Join us for Dura Mater in the Valley—a full day of durational writing, listening, and reading in community organized by poet Sara Jane Stoner and Northampton Poet Laureate Ari Banias.

Dura Mater in the Valley is a call to gather for a collective experiment in spontaneous, shared duration—a full day of writing, reading, and listening, alone and together with our desire to write and our need to feel our writing in relationship. After beginning with some collective decisions, intentions, and offerings, we will write for five hours with regular brief pauses, and an hour-long pause for lunch. Following our day of writing will be an evening marathon reading, open to the public, with time for each of us to share writing emerging from the day, along with a few reading slots for members of the community who join us. With generous space and time and attentiveness to our individual and collective needs, each of us can find and explore the postures and paths within writing we know and do not yet know we need—in proximity to others, maybe friends, maybe strangers, but all people who love writing and who have devoted themselves to being present for the unexpected possibilities held by the fullness of the day.

$10-$30 sliding scale fee. Advance registration required for the writing marathon. Spots are limited. Please contact Bombyx if cost is a barrier.

Click here to attend the evening marathon only.

This event is made possible by Northampton Arts Council.

Schedule for the day

9:30am Arrival and settling in
10am-12:30pm Writing
12:30-1:30pm Lunch
1:30-4pm Writing

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5:30pm Doors open for public Marathon Reading
6-8:30pm Dura Mater Reading