Join Wordier Than Thou for the September gathering for the Blah Blah Blah literary open mic series.

The evening begins with a reading from featured writer Deb Carson, author of “Becoming Flo; A Mostly True Story.”

Bring your finest prose or a true story to share at this monthly literary open mic. Theme will be announced shortly!

After a reading from our special guest author, things open up for local authors to share their work!

The Open Mic Rules:
1. Every reader gets 10 minutes to share their work.
2. We’ll limit each event to just 10 readers.
3. Toss your name in the bucket when you arrive. Names will be chosen at random.

Admission $5. Get tickets here.

Bring a book to read or a writing project. Have a beer. Talk to other book people. Do whatever the fuck you want. There are no rules at Church of Books.

Join us as we low-key takeover some tables at Cage Brewing.

During this period of social distancing, we'll host a Q&A with a different Florida author every Monday evening. We'll talk to them about what they're writing, what they're reading and how they're staying creative during the coronavirus pandemic.

This evening we'll chat with Gloria Muñoz.

Gloria Muñoz is a Colombian-American writer and translator. She is the author of Your Biome Has Found You and Danzsirley / Dawn’s Early, which was selected for the Academy of American Poet’s 2019 Ambroggio Prize and is forthcoming from ASU's Bilingual Press/Editorial Bilingüe in 2020. Gloria was also recently part of the inaugural Tin House YA Writers Workshop. She is also part of Las Musas’ Hermanas mentorship program for Latinx KidLit writers.

She teaches at Eckerd College, where she also serves as the faculty adviser for the Eckerd Review. Gloria is a co-founder of Pitch Her Productions, an organization dedicated to women in film.

Learn more at www.gloriamunoz.com.

We will conduct this virtual tour using Zoom. Please create a Zoom account and learn more about the platform at https://zoom.us/

Please login for this tour between 6:50 and 7 p.m. When you enter the waiting room, please state your name or have your name clearly stated in your screenname. You will be muted upon entering the conference room. Please remain muted unless you're called upon to speak or ask a question.

Tell Us About Your Quarantine Log-in Information

This meeting can be accessed using Zoom and will also stream live on the Wordier Than Thou Facebook page.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/568663908

Password: 344694

Meeting ID: 568 663 908

This event will also be streamed live through our Facebook page: facebook.com/wordierthanthou.

Every other Saturday we'll reminisce with a Florida writer or artist about their angsty teen lives.

We'll invite them to read or share work created during high school or college, and will talk to them about their life during that time. What were they reading and creating? What music did they listen to? Who did they hang out with? What were the dramas in their lives?

This week we'll chat with Deb Kelley.

This session will be conducted via Zoom and will also stream live through our Facebook page, facebook.com/wordierthanthou.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88182912181?pwd=WURGUDFNSjBrZERkUk51bnptRy93dz09

Meeting ID: 881 8291 2181

Password: 462891

Literary arts nonprofit Wordier Than Thou hosts author Owen Robertson for the Quarantine Storytime series.

We will conduct this virtual reading using Zoom. Please create a Zoom account and learn more about the platform at https://zoom.us/

Please login for this tour between 6:50 and 7 p.m. You will be muted upon entering the conference room. Please remain muted unless you're called upon to speak or ask a question.

Virtual Storytime Log-in Information

Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/94972058207?pwd=OEIwK0ZKc0xsZVRDeHZ1Q1VnSHEvUT09

Password: 261618

Meeting ID: 949 7205 8207

This event will also stream live on our Facebook page, facebook.com/wordierthanthou.

With the coronavirus pandemic, we're hosting as much virtual programming as we can! That means we're moving our monthly open mic to an online meeting.

Though when we host our open mics in person the focus is on storytelling and prose, anything goes at these weekly virtual open mics - poetry, comedy, music, any form of creative expression.

This week's featured artist is Sonja Franeta.

