Fiction Workshop & Reading with Whitney Collins

Join WMMT and Roadside Theater on July 17 for a FREE evening with Whitney Collins, author of Ricky & Other Love Stories (2024, Sarabande) and Big Bad (2021, Sarabande), which won the Mary McCarthy Prize, a Bronze Medal INDIES, and a Gold Medal IPPY. Collins will be doing a workshop, book reading, Q&A, and signing. We’ll also have refreshments!

Where: Groundswell, 229 E. Main Street, Whitesburg, KY 41858 (the old post office)

When: July 17, 2024 | Workshop at 6:00 p.m. | Reading at 7:15 p.m.

For more information and updates, join our Facebook event!  

The evening will begin with the 6:00 pm workshop on “Big Beginnings” (registration required). Having worked as a submissions reader for three literary magazines (The Sun, The Louisville Review, The Carolina Quarterly), and having relentlessly submitted her own writing for more than 20 years, Collins has come to firmly believe that the single most important aspect of a good story (or essay or novel) is its beginning. Attendees will read aloud and discuss several examples of gripping openers and then unpack why they are successful. At the end, we will have fun creating some wild opening sentences of our own. If you would like to join Whitney for the writing workshop before this event, please register here.

At 7:15, Collins will offer a reading from Ricky & Other Love Stories followed by a Q&A and a chance to get your book signed. There's no need to register for the reading, so plan to stop by!

A huge thanks to Cowan Community Center, Kentucky Foundation for Women, and the Read Spotted Newt for partnering with us on our summer literary event series! Save the date for upcoming events:

August 8 | Arwen Donahue

August 22 | Misty Skaggs

September 5 | Claudia Love Mair

September 26 | Ondine Quinn