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award-winning authors in residence
Writers in residence will read from and discuss their work Wednesday evenings from January to March 2022. It’s the perfect mid-week pause to reconnect with meaningful language.
Winter Writers Reading Series events are held Wednesdays, from 7-9 p.m. Engage award-winning authors in conversation!
January 12: Jennifer Fandel
Wisconsin People & Ideas—Poetry
January 26: Owen Aibric
Wisconsin Writers Association
Jade Ring—Fiction
February 9: Allison Uselman
Wisconsin People & Ideas—Fiction
February 16: Kathie Giorgio
Wisconsin Writers Association
Jade Ring—Poetry
February 23: Dasha Kelly Hamilton
Wisconsin Poet Laureate
March MPSD: Lora Hyler
Wisconsin Writers Association
Jade Ring—Nonfiction
sharing books & crucial conversation
To continue the crucial conversations that began during 2020’s NEA Big Read of Claudia Rankine’s award-winning “Citizen: An American Lyric,” Shake Rag Alley is hosting another year of monthly book discussions via Zoom. Meetings start at 6:30 pm and are free, although donations are welcome.
New in 2022, we’ll spend two months per book for a total of six titles:
January 20 & February 17
The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family
by Annette Gordon-Reed
March 17 & April 21
The Souls of Black Folk
by W.E.B. Du Bois
May 19 & June 16
I Am Not Your Negro
by James Baldwin
July 21 & August 18
The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America 1890 to the Present
by David Treuer
September 15 & October 20
Halfway Home: Race, Punishment and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration
by Reuben Jonathan Miller
November 17 & December 15
The Yellow House
by Sarah M. Broom
write alongside other writers
Join us for the 6th annual Writing Retreat at Shake Rag Alley, open to writers of all levels. Enrich your talent and prospects in this charming art community and old mining town. Choose one of three genres taught by either Patricia Ann McNair (Memoir and Personal Narrative; Retreat Artistic Director), Christine Maul Rice (Writing Fiction), or Sheree L. Greer (Digging In: Research and Writing) for an in-depth workshop that will challenge you across the three days. These workshop leaders are award-winning published authors and active, experienced teachers of writing.
Interwoven around these main workshops will be optional and inspiring creative activities, including craft talks, a panel discussion, a Faculty and Local Author Reading, and Open Mics that will make for a retreat jam-packed with opportunities to learn, share, network and write.
Manuscript consultations are available with instructors on a first sign up, first served basis, at a very affordable price.
We are pleased to work in partnership with Hypertext Magazine & Studio, a social justice writing nonprofit organization.
Workshops in Memoir & Personal Narrative, Fiction, Research & Writing. Individual feedback on manuscripts.
picnic lunch, live music & play reading
Wisconsin playwrights present original plays in progress on our intimate outdoor theatre, Alley Stage. Besides being fun to watch, a staged reading is an important way a playwright can get important feedback from an audience (you!) and determine what their next steps are with the script. Purchase picnic lunches featuring local restaurant fare, available at noon, to enjoy on the beautiful Shake Rag Alley grounds as local musicians perform. Stroll the short path to Alley Stage at 1 pm for a new play each visit. You can even get in on the act by signing up to be an actor or musician!
workshop poems & deepen your craft
Driftless Poets meet on the second Saturday of each month at 2 pm on the Shake Rag Alley campus and via Zoom.
New poets are always welcome, but only those who have submitted work in advance will receive feedback and critique. Poets take turns leading the workshops by sharing a poem that demonstrates a form or craft technique and monitoring time.
What to Expect
In a writing workshop, a group of people engage in intensive discussion during a time set aside to focus on and improve one’s craft. Driftless Poets meet monthly to learn from one another by listening carefully to feedback on work submitted to the group.
How to Participate
The Driftless Poets workshops are free. You are welcome to attend in person on the Shake Rag Alley campus or to participate virtually. To receive the Zoom link, please here:
For more information: (608) 987-3292.
workshop prose & deepen your craft
Writers need readers: ideally from tentative first draft to hopeful last. Looking for a second pair of eyes? Why not six or ten? If you are interested in deepening your writing craft in prose—join us on the 4th Saturday of every month for feedback and support.
At least two writers will have submissions of up to 20 pages workshopped each month via written feedback and group discussion.
January-March, the group will meet via Zoom. Beginning in April the group will meet in person at Shake Rag Alley.
For more information: (608) 987-3292.
creative writing library on-site
Several shelves of writing related books are available in the Art Cafe. Most are available for circulation, and include:
Coach House
18 Shake Rag Street
Art Café
Ellery House
restrooms
4 of 32 restrooms 5 of 32Open Air Parking
6 of 32Lind Pavilion Parking
7 of 32 Roadside ParkingSmejas’ Studio parking
9 of 32Smejas’ Studio
30 Doty Street
Accessible Parking
with curb cut
Alley Stage
13 of 32Cabinet Shop
French Cabin
1830 Log Cabin
Potter’s House
Blacksmith Barn
Federal Spring
19 of 32Monarch Garden
20 of 32Lind Pavilion
411 Commerce Street
two blocks to
High Street & Commerce Street
Restaurants, Shops & Galleries
Street Parking with Additional Parking behind Smejas’ Studio
24 of 32 The GreenRoland’s Loft
223 Commerce St.
29 of 32The Tuckpoint
223 Commerce St.
30 of 32The Sardeson Pottery Studio
225 Commerce St.
31 of 32Weaving & Fiber Arts Studio
Cannery Row Arts Incubator
121 Water St.
ADA compliant buildings: Lind Pavilion, Coach House, Smejas’ Studio
18 Shake Rag St.
Mineral Point, WI 53565
(608) 987-3292