Octagon Third Thursday Poetry Slam

The Octagon in partnership with the Ames Poetry Slam & the Ames Writers Collective is hosting its first ever poetry slam!

Come hear original work from local poets of all ages and styles. The event on Thursday, August 21st will begin at 5:30pm and poets will take the stage at 6:00pm. This is a free event, for attendees and poets alike. We prefer that poets sign up in advance at this link: Poet Registration. However we will allow same-day sign up at the event.

This event is held at the Octagon Center for the Arts at 427 Douglas Avenue, Ames IA 50010.

We hope you’ll join us, as a poet or a spectator, and support the poets in our community.

Member Open Hours

This month, join us for Open Hours at the Ames Writers Collective. Open hours are available for members only! Interested in becoming a member? Click here for more information!

Looking for a space designed for writers by writers? Or are you looking for a quiet area to focus on your most recent project? At Fifth Street Writers, we aim to provide just that from 5:30pm – 7:30pm on Tuesdays in October. There are a few exceptions, please check our events calendar for specific dates!

We have seating areas spread throughout the building at Fifth Street Writers that run the gamut from comfy club chairs to benches with tables, to larger tables with chairs. Limited parking is available in front of the building, with plenty of street parking. Our site host is communications intern, Acacia Coates.

Categories
In The Media News

Octagon Third Thursday Poetry Slam

The Octagon in partnership with the Ames Poetry Slam & the Ames Writers Collective is hosting its first ever poetry slam!

Come hear original work from local poets of all ages and styles. The event on Thursday, August 21st will begin at 5:30 and poets will take the stage at 6:00. This is a free event, for attendees and poets alike. We prefer that poets sign up in advance at this link: Poet Registration. However, we will allow same-day sign up at the event.

We hope you’ll join us, as a poet or a spectator, and support the poets in our community.

Octagon Third Thursday Poetry Slam

The Octagon in partnership with the Ames Poetry Slam & the Ames Writers Collective is hosting its first ever poetry slam!

Come hear original work from local poets of all ages and styles. The event on Thursday, August 21st will begin at 5:30 and poets will take the stage at 6:00. This is a free event, for attendees and poets alike. We prefer that poets sign up in advance at this link: Poet Registration. However, we will allow same-day sign up at the event.

We hope you’ll join us, as a poet or a spectator, and support the poets in our community.

Categories
Member

Lee Anne Wilson

Lee Anne Willson retired from Iowa State University in 2014 but is still involved in research to understand the fate of the solar system. She is a founding member of the artist’s cooperative Creative Artists’ Studios of Ames where she runs the Fiber Arts Node and Origami Center.  Her main writing project is a memoir about being an astronomer, nearly done. She is also writing up family stories and is working on some ideas for fiction to entertain her granddaughters.

Categories
In The Media News

Tumbling Words Event

Join us for Tumbling Words on June 19 at The Dot Café! Enjoy a fun and therapeutic evening of cocktails, mocktails, and creative self-expression through Wild Writing. No experience needed, just come ready to silence your inner critic and let the words flow. Your $35 ticket includes a handcrafted drink, journal and pen, a guided writing session with founder Ana McCracken, and a post-workshop mingle.

Spots are limited, get your ticket now before it sells out!

Click to sign up! 

Categories
In The Media News

Generative Writing Workshop

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 poetry. 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, and the Wild Writing Method, which encourages writers to write as fast and as badly as you can to out-write the inner critic.

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.

Categories
In The Media News

Join Us for Our Write Togethers

Join Us for Our Write Togethers
Open to Fifth Street Writers Members &
FREE to Community Writers
Working on a Writing Project

  • 2nd & 4th Tuesdays of the month (3:30 to 5 PM)
  • 1st Saturdays (10 to Noon)

What’s a Write Together?

1. Bring your laptop or whatever you write with to work on your creative writing projects—novels, memoirs, poems, project outlines, your to-do list
2. We have seating areas spread throughout the building at Fifth Street Writers that run the gamut from comfy club chairs to benches with tables, to larger tables with chairs—some tables are shared spaces
3. We’ll write in community for ~1.5 to 2 hours after sharing a brief comment about our creative project
4. We have wifi
5. We write, write, write in silence
6. Only RULES: Cell phones MUST BE SILENCED, as well as laptop “alerts.” No phone calls allowed in the building.

There’s plenty of street parking (metered) with a CyRide stop in front of our building at 612 5th Street in downtown Ames, Iowa. A few spaces are available in our front lot.

This event is FREE and open to all as part of the Ames Writers Collective Community Outreach Programming. Show up or click here Zoom links only good on Tuesdays. To ensure you always know about our Write Togethers, click here.

Categories
In The Media News

Swift Youth Writers Workshop

The Ames Writers Collective is committed to Youth Outreach Programming.

FREE Writing Workshop for youth grades 6 to 12.

The Swift Youth Writers Workshops are designed to nurture creative writing and in-person connections among youth.

The 4th Annual Swift Youth Writers Workshop—a week-long writing workshop scheduled for June 23 to 27, 2025, from 10 AM to 12:00 PM at the Ames Public Library.

Click here to register.

Swift Youth Writers Workshop

The Ames Writers Collective is committed to Youth Outreach Programming.

FREE Writing Workshop for youth grades 6 to 12.

The Swift Youth Writers Workshops are designed to nurture creative writing and in-person connections among youth.

The 4th Annual Swift Youth Writers Workshop—a week-long writing workshop scheduled for June 23 to 27, 2025, from 10 AM to 12:00 PM at the Ames Public Library.

Click here to register.