UPCOMING EVENTS
Creative Colorado Writers Retreat
Write like you mean it!
The second annual Creative Colorado Writer's Retreat, hosted by Twenty Bellows and Beyond the Veil press, will take place Saturday, September 28th and Sunday, September 29th at Mint & Serif in Lakewood, Colorado.
While the retreat is divided into fiction and poetry tracks, every session will be valuable and accessible for writers of every variety. We encourage participants to register for the entire weekend, regardless of skill level.
Workshop Facilitators include: Aerik Francis, Becca Downs, Marissa Forbes, Michael Kilman, Rachel Dempsey, and Tyler Hurula.
The schedule is as follows:
Day 1 - Saturday, September 28th
Fiction Track with Poetry Peer Feedback Sessions
10:00 AM - 11:30 AM Workshop #1 with Marissa Forbes
11:35 AM - 12:10 PM Lunch
12:15 PM - 1:45 PM Workshop #2 with Rachel Dempsey
1:50 PM - 3:20 PM Workshop #3 with Michael Kilman
Peer Feedback Sessions - Poetry
12:15 PM - 1:45 PM
1:50 PM - 3:20 PM (if necessary)
Poetry feedback sessions led by Tyler Hurula. Capped at 7 participants per session, this is an opportunity to share new material in front of your peers and a qualified facilitator. All participants are invited to bring up to three pages of poetry to read for critical review, feedback, and discussion.
Day 2 - Sunday, September 29th
Poetry Track with Fiction Peer Feedback Sessions
10:00 AM - 11:30 AM Workshop #1 with Aerick Francisa
11:35 AM - 12:10 PM Lunch
12:15 PM - 1:45 PM Workshop #2 with Becca Downs
1:50 PM - 3:20 PM Workshop #3 with Tyler Hurula
Peer Feedback Sessions - Fiction
12:15 PM - 1:45 PM
1:50 PM - 3:20 PM (if necessary)
Fiction feedback sessions led by Marissa Forbes. Capped at 5 participants per session, this is an opportunity to share new material in front of your peers and a qualified facilitator. All participants are invited to bring up to 2,000 words of fiction to read for critical review, feedback, and discussion.
Afterparty - Sunday, September 29th @ 6 PM
Following the completion of the retreat, all participants are invited to an afterparty at Goldspot Brewing for networking and an Open Mic Night, hosted by Beyond the Veil Press. There is no additional cost for this event.
20B Summer Open Mic Series
#OpenMic: This summer, 20B is returning to the mic! Join us on the third Monday of June, July, and August for an Open Mic Night at Hooked on Colfax (3213 E Colfax Ave Denver, CO). Sign-up starts at 5:30 PM, with performances from 6-8 PM. Seating is limited, so arrive early. And unlike our previous open mics, we are throwing the doors open to all expression: poetry, fiction, nonfiction, music, monologue, performance art, and more. Whatever you want to share, we want to see/hear/experience it. Just be respectful of your peers, your time, and our hosts. See you on the mic!
20B Summer Open Mic Series
#OpenMic: This summer, 20B is returning to the mic! Join us on the third Monday of June, July, and August for an Open Mic Night at Hooked on Colfax (3213 E Colfax Ave Denver, CO). Sign-up starts at 5:30 PM, with performances from 6-8 PM. Seating is limited, so arrive early. And unlike our previous open mics, we are throwing the doors open to all expression: poetry, fiction, nonfiction, music, monologue, performance art, and more. Whatever you want to share, we want to see/hear/experience it. Just be respectful of your peers, your time, and our hosts. See you on the mic!
HORIZONS: Book Launch Party & Open Mic
HORIZONS: Book Launch Party & Open Mic
Now that "HORIZONS: Expeditions in Short Fiction" is out in the world and on shelves, it's time to celebrate! On Tuesday, June 25th, join Twenty Bellows at @LadyJusticeBrewing for a night of fiction, fellowship, and fantastic beer. We will have a slate of featured readers from our HORIZONS roster as well as an Open Mic session welcoming all creative expression. Get there early to grab a seat and sign up for the mic! Not only is this a great opportunity to meet our authors and editors, but you also get to enjoy Lady Justice's brand new home in Englewood. The Lady J team has been incredibly supportive of Twenty Bellows, and we are humbled to put their space to good use. This is even more special during #PrideMonth, as your attendance helps support a phenomenal queer and woman-owned business in our community. So while you're enjoying the literary showcase, make sure to sample all the beers (responsibly, of course), tip your bartenders, and load up on some Lady J merchandise.
20B Summer Open Mic Series
#OpenMic: This summer, 20B is returning to the mic! Join us on the third Monday of June, July, and August for an Open Mic Night at Hooked on Colfax (3213 E Colfax Ave Denver, CO). Sign-up starts at 5:30 PM, with performances from 6-8 PM. Seating is limited, so arrive early. And unlike our previous open mics, we are throwing the doors open to all expression: poetry, fiction, nonfiction, music, monologue, performance art, and more. Whatever you want to share, we want to see/hear/experience it. Just be respectful of your peers, your time, and our hosts. See you on the mic!
