Women find room for their writing

SPRINGFIELD - Dressed in colorful garb and reading softly in an accented voice, Somalia native Zainab Abdi takes her turn at the podium before the intimate gathering of diverse individuals and tells the story of a woman who is "out of her mind."

Abdi, a social worker who helps new immigrants find their first jobs in the United States, is one of six women who comprise a local writing group in its infancy. On Feb. 11, she shared one of her works of fiction - a story titled "Pound Cake" from her novel "Ticket to Heaven" - during a reading at Western New England College.

Writers Spring Forth, a women's writing group founded in June by Phyllis St. George, gives women like Abdi the opportunity to express themselves creatively, share their stories during readings and get their writing printed in books that are available at the readings.

Trained in women's leadership through the Amherst Writers and Artists method, St. George said she wanted to start a local group that did not require its participants to pay high fees. Many of those groups, she added, are formed as money-making ventures.

"It's their living," St. George said. "We're not out to make money. I just wanted to start a group with other women who needed encouragement to write."

Her first course of action in getting the group formed was to place advertisements in local newspapers inviting women writers to join Writers Spring Forth.

"I got more than I bargained for," she said.

What St. George found was that the women who joined the group fell into two distinct categories: Those with experience who had been previously published and those who had never before written.

Those women are now her core group and include Abdi, Tina Payne-Brissette, Linda Early-Gray, Mary Jane Eustace and Rachel M. Cournoyer, all of whom shared on Feb. 11 the stories and poems printed in "Spring Forth: The Writings of Writers Spring Forth: A Women's Writing Group."

"This is for women who work and have families and need a group to write with," St. George said. "We ended up with a diverse group of women who need different types of encouragement. We have total beginners, like Rachel, and experienced and published writers like Tina."

Payne-Brissette, who describes herself as a "highly metaphorical," inspirational writer ("spirituality with a touch of humor"), said she joined Writers Spring Forth in order to stretch herself creatively.

"I have found I am able to write in ways I never believed I could," she said, and credited St. George with being her motivator.

"Phyllis is an incredible teacher," Payne-Brissette added. "She always brings up new and interesting prompts. It is a dedicated, positive and encouraging atmosphere."

Writers Spring Forth meets weekly in Springfield and its readings are supported in part by a grant from the Springfield Cultural Council, a local agency supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Additional sponsorship is provided by the Wilbraham Inn at 2009 Boston Road in Wilbraham, Hot Table on Breckwood Boulevard in Springfield and Faces on Main Street in Northampton.

A reading is scheduled for April 3 from 1 to 3 p.m. at Pam's Paperbacks, 85 Post Office Park, Wilbraham. For more information, call St. George at (413) 737-4262.

Source: mass, Feb 20, 2008