First Fridays

On the first Friday of each month, MWA hosts a featured reader/speaker with an open mic to follow. All writers--poets, playwrights, novelists, memoirists, songwriters, etc. are invited to spend time sharing their work. Our purpose is to create a supportive community for all those who engage in the lively and sometimes lonely sport of putting thought and feeling to page.

Link to Attend

Click for Zoom
To receive call-in information for the meeting, be sure to register in advance.

Open Mic Sign-Up

If you are interested in sharing your work on the open mic portion of the evening, email [email protected] and request to be added to the list of open mic speakers. You can also ask during the event. Please be sure to have 5 minutes or less of reading (approx. 3 poems) to share with the group. The host will post the open mic list during the event. If you have a book or upcoming event, be sure to announce to the group during your time or before the featured reader begins.

Please Note: We're fortunate to have many folks interested in reading (thank you!). However, the amount of time for Open Mic readings is unpredictable and can vary significantly from one month to the next. Therefore:

• Requesting to be put on the Open Mic list does not guarantee you a spot on the list.
• We do our best to make time for everyone on the list to read, but that is not always possible. Thank you for your understanding.
• Keep your reading to 5 minutes or less (time yourself to be sure).
• If you don't get to read one month, we try to get you scheduled for the next month.
  
  

Thank you for your courage to share your work, your generosity toward others sharing their work, and your contribution to the First Friday community, in whatever way you participate. See you there!

Featured Guest

Our featured Poets/Performers are asked to prepare 20 minutes of material to share with the group. Then there is a 10 minute question and comment period. If you are interested in being a feature reader, please email [email protected].

First Fridays is a monthly online event. Thank you for all your support in this endeavor.

First Fridays with Stephen Newton

May 02, 2025
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

First Fridays Zoom Registration


Click here for Venue Website / Zoom Link

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Stephen Newton is a writer and independent filmmaker living in Southern Appalachia where he retired in 2006 after a forty-year career. which included advertising, marketing, corporate communications, graphic design, publishing, and web design-development for clients such as Xerox, the Red Cross, and the University of Arizona. 

Newton’s most recent fiction is featured in several literary magazines including, Cagibi, The Write Launch, Litro Magazine USA, On The Run, The Atticus Review, Still: The Journal, and The Lumina Journal, among others. 

In 2014, he released his first feature length documentary, Outcasts: Surviving the Culture of Rejection, which reveals why the US incarcerates more of its citizens than any other country in the world. The film was featured twice in prime time on East Tennessee PBS. His second film, One Night in January: Counting the Cost of Homelessness, premiered in April 2020 and answers the question, “Why are millions of Americans experiencing extreme poverty and homelessness in the richest country in the world?”  

He shares a studio with his wife Angela, a painter, and their tuxedo cat, Mama. He is currently writing a mystery novel set in the 1970s and editing A Problematic Prophecy & Other Stories, a collection of his published fiction. 

His website is stephenanewton.com.

A short Q&A and an open mic will follow the featured reader's presentation. All genres are welcome to read. Click here for details.

Link to register / attend: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/pfL8BQdUQn2cC2SqNAiR-g