Janisse Ray

2024 Storyfest | South Carolina Writers Association | Columbia, SC | Sept. 27-29
2024-09-27 - 2024-09-29 | DoubleTree by Hilton Columbia SC
I’ll be teaching a Magical Craft Masterclass at the 2024 Storyfest. This is a really wonderful conference, one of the best I’ve attended in a long while. It’s geared toward genre authors, but there’s a ton of good programming for literary folks. Last year was my first time going–I was invited to give a keynote, which is how I heard about Storyfest. I truly enjoyed myself and met some wonderful people, many of whom I’m still in contact with. So I worked hard to get invited back this year. I’m not giving a keynote but I am teaching a Masterclass on Friday from 1-3:30, and the rest of the weekend I’ll have a table set up in the vendor’s area with copies of Craft & Current: A Manual for Magical Writing. If you decide to attend, please stop by my booth and let’s have a chat.

Ideas Festival Emory | Oxford @ Emory | Sept. 22, 2024
2024-09-21 - 2024-09-22
Janisse and chef Virgina Willis will team up on the stage to bring you a session of inspiration, humor, and great story. They’ll be coming on as part of the brand-new Ideas Festival Emory, organized by Daren Wang (of Decatur Book Festival fame.) This is a weekend not to miss.

Slow Exposures Photography Exhibit | Zebulon, GA
2024-09-20 - 2024-09-21

Workshop | Write Your Own Story | Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024 | 9-1 Eastern Time
2024-09-07 09:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Online via Zoom
$77 | Sunday, July 14, 2024 | 2-6 pm Eastern Time | Live via Zoom
You received a treasure of stories from your ancestors, your childhood, your life, places you lived, people you knew, your own children, your opportunities.
You’d like to get them down on paper. That keeps you up at night. Sometimes it’s hard to know where to start. It’s hard to keep going once you get a few words. It feels like WORK when it should be FUN.
Let me help you Write Your Own Story.
This is a 4-hour memoir workshop for writers of all levels. No experience needed.
All you need is a desire to get your stories down on paper for children, grandchildren, family, friends, and the reading public—while you can.
No Life Is Too Large, No Life Is Too Small. Everybody has amazing stories. All you have to do is recognize them.
WHAT YOU GET

4 hours of guidance on writing structure, technique, and craft
A dozen writing prompts
Useful handouts in pdf form
A work plan for putting stories together
Honest, authentic interest in your story & belief in you
Opportunities to ask questions of Janisse Ray
Engagement with other writers
Ways to make this fun

YOUR INVESTMENT

$77
4 hours of your time
Sincere desire to write your stories
Commitment to write during our time together

WHAT YOU LEAVE WITH

At least a dozen new pieces of stories that may be used alone or in a larger work
Information that clarifies where you are & where you need to go
The toolbox you need to put a larger work together

National SeaGrant Leadership Conference | Savannah, GA
2024-08-22 18:30 - 21:00 | Savannah, Georgia
By invitation only.

Workshop | Master the Flash | Sat, July 27 | 9-12 am Eastern Time | Live via Zoom
2024-07-27 09:00 - 12:00 | Online via Zoom
$55 | Saturday, July 27, 2024, 9-12 am Eastern Time | Live via Zoom
Writers with whom I’ve worked find almost instant success with the short form known as flash essay, flash nonfiction, or micro-memoir. I love teaching folks how to write these, because this form can open doors to fabulous places. I got introduced to it only a few years ago, and it has changed my life and my thinking. The short essay holds infinite possibilities for publishing—from a magazine-ready piece, to a well-crafted social-media post, to meaningful newsletter copy, to a short chapter in a book.
I’ll guide you in writing a short essay or two in one morning from the comfort of your own writing room or backyard. Make yourself a thermos of tea and Zoom with me from idea to finished product in a matter of a few hours.
WHAT YOU GET:
1. You get an inspired space to ship the work.
2. You get Janisse to motivate you.
3. You get a guide for every step of the way.
4. You get to leave with a short essay that’s either ready or close to being ready.
5. You get to feel like you did your job.
6. You get useful handouts.
7. You get publishing ideas.
8. You get time to ask questions.
9.You get to see other people, like you, working toward their goals & visions.
10.You get to try your hand at the flash essay.

You will receive a Zoom link for the workshop. Please note that participant numbers are not limited.

