Manor Mill Writers Guild Prose Night
Join us for a monthly Prose Night at the Manor Mill!
Three times a year, we will hear a reading from a featured author followed by a Q&A led by host Susan Keatley and then opened up to the audience. We’ll then break for book sales and signing and mingling. Snacks will be provided and BYOB. Please register online.
Six times a year, we will have a Prose open mic night. Sign up in advance and come with a reading that is five minutes in length or less. We’ll break in the middle for snacking and mingling. Please bring a snack to share, potluck style! And BYOB. Please register online.
Schedule
Doors open at 6:45 PM and readings start 7:00 PM up in The Loft and on the second floor when the weather gets cold.
Prose nights are the third Monday of every month.
Open Mic Information
Open mic readings have a suggested time limit of 5 minutes. Each night, up to two readers will be selected for a longer, ten minute reading and their own Q&A about their piece and writing process. Be sure to check the 10-minute reading box on the sign up form to be considered.
We encourage open mic readers to:
*Rehearse their pieces at home before coming to open mic. Rehearsing at home, out loud and at full volume, will help ensure your piece is within the 5-minute time limit. (Often, reading out loud and at full volume extends the time of a reading.)
*Mark up the pages before you bring them, where to slow down, where to pause to be dramatic, etc.
*Remember that 5 minutes is the maximum time, and stories that are only a few minutes long are welcome!
*Speak slowly, almost as if you are reading in a language foreign to the audience, so that the audience can fully digest your piece. Ears respond more slowly than eyes when taking in words!
2025 Upcoming Authors
Click on a date to register
Monday, January 20 - Antje Rauwerda
Antje Rauwerda, Professor of British and Postcolonial Literatures at Goucher College.
She will read from her novel, Slow Time
Monday, February 17 - OPEN MIC
Would you like to read at open mic? If so, please fill out the form below.
Monday, March 17 - OPEN MIC
Would you like to read at open mic? If so, please fill out the form below.
Monday, April 21 - Katie Kitamura
Katie Kitamura, author and creative writing professor.
Katie will read from her new novel, Audition
Monday, May 19 - Open Mic
Would you like to read at open mic? If so, please fill out the form below.
Monday, June 16 - Open Mic
Would you like to read at open mic? If so, please fill out the form below.
“Prose Night has been one of my favorite book events for Swimming with Ghosts! Susan is a warm and welcoming host, and what a terrific audience! I love how you combined the event with an open mic. Brilliant. And the space is just gorgeous.”
- Michelle Brafman
If you would like to learn more about the Guild meet-ups or have any other inquiries regarding readings at Manor Mill, Please submit the form below!
Susan Keatley, Prose Night Host
Meet Guild Prose Host, Susan Keatley
Susan Keatley is a writer living in Phoenix, Maryland. While getting her Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she would look longingly at copies of Science magazine and wish not to be published in the research section, but in the section upfront where someone wrote about what the research meant. Susan has written about science and other topics for the New York Times, the Simons Foundation, and the Princeton Alumni Weekly, and has been a moderator at the Newburyport Literary Festival in her hometown of Newburyport, Massachusetts. She is also at work on a novel. She loves meeting and talking to writers and is thrilled to host the Manor Mill Writers Guild Prose night.