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Why Support Us & Our Programs!

Whether as one of our patrons, a Fifth Street Writers Member, board member, workshop or Author Spotlight attendee, the parent of past and current students, or a literary enthusiast your support makes a critical impact on sustaining our literary programs.

Why are the Ames Writers Collective and Fifth Street Writers important to Ames and Central Iowa? Our mission is to create healthy communities through the art of writing. We believe that writing changes and saves lives.

Our community outreach programs serve cancer patients and survivors, adolescents seeking creative writing outlets, and writers seeking to join a supportive vibrant community, local and Iowa authors seeking readership, as well as individuals who enthusiastically support the literary arts.

As the year comes to a close, we hope you will consider us in your year-end giving. CLICKING HERE for ways to donate.

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Portraits of Stones w/ Karen Bermann & Claire Kruesel

Portraits of Stones – a drawing & writing workshop
Saturday Nov 22: 1:30 to 6:30 PM
Drop in anytime Saturday
for drawing, writing, and chatting with two creatives. Art materials provided for watercolor & drawing as well as stones. Objects will be used to inspire short bursts of writing. Feel free to bring your own objects for inspiration and/or drawing/writing materials. Or just stop by to view Karen’s artwork on display.

Karen Bermann is the author of The Art of Being a Stranger. She has a daily practice of watercolor drawing and naming the stones in her courtyard where she resides in Rome, Italy.

 

Screenshot

Claire Kruesel, a resident of Ames, is a poet and longtime creative collaborator with Karen. She writes object biographies and teaches writing.

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Author Spotlight | Karen Bermann

LIVE and In Person at
FIFTH STREET WRITERS
612 5th St., AMES, IA
Thursday, November 20, 6:30 PM
Books for Sale & Author Signing

A vividly illustrated family memoir told in two voices, father and daughter, The Art of Being a Stranger explores the impact of displacement and historical memory across generations.

Karen Bermann is professor emerita of architecture at Iowa State University. She worked on sweat equity rehabilitation in her native New York and taught first-year design in Ames and fourth-year design in Rome, where she now lives.

This Author Spotlight is held in partnership with
KHOI Community Radio Station.

On Exhibit | Meet the Author/Artist |
Generative Writing Workshop:

Drawings from The Art of Being a Stranger
Thursday, Nov 20: 6:30 PM
Friday Nov 21 10:30 AM to Noon and 1 to 6:30 PM

Portraits of Stones – a drawing & writing workshop
Saturday Nov 22: 1:30 to 6:30 PM
Drop in anytime Saturday
for drawing, writing, and chatting with two creatives. Art materials provided for watercolor & drawing as well as stones. Objects will be used to inspire short bursts of writing. Feel free to bring your own objects for inspiration and/or drawing/writing materials. Or just stop by to view Karen’s artwork on display.

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Meet Bestselling Novelist Nicole Baart!

Meet Nicole Baart!

Nicole is the bestselling author of several novels, including Where He Left Me and Everything We Didn’t Say. She has years of experience in modern publishing and knows what it takes to move a novel from first draft, to query, to published work. She will share her experience publishing and practical tips for new authors. Details below.

Nicole Baart | The Publishing Journey | A Publishing Talk & Workshop

Location: Ames Writers Collective, Fifth Street Writers

Saturday, November 8 | 11 AM – 12 PM:  Nicole Baart, The Publishing Journey & book-signing
FREE and open to the public

Saturday, November 8 | 1 PM – 3 PM:  Pitching Your Work
Publishing practicum workshop

Fee: $25 general admission, Fifth Street members receive a 10% discount, and Students Free. CLICK HERE to receive a discount code.

This event is held in partnership with the Iowa State University MFA Program in Creative Writing and Environment Pearl Holgrefe Visiting Writers Series.

Learn more about Nicole at NicoleBaart.com.

 

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Eco-Theatre Workshop | Sat Nov 15

Join The EcoTheatre Lab and Ames Writers Collective for a community Climate Change Theatre Action workshop! The EcoTheatre Lab team will share readings of short climate change plays and introduce the international Climate Change Theatre Action initiative. Then participants will engage with performance and generative writing exercises as a way to connect with local climate change issues and solutions.

Registrations not necessary, but greatly appreciate. Click HERE to let us know that you plan to join us.