Workshop | Write Your Own Story | Sunday, July 14, 2024 | Live via Zoom
2024-07-14 14:00 - 18:00 | Online via Zoom

Journaling Fools | 4 Sunday Sessions | July 7, 14, 21, 28 | Live via Zoom
2024-07-07 19:00 - 20:30 | Online via Zoom
Register here.
I’ve done a lot of foolish things in my life. Back in my early 20s, for example, I jumped out of an airplane. Of course I was wearing a parachute, but still. I don’t think I’d do that again.
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I’ve played the fool & been played as a fool.
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For the next 4 Sunday evenings in July I’ll be leading 1-hour journaling sessions on Fools. I’m excited to get a chance to examine this zany archetype within us all. The fool is often willing to speak honestly, playfully, and courageously. The fool often turns out to be the wise one.
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Question–Do you think The Fool actually steps off the cliff because they’re looking away? It’s just a question.
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Each session will have a theme, and within those themes we’ll write about foolish things we’ve done, foolish things we wish we’d done, foolish things we’d like to do, foolish ideas that stuck, how we’re being environmental fools, the times we’re fully alive, and new, wacky journeys we’re beginning. Yes, us journaling fools.
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Foolish Us
Fools for the Earth
Tomfoolery
The Fool’s Journey
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The sessions are 7-8 pm Eastern on July 7 | 14 | 21 | 28, four Sundays in a row.
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Best of all, you choose the price. I do not jest.
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Register here.
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Each session includes a short PowerPoint on some aspect of The Fool, timed writing prompts, time for reading aloud (if you want), juicy interaction in the Chat, a joke or two.
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Come with me & ye shall see:
an increase in creative output.
a chance to generate AT LEAST 16 writing pieces that can be used alone or in a longer work.
1 hour in the week JUST FOR YOU.
a good time. A fun, cheerful, encouraging vibe.
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As you can imagine, one hour flies by. So have your journal and pencils ready.
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And that skydive that I mentioned at the beginning of this post? I landed in a tree! For real. That was poetic justice, wasn’t it?

Paddle Georgia | Love for a River | SOLD OUT
2024-06-17 19:15 - 20:00 | Watermelon Creek Vineyard, Glennville, Georgia
Janisse will be speaking to the folks doing Paddle Georgia, which this year is on the Altamaha River. She’ll be speaking at Watermelon Creek Vineyard. By invite only.

Meet the Author | Georgia Writers Museum | Eatonton--SOLD OUT
2024-06-04 19:00 - 20:30 | The Plaza Arts Center, Eatonton, Georgia
Janisse will be speaking at the Plaza Arts Center in Eatonton as part of the Meet-the-Author Series sponsored by the Georgia Writers Museum. Tickets are $20.
UPDATE: This event is SOLD OUT.

Meet the Author | SOLD OUT--Woods of Fannin | Georgia Writers Museum--SOLD OUT
2024-06-04 19:00 - 20:00 | The Plaza Arts Center, Eatonton, Georgia
In the fall of 1945, eight children, brothers and sisters ranging in age from three months to ten years, vanished from a rented bungalow in Morganton, Georgia. They were taken by mule and wagon to a remote shack in the Blue Ridge foothills of Fannin County, near the North Carolina line. For the next four years they would live mostly alone, without mother or father, roaming the mountains and valleys of what had been Cherokee Territory, scouring for food and scrambling to take care of themselves and each other.
About Janisse
Janisse Ray grew up in a junkyard along U.S. Highway 1 near Baxley, Ga. She is the author of Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, which won the American Book Award and other honors. Since Ecology she has published five books.
The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food came out from Chelsea Green Publishing in 2012. Most of her work is literary nonfiction and deals with the human relationship to nature.
She earned an MFA from the University of Montana and holds two honorary doctorates, one from LaGrange College in LaGrange, GA and one from Unity College in Unity, ME. In 2016 she was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame and in 2019 won a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Georgia Writers Association.
She lives on an organic farm in Georgia.
She writes poetry and fiction in addition to creative nonfiction.

Green Fire Symposium | ASLE | Jacksonville, FL
2024-05-16 08:00 - 2024-05-19 17:00 | University of North Florida
More info forthcoming. This event is a collaboration between the University of North Florida and ASLE (Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment).

Conservation Heritage Lecture | Missouri University of Science & Tech | Rolla, MO
2024-04-15 | Missouri University of Science & Technology, Rolla, MO, United States
More info forthcoming.

Environmental Studies Minor Kickoff | Reinhardt University
2024-04-10 08:00 - 2024-04-11 17:00 | Reinhardt University, Waleska, Georgia
