Writing the West at AMWA
Join us at AMWA for Writing the West, our monthly writing series combining art history, storytelling, and participants’ creative voices. To help inspire your writing, we’ll explore the Museum’s galleries, stopping to learn about specific paintings relevant to each month’s theme [see below]. After spending time with the paintings, you’ll be given a writing prompt from the Story Map, a storytelling model co-created by Writing the West instructor Dan Manzanares.
Throughout the session, you’ll have the chance to share what you wrote next to the painting that inspired you. Writing the West is open to writers of all backgrounds, genres, and skill levels, even those who’ve never written creatively before!
Check back here to find out what each month’s theme is and where on the Story Map we’ll be.
Each writer will have the opportunity to submit their work to be included in the season’s Writing the West anthology. In April we will host a Celebratory Reading of the anthology where writers can invite family and friends to watch them present their work in front of the paintings. Writers included in the anthology will receive a copy of the book and it will be displayed throughout AMWA’s galleries.
Upcoming Sessions
2023-2024 Writing the West themes:
September – Storm
October – Heroes & Villains
November – Heritage & Identity
December – Clothing: Material & Function
January – Storytelling to Scale
February – Setting the Stage
Dan Manzanares is an award-winning literary arts advocate and teacher who holds a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Western Colorado University. As an author and editor, he’s published community anthologies as well as a nationally recognized arts and culture community engagement toolkit. In 2021, Denver’s Mayor and City Council appointed Dan to the Denver Commission on Cultural Affairs, where he serves as co-chair. He’s a founding board member of the nonprofit Sidewalk Poets, and co-founder of Story Quest, a creative business teaching aspiring authors how to use the power of storytelling to unlock their imagination.
DIY Writing Prompts