Get Dressed for Justice: Poetry Month Workshop Week 4
Participants will first learn about the poetic forms, Addresses and Odes, and then take a captivating and highly focused tour of the “Rumors and Bloomers” exhibit. We will have an intimate opportunity to sit with the corsets, bloomers, swimming costumes, and petticoats so we can write poems dedicated to the items that have enhanced and concealed Colorado women through history. We’ll give honor and power to these often hush-hush clothing items.
Personification: Briefs & Bleeding: Poetry Month Workshop Week 3
If you experience bleeding monthly have you ever taken on the voice of that blood? Have you ever tried to understand what our underwear goes through each month–especially those ratty ones we all keep just for the cyclical occasion? Are you brave enough to personify your period? Join us as we explore the menstrual experiences and a bit on sex work through Colorado history then give life and a voice to the items used to soak it all up through the poetic method of personification.
Owning Your Voice – Generative Workshop
Join Twenty Bellows on April 11th from 5:30-7:30pm at the Gregory Allicar Museum of Art for a facilitated writing workshop for writers of all ages and stages!
Pantoums & Panties: Poetry Month Workshop Week 2
Finding comfortable undergarments through history may be a challenge but learning about the poetic form, Pantoum, will help experienced and novice writers gain a new perspective of women in Colorado history. We will examine what women wore while exploring the great outdoors, the changes in garments through domestic and professional labor, and the bloomers worn within the suffrage movement. Then we’ll take it to paper and express ourselves through the constrained yet liberating form of pantoums–hey kind of like panties!
Undergarment Odes: Poetry Month Workshop Week 1
Participants will first learn about the poetic forms, Addresses and Odes, and then take a captivating and highly focused tour of the “Rumors and Bloomers” exhibit. We will have an intimate opportunity to sit with the corsets, bloomers, swimming costumes, and petticoats so we can write poems dedicated to the items that have enhanced and concealed Colorado women through history. We’ll give honor and power to these often hush-hush clothing items.
Open Mic & Happy Hour at Lady J's
Join Twenty Bellows, Lady Justice Brewing, and the Colorado creative community as we gather to enjoy great beer and creative expression. Our Open Mic Night is free and available to all. We welcome all original work, including fiction, poetry, essays, and more. RSVP below and contact twentybellowslit@gmail.com for more information or questions.
Indie Press Collective Chat & Chill
Calling all Indie Presses and Literary Organizations! The Indie Press Collective is here to connect you with your peers and create a network of shared resources, friendly faces, and mentorship. Join us on Wednesday, July 19th to kick off the collective with a casual hang on Zoom! We would love to see you there! Learn more at twentybellowslit.com/indiepresscollective and use the form linked below to get your link for this event. See you there!
Open Mic & Happy Hour at Lady J's
Join Twenty Bellows, Lady Justice Brewing, and the Colorado creative community as we gather to enjoy great beer and creative expression. Our Open Mic Night is free and available to all. We welcome all original work, including fiction, poetry, essays, and more. RSVP below and contact twentybellowslit@gmail.com for more information or questions.
On Stranger Tides: A Guided Meditation for Writers
Join poet and writing instructor Erica Reid in a guided mediation session to unlock your creative potential.
Open Mic & Happy Hour at Lady J's
Join Twenty Bellows, Lady Justice Brewing, and the Colorado creative community as we gather to enjoy great beer and creative expression. Our Open Mic Night is free and available to all. We welcome all original work, including fiction, poetry, essays, and more. RSVP below and contact twentybellowslit@gmail.com for more information or questions.
Open Mic & Happy Hour at Lady J's
Join Twenty Bellows, Lady Justice Brewing, and the Colorado creative community as we gather to enjoy great beer and creative expression. Our Open Mic Night is free and available to all. We welcome all original work, including fiction, poetry, essays, and more. RSVP below and contact twentybellowslit@gmail.com for more information or questions.
PANEL: Poetry With A Colorado Sensibility
Join us for Epistolary Poetry, part one of the CCWH and Twenty Bellows Collaboration, “Past & Present Writers of the West: National Poetry Month.” Participants will first explore the second floor of the home and examine correspondence artifacts written by the women of the home then create their own epistolary poems. As poems of direct address, epistolary poems are creative works read as letters that can be intimate and colloquial or formal and measured, so participants will take inspiration from the museum and learn poetic methods on persona, hone in on minor details that tells a major message, plus incorporate history into their modern experience. This tour and generative workshop will provide a space for novice-experienced writers to take local historical insight and transform it into a timeless poem that speaks to the who and what of a poem.
