Area 2 Newsletter
August 2025
Pennnwriters Area 2 Happenings and News
Hello, everyone. I'm Katie Yelinek, the Area 2 representative. Please email me at area2rep [at] pennwriters.org or kathryn [at] kathrynyelinek.com if I can help you in any way.
Member News
Congratulations to Christopher Mele of Pike County, who was invited to the Adirondack Authors Day at The Wild Center in Tupper Lake, N.Y., in August. The event celebrates the creative voices of the Adirondacks and is a chance for readers to browse authors' books, chat about their work and get books signed. Mele was invited on the strength of his debut novel, "Goodwill's Secrets," a mystery that is set in the Adirondacks.
Area Meetings
The new North Central PA Writers Network continues to expand and attract new members. It meets on the last Tuesday of every month at 4pm at the Gmeiner Art & Cultural Center, 134 W Main Street in Wellsboro. The group isn't a critique group. Rather it serves to assist writers with submitting, promoting, and all other things writing. If you're interested in attending or have questions, please contact Lori Duffy Foster at lori [at] loriduffyfoster.com.
The long-established Area 2 critique group is meeting in Berwick on the first and third Wednesday of the month. For information, contact Dave Freas, quillracer [at] pa.metrocast.net. Because this group no longer meets in Danville, it's now known as the Susquehanna Valley Pennwriters Critique Group.
Share Your Good News
Do you have a new book out? Short story? Poem? Article? Did you get something reprinted? Won an award? Are you up for an award? Did you give a reading or presentation? Send me a note so I can celebrate with you.
Pennwriters Organization-Wide News
Conference Proposals
2026 Conference Coordinators Leslie Tobin Smeltz & Susan Gourley are accepting workshop proposals now through September 30.
The conference will be May 15-17, 2026 in Lancaster. The theme is "The Writer's Path." Send proposals to conferencecoordinator [at] pennwriters.org with the your name, the workshop title, a workshop description (300 words or less) and your bio (300 words or less).
Writer's Road Trip
Registration is now open for Area 1's annual Writer's Road Trip. It will be held Saturday, October 4 at the Zem Zem Shrine Club in Erie. This is their "lucky 13th" time holding this mini-conference! Visit the Pennwriters website for more info and to register.
Upcoming online courses are:
Non-Pennwriters Resources
Area member Mark Boerma thought that area members might want to know about these writing-related resources. Thanks, Mark, for sharing them!
- Submittable: This site is the one most literary magazines use for people to submit their work. Submittable also has lists of publications seeking submissions. Please note: Submittable has many services. When you go to their site, you may wonder if you are at the right place. In order to submit your work, you'll need to create a submittable account. Sometimes the easiest way to do that is by following a link from a literary magazine where you want to submit. I find it's confusing to do that from the landing page of their website. https://www.submittable.com/
- Duotrope: You need to subscribe to this site, but it's a good source of information. If a literary magazine uses Duotrope for submissions, I believe you can submit for free. https://duotrope.com/
- Chil Subs: Great source of information about publications where you can submit your work. It's free (and they also have a paid option). You can search for specific genres. Their listing gives you information about how long the publication has been in existence, who the editors are etc. You also can set up a spreadsheet in your account to track your submissions. https://www.chillsubs.com/
- Poets & Writers: This magazine--which you can subscribe to in print or online--has monthly listing of contests and places seeking submissions. https://www.pw.org/grants?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD-ibDrXAAj4ttGfqMdH5KhiMHzrF&gclid=CjwKCAjw5PK_BhBBEiwAL7GTPTmY8WH-EcrigVFgcYthQcslZtrgFoi49MD7z4_c34I8_t-xxei1rBoCz7AQAvD_BwE
- Craft Talks: Short two-hour talks about crafts, six week workshops and more. https://writingcraft.com/
- International Women's Writing Guild (IWWG): https://www.iwwg.org/
- The Writer's Center: https://writer.org/
- Grubstreet: https://grubstreet.org/A note about Grub Street -- make sure you do "dot org" not "dot com," because the dot com is New York Magazine's food blog
- Spring Writes Literary Festival that happens in Ithaca in May. https://springwrites.org/
Please note -- there are some events on Zoom.
That's it for now. Happy writing, everyone.