Tag: Ames Writers Collective

2nd Sunday Swift Youth Writers Groups

Held monthly on 2nd Sundays, the Swift Youth Writers Groups are held from 2 to 4 PM at the Ames Public Library. We meet in the P.E.O. Room. These writing groups are open to youth grades 6 through 12. We supply notebooks, pens and other materials to prompt and inspire stories.

Swift Youth Writers Groups are an Ames Writers Collective FREE community outreach program held in partnership with the Ames Public Library. The Ames Writers Collective community outreach programs are funded by grants and generous donors.

Join us! Happy Writing!

2nd Sunday Swift Youth Writers Groups

Held monthly on 2nd Sundays, the Swift Youth Writers Groups are held from 2 to 4 PM at the Ames Public Library. We meet in the P.E.O. Room. These writing groups are open to youth grades 6 through 12. We supply notebooks, pens and other materials to prompt and inspire stories.

Swift Youth Writers Groups are an Ames Writers Collective FREE community outreach program held in partnership with the Ames Public Library. The Ames Writers Collective community outreach programs are funded by grants and generous donors.

Join us! Happy Writing!

2nd Sunday Swift Youth Writers Groups

Join us on Dec 14th for the 2nd Sunday Swift Youth Writers Group held from 2 to 4 PM at the Ames Public Library. We are scheduled to meet in the P.E.O. room, but check monitors incase the location changes.
We supply notebooks, pens and other materials to prompt and inspire stories.
Swift Youth Writers Groups are an Ames Writers Collective FREE community outreach program held in partnership with the Ames Public Library. The Ames Writers Collective community outreach programs are funded by grants and generous donors.
Join us! Happy Writing!

NO December Generative Writing Workshop for Adults

THIS DECEMBER EVENT IS CANCELED due to the holidays!

Do you dream of writing “someday,” but don’t know where to start? Perhaps you already write, but you’re stuck.

Join this FREE monthly writing workshop for adults, which provides a safe space for writers of all stages and genres to generate stories inspired by prompts running the gamut from phrases, poems, photography, guest authors and their prompts, or a piece of artwork. We will read our stories to one another and share only positive feedback.

These workshops are inspired by the Amherst Writers & Artists Method, which believes that everyone is a writer.

This workshop is held at the Ames Public Library from 10 to 12 PM upstairs in the PEO Room.

Presented by the Iowa Center for the Book and Ames Public Library in partnership with the Ames Writers Collective.

A Generative Writing Workshop for Adults

Do you dream of writing “someday,” but don’t know where to start? Perhaps you already write, but you’re stuck.

Join this FREE monthly writing workshop for adults, which provides a safe space for writers of all stages and genres to generate stories inspired by prompts running the gamut from phrases, poems, photography, guest authors and their prompts, or a piece of artwork. We will read our stories to one another and share only positive feedback.

These workshops are inspired by the Amherst Writers & Artists Method, which believes that everyone is a writer.

This workshop is held at the Ames Public Library from 10 to 12 PM upstairs in the PEO Room.

Presented by the Iowa Center for the Book and Ames Public Library in partnership with the Ames Writers Collective.

2nd Sunday Swift Youth Writers Groups

Held monthly on 2nd Sundays, the Swift Youth Writers Groups are held from 2 to 4 PM at the Ames Public Library. We meet in the P.E.O. Room. These writing groups are open to youth grades 6 through 12. We supply notebooks, pens and other materials to prompt and inspire stories.

Swift Youth Writers Groups are an Ames Writers Collective FREE community outreach program held in partnership with the Ames Public Library. The Ames Writers Collective community outreach programs are funded by grants and generous donors.

Join us! Happy Writing!

2nd Sunday Swift Youth Writers Groups

Join us on Nov 9th for the 2nd Sunday Swift Youth Writers Group held from 2 to 4 PM at the Ames Public Library. We are scheduled to meet in the P.E.O. room, but check monitors incase the location changes.
We supply notebooks, pens and other materials to prompt and inspire stories. This Sunday, Adela Solano Osmundson, a graduate of this program, will lead the Swift Youth Writers group. She looks forward to writing with those of you who can join her.
Swift Youth Writers Groups are an Ames Writers Collective FREE community outreach program held in partnership with the Ames Public Library. The Ames Writers Collective community outreach programs are funded by grants and generous donors.
Join us! Happy Writing!

Swift Literary Festival—Fall 2025

Screenshot

Join the Ames Writers Collective at our
4th Annual Swift Literary Festival
at the Octagon Art Festival
Sunday, September 28th from 10 to 4 PM

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

2024 Contributors to the Swift Literary Festival Community Story

Octagon Center for the Arts

City of Ames

Categories
Blog

Meet Adela Solano Osmundson!

Adela Solano Osmundson, a recently graduated senior, has a passion for the written word. She started crafting poetry in 2023 because of the Langston Hughes writing workshops as part of the Swift Youth Writers program facilitated by the Ames Writers Collective.

In 2024, Adela won the Swift Youth Poetry Contest. Her poem, “Demon Tongue,” highlights the struggles of growing up mixed race and the desire to connect back to the culture of one’s parents. Caleb “The Negro” Poet Rainey performed the winning submission at a poetry showcase for the Langston Hughes Project, accompanied by an original score that was written in response to the poem.

Once a student in the Swift Youth Writers Workshop, Adela spent a week in summer of 2025 volunteering to help other students develop their craft. As an aspiring teacher, Adela has a passion for cultivating the art of writing in others. Her own teachers as her inspiration, Adela hopes to one day inspire future generations to write. Watch this video to learn more about her!

Categories
Member

Rachel Mans McKenny

Rachel Mans McKenny is an author and humorist. She is the author of the 2022 All-Iowa Reads selection for Adults, The Butterfly Effect. Her work has been published in The New York Times, Washington Post, Electric Literature, and Ploughshares. You can find more about her at rachelmansmckenny.com.