Defy: Words in Bloom
An Evening of New Work by Women Writers
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
7-8:30 PM
Every act of creation is an act of defiance. A willful insistence to coax ideas into fruition. A rebellious perseverance to tend intimate feelings, to cultivate desire despite an overgrowth of barriers. From this idea germinatesDefy: Words in Bloom- an evening of new work by local women writers. Listeners are invited to experience poetry and creative nonfiction performed by the authors: Deirdre McKenna,maayan nuri héd, Nichole Dupont, Alÿcia Bacon, and Elizabeth Nelson. Paper flower sculptures crafted by Nelson, a visual artist and budding floriographer, will also be on view. This event is produced as part of ArtWeek Berkshires, an annual celebration of creativity.
About the Writers
Deirdre McKenna is a Berkshire-based writer and visual artist who has had the opportunity to hone her craft alongside writers in workshops in Albany, Northampton and across the Berkshires, with a longtime membership in the Powder Keg Writing Workshops for Women led by Suzi Banks Baum. Deirdre's performances include: Word x Word’s 10x10 Festival, 10 New Voices, at the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield for the poem "Flamenco"; IWOW (In Words Out Words) in Deb Koffman’s Art Space in Housatonic for the short story, "Just Pretend."; Powder Keg readings at The Ramsdell Public Library in Housatonic and the Six Depot community room in West Stockbridge for the poems "Translation," "The Queen Conducts Flying Experiments in an Unfinished Cathedral" and "Security of Person: A Post-Election Experiment," as well as the short story "A Day Without Air." Her poem "Blood and Gold" was published by Green Fire Press in "Writing Fire: An Anthology Celebrating the Power of Women’s Words." In 2022 her artwork was included in PERSIST, a show of women's work curated by Elizabeth Nelson for Great Barrington Public Theater. She recently launched her website mckenna-poet.com, where you can read and listen to recordings of her poems.
maayan nuri héd is an antidisciplinarian artist, community organizer, a mom, a domestic violence survivor, a “loud jewish woman,” and unapologetic love-revolutionary. her art expresses itself in various media including songs and musical gibberish, video, gatherings, workshops, essays, rants, ramblings, stories, zines, and other intentional nonsense. youvegotsomenuri.com
Nichole Dupont is a writer, columnist, playwright, and essayist whose work has appeared in The Huffington Post, Newsday, The Take Magazine, the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers, and the 10x10 Festival. Her writing explores the intersections of personal narrative, culture, and community, spanning published essays, blogs, plays, and columns. More about Nichole can be found at nicholechaneldupont.com.
Elizabeth Nelson is a writer, multidisciplinary artist, and marketing-communications professional. Her fiction and poetry can be read in The Raven Review, Second Chance Lit, Canyon Voices, and others. In 2024, her short story collection, Petrichor & Other Stories, was selected as a finalist for the Tartts Fiction Award. I Am Not A Lady was a semifinalist for the 2024 Dramatist Guild Virtual Playwriting Fellowship. Colors Inside the Body received a reading at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in NYC as part of Texas Wesleyan's 2019 Playmarket. In March 2018, The Athena Project workshopped The Golden Hour as part of its annual “Plays in Progress Series” in Denver, CO. Fugue (published under Laura Elizabeth Miller by Black Box Press) is regularly produced worldwide, and The Going Price (Steele Stage Rights) was selected in 2011 as part of Red Bull Theater’s inaugural Short New Play Festival. When not writing, Elizabeth creates mandalas and paper flowers, often incorporating found materials from nature. In 2022, she curated an art show called PERSIST for Great Barrington Public Theater in which five female artists explored the theme of persistence through varied mediums. Learn more about her and experience her work at elizabethnelson.net. Instagram: @penelopespaperflowers and @wykydkytten
Alÿcia Bacon Bio to come…