While this workshop is open and FREE to anyone who would like to attend, we will gratefully accept pay-what-you-can donations!

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Author Spotlight with Douglas Gentile

Live and In Person at KHOI Radio
622 Douglas Avenue in Ames
Thursday, October 22nd | 7 PM

Join us for a reading with Douglas Gentile. He will discuss his latest book, Lessons Learned at a Buddhist Monastery: Hwadu Slogans.

“I went to a 28-day retreat at Woljeongsa Temple, in the mountains of Pyeongchang, South Korea. Very quickly things went wrong—really wrong.” —Douglas Gentile

Presented by The Ames Writers Collective and KHOI Community Radio, & supported by Ames Commission on the Arts (COTA)

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2nd & 4th Write Together Tuesdays

JOIN ANA MCCRACKEN for
Write Together Tuesdays during the month of October

Open to Fifth Street Members, Community Writers &
Writers From Around the Globe!
Hybrid Write Together Tuesdays
at Fifth Street Writers (612 5th Street Ames)
& on Zoom from 3:30 to 5 PM CT

WHAT’S A Write Together? We briefly state what we’re working on, and write for ~90 minutes. at the end, we share our successes and sign off. More information about Write Togethers can be found by CLICKING HERE.

To learn more about our host, Ana McCracken, CLICK HERE.

REMINDER: We meet on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month.

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2025 Ames Artists’ Studio Tour at Fifth Street Writers

2025 Ames Artists’ Studio Tour at
Ames Writers Collective Fifth Street Writers
612 5th St, ames
SATURDAY ONLY, 10 am to 4 pm

Designed to serve as a hub for writers, Fifth Street Writers provides a quiet and inspiring environment for writing while also offering a range of programs, classes, and special events tailored for writers of all ages and experience levels. This new space furthers the Ames Writers Collective mission to create healthy communities through the art of writing, while also supporting writers in the region.

During the studio tour, Fifth Street Writers will offer space and supplies for creatives to create poetry collage postcards and “Tumbling Words Wild Writing” sessions from 11 to Noon and 2 to 3 PM. We’ll supply a pen and paper.

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Author Nicole Baart & The Publishing Journey

Nicole Baart | The Publishing Journey | A Publishing Talk & Workshop

Location: Ames Writers Collective, Fifth Street Writers

Saturday, November 8 | 11 AM – 12 PM: Nicole Baart, The Publishing Journey & book-signing
FREE and open to the public

Saturday, November 8 | 1 PM – 3 PM: Pitching Your Work
Publishing practicum workshop

Fee: $25 general admission, Fifth Street members receive a 10% discount, and Students Free. CLICK HERE to receive a discount code.

TO REGISTER for general admission, CLICK here.

Nicole Baart is the author of several novels, including Where He Left Me and Everything We Didn’t Say. The cofounder of a nonprofit and mother of five, she lives in Iowa with her family. Learn more at NicoleBaart.com.

This event is held in partnership with the Iowa State University MFA Program in Creative Writing and Environment Pearl Holgrefe Visiting Writers Series.

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Swift Literary Festival Sunday, Sept 28th

Join us this Sunday, September 28th for our 4th Annual Swift Literary Festival held during the 54th Annual Octagon Art Festival. From 10 to 4 PM, come visit our author line up below.

Stop by, mingle, buy books, and contribute to our Community Story. We look forward to meeting you on the 28th.

Stephen Brayton—Fiction, A Cold New Year
Tina Cho—Youth Lit, God’s Little Oceanographer
Kelli Fitzpatrick—
Captain Marvel: Carol Danvers Declassified
Douglas Myeong’il Gentile
Lessons Learned at a Buddhist Monastery: Hwadu Slogans
Lois Kennis—Women’s Fiction, Rise on Eagles Wings
Deb Kline—
Memoir, Forgetting to Remember
Ana McCracken
I Found Myself at Lake Okoboji | Discovering words, wonder, dreams, and inspirations (An anthology)
Linda Skeers—Youth Lit, Women Who Dared
Miles Tritle—
Horror/Sci-fi, The Warning in the Woods
Elise Wayland—
Fiction, Rivals to Lovers
Denise Williams—
Romance, Just Our Luck
J. Susanne Wilson—Historical Fiction, The Death and Life of Iphigenia

Octagon Center for the Arts

City of Ames