Events

Save the date and spread the word!  DWW’s own Kristin Bartley Lenz will host a Poetry and Prose Open Mic event on Sunday, November 8, from 1:30 to 3:00 pm.

Members are invited to share poetry and prose–whether published, unpublished, or works in process. The sign up is first come, first served. Each reader will have up to six minutes, including any time needed to share background information or set up the work.  

This event is free and open to all. However, only members of DWW can sign up to read.

Members: Send an email to workshops@detworkingwriters.org to sign up to read and let our event coordinators know whether you will be reading poetry or prose. 

Use this link to visit www.kristinbartleylenz.com.

Event signup will be published soon.

Photo by Laura Hedgecock

On August 16, DWW members and guests shared a rare opportunity to tour the historic Cranbrook School campus, culminating in its iconic Library and Reading Room. The group met on the Peristyle outside Cranbrook Art Museum for introductions, guided by DWW Vice President and Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research Collections Interpreter, Diane VanderBeke Mager.

Photo by Justin Homburg

After a brief history of Cranbrook and its founders, George Gough Booth (1864-1949) and Ellen Scripps Booth (1863-1948), Diane led the group on a walking tour, celebrating masterworks by Finnish-American architect Eliel Saarinen (1873-1950). We traveled back in time, through the 1940s and 30s, before arriving at the original Cranbrook School for Boys*, completed in 1927-1931, and designed by Saarinen in the Arts and Crafts, medieval, Scandinavian, and Art Deco styles.

Upon entering the Cranbrook School quad, we were encompassed by buildings designed to emulate the rooflines of a medieval village, while following the layout of the farm that once stood on the property. Our first interior stop was the Cranbrook Dining Hall to admire Saarinen’s vaulted ceiling, innovative lights fixtures, oak furniture, and geometric leaded-glass windows.

After crossing the quad to Hoey Hall, we took in the academic building’s South Lobby—featuring low, beamed ceilings with stenciled decoration by Saarinen’s daughter Pipsan Saarinen Swanson and sports-themed fireplace tiles, designed by his teenaged son Eero Saarinen and fired at Pewabic Pottery. We climbed the spiral stairs to the Assembly Hall, pausing in the upstairs student lounge before descending the stairs and following the main corridor to the Map Room, located just outside the Library and Reading Room.

In the Library Reading Room, we discussed The Gift of Knowledge—the instructive limestone overmantel carved by Hungarian sculptor Géza Maróti in 1928. Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research Collections Fellow Mariam Hale then shared an exciting selection of prints, historic texts, and Cranbrook School alumni-authored books pulled from the library’s holdings.

Photo by Miriam Hale

Highlights included The Brook 1988 yearbook, with cover and interiors designed by visiting artist Keith Haring; The Correct Thing: A Guide Book of Etiquette for Young Men by William Oliver Stevens, published in 1934; The Story of King Arthur and His Knights, authored and illustrated by Howard Pyle in 1903; and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, a collection of Persian quatrains translated by Edward FitzGerald in 1859.

The group exited the Reading Room through one of two carved oak doors by Maróti, depicting Michigan’s native flora. We viewed additional Saarinen architectural details before departing the quad through the arch bearing Cranbrook founder George Booth’s wise counsel, “A life without beauty is only half lived.” As the event drew to a close, DWW’s intrepid art and book lovers returned to the Peristyle via the Triton Pools—dotted with bronzes by Swedish sculptor Carl Milles and flanked by the Art Museum’s seasonal Cranbrook-inspired mini-golf course—to enjoy a cooling beverage at the FIKA Café!

This was an annual event. Don’t miss our tour slated for June 2027: The Cranbrook Academy of Art Library.

DWW’s Annual Meeting was a hybrid event that took place at the Baldwin Public Library in Birmingham Michigan. Thank you too all members who took time from a warm Saturday to attend!  (Minutes will be posted in behind the members-only paywall.)

Members enjoyed a round table discussion, sharing achievements and goals from the past year and plans for 2026. This was an inspiring and fun social event.

Our catered meet-and-greet at historic Cranbrook House to celebrate DWW’s impressive milestone was a cozy way to spend a cold autumn day. We connected with fellow writers, shared stories, and made new memories surrounded by exquisite craftsmanship. Special thanks go out to DWW’s very own Linda Nemec Foster and Neeru Nagarajan for their readings and Lynette Mayman, Elena Ivanova, and Diane VanderBeke Mager for leading literary-themed tours of the historic house.

Watch our highlight video from the event!