In-Person Events
September 11, Charlotte, NC
If you are in the Charlotte, NC, area, please join us for this remembrance reading on the 25th anniversary of 9/11. A dozen North Carolina poets will share poems on how 9/11 affected their lives and the lives of others. #neverforget
Edited by Joseph Bathanti and David Potorti
ISBN 978-1-950413-37-9 (softcover)
ISBN 978-1-950413-38-6 (hardcover)
9 x 6 inches, 218 pages
October 10, Lewisville, NC
The Terri Kirby Erickson & Press 53 Book Launch Celebration & Fundraiser for the American Brain Foundation on Saturday, October 10, at 3 p.m. at the beautiful Mary Alice Warren Community Center, 7632 Warren Park Drive, Lewisville, NC. Free to attend.
by Terri Kirby Erickson
Coming September 2026
Pre-Orders ship Early to mid-September
ISBN 978-1-968783-08-2
9 × 6 softcover, 120 pages
Featuring music by musician, vocalist, producer and composer Susan Terry, light refreshments, poetry reading, and book signing. It is a celebration of the release of award-winning poet Terri Kirby Erickson’s eighth collection of poems, The Light That Follows Us Home (published by Press 53, book cover painting by famed NC artist Stephen White) as well as a fundraiser for the American Brain Foundation, which supports research for numerous brain/neurological diseases and conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, autism, PTSD, multiple sclerosis, ALS, Parkinson’s disease, and many others. Twenty percent of every book sold, along with any other donations during this event, will go to the ABF. Please come out and support the arts and the American Brain Foundation!
Online Workshops
Three Workshops with Shuly Xóchitl Cawood
with Shuly Xóchitl Cawood
Thursday, September 10, 2-4 PM Eastern on ZOOM
In this class, you’ll learn what flash nonfiction is—how it works and why it works—via three powerful essays: a profile essay, an object essay, and a place essay. We’ll discuss these essays in class and pull out the techniques these writers are using so you can add tools to your own writing toolbox. You’ll then choose one of the given prompts to start your own first draft of a flash essay in class. Facilitated by Shuly Xóchitl Cawood, author of award-winning flash essay collection What the Fortune Teller Would Have Said. Cost $50. Registration is required. Note: This workshop will be recorded for those who register and cannot attend.
with Shuly Xóchitl Cawood
Wednesday, September 16, 3-5 PM Eastern on ZOOM
Are you wanting to submit your work to literary journals but feeling overwhelmed and don’t know where to start? In this online class, we’ll talk about how to research literary magazines, how to submit your work, how to track your submissions (for free), and what to put in (and leave out of) your bio statement. You’ll leave the class with a draft of your bio, and there will be plenty of time to get your questions answered. (Please note that this seminar is not focused on finding an agent or book publisher.) Facilitated by Shuly Xóchitl Cawood, author of Something So Good It Can Never Be Enough: Poems and A Small Thing to Want: Stories. Cost: $50. Registration is required. Note: This class will be recorded for those who register and cannot attend.
with Shuly Xóchitl Cawood
Thursday, October 15, 2-4 PM Eastern on ZOOM
Do you struggle with titling your work? Do you ever read titles that pull you in as a reader? Your titles can do that, too, but often they are missed opportunities—don’t let them be. In this class, we'll look at titles that work hard and offer zing and pizzazz, and then you’ll have the chance to create your own titles that entice readers and better serve your writing. We’ll use poetry titles as examples so we can cover more ground during this class, but everything you learn applies to prose—especially flash fiction, flash nonfiction, short stories, and personal essays. Facilitated by Shuly Xóchitl Cawood. Cost: $50. Registration is required. Note: This workshop will be recorded for those who register and cannot attend.
Generating Form with Richard Jackson
a Three-Part Generative Workshop Series
(Plus a one-hour introduction/preparation meeting on Sept 21, 7-8 PM Eastern)
with Richard Jackson (Limited to 15 Poets)
Mondays, 7-9 PM Eastern on Zoom
Session 1: The Sonnet, Oct 12 (7-9 PM)
Session 2: Villanelle, Sestina, Pantoum, Nov 23 (7-9 PM)
Session 3: Elegy and Ode, Dec 14 (7-9 PM)
In this generative workshop we will not only practice some traditional forms but also examine how our understanding of them can inform our own free verse poems. “Form is an extension of content,” as one saying goes, and “content is an extension of form,” goes another. Included in the workshop series is a free online booklet of examples and related essays. Cost: $150. Limited to 15 poets. Note: These sessions will be recorded for those who register and cannot attend.
