Open Mikes: A Great Way to Meet Other Writers
Bringing our members into regular contact with one another is a major priority for the Coop Board. Our series of Open Mikes was launched in October 2006. The feedback from those who read, as well as those who came to listen, was overwhelmingly positive.
Help us establish a tradition! Join us, in what is sure to be a convivial environment, to read, listen to, and talk about writing.
Guidelines & Policies
Open Mikes are, by definition, open to all members of the community. You do not have to be a Coop member to read, but available slots will always be offered first to Coop members. (Hint: join the Coop! Here's how.)
We prefer that you present something you're currently working on, but it's not a hard-and-fast rule. Prize-nominees and prize-winners are always welcome, and so are newly-published authors, first-timers or otherwise: we want and encourage you to share your success. You may read fiction, non-fiction and poetry, essays and memoir. You may perform a scene from a play or dramatic monologue. With prior approval from the event MC, you may be allowed to perform a musical piece with lyrics. Since we hold our Open Mikes in public venues, often during the day, the Golden Rule is that all material be family-friendly.
We limit the number of readers to ten per session and each reader is allowed a maximum of 8 minutes to read, or otherwise perform, their work. If you want a rule-of-thumb, time-wise, 100 words = 1 minute. If you're unsure how long your intended piece will take, please time yourself, and be sure to add in time for your introductory remarks. Note that you may not need the whole 8 minutes. The MC will ask you how much time you’ll need when you arrive and will set up the order of the readings to allow us a couple of breaks and plenty of time for socializing.
We try to give preference to first-time readers, but repeaters are welcome providing we don’t surpass our limit of ten.
Registration information is in the column at the right.
Next Open Mike
Thursday Sept. 11, 2008
7:00 p.m.
Frances Morrison Library
(Room 3, lower level)
Register to read by emailing openmike@writerscoop.org; (a week’s notice would be nice!)
The One After That...
Thursday Oct. 9, 2008
watch this space for details
Looking for company?
Join the Coop
