2025 Bacopa Literary Review – Debut
2025-12-14 14:30 - 16:30 (America/New_York) | Millhopper Library, 3145 NW 43rd St, Gainesville, 32606, United States
The Writers Alliance of Gainesville will feature debut readings from the 2025 Bacopa Literary Review.

Many of the prize-winning pieces will be read aloud. WAG members with works published in this journal will also be invited to read.

The Bacopa editorial board expects to have physical copies of the journal available (WAG members get a free copy!), and we will celebrate with refreshments.

Reserve this date on your calendar, and closer to the date, check here for more details about the program.

2025 Prize Winners

FICTION
Award: “Downpour” by Terry Sanville
Honorable Mention: “Knot” by Abhishek Sengupta
Best of WAG: “God and His Dog” by Bonnie T. Ogle

CREATIVE NONFICTION
Award: “Footsteps” by Joe Marshall
Honorable Mention: “Never Home in No Man’s Land” by Jenn Yee
Best of WAG: “Mam Exam” by Charlotte M. Porter

FORMAL POETRY
Award: “Real Spanish” by C. J. Grandorff
Hon. Mention: “Ty-Phoo” by Dion O’Reilly

FREE VERSE POETRY
Award: “Blanca” by Ines Bellina
Honorable Mention: “Isabelline and Beige” by Toni Holland
Best of WAG: “At The Gallery & Everywhere, She Talks with Her Hands” by Aliesa Zoecklein

VISUAL POETRY
Award: “The Ruckle” by S.D. Dillon
Honorable Mention: “My Mother’s Music” by J. Nishida
Best of WAG: “My Mother’s Music” by J. Nishida

This program is free and open to the public. Join us!

2:30-4:30 PM
December 14
Millhopper Branch, Alachua County Library

Trauma as a Character in Writing
2026-01-11 14:30 - 16:30 | Millhopper Library, 3145 NW 43rd St, Gainesville, 32606, United States
The Writers Alliance of Gainesville will feature teacher, storyteller, and author Kathy Connor Dobronyi as she shares her insights on incorporating trauma as a character in your writing.

Come join us at the Millhopper Library at 2:30 p.m. on the second Sunday in January, when WAG member Kathy Connor Dobronyi will share her personal stories of trauma and the stories of her characters to help you write about trauma.

Trauma is a word we often hear, yet its true nature is frequently misunderstood and underestimated. Trauma has three levels: acute, chronic, and complex, a combination of the aforementioned. No single definition of trauma suffices; it can be different things to different people.

Kathy has lived with complex trauma from a childhood of abuse and war. She used the memory of her time in Saigon, where she experienced terrorist bombings at an American theater and other facilities where Americans congregated. She also witnessed human immolation and heard the bombs and gunfire during the overthrow of the South Vietnamese president on November 1, 1963.

Kathy is not a therapist or a clinician. She is a retired high school teacher, a storyteller, and a writer. Drawing on stories from her own life and the lives of her characters, she explores the various facets of trauma and healing.

Although she wrote articles for trade journals and developed lesson plans used by the Folgers Institute, she never considered herself an author until she was asked by a local newspaper editor to write her story: Under the Wings of a Good Luck Phoenix: Memoir of an American Girl in Saigon, June 1963 to March 1964.

This program is free and open to the public. Join us!
2:30-4:30 PM
January 11

Millhopper Branch, Alachua County Library

Ins & Outs of Getting Your Book in Audio
2026-02-08 14:30 - 16:30 | Millhopper Library, 3145 NW 43rd St, Gainesville, 32606, United States
The Writers Alliance of Gainesville will feature a dynamic presentation by Scott Ellis of Ellis-Audiobooks exploring what writers need to know before creating an audiobook.

Ellis will address the ins and outs of audiobook production—everything from understanding the different platforms and payment lingo to the responsibilities and expectations of narrators and authors. He will provide details to help authors think through all the options of putting their stories in audio.