Workshop: Poetry from the Dwelling, facilitated by Amy Wray Irish
Part two of the CCWH and Twenty Bellows Collaboration, “Past & Present Writers of the West: National Poetry Month” is Poetry from the Dwelling. Participants will explore the main floor of the home and examine artifacts from the kitchen and dining area then create their own recipe and/or object poems. This workshop will focus on crafting strong, well-paced, and clever poems inspired by CO history. Participants will create either a recipe poem, which is composed of “ingredients” and directions that build a bigger meaning, often through metaphor. Participants can also write an object poem that’s inspired by an artifact from CCWH and utilizes imagery and depth of description to depict their emotional message. This tour and generative workshop will provide a space for novice-experienced writers to take local historical insight and transform it into a timeless poem that connects the past to the present.
Workshop: Epistolary Poetry, facilitated by Marissa Forbes (Copy)
Join us for Epistolary Poetry, part one of the CCWH and Twenty Bellows Collaboration, “Past & Present Writers of the West: National Poetry Month.” Participants will first explore the second floor of the home and examine correspondence artifacts written by the women of the home then create their own epistolary poems. As poems of direct address, epistolary poems are creative works read as letters that can be intimate and colloquial or formal and measured, so participants will take inspiration from the museum and learn poetic methods on persona, hone in on minor details that tells a major message, plus incorporate history into their modern experience. This tour and generative workshop will provide a space for novice-experienced writers to take local historical insight and transform it into a timeless poem that speaks to the who and what of a poem.
Women of the West: A Curated Reading
Join Twenty Bellows for a curated reading at Colorado State University featuring Shae Lee, Erica Reid, and Theresa McLaren. Please RSVP using the form below.
Open Mic & Happy Hour at Lady J's
Join Twenty Bellows, Lady Justice Brewing, and the Colorado creative community as we gather to enjoy great beer and creative expression. Our Open Mic Night is free and available to all. We welcome all original work, including fiction, poetry, essays, and more. RSVP below and contact twentybellowslit@gmail.com for more information or questions.
Open Mic & Happy Hour at Lady J's
Join Twenty Bellows, Lady Justice Brewing, and the Colorado creative community as we gather to enjoy great beer and creative expression. Our Open Mic Night is free and available to all. We welcome all original work, including fiction, poetry, essays, and more. RSVP below and contact twentybellowslit@gmail.com for more information or questions.
#WriteYourADVENTure Holiday Open Mic Night
#WriteYourADVENTure
Holiday Open Mic Night
Join Twenty Bellows and the 20B Community for a Virtual Open Mic Night hosted by Managing Editor, Marissa Forbes.
This will be a safe, open forum to share work inspired by 20B’s #WriteYourADVENTure writing prompts, but other work is welcome as well. We welcome all fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and essays (published and unpublished) that conform with our code of conduct. No fanfiction or erotica, please.
Please register in advance to receive the Zoom link and login information. Readers will be picked on a first come first serve basis, and we will get through as many as possible in the allotted time.
Email twentybellowslit@gmail.com with any questions you may have. See you there!
20B Virtual Writing Group - August 2022
Join 20B on the second Thursday of every month for our virtual writing group hosted by Abigail Byrd! Free to attend. Email twentybellowslit@gmail.com for more information and to request the Zoom link.
20B Virtual Writing Group - July 2022
Join 20B on the second Thursday of every month for our virtual writing group hosted by Abigail Byrd! Free to attend. Email twentybellowslit@gmail.com for more information and to request the Zoom link.
20B Virtual Writing Group - June 2022
Join 20B on the second Thursday of every month for our virtual writing group hosted by Abigail Byrd! Free to attend. Email twentybellowslit@gmail.com for more information and to request the Zoom link.
20B Virtual Writing Group - May 2022
Join 20B on the second Thursday of every month for our virtual writing group hosted by Abigail Byrd! Free to attend. Email twentybellowslit@gmail.com for more information and to request the Zoom link.
20B Virtual Writing Group - April 2022
Join 20B on the second Thursday of every month for our virtual writing group hosted by Abigail Byrd! Free to attend. Email twentybellowslit@gmail.com for more information and to request the Zoom link.
20B Virtual Writing Group - March 2022
Join 20B on the second Thursday of every month for our virtual writing group hosted by Abigail Byrd! Free to attend. Email twentybellowslit@gmail.com for more information and to request the Zoom link.
Twenty Bellows Live @ Wolverine Farm
Twenty Bellows Live is coming to Fort Collins!
Join us Saturday, February 12, 2022, at Wolverine Farm Publick House (316 Willow St, Fort Collins, CO 80524) for an evening of literature, conversation, and community. This literary reading will feature fiction, poetry, essays, and more and feature both Twenty Bellows contributors and Northern Colorado creatives. We will also be raffling off work from featured readers and local favorites.
Our featured reading will be followed by an Open Mic hour. Participants are encouraged to share their writing, spoken word, lyrics, or just about anything else in a welcoming setting, among their peers.
This is a donation-based event, with contributions at the door benefiting Bounce Animal Rescue, but registration is strongly encouraged (and earns you an extra spot in our raffle!).