ZigBone Writers Step Up to the Mic

Join Old Town Books, author and writing coach Diana Friedman, and alumni from ZigBone Farm's writing retreats for an evening of short readings, a Fabled Ice Cream tasting, and fellowship - all for a good cause! 

Proceeds from the event will fund scholarships to allow writers with limited income to attend a 2026 ZigBone Farm writing retreat of their choice.

The idea for this event hatched spontaneously during ZigBone's 2025 Spring Creative Writing Retreat, led by Diana and attended by Old Town Books owner Ally Kirkpatrick. Following a First-Line Flash exercise, where students wrote flash fiction generated by someone else's first line, the students found the stories so fun and engaging that they decided to compile them into a chapbook. Ally volunteered her bookstore for the book’s launch – and it became a fundraiser so more people could benefit from a ZigBone writing retreat.

Stepping up to the mic will be many of the chapbook authors as well as other ZigBone alumni who would like to showcase their work. Time permitting, members of the public can also read from their work.

Come, enjoy an evening of inspired writing, writerly fellowship, and premium ice cream – and give aspiring writers time and space to do their best work.

About the host:

ZigBone Farm Retreat is a 100-acre farm in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains that hosts up to 10 writing retreats annually. Essayists, novelists, memoirists, poets, and other writers come to ZigBone for multi-night retreats not only to learn from some superlative writing coaches and make progress on their work, but also to draw inspiration from its pastoral, mountainside setting.

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