Ellis is a two-time Audiobook of the Year award-winning narrator with over 100 audiobooks recorded and 250 audiobooks produced. He holds degrees in theatre and education. He spent nearly 30 years teaching middle school literature and serving as an elementary school librarian—perfect training for character voices, managing chaos, and surviving on caffeine and patience. This classroom experience honed his storytelling skills, pacing, and sense of dramatic timing.

Scott owns Ellis-Audiobooks with his wife, Josie. They live in Western Massachusetts, and when not behind the mic and managing the business, they enjoy all things outdoors, especially escaping to Sanibel Island during the winter months.

As co-narrator and producer of Skull’s Vengeance, Scott was awarded the 2024 Audiobook of the Year for Fantasy. As the producer of Magda, Standing, he was awarded the 2024 IBPA Gold Medal Winner for Young Adult Fiction Audiobook of the Year. And in 2021, he received the Young Adult Fiction Audiobook of the Year for his narration of Puck and Minnie: All That Is.

This program is free and open to the public. Join us!
2:30-4:30 PM
February 8

Millhopper Branch, Alachua County Library

"Passion Dey Couldn’t Steal" by Pamela Marshall-Koons
2026-03-08 14:30 - 16:30 | Millhopper Library, 3145 NW 43rd St, Gainesville, 32606, United States
The Writers Alliance of Gainesville will feature Pamela Marshall-Koons’ Passion Dey Couldn’t Steal, a powerful one-woman theatrical work inspired by the life, voice, and legacy of author Zora Neale Hurston.

Hurston was an American writer who portrayed the racial struggles in the early 20th-century American South. Her most popular novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, published in 1937, is regarded as influential in both African American and women’s literature.

Through story, movement, music, and embodied narration, the play explores Hurston’s unwavering devotion to truth, creativity, and self-definition in the face of racism, sexism, and erasure.

Marshall-Koons’ intimate performance invites audiences into Zora’s world—from Eatonville to Harlem—while reflecting on the enduring power of voice, cultural memory, and spiritual resilience. It is both a tribute and a testimony, reminding us that passion, once claimed, cannot be taken.

Marshall-Koons is a writer, performer, and cultural storyteller whose work centers on healing, forgiveness, and remembrance. Her artistic practice blends history, spirituality, and lived experience, bringing forward voices that have shaped American culture while inviting audiences into reflection and restoration.

Through literature, theater, and community engagement, she creates spaces where truth can be spoken, stories reclaimed, and the human spirit honored with grace and courage.

She is the creator of this acclaimed one-woman performance and the author of When Zora Spoke – I Remembered My Name. She wrote the book while writing the play.

“The book encourages us to Remember Who We Are,” Marshall-Koons said. “That is what Zora inspires in me. I am donating the proceeds from the sale of the book and my performances to help restore Ms. Zora’s last home in Fort Pierce.”

Those who saw this performance at the Sunshine State Book Festival raved about it. Many said they would love to see it again. And if you missed it, here is your chance.

The Writers Alliance is grateful to Pamela Marshall-Koons for her willingness to perform again on March 8, 2026, at 2:30 p.m., at the Millhopper Branch of the Alachua County Library.

The book can be purchased at www.pameladmarshall.com or at the event on March 8. A book signing will follow the program, which is free and open to the public.

Parking: If the library lot is full, you may park in the Florida Credit Union lot at 2831 NW 43rd Street, Gainesville, FL 32606.