Sonja Franeta is a writer, educator and activist born in the Bronx, New York to an immigrant Yugoslav family. Her translations and articles about Russian queers and other writings have appeared in the U.S. and internationally. In 2004 she published the book Rozovye Flamingo, ten interviews of Siberian LGBTs in Russian. In 2017 the English translation was published as Pink Flamingos: 10 Siberian Interviews. My Pink Road to Russia:Tales of Amazons, Peasants and Queers is a collection of her memoir, essays, stories, poems in English. Recently, Teachers as Allies: Transformative Practices for Teaching DREAMers & Undocumented Students, edited by Shelley Wong, Elaisa Sanchez Gosnell, et al was published with Juan Rios and Sonja Franeta's chapter on LGBTQ DREAMers.

Find more info at www.sfraneta.com.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/945350264?pwd=WFNaZm1aSDRjdkZvRkZyRGZDZlBsQT09

Password: 599937

Meeting ID: 945 350 264

Please sign in around 6:50 p.m. to ensure you don't encounter any technical difficulties. Readings will begin around 7 p.m.

If you plan to read at the open mic, please email your name to WordierThanThou@gmail.com. We will pull names at random.

Open mic readers get 10 minutes and will be timed. We encourage all readers to stay to the end and support everyone who signs up to share their work.

Literary arts nonprofit Wordier Than Thou hosts author J. Bradley for the Quarantine Storytime series.

J. Bradley is the author of On the Campaign Trail (Long Day Press, 2020). He lives at jbradleywrites.com.

We will conduct this virtual reading using Zoom. Please create a Zoom account and learn more about the platform at https://zoom.us/

Please login for this tour between 6:50 and 7 p.m. You will be muted upon entering the conference room. Please remain muted unless you're called upon to speak or ask a question.

Virtual Storytime Log-in Information

Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/94972058207?pwd=OEIwK0ZKc0xsZVRDeHZ1Q1VnSHEvUT09

Password: 261618

Meeting ID: 949 7205 8207

This event will also stream live at our facebook page, facebook.com/wordierthanthou.

Join us Saturday, Jan. 23, 8 to 11 p.m., for our Banned Books Burlesque Bake Sale at Old Key West Bar & Grill, 2451 Central Ave., St. Petersburg.

There will be a burlesque show at 9 p.m. featuring: Ruby Vesper, Vita DeVoid, and Tila Topaz.

Baked goods will be available for purchase throughout the night. We're also looking for folks to volunteer their baking skills for the bake sale.

Pre-sale tickets are $15 preferred seating ($20 at the door) and $10 standing room ($15 at the door).

There are also two VIP tables for 2 for $150, which includes a bottle of champagne, and one VIP table for 4 for $200, which includes two bottles of champagne.

Proceeds will help our full cast of performers travel to the Deckle Edge festival in South Carolina with our banned books-themed burlesque show.

This kick-off party celebrates the start of our first annual Camp Wordier Than Thou.

Meet fellow campers and instructors, and participate in our camp-themed Teenage Wasteland open mic. Share camp stories, memories, letters, journals and more.

There will also be word games, and arts and crafts.

Cost: Free

Oral Fixation and Wordier Than Thou celebrate St. Pete Pride with their second annual LGBT Pride Open Mic.

Featured performers and readers TBA.

Prose, poetry, music, comedy and more are welcome.

Donations will be collected for the LGBT Welcome Center.

We're excited to bring our unique open mic to Gainesville! 

Our open mic focuses on storytelling and fiction – no poetry or music. So come share your finest prose, or if you're just in the mood for listening, catch some tales from area wordsmiths.

Readings will begin around 6:30 p.m.

A featured reader will kick off the night, followed by open mic slots. Open mic readers get 10 minutes and will be timed. We encourage all readers to stay to the end and support everyone who signs up to share their work.

This month's featured readers are TBA.

Writers: please remember this is a family-friendly venue and children might be in the audience.

Suggested $5 donation at the door.

Why should kids get all the fun? Ten adult teams will battle it out to determine the best spellers in the area during this fundraiser for The Literacy Council of St. Petersburg.

Teams must have two to four members. Theatricality encouraged. Registration cost is $75 and teams can register here.

