All Genres Workshop with James Coats

6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
January 20, 2025

All Genres Workshop with James Coats

(All Levels)

Alternating Mondays, 1/6, 1/20, 2/3, 2/17, and 3/3/2025, 6:00-8:00 PM PT, on Zoom.

$50. Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Winter2025CWW

In this multi-genre workshop, participants submit poetry and prose for critique. Discussions include the craft of writing and the challenges writers face.

James Coats is a poet, performer, and educator born in Los Angeles and raised in the Inland Empire. You can take a poetry workshop with him through his organization Lift Our Voices Education, which hosts an award-winning workshop monthly called Be the Change. He is the author of four poetry collections. His most recent is Midnight & Mad Dreams.

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Events in February 2025

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
						1 Hillary Gravendyk Poetry Prize Submission Window Opens! February 1, 2025 The Hillary Gravendyk Prize is an open poetry book competition for all writers regardless of the number of previously published poetry collections. The manuscript page limit is 48-100 pages, and Inlandia Institute Press invites all styles and forms of poetry. Only electronic submissions will be accepted via Inlandia’s ‘Submittable’ portal. Multiple submissions are accepted, with a $20 reading fee required for each manuscript. The winners will be announced Fall 2025 for publication in 2026. National and Regional awardees each win book publication and a cash prize of $1,000. Enter using Submittable: https://tinyurl.com/InlandiaSubmit Poetry book manuscripts will be accepted via Submittable from February 1 through April 30, 2025. One National and one Regional prizewinner will each be awarded $1,000 and a standard book contract. The competition was created in memory of the late Inland Empire poet, Hillary Gravendyk, who passed away in 2014. More
2 1:30 pm: First Sundays with Inlandia and RAM Present: Soar with Dragons! 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm February 2, 2025 On Sunday, February 2, join Inlandia and Riverside Art Museum for a celebration of Lunar New Year with puppeteer Nicole Cloeren and Puppets a la Carte. The presentation includes story time, interactive participation, and your help in bringing the giant dragon puppet to life outdoors. Join us for this fun, free, family-friendly event! 1:30 PM. More 3:00 pm: Wild Seeds Poetry & Art 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm February 2, 2025 The Blacklandia Events Series presents “Wild Seeds,” an art exhibition and reading by Black poets at RAM. Riverside Art Museum, 3425 Mission Inn Ave, Riverside. 3:00 PM in the Atrium. FREE! More	3 6:00 pm: All Genres Workshop with James Coats 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm February 3, 2025 All Genres Workshop with James Coats (All Levels) Alternating Mondays, 1/6, 1/20, 2/3, 2/17, and 3/3/2025, 6:00-8:00 PM PT, on Zoom. $50. Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Winter2025CWW In this multi-genre workshop, participants submit poetry and prose for critique. Discussions include the craft of writing and the challenges writers face. James Coats is a poet, performer, and educator born in Los Angeles and raised in the Inland Empire. You can take a poetry workshop with him through his organization Lift Our Voices Education, which hosts an award-winning workshop monthly called Be the Change. He is the author of four poetry collections. His most recent is Midnight & Mad Dreams. More	4 11:30 am: Celena’s Scribes with Wil Clarke 11:30 am – 1:00 pm February 4, 2025 Celena’s Scribes with Wil Clarke (All Levels) Tuesdays, beginning 1/7/25, 11:30 AM-1:00 PM PT, on Zoom. Free. Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Winter2025CWW Participants respond to prompts about universal themes related to the human condition and are encouraged to explore all genres of writing. Individual writing is shared with a friendly, supportive group who do their best to encourage each member’s success. Wil Clarke was born in Africa to missionary parents. He lived a total of 27 years in Africa. He is a career mathematician and is enjoying writing memoirs of his various experiences. His motto is, “You only live life once, so you may as well enjoy it the first time around and do all the good you can.” More	5 6:00 pm: All Genres Workshop with Victoria Waddle 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm February 5, 2025 All Genres Workshop with Victoria Waddle (Int.-Adv.) Alternating Wednesdays, 1/8, 1/22, 2/5, 2/19, and 3/5/25, 6:00-9:00 PM PT, on Zoom. $50. Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Winter2025CWW In this multi-genre workshop, participants submit poetry and prose for biweekly critiques and receive feedback from other group members. Discussions include the craft of writing and the challenges writers face. The workshop leader provides biweekly articles and links related to participants’ work, particularly to problems that were discussed in the previous session. Victoria Waddle is a Pushcart Prize-nominated writer, with fiction and nonfiction published in literary journals and anthologies, including in Best Short Stories from The Saturday Evening Post Great American Fiction Contest. A collection of her short fiction, Acts of Contrition, is available from Los Nietos Press and her chapbook, The Mortality of Dogs and Humans, is available from Bamboo Dart Press. Her YA novel about a teen escaping