Saying Goodbye to 2019, a Year of Transformation & Growth

It might be hard to imagine from our current, enthusiastic, and highly-motivated vantage point that a year ago, the Burlington Writers Workshop (BWW) was facing a questionable future.

In last week of 2018, the executive director and five board members resigned en masse following a conflict that arose at the annual meeting over freedom of expression for writers. We began the 2019 year without a functional board of directors. It took a tremendous grassroots investment of time and energy to create a more collaborative leadership model, to find a team of willing member-volunteers, and to elect a new board of directors and officers. But that is what we did in 2019. 

The new leadership model restores the principal of consensus according to the bylaws Section 6.5, “The board shall strive to make all decisions by consensus, attempting to reconcile differing points of view based on the mission of the Burlington Writers Workshop.” BWW Board meetings are now open to all members and everyone in attendance is encouraged to participate in the decision-making process. 

We celebrated our successful rebirth with a public event on December 8, 2019 at the Fletcher Free Library in Burlington with the launch of the first annual Books & Cookies Fest. BWW published author members were encouraged to set up book displays, sell and sign their works, and our volunteer bakers filled tables with cookies and cakes. The turnout was amazing and the mood was festive. In the process, we worked to find all of our published authors and created a new Author Members Page here on the website with bios and links to their published works. 

Readings and Live Music…

Two leaders of the Songwriters Workshop provided live music and eleven of our published authors provided live readings of their prose and poetry. Our videographer captured several of the readings. More will eventually be posted on our Facebook Page and on the new BWW YouTube Channel as they are developed. Here’s a sampling… 

Photos and videos by DesignWise Studios…