Poetry Play: The Journey of Finding Surprise by Aliesa Zoecklein
2026-04-12 14:30 - 16:30 | Millhopper Library, 3145 NW 43rd St, Gainesville, 32606, United States
Come join the Writers Alliance of Gainesville on Sunday, April 12, at 2:30 p.m., when local poet and former Santa Fe College writing instructor Aliesa Zoecklein will share her secrets about discovery in writing poetry.
Zoecklein’s poems have been published in New Feathers Anthology, Bacopa Literary Review, Thimble Literary Magazine, River Heron Review, and other journals. Her chapbook At Each Moment, Air won the Peter Meinke Poetry Prize and was published by YellowJacket Press.
“The thrill of writing poems is in the discovery,” Zoecklein says, “so I love to talk about how we can journey ourselves toward that surprise. I’ll share some practices I use when first searching for my poems and then drafting.”
She will offer ideas for keeping our initial attempts playful and wide-ranging. And how, if we’re lucky, these practices can dispel resistance or boredom. She’ll also discuss how shaping the poem—deciding on line breaks, for example—can help open the poem in a generative way.
“I am always learning anew how to trust language to lift me toward what I don’t already know. I look forward to exchanging ideas and taking the group through one or two fun exercises.
Zoecklein taught writing for 25 years at Santa Fe College. Happily retired, she lives with her wife in Gainesville, Florida, where she writes, gardens, and studies Spanish.
The program is free and open to the public.
2:30-4:30 PM
April 12
Millhopper Branch, Alachua County Library

UF College of Medicine career expo for high school students
2026-04-17 17:00 - 19:00 | Harrell Medical Education Bldg, 1104 Newell Dr, Gainesville, FL, 32601, United States
WHAT: Is your high schooler interested in a career in health care? You’re in luck because the University of Florida College of Medicine is hosting the inaugural UF Healthcare Teams of Tomorrow.

This complimentary event features a speaker series highlighting program opportunities for prospective doctors, physician assistants and nurses. Other showcases include interactive, hands-on clinical procedure demonstrations, financial aid and college planning sessions and Q&A panels with current health professional students.

WHO: Norman L. Beatty, M.D., FACP, associate professor of medicine, division of infectious diseases & global medicine, UF College of Medicine
Trevi Perez, student, UF College of Medicine
WHEN: 5 p.m. on Friday, April 17
WHERE: George T. Harrell, M.D., Medical Education Building
1104 Newell Drive
Gainesville, FL 32601

Strategies for Writing and Developing Environmental Scenes
2026-05-03 14:30 - 16:30 | Millhopper Library, 3145 NW 43rd St, Gainesville, 32606, United States
This program is being held on the FIRST Sunday in May since Mother’s Day falls on the second Sunday.

Come join us on May 3 at the Millhopper Library, where author Benjamin Coward will share strategies for drafting, writing, and fully developing environmental scenes.

Drawing on his background in environmental science, he has interwoven environmental issues throughout his published books. And he has much to share about the importance of environmental scenes, whether in fiction, memoir, or other nonfiction.

He will reveal how we writers can use environmental scenes to enhance the storyline, plot, and character movement. He will share his scene-writing tips that will help engage readers and draw them deeper into the story, thereby helping them better understand the world around them.

Coward earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science from Southern New Hampshire University. He is originally from the Saint Louis area in Missouri. He moved to Florida in the spring of 2013 to further his education. He still lives in Gainesville with his wife, Julia, and two-year-old daughter.

Like all of WAG’s Sunday programs, this one is free and open to the public.

2:30-4:30 PM
May 3

Trauma, Part II: Trauma as a Character in Writing
2026-06-14 14:30 - 16:30 | Millhopper Library, 3145 NW 43rd St, Gainesville, 32606, United States
Join the Writers Alliance of Gainesville to learn how to use traumatic events as a resource in your writing. Kathy Connor Dobronyi will share her own stories of trauma and those of her characters to help you write about trauma.
Few people reach adulthood without experiencing some painful, emotional, and traumatic events. Yet for us authors, those trying events can become a treasure of knowledge and understanding that we can use in our writing.
Come join us at the Millhopper Library at 2:30 p.m. on the second Sunday in June for a second look this year at using trauma as a resource in your writing.
WAG member Kathy Connor Dobronyi will share her personal stories of trauma and the stories of her characters to help you write about trauma.
Trauma is a word we often hear, yet its true nature is frequently misunderstood and underestimated. There are three levels of trauma: acute, chronic, and complex, a combination of the aforementioned. There is no single definition of trauma; it can be different things to different people.
Kathy has lived with complex trauma from a childhood of abuse and war. In her writing, she uses the memory of her time in Saigon, where she experienced terrorist bombings at an American theater and other facilities where Americans congregated. She also witnessed human immolation and heard the bombs and gunfire during the overthrow of the South Vietnamese President on November 1, 1963.
Kathy is not a therapist or a clinician. She is a retired high school teacher, a storyteller, and a writer. Using stories from her life and the lives of her characters, she shares the different facets of trauma and healing.
Although she wrote articles for trade journals and developed lesson plans used by the Folgers Institute, she never considered herself an author until she was asked by a local newspaper editor to write her story: Under the Wings of a Good Luck Phoenix: Memoir of an American Girl in Saigon, 1963.
2:30-4:30 PM
June 14
Millhopper Branch, Alachua County Library
3145 NW 43rd St.