a polygamist cult is coming from Inlandia Books. Previously the managing editor of Inlandia: A Literary Journey, she helped to establish a yearly teen issue. In a previous life, she was a high school English teacher and librarian. More	6 11:15 am: All Genres Workshop with Mae Wagner Marinello 11:15 am – 1:15 pm February 6, 2025 All Genres Workshop with Mae Wagner Marinello (All Levels) Thursdays, 11:15 AM-1:15 PM, In person at the Redlands Community Center, 111 W. Lugonia Ave, Redlands, Ongoing. Meets Weekly. (A Zoom option may be available; contact Inlandia for details.) This ongoing writing workshop meets weekly at Redlands Community Center. Memoir writing, poetry, fiction, and nonfiction writing are all encouraged and welcome. Discover the pure joy of writing and creating with others in a supportive environment. Mae Wagner Marinello has been a part of Inlandia since a 2008 writing workshop with Ruth Nolan. In 2014, she began facilitating a weekly writing workshop called Joslyn Joy Writers, at the Joslyn Senior Center in Redlands. During the pandemic lockdown, the weekly workshop continued on Zoom; it is now a hybrid class averaging between 10-20 combined participants on Zoom and in-person. More 6:30 pm: Unmasking Strength: Rewriting the Rules of Masculinity at Artswalk 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm February 6, 2025 In honor of Black History Month, join Blacklandia at the Riverside Main Library Community Room on Thursday, February 6, for a conversation you won’t want to miss! The program begins at 6:30 PM; doors open at 6:00. In recent years, there has been a growing disillusionment with young men about their role in society – spurred on by unhealthy ideas and social figures. Alienating ideas like “toxic masculinity” and a decrease in social relationships have led to isolation, bitterness, and adverse mental health impacts. African American men – sitting at the intersection of patriarchy, racism and classism – have been deeply affected by this. Four African American writers – James Coats, Richard Allen May III, Ipyani Lockert, and James Woods – will explore these complex issues, including what masculinity looked like growing up and how it’s changed for them today. They will also delve into the importance of writing and speaking about the topic in their work – and the community efforts they have made to inspire the next generation to develop a healthy sense of masculinity in themselves. This activity is supported in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency. Learn more at www.arts.ca.gov. More	7	8
9	10 6:00 pm: Writing for Children with José Chávez 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm February 10, 2025 Writing for Children with José Chávez (All Levels) Alternating Mondays, 1/13, 1/27, 2/10, 2/24, and 3/10/25, 6:00-8:00 PM PT, on Zoom. $50. Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Winter2025CWW This workshop is designed to meet the needs of those who wish to write or are writing for children. We’ll explore the writing voice for children, define a “picture book,” story arc, story introductions, appropriate vocabulary, children’s poetry, and more. There will be time to flex our writing muscles and develop the beauty and strength of our “voice” for children. José Chávez is a retired bilingual teacher who dedicates his life to writing. His poetry has been published in the Multilingual Educator Journal, Acentos Review, and the Inlandia anthology, and he is the author of two award-winning bilingual poetry books for children. José lives in Riverside, California, is married, and has three grown children. More	11 11:30 am: Celena’s Scribes with Wil Clarke 11:30 am – 1:00 pm February 11, 2025 Celena’s Scribes with Wil Clarke (All Levels) Tuesdays, beginning 1/7/25, 11:30 AM-1:00 PM PT, on Zoom. Free. Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Winter2025CWW Participants respond to prompts about universal themes related to the human condition and are encouraged to explore all genres of writing. Individual writing is shared with a friendly, supportive group who do their best to encourage each member’s success. Wil Clarke was born in Africa to missionary parents. He lived a total of 27 years in Africa. He is a career mathematician and is enjoying writing memoirs of his various experiences. His motto is, “You only live life once, so you may as well enjoy it the first time around and do all the good you can.” More 6:00 pm: The Art and Craft of Writing Poetry with Romaine Washington 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm February 11, 2025 The Art and Craft of Writing Poetry with Romaine Washington (All Levels) Alternating Tuesdays, 1/14, 1/28, 2/11, 2/25, and 3/11/25, 6:00-8:00 PM PT, on Zoom. $50. Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Winter2025CWW Discover the art and craft of writing poetry with generative prompts and other forms of poetic inspiration. Brief group feedback will help you uncover images and language that resonate for you and for your audience. Romaine Washington, M. Ed., is the editor of These Black Bodies Are... A Blacklandia Anthology and the author of Purgatory Has an Address and Sirens in Her Belly. She has been published in various anthologies and periodicals. Ms. Washington is a graduate fellow of The Watering Hole, South Carolina, and the Inland Area Writing Project at the University of California, Riverside. She was a public school educator for over twenty years. The proud mother of two sons, Romaine Washington is a native Californian from San Bernardino who resides in the Inland Empire. More	12 6:00 pm: Writing the Personal Essay with JD Mathes 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm February 12, 2025 Writing the Personal Essay with JD Mathes (All Levels) Alternating Wednesdays, 1/15, 1/29, 2/12, 2/26, and 3/12/25, 6:00-8:00 PM PT, on Zoom. $50. Registration required. In this workshop, participants will explore moments from their lives and use research to uncover connections between themselves and the wider world – topics can include nature, science, travel, culture, history – to write personal essays that ring with humanity. J.D. Mathes grew up a feral child in the deserts of the American Southwest who loved to read library books and take photographs. He is a 2019-2020 PEN America Writing for Justice Fellow, a Jack Kent Cooke Scholar alumnus, an award-winning author of four books, photographer, screenwriter, and arts reporter. Although Mathes still struggles with subject-verb agreement and where to put commas, he is finishing work on his memoir Of Time and Punishment. More	13 11:15 am: All Genres Workshop with Mae Wagner Marinello 11:15 am – 1:15 pm February 13, 2025 All Genres Workshop with Mae Wagner Marinello (All Levels) Thursdays, 11:15 AM-1:15 PM, In person at the Redlands Community Center, 111 W. Lugonia Ave, Redlands, Ongoing. Meets Weekly. (A Zoom option may be available; contact Inlandia for details.) This ongoing writing workshop meets weekly at Redlands Community Center. Memoir writing, poetry, fiction, and nonfiction writing are all encouraged and welcome. Discover the pure joy of writing and creating with others in a supportive environment. Mae Wagner Marinello has been a part of Inlandia since a 2008 writing workshop with Ruth Nolan. In 2014, she began facilitating a weekly writing workshop called Joslyn Joy Writers, at the Joslyn Senior Center in Redlands. During the pandemic lockdown, the weekly workshop continued on Zoom; it is now a hybrid class averaging between 10-20 combined participants on Zoom and in-person. More	14	15 12:00 pm: Inlandia at the Maloof – These Black Bodies Are… with Romaine Washington 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm February 15, 2025 Inlandia at the Maloof – These Black Bodies Are… with Romaine Washington and contributors. Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation for Arts and Crafts 5131 Carnelian St Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91701 More
16	17 6:00 pm: All Genres Workshop with James Coats 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm February 17, 2025 All Genres Workshop with James Coats (All Levels) Alternating Mondays, 1/6, 1/20, 2/3, 2/17, and 3/3/2025, 6:00-8:00 PM PT, on Zoom. $50. Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Winter2025CWW In this multi-genre workshop, participants submit poetry and prose for critique. Discussions include the craft of writing and the challenges writers face. James Coats is a poet, performer, and educator born in Los Angeles and raised in the Inland Empire. You can take a poetry workshop with him through his organization Lift Our Voices Education, which hosts an award-winning workshop monthly called Be the Change. He is the author of four poetry collections. His most recent is Midnight & Mad Dreams. More	18 11:30 am: Celena’s Scribes with Wil Clarke 11:30 am – 1:00 pm February 18, 2025 Celena’s Scribes with Wil Clarke (All Levels) Tuesdays, beginning 1/7/25, 11:30 AM-1:00 PM PT, on Zoom. Free. Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Winter2025CWW Participants respond to prompts about universal themes related to the human condition and are encouraged to explore all genres of writing. Individual writing is shared with a friendly, supportive group who do their best to encourage each member’s success. Wil Clarke was born in Africa to missionary parents. He lived a total of 27 years in Africa. He is a career mathematician and is enjoying writing memoirs of his various experiences. His motto is, “You only live life once, so you may as well enjoy it the first time around and do all the good you can.” More	19 6:00 pm: All Genres Workshop with Victoria Waddle 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm February 19, 2025 All Genres Workshop with Victoria Waddle (Int.-Adv.) Alternating Wednesdays, 1/8, 1/22, 2/5, 2/19, and 3/5/25, 6:00-9:00 PM PT, on Zoom. $50. Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Winter2025CWW In this multi-genre workshop, participants submit poetry and prose for biweekly critiques and receive feedback from other group members. Discussions include the craft of writing and the challenges writers face. The workshop leader provides biweekly articles and links related to participants’ work, particularly to problems that were discussed in the previous session. Victoria Waddle is a Pushcart Prize-nominated writer, with fiction and nonfiction published in literary journals and anthologies, including in Best Short Stories from The Saturday Evening Post Great American Fiction Contest. A collection of her short fiction, Acts of Contrition, is available from Los Nietos Press and her chapbook, The Mortality of Dogs and Humans, is available from Bamboo Dart Press. Her YA novel about a teen escaping a polygamist cult is coming from Inlandia Books. Previously the managing editor of Inlandia: A Literary Journey, she helped to establish a yearly teen issue. In a previous life, she was a high school English teacher and librarian. More	20 11:15 am: All Genres Workshop with Mae Wagner Marinello 11:15 am – 1:15 pm February 