Writers Salon | My Site

Writers Salon features emerging and established writers of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction local to the Catskills and beyond. Join us in the fall (September - November) and in the spring (February - June). In season, we host events every third Thursday at Wilber Mansion, 7:30 PM. Free and open to the public. Find our events on Facebook.

We’re grateful to Community Arts Network of Oneonta for supporting this reading series. CANO is committed to building literary community in Otsego County.

SPRING 2025 CALENDAR

February 20 // Pedro Ponce (fiction)

March 20 // Leigh Anne Christain (poetry)

April 17 // Adrian Shirk (creative nonfiction)

May 15 // Open Mic: Library Writing Groups

June 19 // Marina Cramer (fiction)

This fall, CANO Writers Salon is serving as a community partner with Hartwick College and SUNY Oneonta to help bring you the Oneonta Literary Festival. We're especially excited to team up with Huntington Memorial Library and Green Toad Bookstore for Author Expo 2024. Join us at Author Expo 2024 on October 20, 2 - 4 PM, at 11 Ford Ave (Community Arts Network of Oneonta). Discover new books and meet local and national writers at this book-fair-style event. More than 35 authors will be with us, selling and signing traditionally published books in a range of genres, from fiction, poetry, and memoir to romance, fantasy, and sci-fi. Featuring short readings by Libby Cudmore, Alice Lichtenstein, and Adrian Shirk. Come find your next read and build literary community in Otsego and Delaware Counties! Brought to you by Green Toad Bookstore, Huntington Memorial Library, and Writers Salon at CANO.

APPLY TO READ

Think you’d be a good fit for our series? Get in touch! We're always looking to invite published writers of fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and drama to read in Oneonta. We also sometimes host interdisciplinary performers. Send a brief bio (no more than 500 words) and CV to writers-salon@canoneonta.org. Thanks to CANO, we are able to offer accepted writers a modest honorarium.

VOLUNTEER

Looking to support local writers and the Oneonta literary community more directly? We're looking for volunteers to help us keep this monthly series running. Whether you're interested in assisting with live events (setup and clean up, bartending), collaborating with us, or promoting us on social media and IRL, we'd love to hear from you. Write to us at writers-salon@canoneonta.org.

PAST READERS

Anne Elizabeth Moore, Alex Alberto, Kathleen Watt, John O'Connor, Michael Peters, Iris Cushing, Jesse Hilson, Robert Bensen, Bertha Rogers, George Hovis, Lynne Kemen, Julene Waffle, Marly Youmans, April L. Ford, Alice Lichtenstein, Daniel Payne, Tom Travisano, Gary Koutnik, Mike Tamburrino, Pam Strother, Harry Barnes, Jim Louden, Brent Delanoy, Carol Ohmart Behan, Cheryl Petersen, Mona Sen, Leslie T. Sharpe, Jo Mish, Kirby Olson, Deborah Blake, Michael Blaine, Austin Bunn, Libby Cudmore, Jennifer R. Donohue, the Oneonta Freewriters, Ginnah Howard, Adrienne Martini, Jim Mullen, Gustavo Arango, Maya Chinchilla, Shannon Delaney, Chuck D’Imperio, Swamiji Tirtha, David Mills, Lisa Wujnovich, and the Smithy Writers’ Circle.

SERIES CURATOR

Racheal Fest (PhD) is a writer and critic based in Central New York. Her work on US culture and politics has appeared in online and peer-reviewed venues, including boundary 2, Entropy, Jump Cut, Mediations, and Politics/Letters. Creative work features in Gallup Journey and Maintenance of the Species. She is also a Pedagogy Specialist at SUNY Oneonta, where she supports teaching and learning and teaches interdisciplinary courses. She joined Writers Salon in 2022.