The Writer and the Machine: Collaborating with AI
2026-07-12 14:30 - 16:00 | Millhopper Library, 3145 NW 43rd St, Gainesville, 32606, United States
AI won’t take your job. But someone who knows how to prompt it will.
In her book, The Writer and the Machine, Jaime Engle shows novelists, screenwriters, and entrepreneurs how to stay relevant and in demand by collaborating with AI—without losing their voice. Instead of fearing the future, she teaches how to prompt AI with a story-first strategy to build intellectual property (IP) that sells.
With her proven creative framework, you’ll learn to write faster, pitch smarter, and build IP that lasts—just like thousands of other creatives she has helped.
Jaimie Engle created the Engleverse stories in books, film, and TV. She wrote, sold, and produced Just Jake (2023), sold and developed a story with DreamWorks Animation Studios (2025), and was hired to write an audiobook for Fresh Produce Media (2025).
She founded Chapter Drops™ to help people with stories write and publish books, offering a Pitch Drop service that connects authors with producers. She has written and published 25+ books, earning awards such as Kirkus Choice Book of the Year (2020), Publisher’s Book Life Prize (Fiction and Non-Fiction 2020), and the Writers of the Future Award (2016).
For a deep dive into AI, check out her book, The Writer and the Machine, which will be available for purchase following her talk.
This program is free and open to the public.
2:30-4:00 PM
July 12
Millhopper Branch, Alachua County Library
3145 NW 43rd St.
Gainesville, FL 32606
352-334-1272 (venue phone)
Millhopper Branch | Alachua County Library District

Managing stress through faith
2026-07-28 18:30 - 20:30 | Kanapaha Presbyterian Church, 6221 SW 75th Terrace, Gainesville, FL, 32608, United States
Kanapaha Presbyterian Church invites you to a free community workshop: Managing stress through faith.

This event is free, but donations are appreciated and will benefit Blessing Baskets.

Finding Unheard Voices in Public Records and Documents
2026-08-23 14:30 - 16:00 | Millhopper Library, 3145 NW 43rd St, Gainesville, 32606, United States
In this program, Finding Unheard Voices in Public Records and Documents, author Coleen DeGroff will share how she published the first book on African American enslavement in Alachua County.
She will describe her approach to creating and publishing a book using public records and historical archives, and how her discovery of long-hidden documents led her to find accounts of hundreds of enslaved people who were brought to Alachua County to labor on nearly five dozen plantations for half a century, generating a significant amount of wealth for the region.
Alachua County Black Book: Accounts of Enslaved People Discovered in Ancient Records uses bills of sale, wills, mortgages, and other records to offer a glimpse into the lives of the enslaved and the people who enslaved them between 1815 and 1865.
DeGroff hopes that this compilation of long-buried accounts from public archives will help other writers share the tales of these unheard voices so they are not forgotten.
From the time Coleen DeGroff could pick up a pen, she has been a writer. From poetry and songs in her teen years, to writing articles for newspapers and magazines (including a stint as a humor columnist for a small Colorado magazine), to a fifteen-year career as a blogger and a real estate agent, writing has always been a part of her life.
After deciding to retire from real estate, Coleen followed her dreams back to writing about subjects close to her heart. She says she didn’t set out to write the Alachua County Black Book. Instead, she believes the book found her, and she will always be grateful that it did.
More can be found about her writing career at https://www.coleendegroff.com/.
This program is free and open to the public.
