Call to Action
Our democracy is at stake in this election. As writers and citizens, we cannot stand by. Please join us in the battle of our lives.
Register to vote and then vote in local as well as national elections. Urge everyone you know to exercise this precious right.
Volunteer to serve as a poll worker at your local precinct.
Join Writers for Democratic Action. We’ll keep you informed of specific campaigns and opportunities to volunteer locally.
Don’t have a state WDA chapter? Form one. Contact us, we’ll get you started.
DEMOCRACY BOOK CLUB
Join Us for an Evening with. . .
NANCY ROSENBLUM & RUSSELL MUIRHEAD
in conversation with
James Carroll
discussing
UNGOVERNING:
The Attack on the Administrative State and the Politics of Chaos
Tuesday, September 17
6:30pm ET / 5:30pm CT
Our thanks to The Charles Hotel — Harvard Square, Harvard Book Store, and Books & Books for hosting!
Our partner writers at Writers for Blue have asked us to share their mission and call to action with our membership. We must all do what we can in this critically important presidential election. Join in the fight for democracy!
Democracy Crumbling in Venezuela
WDA stands fiercely in support of democracy everywhere. Venezuelans have lost their right to a fair election and democracy hangs in the balance.
Read WDA steering committee member and proud Venezuelan Bella Rotker’s full statement here.
Call To Action
Now is the time to keep your eyes on Venezuela.
Write to your elected officials to demand they work towards transparency in Venezuela and at home.
Talk to those around you. Keep the conversation going in your community and beyond. The United States and its allies must show the dictatorship we are not turning our backs on corruption.
Advocate for transparency in local and national offices and vote for democracy. We cannot let this happen here.
Do not turn away. Do not forget the struggle for democracy reaches beyond our own borders. Keep talking about Venezuela and every other place democracy is being threatened.
A New Plot for America
The 1936 play ‘It Can’t Happen Here’ is adapted for our times. . .
By Renée Loth
The Boston Globe
June 14, 2024
READ HERE.
Current Affairs
In this moment of devastation and suffering in Israel and Gaza, we turn, for words, to the voices of Israeli and Palestinian poets. . .
YEHUDA AMICHAI
Source: The Poetry of Yehuda Amichai (Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2015). Poetry Foundation.
Source: The Selected Poetry of Yehuda Amichai (© 2013, Hana Amichai & Chana Bloch, reprinted in Houston’s Favorite Poems, Calypso Editions, 2018, with permission of U California Press).
“Wild Peace”: Yehuda Amichai’s Opinion piece in response to the New York Times, December 9, 1994.
MAHMOUD DARWISH
Source: Unfortunately, It Was Paradise (University of California Press, 2003), Academy of American Poets.
Source: The Butterfly’s Burden (Copper Canyon Press, 2007), Poetry Foundation
“Who Am I Without Exile”: An Essay on Mahmoud Darwish by Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha in Volume IX of the Arrowsmith Journal.
A Tribute to MOSAB ABU TOHA
Source: Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza (City Lights , 2022) ; Recipient of the Palestine Book Award & the American Book Award; Poetry Finalist, National Book Critics Circle Award; and most recently the recipient of the 2022 Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry (Arrowsmith Press). Poetry (March 2021)
from the Gaza Notebooks (2021-2023)
My two eyes, when closed,
each see different things:
One me leaving Gaza in peace,
in one piece,
one me getting jailed at the Erez crossing point.
My head: a confused old TV channel
picking up crossed signals. . .
November 21, 2023