Write to celebrate and explore our connections to place, community, and traditions. This special edition of the Communal Pen Holiday Hangout will welcome old friends and new around the table. Take a break and mark your thoughts and traditions for yourself and future generations.
We will be holding our virtual Holiday Hangout on Saturday, December 16, from 2 – 4 p.m. virtually. The event is free, but registration is required.
This year, we are celebrating a new partnership with The Athenaeum Press at Coastal Carolina University, who will be archiving and making the work of Communal Pen pasts and futures visible. They will also be holding an in-person pilot writing workshop, “Holiday Tea and Food Writing Workshop,” at the Myrtle Beach Art Museum on Wednesday, December 13, from 2 – 3:30 p.m, which is held in conjunction with their retrospective exhibition, Local Stories Matter: Rediscovering Our Region with The Athenaeum Press.
Facilitators
Eboni Ramm
Deeply rooted in South Carolina, Communal Pen Writing Workshop creator and facilitator, EboniRamm fell in love with the arts at a very young age and was encouraged throughout her youth to express herself. Today, an accomplished poet and jazz singer, she invites audiences of all ages to share her passion for combining these art forms, highlighting her belief in the powerful influence of jazz on the American literary experience and aesthetic. She has taught her unique Jazz Poetry Salon at residencies with the Richland County Public Library, Arts Access South Carolina, Youth Corps, Fairfield Middle School, McKissick Museum, and ColaJazz’s partnership with Jazz at Lincoln Center, among others. Other selected accomplishments include her publication, Within His Star: The Story of Levi Pearson, celebrating Eboni’s ancestor who added strength to the unprecedented Brown vs. The Board of Education case, and the release of her poetry CD, Passion, and her jazz CD, The Look of Love. Learn more about Eboni at www.Eboniramm.com.
Laura Marcus Green
Laura Marcus Green is folklife & traditional arts director at the S.C. Arts Commission, where she manages grant programs, conducts fieldwork, and co-develops projects, including the Folklife Field School, Communal Pen Writing Workshops, and a creative aging initiative, with community partners. She holds a Ph.D. in folklore from Indiana University and an M.A. in folklore/anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin. Selected prior positions include folklife & traditional arts program director at McKissick Museum, community engagement coordinator for the Museum of International Folk Art’s Gallery of Conscience, and work as a folklife fieldworker and researcher, writer, curator and consultant for various arts and culture agencies nationwide. Having attended, coordinated, and facilitated diverse workshops, she is a devoted believer in the power of community writing.
Alli Crandell serves as the Director of Digital Initiatives and The Athenaeum Press, Coastal Carolina University’s innovative multimedia publishing lab, where she works with students across the university to create regionally specific and professional-level publications. She also served as the interim director of The Joyner Institute for Gullah and African Diaspora Studies from 2021-22. She received her Master of Science from Virginia Tech in Science and Technology Studies, and a Graduate Certificate in Web Design and Development from the University of Denver. She has overseen numerous regional and federal grant-funded projects on historic preservation, reimagining local archives, and storytelling. She is also an active board member of the South Carolina Humanities Council.
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