(Plus a one-hour introduction/preparation meeting on Sept 21, 7-8 PM Eastern)
with Richard Jackson (Limited to 15 Poets)
Mondays, 7-9 PM Eastern on Zoom
Session 1: The Sonnet, Oct 12 (7-9 PM)
Session 2: Villanelle, Sestina, Pantoum, Nov 23 (7-9 PM)
Session 3: Elegy and Ode, Dec 14 (7-9 PM)
In this generative workshop we will not only practice some traditional forms but also examine how our understanding of them can inform our own free verse poems. “Form is an extension of content,” as one saying goes, and “content is an extension of form,” goes another. Included in the workshop series is a free online booklet of examples and related essays. Cost: $150. Limited to 15 poets. Note: These sessions will be recorded for those who register and cannot attend.
Let’s Write Together! with Shuly Xóchitl Cawood
Your Tuesday Lunchtime Workshop! (one hour, online, $10)
Noon to 1PM Eastern Time on ZOOM
Having a hard time finding inspiration and motivation to write? We’ll talk about a piece of writing, Shuly will give you a prompt, and then you will WRITE.
Workshops are on most Tuesdays from Noon to 1PM Eastern Time
“Shuly's ingenious prompts in her Tuesday workshops have led me into many important scenes in my novel and expanded my understanding of craft and creativity. This online community of writers is just wonderful.” —Erika Higgins Ross, winner of a 2023 Key West Literary Seminar Emerging Writers Award
with Shuly Xóchitl Cawood
Tuesday, September 8, Noon-1 PM Eastern / 11 AM-Noon Central / 10-11 AM Mountain / 9-10 AM Pacific
Having a hard time finding inspiration and motivation to write? Join Shuly Xóchitl Cawood, author of A Small Thing to Want, in this online one-hour session. We’ll talk about a piece of writing, Shuly will give you a prompt, and then you will WRITE. Sharing is optional.
“The uniqueness of Shuly’s selections has been as useful as the prompts themselves to expand my ideas of what craft and form can do. She has shaken out the starts of so many pieces, even when I thought I was in a writing rut. Not to mention she’s a wonderful person and talented writer and teacher. 10/10, highly recommend.” —E.M.
with Shuly Xóchitl Cawood
Tuesday, September 15, Noon-1 PM Eastern / 11 AM-Noon Central / 10-11 AM Mountain / 9-10 AM Pacific
Having a hard time finding inspiration and motivation to write? Join Shuly Xóchitl Cawood, author of A Small Thing to Want, in this online one-hour session. We’ll talk about a piece of writing, Shuly will give you a prompt, and then you will WRITE. Sharing is optional.
"I love the poems and the prompts. I always come out of the class with a draft I want to continue to develop." —L.V.
with Shuly Xóchitl Cawood
Tuesday, September 22, Noon-1 PM Eastern / 11 AM-Noon Central / 10-11 AM Mountain / 9-10 AM Pacific
Having a hard time finding inspiration and motivation to write? Join Shuly Xóchitl Cawood, author of A Small Thing to Want, in this online one-hour session. We’ll talk about a piece of writing, Shuly will give you a prompt, and then you will WRITE. Sharing is optional.
"These workshops have been excellent, and they are exactly what I need in the middle of my busy work day." —J.B.
with Shuly Xóchitl Cawood
Tuesday, September 29, Noon-1 PM Eastern / 11 AM-Noon Central / 10-11 AM Mountain / 9-10 AM Pacific
Having a hard time finding inspiration and motivation to write? Join Shuly Xóchitl Cawood, author of A Small Thing to Want, in this online one-hour session. We’ll talk about a piece of writing, Shuly will give you a prompt, and then you will WRITE. Sharing is optional.
"Tuesday is magic, I always get something out of it. I end up with a workable poem almost every time or the start or an idea for a flash." —P.G.
About Shuly Xóchitl Cawood
Shuly Xóchitl Cawood is the author of Something So Good It Can Never Be Enough (Press 53) and A Small Thing to Want: Stories (Press 53) and four other books: What the Fortune Teller Would Have Said: Flash Essays, winner of the 2022 Iron Horse Literary Review Prose Chapbook Competition; Trouble Can Be So Beautiful at the Beginning (Mercer University Press), winner of the 2019 Adrienne Bond Award for Poetry; 52 Things I Wish I Could Have Told Myself When I Was 17 (Cimarron Books, 2018); and The Going and Goodbye: A Memoir (Platypus Press, 2017). Shuly earned her MFA from Queens University of Charlotte, and her writing has been published in The New York Times, Brevity, The Sun, and others. Shuly also leads writing workshops through Press 53’s High Road Fest Online, including the popular Let’s Write Together!, a one-hour lunchtime workshop at Noon Eastern on Tuesdays. Learn more at shulycawood.com