20, 2025 All Genres Workshop with Mae Wagner Marinello (All Levels) Thursdays, 11:15 AM-1:15 PM, In person at the Redlands Community Center, 111 W. Lugonia Ave, Redlands, Ongoing. Meets Weekly. (A Zoom option may be available; contact Inlandia for details.) This ongoing writing workshop meets weekly at Redlands Community Center. Memoir writing, poetry, fiction, and nonfiction writing are all encouraged and welcome. Discover the pure joy of writing and creating with others in a supportive environment. Mae Wagner Marinello has been a part of Inlandia since a 2008 writing workshop with Ruth Nolan. In 2014, she began facilitating a weekly writing workshop called Joslyn Joy Writers, at the Joslyn Senior Center in Redlands. During the pandemic lockdown, the weekly workshop continued on Zoom; it is now a hybrid class averaging between 10-20 combined participants on Zoom and in-person. More 6:30 pm: Book Launch for Apartness by Judy Kronenfeld 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm February 20, 2025 Celebrate the launch of Apartness: A Memoir in Essays and Poems by Judy Kronenfeld at the Civil Rights Institute of Inland Southern California, 3933 Mission Inn Ave, Riverside. 6:30 PM. Books will be available for sale and signing. To RSVP and preorder your copy of Apartness, please visit https://tinyurl.com/Apartness-RSVP. More	21	22
23	24 6:00 pm: Writing for Children with José Chávez 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm February 24, 2025 Writing for Children with José Chávez (All Levels) Alternating Mondays, 1/13, 1/27, 2/10, 2/24, and 3/10/25, 6:00-8:00 PM PT, on Zoom. $50. Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Winter2025CWW This workshop is designed to meet the needs of those who wish to write or are writing for children. We’ll explore the writing voice for children, define a “picture book,” story arc, story introductions, appropriate vocabulary, children’s poetry, and more. There will be time to flex our writing muscles and develop the beauty and strength of our “voice” for children. José Chávez is a retired bilingual teacher who dedicates his life to writing. His poetry has been published in the Multilingual Educator Journal, Acentos Review, and the Inlandia anthology, and he is the author of two award-winning bilingual poetry books for children. José lives in Riverside, California, is married, and has three grown children. More	25 6:00 pm: The Art and Craft of Writing Poetry with Romaine Washington 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm February 25, 2025 The Art and Craft of Writing Poetry with Romaine Washington (All Levels) Alternating Tuesdays, 1/14, 1/28, 2/11, 2/25, and 3/11/25, 6:00-8:00 PM PT, on Zoom. $50. Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Winter2025CWW Discover the art and craft of writing poetry with generative prompts and other forms of poetic inspiration. Brief group feedback will help you uncover images and language that resonate for you and for your audience. Romaine Washington, M. Ed., is the editor of These Black Bodies Are... A Blacklandia Anthology and the author of Purgatory Has an Address and Sirens in Her Belly. She has been published in various anthologies and periodicals. Ms. Washington is a graduate fellow of The Watering Hole, South Carolina, and the Inland Area Writing Project at the University of California, Riverside. She was a public school educator for over twenty years. The proud mother of two sons, Romaine Washington is a native Californian from San Bernardino who resides in the Inland Empire. More	26 6:00 pm: Writing the Personal Essay with JD Mathes 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm February 26, 2025 Writing the Personal Essay with JD Mathes (All Levels) Alternating Wednesdays, 1/15, 1/29, 2/12, 2/26, and 3/12/25, 6:00-8:00 PM PT, on Zoom. $50. Registration required. In this workshop, participants will explore moments from their lives and use research to uncover connections between themselves and the wider world – topics can include nature, science, travel, culture, history – to write personal essays that ring with humanity. J.D. Mathes grew up a feral child in the deserts of the American Southwest who loved to read library books and take photographs. He is a 2019-2020 PEN America Writing for Justice Fellow, a Jack Kent Cooke Scholar alumnus, an award-winning author of four books, photographer, screenwriter, and arts reporter. Although Mathes still struggles with subject-verb agreement and where to put commas, he is finishing work on his memoir Of Time and Punishment. More	27 11:15 am: All Genres Workshop with Mae Wagner Marinello 11:15 am – 1:15 pm February 27, 2025 All Genres Workshop with Mae Wagner Marinello (All Levels) Thursdays, 11:15 AM-1:15 PM, In person at the Redlands Community Center, 111 W. Lugonia Ave, Redlands, Ongoing. Meets Weekly. (A Zoom option may be available; contact Inlandia for details.) This ongoing writing workshop meets weekly at Redlands Community Center. Memoir writing, poetry, fiction, and nonfiction writing are all encouraged and welcome. Discover the pure joy of writing and creating with others in a supportive environment. Mae Wagner Marinello has been a part of Inlandia since a 2008 writing workshop with Ruth Nolan. In 2014, she began facilitating a weekly writing workshop called Joslyn Joy Writers, at the Joslyn Senior Center in Redlands. During the pandemic lockdown, the weekly workshop continued on Zoom; it is now a hybrid class averaging between 10-20 combined participants on Zoom and in-person. More	28

