write your heart out and email your best work to itwow.sfv [at] gmail [dot] com!
If you haven’t been able to sleep since the holidays, always asking yourself, “When does ITWOW start?” then this announcement is for you!
I am pleased to announce In The Words of Womyn, spring 2013 will begin Friday, February 8, at 6 PM at Tia Chucha’s! We will continue for 11-12 weeks with an end date of Friday, April 26. We might have a week off to observe Spring Break; I will let you know once the date(s) draw closer. Bring a friend, spread the word, bust out your paper and pen, and let’s get creative!
For more ITWOW news, stay tuned to this website, or email itwow.sfv [at] gmail [dot] com.
I am so so SO thrilled to announce the launch of a brand new sister chapter of ITWOW located in Waco, Texas! Beginning on Monday, January 14, 2013 HOT~ITWOW (Heart of Texas) will continue the mission to empower womyn writers of all ages, levels, and genres to give sound to our story and volume to our voice!
Founded in January 2010 in Sylmar, CA, In the Words of Womyn was born out of a vision to empower womyn of the NE San Fernando Valley community to step up to the mic, to own their identities as writers, and to grow in confidence of their own talents and strengths through the practice and performance of written and spoken-word. With the support of Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural Jenuine founded and facilitated weekly writing circles in 10-week sessions for three years reaching over 100 womyn writers throughout Los Angeles county.
ITWOW ~ SFV empowers womyn by making space and increasing opportunities for writers to perform at such events as Tia Chucha’s weekly open mic & quarterly Womyn’s Words & Music Night 2011; Celebrating Words Festival 2011 and 2012; Dia de los Muertos 2011; Tia Chucha’s Anniversary Celebration 2011 and 2012; MEND’s Project Glamour 2012; and to have work published in Rushing Waters, Rising Dreams as well as appear in a documentary of the same name. Thanks to the tireless work of Alex Hohmann, ITWOW ~ SFV continues to empower womyn to give sound to our story and volume to our voice!
Jenuine is thrilled to bring her passion and her experience to Central Texas and looks forward to building community, learning from, and writing with womyn in the Heart of Texas.
It seems like our last session just ended, but luckily a new one is starting quite soon!
I am pleased to announce In The Words of Womyn, fall 2012 at Tia Chucha’s will begin Friday, October 5th, at 6 PM. We will continue for about 10 weeks with an end date of Friday, December 14. Bring a friend, spread the word, bust out your paper and pen, and let’s get creative!
However, because the fall can become a little tricky with so many holidays, ITWOW WILL NOT MEET Friday November 2 (I have a prior commitment) and Friday, November 23 (it interferes with the Thanksgiving holiday).
For more ITWOW news, stay tuned to this website, or email itwow.sfv [at] gmail [dot] com.
I am so excited to announce that a new chapter of In the Words of Womyn will be coming soon to the Heart of Texas! Please stay tuned here for more details about the dates and location.
Coming up at the end of September is a thrilling event calling upon poets and musicians all over the world to gather in solidarity to share poems, stories, and songs about change–whether at the personal, community, national, or global level. We have many opportunities to share our work whether by online publication here on ITWOW or by speaking at an open mic or performing in a poetry slam or publishing in a printed medium; this Saturday, September 29, 2012, we have the opportunity to join the echoing chorus of 100,000 poets across the globe. The thought of it just gives me the chills!
For details on an event near you, please go to the 100 Thousand Poets for Change blog site and scroll down along the right side. Click on UNITED STATES, then click on your state to find local venues. If you don’t find one in your area, it’s not too late to organize one, even if it is an intimate gathering of several poets! One voice is powerful; 100,000 voices are unstoppable! Let us be the change for which we hope
It’s almost fall which means it’s almost time for another session of In The Words of Womyn! Please check back for specific dates of the fall workshop!
In the meantime, I encourage you to review the publication page, and submit your work to itwow.sfv [at] gmail [dot] com. Even though the new session hasn’t yet started, you can still participate by being published!
Sym·bi·o·sis.noun \ˌsim-bē-ˈō-səs,\: a cooperative relationship; an intimate association or close union of two dissimilar organisms.
