Monthly Archives: December 2024

Upcoming Events in January

Is your New Year’s resolution to experience more literary events? If you’re looking for something to do in January, here are some upcoming literary events* that may pique your interest!

  • January 2, 2025 Verse & Vibes Open Mic Night
    Indigo Cottage Crafts, 2063 Creekside Dr.
    Papillion, 6:30 pm
    The first Thursday of every month we open the mic at an artsy space full of good vibes, and not just because of the coffee and liquor bar! Event is open to poets, authors, writers, musicians, anyone who has talent to share. Free event.
  • January 6, 2025 Carolina Hotchandani Poetry Reading & Discussion
    Zoom, 6:30 – 7:30 pm
    Hotchandani’s poems interrogate what it means to be full or empty (of words, of the past, of another human being). She examines shifts in identity due to Partition, immigration, illness, and birth.
  • January 9, 2025 Resonance Beat Poetry Jam
    Razor Wire Productions Art Gallery & Tattoo, 1808 Vinton St.
    Omaha, 7:00 pm
    Wanna try your hand at pairing your writing with music? Or maybe you’ve just never had the sublime experience of hearing the fusion? Either way, we would like to invite you! Named The Resonance for the beautiful ways these artforms play off one another. Sponsored by the Nebraska Poetry Society.
  • January 10, 2025 Poetry at the Lion: Matt Mason
    St. Mark’s on the Campus Episcopal Church, 1309 R St.
    Lincoln, 5:30 – 7:45 pm
    Each month, a featured poet will read from their works and shape the evening’s experience. Poetry lovers can stop on their way to eat out or bring a brown bag meal and stay for the whole evening. Light refreshments will be provided. The featured poet for January is Matt Mason. As of 2025, he stepped away from being Nebraska State Poet Laureate for five years. Mason has written about fatherhood, relationships, religion and the Bible, and themes of Midwest and Great Plains life.
  • January 14, 2025 Ready, Set, Go: The Art of Better Writing with Brenda Jackson
    Zoom, 6:00 – 7:30 pm
    This 90-minute interactive workshop, facilitated by the renowned New York Times and USA Today Award winning romance author Brenda Jackson, is designed to help aspiring writers tap into their creativity and begin crafting their own love stories. Whether you’re interested in writing fiction or non-fiction, this workshop will guide you through the process of turning your ideas into compelling narratives.
  • January 16, 2025 Vocal Fry
    Shirley Tyree Theater, 2401 N 24th St.
    Omaha, 6:00 pm
    Vocal Fry is normally on the 3rd Thursday of every month. Jewel Rodgers and Nathan Lachner, MCs. Vocal Fry is presented in collaboration with The Nebraska Poetry Society.
  • January 25, 2025 The Poem’s Interior Landscape
    Zoom, 10:00 – 11:30 am
    Discover how the landscapes you’ve lived in shape your thoughts and creativity. In this workshop, we’ll explore the connection between the physical world and your inner life, and learn to transform your experiences into poetry. Let your surroundings inspire your words! Led by Jessica Poli.

Check out the NCB Calendar to stay up to date on upcoming literary events happening near you!

*The time, date, and location of these events are subject to change.
Some of this month’s events, workshops, or conferences may require registration or charge a fee.

Feel free to contact us if you have an event that you would like to be featured.

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Deadline for Nebraska Letters About Literature Writing Contest Approaches

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 5, 2024

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Tessa Timperley
402-471-3434
800-307-2665

Deadline for Nebraska Letters About Literature Writing Contest Approaches

Nebraska students have one month left to submit their letter in the state-wide Letters About Literature reading and writing contest. Readers in grades 4-12 are invited to write a personal letter to an author for the Nebraska Letters About Literature (LAL) contest, a state reading and writing promotion program. The letter can be to any author (living or dead) from any genre-fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic-explaining how that author’s work changed the student’s view of the world. Submissions must be completed online by the end of the day December 31, 2024. Nebraska Letters About Literature is coordinated and sponsored by the Nebraska Center for the Book and the Nebraska Library Commission, with support from Lincoln City Libraries, Francie & Finch Bookshop, and Humanities Nebraska.

The Nebraska Center for the Book’s panel of judges will select a winner and an honorable mention per competition level (Level I for grades 4-6, Level II for grades 7-8, and Level III for grades 9-12) to be honored in a proclamation-signing ceremony at the state capitol during National Library Week in April 2025. Their winning letters will be placed in the Jane Pope Geske Heritage Room of Nebraska Authors at Bennett Martin Public Library in Lincoln. Nebraska winners and honorable mentions will receive state prizes.

Teachers, librarians, and parents can download the contest guidelines, free teaching materials, information on the online entry system, and past winning letters on the Nebraska Center for the Book website. An informational NCompass Live webinar aired on October 23th, discussing this year’s contest, the submission process, and judging criteria. For more information contact Nebraska Center for the Book.

The Nebraska Center for the Book is housed at the Nebraska Library Commission and brings together the state’s readers, writers, booksellers, librarians, publishers, printers, educators, and scholars to build the community of the book, supporting programs to celebrate and stimulate public interest in books, reading, and the written word. The Nebraska Center for the Book is supported by the national Center for the Book in the Library of Congress and the Nebraska Library Commission.

As the state library agency, the Nebraska Library Commission is an advocate for the library and information needs of all Nebraskans. The mission of the Library Commission is statewide promotion, development, and coordination of library and information services, “bringing together people and information.”

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The most up-to-date news releases from the Nebraska Library Commission are always available on the Library Commission Website, http://nlc.nebraska.gov/publications/newsreleases.

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