The competition consists of 11 rounds of 10 words. At the end of each round, the team with the lowest number of points is eliminated. Words spelled correctly earn a team 3 points, and they lose 1 point for each incorrect word.

Teams can also collect donations for the Literacy Council ahead of the event. The team that collects the most donations will get one free pass into the next round.

The Stand-Up Librarian Meredith Myers will host the event.

This evening will also include snacks, music and a raffle featuring items from local businesses and authors.

Tickets to come watch the spelling bee are $7 per person in advance and $10 at the door.

We're excited to team up with Functionally Literate for the first Func Lit Florida Tour.

Shane Hinton, whose debut story collection, "Pinkies," is being released by Burrow Pres, and Jeff Parker, author of "Where Bears Roam the Streets," will read and sign their books.

Wine and beer will be available for sale,

This unique open mic focuses on storytelling and fiction -- no poetry or music. So come share your finest prose, or if you're just in the mood for listening, catch some tales from our area's wordsmiths.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Readings will begin around 7 p.m.

Featured readers will kick off the night, followed by open mic slots. Open mic readers get 10 minutes and will be timed. We encourage all readers to stay to the end and support everyone who signs up to share their work.

This month's featured readers are Pat Spears and Glenda Bailey-Mershon.

Pat’s fiction has been published in the North American Review, Appalachian Heritage, Common Lives Lesbian Lives, Seven Hills Review, Habersham Review and the anthologies Bridges and Borders and Saints & Sinners: New Fiction from the Festival 2012. Her short fiction is also forthcoming in Snake Nation Review and the anthology titled "Crimes and Misdemeanors" scheduled for publication in June 2014 by Main Street Rag.

Her short story “Whelping” was a finalist for the 2013 Rash Award, and her story “Stranger at My Door” received honorable mention in the 2013 Lorian Hemingway Short Story competition. Her debut novel, Dream Chaser was released in 2014, and a collection of her short stories, "More of There and Less of Here," comes out this year. In 2009, she was nominated for a United States Artists Grant.

Glenda Bailey-Mershon is an American poet, essayist, novelist, cultural historian, and human rights activist. Born in Upstate South Carolina to a family with roots in the Southern Appalachians, she has explored in poetry and fiction her European, Native American, and Romani heritage. Her published works include the novel, "Eve's Garden"; "Bird Talk: Poems"; "saconige/blue smoke: Poems from the Southern Appalachians"; "A History of the American Women's Movement: A Study Guide", and four volumes as editor of the Jane's Stories anthologies by women writers, including "Jane's Stories IV: Bridges and Borders" (Jane's Stories, 2013), which includes work by women in conflicts around the world.

Her first novel, "Eve's Garden", is the story of three generations of women from a rural North Georgia family who cope with being outsiders in a harsh social environment by clinging to friendships and family. It was published in September 2014 by Twisted Road Publications.

Glenda has been a finalist in Our Stories fiction contest; featured author at the Illinois Book Fair; and a grant recipient from both the Illinois and Florida Humanities Councils as well as the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs. 

Suggested $5 donation at the door.

This unique open mic focuses on storytelling and fiction -- no poetry or music. So come share your finest prose, or if you're just in the mood for listening, catch some tales from our area's wordsmiths.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Readings will begin around 7 p.m.

Featured readers will kick off the night, followed by open mic slots. Open mic readers get 10 minutes and will be timed. We encourage all readers to stay to the end and support everyone who signs up to share their work.

This month's featured readers are Darlyn Finch Kuhn, author of Sewing Holes, and essayist M.C. Coolidge.

In addition to her two poetry collections (Red Wax Rose and Three Houses), Darlyn's work has appeared in literary journals, newspapers, magazines and online. Her poems have been featured on Poetic Logic on the local NPR affiliate, and have been read by Garrison Keillor on the Writers Almanac. She was interviewed on World Radio Paris. Kuhn is the eponymous “Scribbler,” of the Scribbles literary e-newsletter. She produces book trailer videos with her husband at Brad Kuhn & Associates in Orlando, Florida. Her debut novel, Sewing Holes, is available now from Twisted Road Publications, amazon.com, and wherever books are sold.