In the Words of Womyn = body of womyn writers. Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural = transformative arts space & community center. ITWOW + Tia Chucha’s = symbiosis.
ITWOW began with an experience…a resounding void of womyn voices on the mic at a weekly open mic event. That experience turned into ideas and vision. Those ideas turned into dialogue. And dialogue turned into action: the creation of a womyn’s writing circle workshop on January 15, 2010.
Since 2010, In the Words of Womyn has held six 10-week workshop sessions connecting with over 60 womyn from all over San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles County. During that time, more womyn are stepping up to the mic each week at open mic; ITWOW showcased five womyn poets at Tia Chucha’s 2011 annual Celebrating Words Festival; in 2011, ITWOW teamed up with singer/songwriter Tapia Corel to create a quarterly event called Womyn’s Words and Music Night showcasing the talents, artistry, strength and beauty of womyn musicians and writers; and ITWOW website has published over 75 poems, stories, and memoir excerpts.
While the vision for ITWOW began as mine, it has become a community vision adopted not only by the many womyn inspired by and empowered by ITWOW, but also by Tia Chucha’s without which this vision never would have had a place to be planted and BLOOM!
I am so thankful to Tia Chucha’s co-founder Trini Rodriguez along with her incredible staff who have enthusiastically supported the ITWOW vision and mission from the very beginning. Tia Chucha’s has lavished gracious hospitality in allowing ITWOW to be held at the Centro weekly and has also created countless opportunities for womyn writers to be inspired, nurtured, and empowered. I have been deeply transformed by the people, the art, the opportunities and the community of Tia Chucha’s–both as a writer and as an individual.
Tia Chucha’s has the incredible opportunity to create a documentary and book highlighting the transformative work accomplished in the Northeast San Fernando Valley through arts programming. Tia Chucha’s is a non-profit independent bookstore and community cultural center. Not only is it the only bookstore for miles…and miles around, but is also one of the only spaces in the area offering FREE workshops and programming in music, art, culture, gardening, healthy living, and much more to kids, youth, and adults.
I’m inviting you to join with In the Words of Womyn to support the incredible work being done through spaces like Tia Chucha’s, where art and minds meet for a change and where Art Transforms Communities. If you, or someone you know, has been inspired and transformed through the presence and programming of Tia Chucha’s, please offer up your gratitude and support by donating. Whatever amount you can give–from your heart to Tia Chucha’s–will be sown into fertile ground and the harvest will indeed be bountiful!
To learn more about Tia Chucha’s and to donate, please go to their website. For those of you who already know and love Tia Chucha’s, check out this video clip and information about the Art Transforms Communities documentary/book project; you can donate there as well.
Thank you friends, family, and community!
With much love and respect, ~Jenuine
On Saturday, September 24, 2011 poets all over the globe will be stepping up to microphones in coffee shops, bookstores, cafes, community spaces, living rooms, street corners, and anywhere else people gather to share–in solidarity–our poems about change.
I get chills every time I just think about this event!
Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural will be hosting a reading event in Sylmar, CA that afternoon from 1pm-4pm. For more information on local events, please go to the 100 Thousand Poets for Change website. If you scroll down you will find venues, worldwide, along the right sidebar. Click on a city close to you for details about local readings. If you are unable to attend an event, or there is not one available close to you, you can still participate by posting your own writings directly to the site. For more information about posting your work on the site, please visit the Community Poetry Wall.
Change
it begins small
tiny as a seed
just one letter
I
Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural is hosting their 6th Annual Celebrating Words Festival on Saturday May 21, 2011 from 1-7pm at LA Mission College and In the Words of Womyn will be there hosting a networking tent for Emerging Writers and Chapbook sales and YOU are invited!
If you are an emerging writer and are interested in networking with other up-and-coming writers; if you have a chapbook or self-published work and are looking for a way to get your work out there, *this* is the opportunity for you. Come hang out, meet other writers, sell your books*, share information and resources, and maybe even do a little writing
*We request a donation of $1 per book sold which will to go to helping Tia Chucha’s fund the festival.