My Calendar

All Genres Workshop with James Coats

6:00 pm: Writing for Children with José Chávez

6:00 pm: The Art and Craft of Writing Poetry with Romaine Washington

6:00 pm: Writing the Personal Essay with JD Mathes

11:15 am: All Genres Workshop with Mae Wagner Marinello

Hillary Gravendyk Poetry Prize Submission Window Opens!

1:30 pm: First Sundays with Inlandia and RAM Present: Soar with Dragons!

3:00 pm: Wild Seeds Poetry & Art

6:00 pm: All Genres Workshop with James Coats

11:30 am: Celena’s Scribes with Wil Clarke

6:00 pm: All Genres Workshop with Victoria Waddle

11:15 am: All Genres Workshop with Mae Wagner Marinello

6:30 pm: Unmasking Strength: Rewriting the Rules of Masculinity at Artswalk

6:00 pm: Writing for Children with José Chávez

11:30 am: Celena’s Scribes with Wil Clarke

6:00 pm: The Art and Craft of Writing Poetry with Romaine Washington

6:00 pm: Writing the Personal Essay with JD Mathes

11:15 am: All Genres Workshop with Mae Wagner Marinello

12:00 pm: Inlandia at the Maloof – These Black Bodies Are… with Romaine Washington

6:00 pm: All Genres Workshop with James Coats

11:30 am: Celena’s Scribes with Wil Clarke

6:00 pm: All Genres Workshop with Victoria Waddle

11:15 am: All Genres Workshop with Mae Wagner Marinello

6:30 pm: Book Launch for Apartness by Judy Kronenfeld

6:00 pm: Writing for Children with José Chávez

6:00 pm: The Art and Craft of Writing Poetry with Romaine Washington

6:00 pm: Writing the Personal Essay with JD Mathes

11:15 am: All Genres Workshop with Mae Wagner Marinello