Renaissance House Retreat for Writers & Artists Celebrates 12th Anniversary with Special Presentations and Workshops by Noted Martha's Vineyard Writers & Artists from June to August

MARTHA'S VINEYARD, MA, June 24, 2013 (Press-News.org) Renaissance House: A Retreat for Writers and Other Artists in historic Oak Bluffs, Martha's Vineyard will celebrate its 12th year by hosting special cultural workshops and presentations from June to August with some of the Island's leading writers, poets and filmmakers.

The Renaissance House Salon Series is FREE to the public and is sponsored by the Helene Johnson and Dorothy West Foundation For Artists In Need. It will be held at 31 Pennacook Avenue in Oak Bluffs. Dessert is served after each salon.

Every Tuesday night at 7:30pm from June 18 - August 6, the Renaissance House Salon Series will host scheduled salon guests.

On June 25, the speaker is Richard Greener, author of the novel The Locator, which was the basis of the Fox TV series The Finder, which starred Michael Clarke Duncan. Greener, a Huffington Post columnist, will read passages from his current book In My Time: A Mostly True Memoir.

Other guest speakers from June to August include: author and journalist Jill Nelson, Poet Laureate of West Tisbury Daniel Waters, mystery novelist Cynthia Riggs, documentary filmmakers Len and Georgia Morris, poet Michael West, acclaimed food anthropologist and author Jessica Harris, humorist Holly Nadler and Shana Mahaffey, author of the novel Sounds Like Crazy.

On Monday nights at 7:30 pm from June 17 - August 5, Martha's Vineyard's indomitable Susan Klein, the acclaimed storyteller and memoir writing instructor, will host a weekly workshop on how to write your memoir.

"We are pleased to present these outstanding writers and artists at the Renaissance House Salon Series. It's a special highlight of the Renaissance House Retreat, which provides writers and artists with a subsidized retreat away from life's responsibilities and the space in which to create new works of art," explained Abigail McGrath, founder, Helene Johnson and Dorothy West Foundation. "Renaissance House is one of the few retreats designed for issue-oriented writers, writers of color and writers of social justice."

Renaissance House is an annual writers retreat sponsored by the Helene Johnson and Dorothy West Foundation, both of whom were women writers of the Harlem Renaissance. It provides artists with a subsidized retreat away from life's responsibilities and the space in which to create new works of art. Renaissance House Fellows for 2013 include Afaa Michael Weaver, Pushcart Award-winning poet, playwright and director of the Zora Neale Hurston Literary Center at Simmons College.

The Renaissance House Salon Series schedule is:
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7:30 PM, Monday, June 17, Susan Klein, Memoir Writing
7:30 PM, Tuesday, June 18, Dan Waters

7:30 PM, Monday, June 24, Susan Klein, Memoir Writing
7:30 PM, Tuesday, June 25, Richard Greener
7:30 PM, Wednesday, June 26, Mike West

7:30 PM Monday, July 1, Susan Klein, Memoir Writing
5:00 PM Thursday, July 4, Frederick Douglass Speech, What Does The Fourth of July Mean to A Negro? This will be on State Beach at the second bridge, pot luck dinner. Group Participation.

7:30 PM Monday, July 8, Susan Klein, Memoir Writing
7:30 PM Tuesday, July 9, Shana Mahaffey, Surviving as a Writer

7:30 PM Monday, July 15, Susan Klein, Memoir Writing
7:30 PM Tuesday, July 16, Holly Nadler, How To Blossom From the Shadow Of Your Husband

7:30 PM Monday, July 22, Susan Klein, Memoir Writing
7:30 PM Tuesday, July 23, Cynthia Riggs, Mysterious Matters

7:30 PM Monday, July 29, Susan Klein, Memoir Writing
7:30 PM Tuesday, July 30, Jessica Harris, Food As Thought

7:30 PM Monday, August 5, Susan Klein, Memoir Writing
7:30 PM Tuesday, August 6, TBA

The Renaissance House Salon Series programs are free and open to the public. Please RSVP for a reservation. For more information call Renaissance House at 917-747-0367.