Introducing a new kind of writing group! We will meet on the first Tuesday of each month.
Writing remains a solitary activity, one that sends us deep within, a dark ocean floor of imaginary friends we catch only in glimpses and brushes. But we need to surface, from time to time, to get out of our heads and away from our desks. The Pagefright Society is a way for writers of all kinds to keep in touch and stay active.
Pagefright Society, hosted by Hilary Hudgins, isn’t a workshop (many of us have those), but instead more like a read-aloud club, a space to release what is usually submerged and, just as importantly, to hear to what others are working on.
FAQs
What kind of writing is allowed?
We’re agnostic. Bring prose, lyrics, poems, plays, essays, unfinished notes, and all of the whatever’s-in-the-fridge concoctions you’ve been cooking lately. Also, you are welcome to bring it in any state, be it a a rough recipe or freshly polished and published piece. Use the monthly event as a deadline to write something new or to share something you’re maybe-kind-of proud of/scared by/hopeful about in some way.
How does it work?
We sit in Snowfort Books and take turns reading aloud. It’s not very complicated. There are no minimum or maximum time requirements, but we ask people be considerate of others, so we can be sure everyone who wants to share has a chance to do so within about an hour timeframe.
None of these are rules. Do you actually have any?
Just one: You have to bring something to read, even if you chicken out of actually reading it.
More Questions?
If you’d like more info, have any questions, or would like to RSVP, just use our contact form here.
Hilary Hudgins is a poet and novelist whose debut novel PRETZEL has been longlisted for the Bridport First Novel Prize, Disquiet Prize, and Society of Authors McKitterick Prize. She has a master’s in creative writing from the University of East Anglia and leads a creative writing group for a non-profit supporting people living with vision impairments. “I started the original Pagefright Society in my last home, a small English city called Norwich that’s often called the City of Stories. Westport feels like the Town of Bookshops to me, so needless to say, I’m thrilled to be introducing Pagefright to all of my fellow writers and readers here in New York.”