M.C. Coolidge is a freelance writer, editor, and public relations consultant based in Sarasota, Florida, with clients in her hometown and beyond. Her weekly newspaper column, Sense and the City, appeared each Thursday in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune from 2011 to mid-2012, and her opinion essays have appeared in the Op/Ed pages of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, the St. Petersburg Times, Tampa Tribune, and Bradenton Herald, among others.

She was the recipient of a 2008 Florida Press Award for humor column-writing and has won numerous “best of” awards from local magazines and newspapers.

Since 2006, Coolidge has conducted annual fundraising through her print columns and online readership to benefit the All Faiths Food Bank in Sarasota, helping collect nearly $14,000 to date.

From 2006 to 2008, Coolidge penned a weekly newspaper column titled “Reality Chick” for the Pelican Press newspaper. Select columns from that period were published in her 2008 book, Sideways in Sarasota.

Suggested $5 donation at the door.

We're excited to bring our unique open mic to Cigar City Cider & Mead in the heart of Ybor City!

Our open mic focuses on storytelling and fiction – no poetry or music. So come share your finest prose, or if you're just in the mood for listening, catch some tales from our area's wordsmiths.

Doors open at 7 p.m. Readings will begin around 7:30 p.m.

A featured reader will kick off the night, followed by open mic slots. Open mic readers get 10 minutes and will be timed. We encourage all readers to stay to the end and support everyone who signs up to share their work.

This month's featured readers are TBA.

Suggested $5 donation at the door.

This unique open mic focuses on storytelling and fiction -- no poetry or music. So come share your finest prose, or if you're just in the mood for listening, catch some tales from our area's wordsmiths.

Readings will begin around 7 p.m. Sign-up begins at 6:30 p.m.

A featured reader will kick off the night, followed by open mic slots. Open mic readers get 10 minutes and will be timed. We encourage all readers to stay to the end and support everyone who signs up to share their work.

This month's featured reader is Dr. David Edmonds.

Edmonds, who recently released Lily of Peru, is a former Marine, Peace Corps volunteer, senior Fulbright professor of economics, academic dean, and U.S. government official with long experience in Peru and other countries in Latin America. He’s the author, editor or ghostwriter of seven other books, including the award-winning Yankee Autumn in Acadiana: a Narrative of the Great Texas Overland Expedition Through Southwestern Louisiana October - December 1863.

He grew up in Louisiana and Mississippi, and studied at L.S.U., Notre Dame, Georgetown, George Washington and American University. He currently lives in Florida with his wife, Maria.

Suggested $5 donation at the door.

RSVP on Facebook.

Wordier Than Thou presents the second Fiction, LIVE! This event teams up Tampa Bay area actors and authors – the writers submit short stories, while actors bring them to life on stage.

Cost: $10 in advance; $12 at the door. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Ruth Eckerd Hall’s Project: Shattered Silence, a teen theater project based on sharing true stories. 

Tickets can be purchased online here.

This event is part of the SunLit Festival.

Writers: We're accepting short story submissions or excerpts from longer works through Feb. 10. Stories/excerpts should be about 15 minutes long when read/performed.

Email submissions to wordierthanthou@gmail.com. The actors will select the pieces they want to read.

Actors signed up to read:

David Warner
Rick Stutzel
Cindy Stovall
Mary Rachel Dudley
Andresia RealshtzPoet
Elizabeth Fendrick
Skyla Dawn Luckey
Jan Neuberger
Larry Bukovey

The inaugural Florida Bookstore Day will be a day-long event celebrating independent and used bookstores, local authors and small presses in various cities throughout the Sunshine State. The concept is mirrored after the popular Record Store Day, which promotes indie music shops across the globe.

We’re organizing events at several independently-owned stores throughout Florida.

Events can vary from store to store and will include:
• Readings by local authors
• Local authors’ fair
• Book signings
• Book releases
• Panels
• Open mics
• Workshops